You Must Be Born Again: What Does It Really Mean?

You must be born again.

I'm sure you've all heard that statement, but what does it really mean? Is it for every Christian or is it for some Christians? What does it look like to be born again? How does it happen? So many questions. And we're going to try to encapsulate them all in this post.

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Wrestling with the Truth

It wasn't until seminary that I really started wrestling with this. In fact, in my undergrad years, there were books upon books that I had to read on discipleship, and all of the books that institution chose were noting something similar—that there were essentially tiers of Christianity. A believer is different than a disciple, or a believer is different than one who is born again.

All of that was confusing to me because as I was reading the scriptures over and over again (and really I think that's what saved me through seminary, just gonna be honest), I'm like, this doesn't make sense.

A believer IS a disciple. A believer IS born again. You cannot be a believer and not born again.

But the institution was trying to tell me otherwise by the books that I was reading, and it's not just me because obviously there's been a plethora of people going through similar institutions. And it wasn't until seminary that these things really started clicking. As I'm wrestling through this, I'm like, what in the world? This doesn't make sense.

The Bible doesn't teach that there are different tiers of believers. The Bible doesn't teach that there are disciples and non-disciples, but both are going to heaven. The Bible doesn't teach that there's any other way to step into eternity but through Christ—and Christ does all things well.

Why the Confusion?

So why do we have such a difficult time in our culture understanding this essential biblical truth—you must be born again?

Well, let me just give you my opinion real quick. I think it's so that we can make room for all of the loved ones, friends and family members, and even churchgoers that say they love Jesus, but have no fruit to back that up.

Again, Jesus does all things well. He doesn't give us a half new birth. He gives us a new birth to do new things.

I hope you're with me because we're going to discuss all of this through the scriptures in John chapter 3 and in other passages today.

Nicodemus Meets Jesus

Nicodemus begins with this statement slash question almost: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do the things that you do unless God is with him."

Hold up.

The context of the new birth comes off of this statement, and Jesus never leaves anything on the table. He always addresses it.

"No one can do these things that you do unless God is with him." Jesus is doing all of these amazing miracles, doing them as a man, performing them in humanness. The Spirit is the one doing them through him. And in fact, John concludes this chapter with that idea: "For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands" (John 3:34-35).

So we see here that when God is with someone, the Spirit is given to that individual to do spiritual things.

Jesus comes born in human flesh, and what are we told to call him? Emmanuel—God with us. Not just with humanity, but upon the new birth (as we're about to discover), because of the work of Christ, we are able to be born of the Spirit, to have the Spirit with us doing spiritual things.

Children of God

But let's back up real quick because John has already mentioned something in his gospel that brings more light into what Jesus is going to say.

John 1:12—"But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."

So he came to his own, his own rejected him, but as many as did receive him, he gave the right to become children of God.

Now, that's an important statement because I have seven kids. And I expect my children to act in a very specific way, and that's the way I'm training them in. And when they don't act in that way and they get out of line, well, I correct them and bring them back into line. They are my children representing my name, and I treat them in that way.

What makes us think that being children of God is any different, especially when the Father is God and far more intentional and wise than someone like me?

So he gave the right to become children of God to who? To those who believe in his name—that's Christ's name and his person and work and character.

And here we go: "who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Two Kingdoms

Let's just get this out of the way, and I discussed it more in my overview of John chapter 3. We're talking about two diabolically different worlds here: the flesh, which is what we're all born into because we're born into Adam, and the spirit, which is what we need to be born again into.

So we have the flesh in which we are all born into, which comes through water. That's the context of this whole section: "That which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit..."

We've got flesh and spirit, Adam and Christ, kingdom of Satan, kingdom of Christ. We've got those kingdoms that are diabolically in opposition with one another.

In order to have everlasting life, we need to be taken out of one kingdom—the kingdom of Satan—into the kingdom of Christ.

And just so you can understand that the scriptures teach this difference, look at Colossians 1:13: "He, that's the Father, has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us or brought us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

So we have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness, which is controlled and governed by Satan, the god of this earth, and placed into the kingdom of the Son.

You Must Be Born Again

Let's go back. Those who are born not of water, as Jesus is about to say (as John already concluded in John chapter 1), who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man—that's the prerequisite of being born again. You have to be born first.

But of God.

Now as Jesus is saying: Those who are born of flesh do fleshly things. Those who are born of spirit do spiritual things—because they're children of God. Those who are children of Adam do Adam's things. Those who are children of God do God's things.

And this is the thrust of the conversation here. How does Nicodemus know that Jesus is sent of God? Because Jesus is doing these signs that no man could do unless God was doing them through him.

And Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren. He is the forerunner. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the author and perfecter and finisher of faith. He is the model that we are to walk after. In fact, Paul says, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." He is the one we are to observe and follow after.

