What It Means to Be Born Again in Christianity

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognise that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.”
2 Corinthians 13:5-6 NLT

In a previous blog we asked the question, “Who or what is a Christian”? And to start with, we defined some basics such as “A Christian is someone who belongs to Jesus Christ, by trusting in Him, following Him, and being transformed by Him”. We also mentioned the importance of being “born again”, understanding what that means and reading what Jesus Himself said in His conversation with Nicodemus. John 3:5, 7, “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. … So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’”. There are some “Christians” who deride the “born again” element in believers, whom they assign to a fringe element of fundamentalism populated by bigots and right-wing extremists. But being “born again” is that wonderful moment when a new believer suddenly bursts into a new experience where they find a spiritual world they didn’t know existed before. Some people take a long time to make the transition from spiritual darkness into the wonderful light of God’s Kingdom. Others have a Damascus Road experience, but whatever the process, Jesus said that being “born again” is necessary to become a Christian. It is so sad that there is a schism in the Christian faith, in the same way that there is a schism between those who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and those who don’t. 

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, someone who tries to align their lives with the teachings of Jesus. It is a hard road to adopt because there is much opposition from society around us and more from within us, as our sinful person (our “old man”), rebels against living the Jesus way. Luke 9:23, “Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me””. The Cross to which Jesus referred was His own, a place where He laid down His own life in obedience to His Father. We pilgrims also have crosses, where we have laid down our lives in following Jesus wherever He takes us on our journey to Glory. 

A Christian is someone who has been redeemed from slavery to sin. Through Christ, a Christian is justified—declared righteous—not by their own works, but by grace. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us”. Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”. These self-revealing verses mark the start of the Christian neophyte’s journey through life and form the basis of faith in God.

A born-again believer is a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Acts 2:38 describes how the Holy Spirit is a gift from God. “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit””. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? …”. Paul also wrote, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Romans 8:14), with the implication that those who are not led by the Spirit are somehow not part of His family. 

A Christian goes through a process of sanctification in their lives, as they become and behave more like Jesus and start to display the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” 

Finally, a Christian is adopted into God’s family. John 1:12-13, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God”. What a wonderful privilege it is to be a child of God. But as with all families, there are times of difficulty, and children will wander off and get into danger. We read the parable of the Prodigal Son, and become deeply touched by a picture of the Father waiting for the wayward child to return into His arms. God, our Father, is always there for us, the perfect Parent, who sadly but willingly lets His children follow their own ways, but who is always ready to welcome them home.

We pilgrims are children of God, followers of Jesus and a part of His family, both in this life and the life to come. We examine ourselves regularly, praying as David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). God is faithful, and He will answer that prayer, because He loves us too much not to.

Dear Loving Heavenly Father. Please forgive us for our waywardness and rebellion. We are Your children, and we live our lives as representatives of You in our families and communities. Please help us to grow up and become more like Jesus, Your loving Son and our elder brother. In Your name we ask. Amen.

The Power of the Cross

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:17-18 NLT

Crucifixion was a terrible way to execute someone. To nail or tie someone to a wooden structure, and leave them there until they die is an offence to us Western peoples. The cruelty of such an act exposes the darkest and most evil side of human beings, and is the opposite of God’s message of love and forgiveness. Yet for many years around the time of Christ it was a common form of execution. However, because of Christ and His death on the cross, the meaning of the cross today is completely different. 

The Jewish Passover was a festival commemorating the time when the angel of death “passed over” the homes of the Israelite slaves in Egypt, homes identified by the smearing of a lamb’s blood over the doorposts and lintels of the house. The process was set out in Exodus 12 and we read that the lamb chosen was to be a one-year-old male with no defects. But as we turn to John’s Gospel, we hear John the Baptist’s announcement, recorded in John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”” God’s plan was to provide His Son, Jesus, to be the sacrificial lamb, ensuring that the sprinkling of His blood (in a spiritual sense) would ensure that God’s judgement “passed over” the ones who believed in Jesus and who have looked to Him as their Saviour from the wrath to come. We pilgrims know and understand that it is only through Jesus that redemption can be found, and He went through the pain and humiliation of death on a cross to make that happen. 

So the message of the cross is a powerful spiritual declaration, saying once and for all time that there is a way back to God regardless of the devil’s protestations and plans. The Cross of Christ “is the very power of God”, but ignored and even ridiculed by those who fail to understand its message. Firstly, through Jesus’ death on the Cross came the power of God to forgive us from our sins. Words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 15:3, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said“. Secondly, through the Cross we are reconciled to God. Paul again from 2 Corinthians 5:19, “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation”. And it is worth noting that we pilgrims are on a mission to share the power of the Cross with those around us, in the hope and expectation that they too will be reconciled to God. 

Thirdly, it is through the power of the Cross that we are renewed. As the power of sin and death is broken, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live lives marked by love, joy, and peace. This renewal isn’t merely superficial but penetrates the core of our being and leads to a transformation of character and a renewed purpose. But there is more. A fourth benefit for us believers is through healing. Peter wrote in his first letter, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed” (1 Peter 2:24). While this doesn’t mean that God will fulfil every request for healing, it does mean that we can have confidence when we approach God in faith to request healing. This is because we are simply asking for what Jesus has already purchased for us. 

The power of the Cross brings the promise of eternal life. John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life“. We know the story of the bronze snake from Numbers 21. The Israelites were grumbling about their food, which they called manna, and we read what happened. “So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died” (Numbers 21:6). And then a couple of verses further on we read, “Then the Lord told [Moses], “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!”. That bronze pole and snake were a type of what was to come when the Son of Man, Christ Himself, was lifted up on the Cross, providing the power for people to live, with a life that is eternal. 

As believers we have a responsibility and a calling, as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me“. Romans 6:6-8, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him“. From Matthew 16:24-25 we read the words of Jesus Himself, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it”. We pilgrims identify with Christ’s Cross, because it was there we left, nailed in place, our pre-redeemed selves. The problem of course for many believers is that they constantly return to the Cross and take down their old selves, returning again to their old way of life. But that’s another story.

We could go on. The very loving act of Jesus who willingly died a horrible death so that we could live with Him forever, is an act of love never before seen in this world. Quote from C S Lewis, “The Son of Man became a man to enable men to become sons of God“. We will be eternally grateful for Jesus and the Power of the Cross. And His shed blood will keep on pouring, a fountain of redemption available until the end of time. What a privilege we pilgrims have in knowing what we know. And we share our knowledge with others at every opportunity because there is no limit to the numbers of believers that can be accommodated in Heaven. 

Dear Father God. We love you and worship You, bewildered by Your grace and love, but eternally grateful for all You have done for us. Thank You. Amen.