Born Again

The process a person undergoes when they have repented of their sins, confessed the Lord Jesus, and believed in their heart that God has raised him from the dead (salvation prayer) is called being born again. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23). When a person repents, confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and believes the Word of God, which is the name of the Son of God in heaven (1 John 5:7), they are confessing that they believe that the Word of God came into the world "that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17). "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The name of the Son of God, the Word of God, is a descriptive name: God's name is synonymous with his character. "And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:5-7). Therefore, if through continuous study (John 8:30-32) coupled with faith and obedience through suffering (experience), you know—understand and trust—the Word of God, then you know God himself. God and his Word "agree in one." Jesus said, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also" (John 14:7). Aaron Clark adds this for your edification:

Faith, by far, is a great challenge to the human psyche. The gospel of Jesus Christ says that, right now, not by power, nor by might, we are something we could never conceive or contribute to; new creatures in Christ; born again and reconciled to God by someone we've never seen, through an act we did not witness. In all practicality, it is illogical.

The natural mind is constantly grasping for something in the natural to accredit this unworthy position. Thus, the battle grows intense between flesh and spirit. The flesh is constantly saying, we must do to receive and the spirit is saying, we have received, so we must do. The natural mind sees it one way: work at it. The Spirit says, walk in it.

When a man finally receives, by faith, what he can not obtain by work, it liberates him eternally. He works, but never sees it as work. "Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). It is the outpouring of what has been put in him by the miraculous power of God by regeneration. It's a new life altogether and it's given and sustained by the grace of God.²¹⁴

Being born again is the first step to being delivered from the wages of sin, which is death. "The penalty of sin is confirmation in sin. It is not only God who punishes for sin; sin confirms itself in the sinner and gives back full pay. No struggling nor praying will enable you to stop doing some things, and the penalty of sin is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is sin. No power save the incoming of the Holy Ghost can alter the inherent consequences of sin."¹⁶ Through the regenerative process of spiritual rebirth—baptized with the Holy Ghost, a person is remade from the inside. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7). Their sins are washed clean (water—the Word of God and blood—the Holy Ghost), they receive a new heart—a new spirit of man (mankind), and they receive the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, to dwell within their spirit. Examine the scriptures following which testify of this regenerative process:

How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? (Job 25:4)

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. (John 3:3-5)

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:21-22)

Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. (John 13:8)

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (John 15:3)

The cleansing through Jesus Christ is threefold: forgiveness of sin, purification of the conscience (Ezekiel 37:25-27; Hebrews 9:8-14), and deliverance from the oppression of the devil. "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ... Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit" (Psalm 51:2, 9-12). Water has been used throughout the Bible to symbolize cleansing. In Genesis, water is used to cleanse the corruptness on the earth (Genesis 6). In Leviticus and Numbers, water is used to cleanse the unclean. "And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin ... But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean" (Numbers 19:9, 20; see also Leviticus 11, 14, 15, 17; Numbers 8, 31). In the Gospels, John the Baptist baptized with water for the repentance of sins (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3; John 1; John 3). All these were examples of physical cleansing (purifying of the flesh) symbolic of the spiritual cleansing (baptized with the Holy Ghost) that was to come through Jesus Christ. "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one" (1 John 5:6-8). "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Revelation 1:5-6). "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him" (Acts 10:36, 38).

It is by the Holy Ghost dwelling in us that we are empowered to obey the Word of God (Ezekiel 36:27). "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). Thus, faith in God inherently requires obedience to his Word and obedience to his Word brings understanding, which engenders cleansing of our minds and heart. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever" (Psalm 111:10). And "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches" (Proverbs 24:3-4). Obedience, however, must be learned through suffering: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). In the Old Testament, we see that even though Saul was symbolically born again—turned into another man—he did not receive the Holy Ghost to dwell within him. "And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man ... And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day" (1 Samuel 10:6, 9). As a result, his conscience was not purged "from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14). Ultimately, Saul's faith and loyalty were not in God: "for unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). Now under the New Testament, we overcome the world, that is, we overcome sin and death by believing and obeying the Word of God. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). God's investment in us of his Holy Ghost has a specific return expected: "Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19). Ultimately the goal is for each of us to be a walking temple of God; wherein God, by his Spirit, has made his abode: the Word of God "is come" in our flesh.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:21-23)

"For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it" (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever" (Deuteronomy 5:29)!

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