So Jesus's response to Nicodemus's comment here is this, in verse 3: "Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, (anytime you read that repetitive truly, truly, verily, verily—pay attention, it's so important) I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"

What Does "See" Mean?

Now I want to just look at what is being communicated by "seeing": to see, to pay attention to, to concern oneself with, to understand as a result of perception, to visit, go see, experience an event or state, to learn about, inquire information, to cause to happen.

So what is being communicated is that unless you're born again, you cannot participate in the things of God. You cannot understand them and you cannot act upon them. If you're of the flesh, you do fleshly things. If you're born again, you can comprehend and do things that are according to the nature of those who are sent forth from God.

Nicodemus says to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

So Nicodemus is confused. "Jesus, you're talking crazy to me. I don't understand this concept."

Jesus is responding to Nicodemus's statement: "Truly, truly, pay attention. I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." And those who cannot enter cannot see and cannot act.

Born of Water and Spirit

So we have Jesus answering Nicodemus who says, "Hey, we're talking about being born here from a woman. Do you expect me to crawl back into my mother who's probably dead and be born? Like, what do you expect from us?"

And Jesus says, "Unless you're born of water (or of woman) and the Spirit..." You have to be born first.

All who are born of Adam are Adams—born into this kingdom of darkness. And the beauty of what Christ is communicating is that he has come to liberate us from this kingdom of darkness and take us out of it and put us into the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of Christ.

The entrance into the kingdom happens as we receive Christ by believing in his name, being then born again, which is an action that he does on our behalf.

Remember in Colossians, it's clearly stated: "He, the Father, has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of His Son."

So it's not something that we do. Remember, John chapter 1, verse 13—born of God. Jesus says, "You must be born again."

When we're born the first time, we do the things according to our nature. When we're born the second time, we do the things according to our nature. And what's our nature? The nature is that of the Spirit.

The Contrast: Titus 3

Now let me just bring up Titus chapter 3, verse 3, to contrast the two here.

"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not by the works done in our righteousness, but according to his own mercy."

So you once acted in these ways, but then at a moment in time, because of the goodness of God, the loving kindness of our Savior, his abundant mercy—invitation had been offered to come unto Christ, receive him, believe upon his name and be made new.

He saved us not by the works done in our righteousness, but according to his own mercy. How? By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So how this change went about is a work of God.

There's nothing that we have done or could do to move this about or to move God to action in this. We simply respond to the gospel call that says, "Come," and we receive Christ. And through the recipient of Christ—receiving, believing and receiving (John uses them interchangeably)—through that, we have been brought out of death and into life.

Dead men do dead things. The dead do something completely different than the living. The dead act in one way and the living act in another way.

And that is the new birth.

Like the Wind

And that is something that the acting of God accompanies. The new birth: "That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes."

It is very simple here. Just as you don't know how the wind operates, you don't know how the things of God operate.

Whoever is born of the Spirit does the things of the Spirit, and you can't see that. You can't understand that unless you're born again, just like you can't see the wind and you can't understand how the wind operates or where the wind comes from. Those who are outside of the kingdom can't understand the things of God.

You must be born again to understand it. And Nicodemus is truly making this point evident: "How can these things be?"

Old Testament Promises

Jesus answers him: "Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?"

What you need to see is that this concept of the new birth isn't something that's new and Jesus is making it up. It is something that has been stated back in the Old Testament. Let me just read off a couple of them for you:

Ezekiel 11:19 — "And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh."

Ezekiel 18:31 — "Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel?"

Ezekiel 36:26 — "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

Jeremiah 4:4 — "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the evil of your deeds."

Jeremiah 31:33 — "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God and they shall be my people."

Jeremiah 31 is quoted in the book of Hebrews.

So it's not as if Nicodemus would have no idea of what these things were. Jesus is bringing revelation to the things that had already been written. He's teaching Nicodemus: they had already been written, this is what they were communicating, and this is then how it's going to happen.

Who Are You Going to Listen To?

"Truly, truly, I say to you, pay attention. We speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man."

So Nicodemus, who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to your buddies, the teachers of Israel, those who are saying that God operates in a certain way? Or are you going to listen to the only one who has come forth from God to communicate the things of God to the world?

In fact, Nicodemus, you already told me I am sent of God because you said no one can do the things of God unless they're sent of God. So Nicodemus, I know that you might be questioning things here, but listen up, pay attention, because you cannot see the kingdom unless you're born again. You cannot enter into the kingdom unless you're born again.

And those who enter are those who receive. John 1:12 again: "But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name"—receive and believe being used interchangeably.

Receiving Christ

Now I've said this in a couple of my posts before, but I want to just note it again. Receiving here: to take hold of, grab or grasp, acquire, obtain possession of something, to receive, accept an object or benefit. So the idea of receiving here is taking hold of, almost to the point of taking hold of it by force.

Luke communicates this in 16:16: "The law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone forces his way into it."

