{"id":10776,"date":"2006-09-27T20:57:38","date_gmt":"2006-09-28T01:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=10776"},"modified":"2021-12-07T21:50:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:50:07","slug":"are-you-a-born-again-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-a-born-again-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You a Born Again Christian?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\tby Steve Dewhirst\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What other kind of Christian is there? Jesus told the night-visitor Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God<\/em>.” When Nicodemus expressed his puzzlement, the Lord explained, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God<\/em>” (John 3:3-5).<\/p>\n

This rebirth is universally equated with the forgiveness of sins and salvation. Jesus testified of two elements necessary to experience our new birth: water and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is involved in several ways. First, His work of revealing God’s Will to man is the avenue through which we learn of God’s desire to save us. “Of His Own Will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth…<\/em>” (James 1:18). Second, the Spirit “seals” or marks-for-identification those who come to belong to God (Ephesians 1:13). And third, included in this “sealing,” the Spirit is “given to those who obey Him<\/em>” (Acts 5:32). We may not understand all aspects of the Spirit dwelling in us, but we do know that without the inspired Scriptures we could not be saved, for “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God<\/em>” (Romans 10:17).<\/p>\n

But the other essential element of being born-again is water. The only sense in which water is ever mentioned in connection to a “new life,” is when speaking of water baptism for the remission of sins (Romans 6:3,4; Colossians 2:12,13). It’s also interesting to note that many denominational commentators, who personally reject baptism as having any connection to salvation, admit that John 3:3-5 teaches water baptism for that very purpose.<\/p>\n

The late Dr. Merrill C. Tenney, well-known theologian and long-time lecturer at Wheaton College in Illinois, taught in his Bible classes that John 3:3-5 teaches water baptism for the remission of sins. To Dr. Tenney, the meaning was so obvious it could not be denied. But when asked how he reconciled the fact that Jesus taught water baptism, while being affiliated with a denomination that denied the importance of it, he replied, “I can’t.” Well, he was nothing, if not straightforward.<\/p>\n

Water baptism is an act of faith that declares our confidence in God to raise us to a new spiritual life, just as He raised Jesus from the grave (Colossians 2:12). We have faith to obey Jesus in baptism because the Holy Spirit inspired men to write God’s Word for us. The Spirit and water are both essential to being born again; hence, Jesus’ Words: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.<\/em>” There can be no real Christians, except born- again Christians.<\/p>\n

Curiously though, the world has completely redefined the meaning of being born-again. Nowadays it’s relatively popular to be “born-again.” From politicians and actors wishing to change a “bad boy” image, to our neighbors next door, everyone is being born-again. But this vital soul-saving principle taught by Jesus has been altered to accommodate the “wisdom” of men.<\/p>\n

Instead of being born “of water and the Spirit,<\/em>” folks are told to just “accept Jesus as your personal Savior,” even though no Scripture is produced to support the instruction. Or perhaps people are told to “invite Jesus into your heart.” Again, however, no passage can be found to illustrate the correctness of such a move. In fact, nearly anything can be an acceptable means of being “born again,” except the things Jesus actually taught!! Conversations can turn downright ugly if one even tries to mention baptism. Instead of being a simple act of faith, baptism has been transformed into a “work” that only ignorant, insincere people use to try to earn their redemption.<\/p>\n

And this, despite the words of the apostle Paul: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit…<\/em>” (Titus 3:4,5). Even sectarian writers acknowledge that the “washing of regeneration<\/em>” is a reference to water baptism. And note that Paul makes a clear distinction between the meritorious works of men on the one hand and baptism on the other. Baptism, properly understood, is an act of faith, not a “good work” one does to “win points” with God. How can it be that everyone wants to be “born again,” but so few seem willing to do what Jesus taught? It must be because modern man wants to take the lead in his own salvation, rather than being led by the Spirit.<\/p>\n

At any rate, next time someone asks the familiar question, “Are you a born-again Christian?” look at him dumbly and reply, “What other kind is there?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Dewhirst What other kind of Christian is there? Jesus told the night-visitor Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” When Nicodemus expressed his puzzlement, the Lord explained, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5). This rebirth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[52,99,618,47],"class_list":["post-10776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-becoming-a-christian","tag-born-again","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94982,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-sure-jesus-is-talking-about-actual-water-in-john-35\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":0},"title":"I’m not sure Jesus is talking about actual water in John 3:5","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I just had some questions about John 3:5. I am not sure whether Jesus is referring to literal water here. The reason I say that is that later in the book of John, Jesus attributes the Holy Spirit and calls it \"Living Water\" when talking to the woman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-must-be-born-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":1},"title":"You Must Be Born Again","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 3:1-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I had a fellow ask me if I had been born again. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In particular, he wanted to know how I came to believe such a thing. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I replied with I John 2:3-6; 4:6; 5:2-3, he became quite upset \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He wanted to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12167,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-new-birth-of-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":2},"title":"The New Birth of Water","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by James E. Cooper in\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 5, No. 2, Feb. 2005 Question: \u00a0\"Does 'born of water' in John 3:3,5 refer to baptism? Answer: \u00a0Jesus said to Nicodemus, \"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,\" and \"Unless one is born of water and the Spirit,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Baptism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28068,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/born-again-into-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":3},"title":"Born Again Into The Kingdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by H.E. Phillips via\u00a0Searching the Scriptures, February 1992, Volume 33, Number 2 The church is the people who are \"a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-receiving-the-holy-spirit-mean-baptism-in-water-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":4},"title":"Does receiving the Holy Spirit mean baptism in water is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another friend that believes you don't need water baptism because once you believe that's when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and that's when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. She gave me theses Scriptures: Acts 11:14-16, Acts 11:47-48, Matthew 3:11-15, Acts 10:44-48, Titus 3:5,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":79216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-jesus-mention-baptism-to-nicodemus\/","url_meta":{"origin":10776,"position":5},"title":"Why didn’t Jesus mention baptism to Nicodemus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why didn't Jesus mention baptism to Nicodemus in the gospel of John when he asked? Answer: Great question. I love Nicodemus's story, and I believe it can help us understand the need for water baptism. 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