More than 2000 years ago, Jesus came to Earth. He did not come as a king then. Instead, he was born in a manger as a carpenter’s (some would say a stonemason’s) son. However, this was not a chance event; it was a fulfillment of a prophecy that God revealed to the Israelites since the days of the prophet Isaiah. The baby was born to a virgin, and He would be called Emmanuel (God Among Us).
Why did Jesus come in such humble circumstances? When Christ Jesus first came, He had a different mission. He came so that we may know God the Father. Jesus lived and walked amidst the ordinary people, worked and performed miracles among them, and brought hope to the masses. During his ministry on Earth, Jesus taught the Israelites and us about the Kingdom of God. He came so that we might live life to the fullest. Not least, He taught us how to prepare as God’s people for the culmination of God’s grand plan. Fundamental in all of these teachings is the New Birth and being reborn again as Christians.
Born Again
Born again: the phrase has puzzled countless people since Christianity began. Birth is a signifier of something coming into existence. It is the foundation of every living being; everything that lives has first to be birthed. Semantically, then, to be born again is to receive a second life. This is inconsistent with the perception of most of the world, which believes that we each have only one life. How is it possible to be born again?
2000 years ago, Nicodemus sought Jesus for the answer to this question. Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Unlike many others in that council, however, he was a sincere seeker. In John 3, we read of how Jesus taught Nicodemus about the second birth. The verb “to be born again” appears in John 3:3 and again in John 3:7. The first time Jesus mentions it, He also stated that, in truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born again. This is the first intimation of the importance of the second birth. Also in this statement is the context that this birth would come “from above“. In response, Nicodemus asked a very natural question:
“How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus’s reply (John 3:5) mystified Nicodemus.
To Be Born of Water and the Spirit
Nicodemus was a wise man. “To be born again” signals new life in the family of God. This much he understood. To be born “from above” and “of water and the Spirit” was a paradigm shift and something new. Today, after the events recorded in the book of Acts, we have a better understanding of what Jesus meant.
There have been multiple interpretations of what Jesus meant by being born of “water and the Spirit“. Some of us may understand it in the context of baptism in water and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Others understand the Spirit as the working of God who transforms people from lives of futility to a future of eternal fellowship in God’s Kingdom. Another interpretation is that water refers to the natural birth while Spirit refers to the supernatural work of God.
No matter the interpretation, one thing remains consistent. To be reborn again – to be born of water and the Spirit – involves more than just the observance of rituals. It involves the supernatural working of God in the lives of the born-again. It is to have our hearts transformed from “stone” to “flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). While nothing has altered in our physical forms, there is a new and genuine change of moral and spiritual orientation acted out by God’s Spirit.
Jesus did not leave Nicodemus without answers. He told Nicodemus that whoever believes or has faith in the Son of Man and in His redeeming work on the cross will never perish but have eternal life. By placing faith in Jesus Christ, the believer invites God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) into our hearts and receives new life. It results in the new birth of the believer. It brings us into God’s family. The Second Birth is the supernatural adoption of believers of Christ by God, thus to be born again into a new identity.
The Renewal of All Things and the New World
To be born again confers on us the title of Children of God and a relationship with God as our divine Father. It changes our purpose in life and is an active element. It is more a gift than a reward, more a call to service than a moral designation, and more a sign of hope than of social conservatism. We no longer place significance in rituals and are no longer conservative only because we are taught to be conservative. We understand the reasons for God’s values in an authentic way. It is vibrant and comes from a response to a relationship with Christ Jesus.
In terms of eschatology, being born again encourages us to look forward to the day when we will live with God in the Kingdom of God. When Jesus walked among the Israelites, He taught the masses about the Kingdom (we can read about it in such passages of the Bible as the beatitudes (Matthew 5)).
The Bible also speaks about the Millennial Kingdom, the Messianic Kingdom of Christ. In fact, the whole Bible looks towards this Kingdom as history approaches its completion. One day the broken Earth that is currently filled with evil and suffering will be restored and renewed, all nations will recognise the supremacy of God, and God’s people in Israel will find rest from all its trouble.
The traumas of the Great Tribulation will give way to the Millennial Reign and then will come the new heaven and new earth; a splendid and joyous place of life with God. It is our great hope as a people of God. In the meantime, however, we who have been given the gift of “new birth” have roles as God’s visible voice through lives of faith and positive good works.
Note: This article is shaped throughout by the book Big Ideas of the Bible, published by Barbour Publishing Inc. Used by permission.
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