Born Again by the Word of God

One of the most common concepts of Protestant Christianity, except perhaps in the modernized mainline denominations, is the necessity of the “new birth”. The most well known scripture dealing with it is of course in John 3, where Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus.

Jn. 3:3-6 – “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.”

Nicodemus was confused, because physical rebirth is obviously impossible. Jesus’ explanation is that entrance into the kingdom of God requires a non-physical, spiritual birth. As natural human beings we are “of flesh”; by nature physically alive, though with the capacity for rational thought, will, purpose, appreciation of beauty, etc. What most people do not understand is that mental awareness, rationality, and emotional capacities are not the same as spiritual life. The natural soul is unfit for, and incapable of comprehending the things of the Spirit, and the kingdom of God.

1 Cor. 2:14 – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

The natural question then becomes how does a person become born again? The common perception is, that a person hears the gospel, decides to believe it, then says the “sinner’s prayer” or “goes down to the altar”, asking God to save them. This all seems to make sense, especially in Arminian environments, where the belief is that all men, even though lost in sin, still maintain a “free will” through which they can exercise faith in what they have heard, and “decide” to become a Christian. This is to “accept” Jesus. We hear, we pray, we accept Jesus, we decide to get “born again”. In short, the new birth is seen to be nothing but an offer on God’s side, and everything from then on depends on us and our supposed free will either to accept of reject his offer.

A disturbing fact however is that a large number of these conversions do not last, or the people develop into nothing more than religious church attenders. In John 6 Jesus said several things that make us wonder about many of these professions of faith.

Jn. 6:37 – “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Jn. 6:39-40 – “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jn. 6:44 – “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Jn. 6:47 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you , He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

The main points to be raised here are:

1.       Nobody can come to Jesus, unless the Father draws them (44).

2.       All that the Father gives to Christ shall come to him (37).

3.       Jesus will reject not a single one who comes to him (37).

4.       Every one who sees and believes on Christ has everlasting life (40, 47).

5.       Of those who come to Christ, none will be lost (39-40), and

6.       They will be raised up at the last day (39, 40, 44)

So what are we to make of the great number (even a majority) or those who “accept” Jesus but later fall away, and never bear any of the holy fruit of a Christian life? Are we to accept their professions of faith as genuine, even though there is no practical evidence of a changed life? A Christian should be fundamentally different after the new birth. Were they ever saved? Do they need to “get saved again”?

2 Cor. 5:17 – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The fundamental error in this thinking is that salvation is something that we choose as a function of our own free will, that we can decide when and where we will believe, and that repentance is somehow at our command. For example, some say they will get saved when they are older (too old to enjoy their current sins).

On the contrary, the Bible says faith and repentance are gifts of God. Even the analogy of the new birth contradicts the common view. When we were born physically, we had absolutely nothing to say about it – not when, where, or even whether we would be born. We did not even have a say on whether we would exist at all. From conception to birth, the baby has no choice. So why would Jesus use this analogy, if the new birth is under our own will and control?

What the Bible does say is that the new birth is “by the word of God”, that it is he who chose and begat us.

James 1:18 – “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

1 P. 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

1 P. 1:23 – “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

Notice that it is God’s will that determines our birth, and that it is he who begets us. And how does he bring this new birth about? By his word. We might ordinarily consider “the word” to be the Bible, as when men hear the preaching of the gospel by quoting scriptures, but it really comes before that. God chose us and foreordained us - he knew us before the foundations of the world. Our new birth is not something that comes up by accident as we happen to hear the gospel and just decide to believe it. It is one of the middle links in a long chain of God’s wisdom (foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification).

Rom. 8:29-30 – “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

So out of his eternal foreknowledge of us, he predestinated all that it would take to bring us to Christ. He gave us an effectual call, justified us through the blood of his Son, and will continue to see us through all the way to glorification.  When we first believed on and received Christ, we could not see that God had already been acting to bring us to that point. In fact he gave us that new birth BEFORE we believed on Christ (if only a moment before), and it is that new life that enabled us to believe. Before that new birth we were spiritually dead, and had no ability to believe what we were hearing. And how did that new birth come about? God spoke life into our dead hearts, and we became alive in a new birth, a re-generation.

Tit. 3:5 – “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.”

This regeneration includes not just the giving of spiritual life in a new birth, but also a cleansing, called the “washing of regeneration”. We become spiritually alive, forgiven and cleansed from all sin, through the blood of Jesus’ sacrificial death and atonement.  

A proper understanding of the new birth as being truly a work of God’s Spirit, and not merely something we were led to by a well-choreographed church service, guilt, soft music, an inspiring altar call, and 37 verses of “Just As I Am”, followed by “slipping up your hand” will help us to appreciate more fully these famous words:

Eph. 2:8-10 – “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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Understanding this also frees us as pastors, teachers, or “witnesses”, from a performance mentality, thinking that if we don’t have countable numbers of sinner’s prayers, baptisms, and church memberships that we are religious failures. Our purpose and calling is to present the gospel in truth and plainness to whoever will listen, with no knowledge of who God is effectively calling. We cannot save anyone by the truth, power or clarity of our preaching (though we should aim for all three), but we can rest in the faith that God’s Word will not return to him void, and that among all those who hear us, the elect will respond.