So taking hold of Christ in a way that is born out of neediness. I need Christ. Put yourself in the shoes of the woman who was bleeding for many, many years—she needs to press through the crowds and just touch his hem so that she could have the opportunity to be well. The idea of pressing in to take hold of something and receive it—force is necessary, use force.

"But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God"—to do God things.

How this is going to take place is seen in verse 14 and 15 and 16 and so on, where the example of the bronze serpent is used and Jesus is saying, "Hey, listen, Nicodemus, this is going to happen because I am the liberator and I am going to give myself as a substitution on your behalf so that you who look upon the Son may have life in my name. That's going to happen. That's something that I'm on my way towards. The expected one has come."

Flesh vs. Spirit Throughout Scripture

This isn't just taught here in Titus, it is taught in Galatians chapter 5. Let's look at verse 19:

"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

So those who live in the Spirit do spiritual things. Those who walk in the flesh do fleshly things.

First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

Here's the kicker: "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

So this is not declaring that you were these things, but you are washed and you remain doing these things. You were these things and now you're not. And so you do the spiritual things.

Church Discipline Context

Because remember, 1 Corinthians 6 comes right off of 1 Corinthians 5, which is a passage on church discipline. But in verse 11: "I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person."

So Paul is urging them to put this young man who is sexually immoral out of their gathering because he says, "I'm a brother," but he's deceiving himself because he is living in a way of the flesh. Put him out because he's fleshly—the spiritual do the spiritual things. Now put him out so that he would then recognize his need for Christ and then be born again, or repent of these actions and come and do spiritual things.

But the context of 6 is that of the church discipline. And he is saying, "But you were sanctified." You once did these things, but now you don't because you're set apart for a different purpose—to be children of God who do the things that the children of God do.

A New Creation

But it is not just there. Again in 2 Corinthians 5:16: "Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer" (because we're born again in the Spirit—that was my part adding).

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

We're no longer fleshly, but a new creation. Those who receive Christ, believing on his name, are taken out of Adam, out of death, out of the kingdom of darkness, and placed into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of life, into Jesus Christ, who is our life—born of God to do godly things.

You must be born again.

It is not rocket surgery here. It is simple.

The problem is that some who say they believe in Christ are not genuine in that. They may have made the profession because they need some sort of insurance policy over their life—they don't want to go to hell. They're terrified of it, but they also don't want to go to heaven because they're terrified of it, because heaven is the glory of Christ. But it's better than the alternative of hell, and they don't know that they don't like it yet. But there's something that's keeping them from receiving this newness of life.

And it could be even that people have received a false Jesus, a Jesus that cannot save them. A Jesus that they formed and fashioned in the image and likeness of man like Israel did, that God rebukes them for in Psalm 50: "You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you." I'm not. I'm nothing like you.

There could be so many reasons as to why someone has not received Christ.

Our Role as Ministers

As ministers of reconciliation (because that's what we are) and ambassadors of Christ, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

We need to spend time with people in the scriptures, pointing them to the God who can save them, relieving them from any misconceptions, misbeliefs, misunderstandings, wrongness that they have over the person and work of God, and point them to the Messiah who is eagerly waiting to liberate them from this kingdom of darkness, from this kingdom of Adam, and immerse us into the kingdom of Christ's beloved Son.

You must be born again.

Those who are born of God do godly things. Those who are born of Adam do Adam things, and you read some of those lists with me. They're not good.

Born of God, receiving the benefits of God, which is eternal life, which is the person of God himself, is absolutely amazing—that we get to walk with God once again, just like Adam did in the coolness of the garden. But we get to do it for all of eternity.

The Simple Truth

Again, super simple. We don't need to overcomplicate it. We don't need to make it say something that it's not. This is what John intends for us to communicate: Life that we have in the name of Christ is more than just a state of being after this body dies. It's walking with him in the day in and the day out, in and through the muck and sin of this world, being more and more transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus because we are born as a child of God, and he is our elder brother, and our Father says, "Follow him."

And because we're born of the Spirit, we can. Not only can we, we want to.

A Final Warning

I hope that this post has summed this up in a way that you can clearly understand it and comprehend it. And if you are one that is still fleshly, you look at the totality of your life and it is still fleshly, then let me leave you with this:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21).

Not everyone who claims the title of Christian will enter the kingdom of heaven. Who will enter? Those who are born of the Spirit will enter.

And those who are born of the Spirit are not workers of lawlessness. They are not those who live as if God has given them no law to live by. They are children of God who obey the things of God.

There's a great divide here. They are at enmity with one another.

The ones that he will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you," are those who claim the title of Christian but are still in Adam because there's something that's preventing them from receiving Christ.

But the one who enters the kingdom of heaven is the one who does the will of his Father who is in heaven—born of the Spirit to do spiritual things.

It's testified all throughout scripture. I hope you see that, my friends.

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