Born Again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;  this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old?  He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and 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.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:1-8

It was not too many years ago that the media and even some mainline Christian church leaders tried to demonize those who talked about being born again as being less Christian than those who possessed an intellectualized faith. 

While intellectualized faith fosters much good doing, it misses the heart of the Gospel.  That being that Jesus calls on each of us to have a personal relationship with Him, which begins with making a personal commitment to Him.  This personal commitment contains an element of recognizing that we can do better and confessing and repenting of our sin.  This is a spiritual experience or as Jesus said: being born again. 

Being born again is not just Evangelical lingo; it is the foundation upon which our salvation is built.  It is the key to the kingdom of God.   

Jesus calls us to come to Him, to repent, to be forgiven and to be born again.