Jesus Said Need to Be Born Again
You should not be surprised at my proverb, 'You must exist born again.' John 3:7
Yous've probably heard the phrase, "You must be built-in again," during a sermon. Simply what does this mean exactly?
When Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus with questions about His teaching and the nature of salvation, Jesus provided the perfect synopsis of the Gospel, which included one of the most important metaphors and doctrines of the Christian organized religion. "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), ' no one can encounter the kingdom of God unless they are born once more." (John 3:3, bold emphasis added).
At the time, the thought of existence "born again" confounded the inquisitive Nicodemus, who asked, "how can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second fourth dimension into their mother's womb to be born!" (John iii:4). Though educated in matters of the Sometime Testament and Jewish law, Nicodemus struggled to grasp the deeper meaning of Jesus's words. He was non alone. Many take wrestled with the spiritual truths of Jesus's teaching and the implications of Christ's call to discipleship in their lives. So what does it actually mean to be born once again and what does this look like for Christians and those chosen to follow Christ?
Kickoff, let's read this poetry in context: Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no i tin can meet the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How tin someone be born when they are quondam?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second fourth dimension into their mother's womb to exist born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no 1 can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives nascency to spirit. Yous should not exist surprised at my maxim, 'You must be built-in once more.'(John 3:3-7)
What Did Jesus Mean by 'You Must Be Built-in Again'? (John iii:vii)
When Jesus said we must be "built-in again" He was not referring to any kind of literal or concrete rebirth. He used the term "reborn" to affirm our need equally individuals to be redeemed and spiritually transformed, refashioned, and remade through God'due south saving grace and His eventual death on the cross. To explain this concept to Nicodemus, Jesus connected His mission on earth to an Sometime Testament story that Nicodemus would have been familiar with.
"As Moses lifted upwardly the ophidian in the wilderness," Jesus said, "fifty-fifty so must the Son of Man exist lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)
Jesus was of course referring to Numbers 21 and the plague of fiery serpents that spread through the military camp of Israel every bit a event of their frequent complaining and lack of faith. To save those infected, Moses was instructed by God to identify a bronze ophidian on a flagpole at the center of the camp. All who looked upon the bronze serpent would be miraculously healed from the poison coursing through their veins (Numbers 21). The point of comparison Jesus was making to Nicodemus was that, at our core, we as well are corrupted by the deadly poison of personal sin. As the apostle Paul writes, "all have sinned and fall curt of the glory of God." (Romans three:23, assuming emphasis added). Unfortunately, the consequences of this sin are spiritual expiry and eternal separation from God (Romans six:23).
Thankfully, as God provided a way out for the Israelites, He provided the perfect Savior and healer through His Son, Jesus Christ. Every bit the bronze ophidian was raised up to relieve the children of State of israel, then Jesus Christ was raised on the cross to be our saving grace. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "but God demonstrates his own honey for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
He went on to contend that, "because of his not bad love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—information technology is by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4). Jesus made it clear: to enter the kingdom of God and experience true transformation, forgiveness, and healing, complete renewal and regeneration are required. The poisonous substance of sin is likewise nifty to overcome by any quick fix or homo antidote. We must be built-in again.
According to Matthew Henry, "corruption and sin are woven into our nature; we are shapen in iniquity, which makes it necessary that the nature exist changed. Information technology is not enough to put on a new coat or a new face up, merely we must put on the new man, we must exist new creatures."
Jesus argued that we must start over and be "born again" into a new life "of water and the Spirit." (John 3:5)
Several passages of the New Testament repeat this idea.
"He saved usa, not on the basis of act which nosotros have done in righteousness, merely co-ordinate to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ." (Titus 3:5-6)
"If you lot know that He is righteous, you lot know that everyone too who practices righteousness is born of Him." (1 John ii:29)
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His corking mercy has acquired usa to be built-in over again to a living promise through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter one:three)
The Bible makes it clear. You must be born again, in order to exist saved.
How Are Christians Built-in Once again?
It'south important to affirm what the Bible says about salvation and that Christians are Not born again by their own piece of work or merits. Unlike many world religions, salvation is not obtained past anything we do but rather what Christ does in us. Nosotros are non capable of saving ourselves from our sin, nor are we able to buy our manner into heaven.
