This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him,
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:
for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
— KJV, John 3:1-7
That the child can repeat the words of his father does not mean he can repay the debt his father owed…
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The term “born again” is of particular interest to the Evangelical and Pentecostal communities.
Biblical Perspectives
Many biblical scholars question the use of the term. For example: John 3 is originally a Greek translation of a conversation between two Jews (Christ and Nicodemus), presumably in the Aramaic language of the time. But the Aramaic language does not contain some of the words that were purportedly translated into Greek. Because of this, questions have arisen about the veracity of the entire conversation.
Others, particularly Bible translators, argue that “born again” is linguistically inaccurate and prefer phrases such as “born from above“. This has been reflected in translations like the New Revised Standard Version.
Let’s Be Real
For our purposes, we will set aside these academic concerns. The Word makes numerous demands for a wholesale change in our mindset and nature, as discussed in earlier essays (e.g. “One Man’s Faith Is Another Man’s Knowledge“, “Fall Down And Worship Me“, “Blessed Are The Pure in Heart“, “Let Not Thy Left Hand Know What Thy Right Hand Doeth“).
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We should agree that The Word demands a complete transformation in human nature, which could justifiably be termed “born again”, even if we take issue with the historical details, religious context, choice of words, mode of translation, or style of interpretation.
Church Perspectives
For non-academics, the ostensibly simple question “What does it mean to be born anew?” has been complicated by various ideas introduced in the intervening centuries, many of which are of religious (not spiritual) relevance.
These include:
- Becoming a child of God through a new birth caused by the Holy Spirit.
- The idea of “justification”
- The idea of “regeneration”
- To be “saved”, or “converted”.
- Accepting Christ as Lord & Saviour.
- Having a personal relationship or personal encounter with Christ.
- Surrendering one’s life to Christ
- Baptism as the catalyst for the required change in nature
- Baptism as giving access to the grace of forgiveness from all past sins
The problem is often with the interpretation and not the choice of words, per se.
As already indicated: confusion is sure to set in once Christians lose sight of the urgent need for a wholesale change in our mindset and nature that The Word is to bring about through personal application (ref. “Act To Experience To Know“) and begin to focus on external behaviours and religious practices (ref. “The Word Is Christ, Not Jesus“).
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
— John 17:17
Born Anew Through The Word
Many of the essays presented earlier provide aspects of what a renewed human nature might look like. So in a sense we have already discussed being “born again“, “born anew“, or “born from above“.
Nonetheless to provide further clarity we will explore some of these related topics in the next few essays, so as to appreciate “born anew” from a variety of angles.
Today’s Resolution:
- We shall use our spiritual intuition, and humility, to penetrate into the actual meaning of the self-renewal that The Word brings.
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