[James R. Aist]

Do you know what Jesus meant when He said, "You must be born again." Are you born again?

[SADMILLIE]

Excellent question. It simply means that you accept that Jesus is the Son of God and HE died on the cross and rose from the dead for all your sins,past present and future, BORN AGAIN!! John 3:16. Simple.

[HarleyD]

Excellent article. I think of Peter's response:

Joh 6:68-69 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

If this is what one truly believes, and they can honestly say they know, then they are born again. But it is a question each of us must ask ourselves.

[OrangeHoof]

Paul says we were dead in our trespasses and sins. To be born again is to be made alive (spiritually) through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross that restored our fellowship with the Almighty.

[yldstrk]

It has been grossly taken out of context by Protestants

[lquist1]

Simple; born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.

[onthelookout777]

The gospel (good news) of eternal salvation:

The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who died on the cross as our substitute.

He paid the penalty for our sins.

He took the punishment that we deserve.

God’s provision of eternal salvation is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8,9).

God, through Jesus Christ, did everything.

All you do is accept that free gift.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

The Bible explains how to be saved (how to receive the free gift of eternal salvation):

John 3:16-18
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVES in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He who BELIEVES on him is not condemned: but he who does not BELIEVE is condemned already, because he has not BELIEVED in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Romans 4:5
But to the one who does not work, but BELIEVES in Him who justifies the ungodly, his FAITH is reckoned as righteousness

Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:28
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by FAITH without the deeds of the law

John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to BELIEVE in the one he has sent.”

John 6:47
(Jesus Christ said) He who BELIEVES in me has everlasting life.

Acts 16:31
BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved

Acts 10:43
Every one who BELIEVES in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

John 11:25-26
(Jesus Christ said) I am the resurrection and the life. He who BELIEVES in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and BELIEVES in me will never die. Do you BELIEVE this?

[SoConPubbie]

Do you know what Jesus meant when He said, "You must be born again." Are you born again?

I think the best example, the most clear example, can be found in Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

Romans is really the handbook for finding God, or Salvation, or being Born Again, or the New Birth as John Wesley called it.

Romans chapter 7 and 8, where Paul, speaking in the third person, is a very clear "definition". In Chapter 7, Paul, talks about a man who has become aware, or awakened to his need. His utter sinfulness, his utter helplessness to stop sinning, his utter helplessness to help himself in anyway. This chapter also makes it clear that he is condemned, and that his condemnation is the fault of his sin. At the close of Chapter 7, that sinner starts to turn to God, to Jesus for help, not knowing anywhere else to go.

Romans chapter 8 starts with verse 1 where Paul states that "Now there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus". This man has found Salvation, he has been born again!

Where there is no condemnation, there can be no sin, because sinning is what brought the condemnation.

So the work of God wrought in this man who basically fell on Jesus and asked him for deliverance include both the forgiveness of his past sins, and deliverance from the power that that sin had over his soul.

Furthermore, farther down in chapter 8, Paul states that "His Spirit witnesses with our spirit, that we are the children of God". So not only does he forgives us, and gives us power over our sin, but he goes further and cements this new birth with Knowledge, given by God himself.

So, if we are walking in his grace, we should not only believe that we are saved, but if, in truth, we are saved, we should know it as well.

And as further proof, that in this New Birth experience, this being "Born Again" includes a change in the inner man, or regeneration, please consider the following:

II Corithinthians 5:17-19
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

[Vision]

Born again simply means experienced in life to me.

You have lived through your earthly instincts and pleasures to realize that to live for Christ is where true happiness, peace, and direction lie.

[evangmlw]

The Bible maintains that “the wages of sin is death.” It then goes on to say, “all have sinned.” The prophet Jeremiah said of man, “the heart of man is “desperately sick,” or “deceitfully wicked.” God cannot allow the desperately sick or the deceitfully wicked entrance into heaven; or heaven would be defiled. Therefore, the only way a man can become righteous and be made holy is to be born-again. To be born-again is to have Christ, the Great Physician do a supernatural work on our desperately sick heart. Once Christ performs spiritual surgery on us, we then begin to grow into the image and likeness of Christ. We also receive a new nature, Peter defines as a “divine nature,” which grows, develops, and matures into what God intends us to do. To be born-again is a divine work, a supernatural work, that takes place in the central core of man’s being — his heart. At that moment we receive the “righteousness of Christ,” and become “new creatures in Christ.” The door of heaven opens to me due to the “righteousness of Christ,” not by my own works of righteousness, which God defines as “filthy rags.” Jesus said, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In order to communicate and know God, one must be born of the Spirit of God. Those who have not been born-again, are spiritually dead “in trespasses and sin.” Dead men cannot hear, cannot speak, cannot contact God. The good news is, just as Jesus raised the physical dead, He likewise raises the spritual dead. Have you been born again?

[Revolting cat!]

It was hard enough being born once. No, thanks.

[Just mythoughts]

Jesus did not say born again, He said born from above. At conception the soul/spirit intellect is placed in the flesh. Those fallen angels of Genesis 6 and Jude, nor the first rebel, will not see or enter the kingdom of God.

[VerySadAmerican]

Once your eyes are opened to the truth that Jesus is God, and confess your sins before man and be baptized, you will go under the water a sinner. You will come up re-born into a new understanding. That’s my take. It will be a new starting place on your journey.

[firebrand]

The surest sign is that you become totally obnoxious. You’re a baby in Christ, and you think you can just tell everyone about him. They look at you like you are wack. That’s the proof.

[wolfman]

We can never pay God for what Jesus did for us on the cross. How can we even begin to pay for the love of God and the grace of God where Jesus would become a sacrifice for us and become our sin-bearer? That’s why throughout all of eternity we’re going to be debtors to God, and that’s why I think Heaven is going to be so filled with praises is that we are going to see more beautifully than we can even imagine here on earth the fact that we were saved by God’s grace and en­tirely by God’s grace.

[uptoolate]

EZ 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

The “new heart”, “new spirit”, “heart of flesh” = “new man”, “new creation”, “born again”, “born from above”,...all from God...along with the granting of repentance...leading to Sanctification.