" For by grace you have been saved through organized religion; and this is not of yourselves, information technology is the gift of God; not a result of works, and then that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:viii-nine)
True Christians must accept the foundational truth of the Gospel, that is, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross, was buried, and rose over again three days later. In doing so, He alone interceded before God on our behalf, paying the ultimate cost for our sin once and for all and then that we might be saved (Hebrews 7:25).
"And there is salvation in no i else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among flesh by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
Jesus said it best in His conversation with Nicodemus: "for God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that anybody who believes in Him volition non perish, but have eternal life. For God did non ship the Son into the world to gauge the world, but and so that the world might exist saved through Him." (John 3:16-17). Human being wisdom may merits that there are many paths to God and heaven. Jesus, however, speedily dispelled this prevarication, proverb, "I am the fashion, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)
Those who wish to be born once more must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cantankerous and was resurrected. They must acknowledge that they have sinned and are in need of saving. They must confess their sin and accept the gratuitous souvenir of salvation offered through Jesus Christ. Every bit it is written, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, and so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (ane John one:ix)
What Is the Significance of 'Y'all Must Be Born Once again'?
In response to Nicodemus's confusion virtually the meaning of being built-in again, Jesus answered, "truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5-6)
The one who is born again exchanges the decadent, sinful life for a new life born from in a higher place. That person receives a fresh start in the form of forgiveness, eternal salvation, and spiritual renewal. Without, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. The apostle Paul writes, " if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new cosmos; the sometime things passed abroad; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Paul besides writes in his letter to the Galatians that, "I take been crucified with Christ; and information technology is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I at present live in the mankind I alive by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:twenty).The 1 who is born again is freed from the shackles of sin and death. Paul laid it out in this way, "knowing this, that our old cocky was crucified with Him (Christ), in club that our body of sin might exist done away with, and then that nosotros would no longer be slaves to sin; for the ane who has died is freed from sin." (Romans six:half-dozen-7)
The apostle John also argued that, " no one who has been built-in of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God." (1 John iii:9). Does this mean that we will never sin or make mistakes? No. Jesus paid the price for our sin. Through His death, our previous life of sin has been crucified with Him (Romans 6:10). We will all the same brand mistakes. We are not perfect. All the same, upon beingness built-in once more, sin and the things of this world no longer hold mastery over united states, for Christ overcame sin and the world, nosotros have been born anew in Him (1 John 5:1-four).
In doing and then, those who are born again are given a new heart, a new heed, and somewhen a new trunk in eternity, distinct from the polluted, corrupt things of this world. Every bit information technology is written, " do not be conformed to this earth, but exist transformed by the renewing of your listen, and so that you may testify what the will of God is, that which is good and adequate and perfect."(Romans 12:2). Nicodemus's inability to understand what Jesus meant by being "born again" proved Jesus's indicate perfectly.
To the earthly mind, the spiritual wonders of God and eternity often seem like foolishness. Agreement can only come from a spiritual transformation and re-forging of the mind through Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). According to Matthew Henry, "the natural man must become a spiritual human being, before he is capable of receiving and understanding them." The ane who is born once again is transformed from the inside out. Their desires change, their attitudes and actions are reformed, and their life begins to produce new fruit, born of the spirit (Ephesians 5:22-26).
More importantly, Jesus paid the toll for our sin and so that we might go "children of God" and heirs to His kingdom, welcomed, "into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." (1 Peter i:four). This inheritance, Jesus argued is our eternal treasure and reward (Matthew 6:19-21).
Equally it is written in book of Jeremiah, "y ou will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:xiii). And find Him Nicodemus did. Nicodemus may have come to Jesus in individual, but he, like many, would somewhen confirm his belief in Jesus publicly. He too would exist born again and made new through Christ's work on the cross, proving that Christ came and died for all and that "whoever will call on the proper noun of the Lord volition be saved." (Romans 10:13)
Further Reading
What Does "Built-in Once more" Mean? Why Did Jesus Say "You Must Be Built-in Again"?
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