What It Means to Be Born Again
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truths designed to challenge, encourage, and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contain the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version, and a sheet for note-taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Please visit our YouTube Channel (Barry Johnson Ministries; New Light Faith Ministries, Inc.) to watch or listen to these lessons as well as other available sermons. Be blessed.
Introduction
Our lesson today will focus on what it means to be born again and we want to state up front that parts of this lesson were adapted from Barry’s pastor (Pastor Jim Martin of Grace Christian Center) teaching on this subject in his series on Christian Foundations. But before we get started, let’s open with a word of prayer.
If you are reading or listening to this message then you are probably a “born again” believer. Although this term is used to define someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, many people do not understand what “born again” actually means. You see, for many, being born again starts and ends with confessing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and being baptized. It is for this reason that many people continue to struggle with sin because they believe wrongly that they are powerless to stop sinning. However, this is not the case.
The whole purpose of being born again is about changing the course of our lives, first and foremost from a spiritual perspective, and to do that we have to receive the power to live differently. In this lesson, we are going to discuss what it means to be born again and more importantly, what it means to live the life of a born again Christian. But before we do that, we want to take a look at why it is even necessary to be born again.
If you recall from the book of Genesis after God made Adam and before He made Eve, He told him in Genesis 2:15-17, “(15) Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. (16) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”
Well, you know the rest of the story, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree and everything went downhill from there. Because of Adam’s rebellion, man lost the holy and sinless life and nature that God had breathed into Him in Genesis 2:7 – “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
We know that God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and therefore had within Him the power and ability to reverse what Adam had done. But because He had empowered Adam with the free will to make his own decisions, God could not do it. He would not override Adam’s free will. Yes, God could have removed the sin nature Adam had taken on and given back to Adam His “life nature” but God had already rendered to man authority over creation and we see this in Genesis 1:26-28 which states, “(26) Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (27) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Because He had sovereignly given man authority over His creation, God could not arbitrarily move into “man’s territory” to change his spiritual condition. Since it was a man who had introduced sin both to himself and to creation, a man had to do what was necessary to bring about change. The reason for this is because authority in the natural is exercised through the natural. God created a natural body for spiritual man. It is in and through the natural body that spiritual man exercises authority in creation. But because of Adam’s sin, man now had spiritual death working in him instead of spiritual life. The only way this could change would be for another man with the same spiritual life that Adam had originally when he came into existence on the earth to do what was necessary to bring about such a change.
So now, because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve had a sin nature. Because they now had a sin nature, all their children would have a sin nature as well and each subsequent generation would likewise have a sin nature. What this means: every child that has been born since Genesis chapter three has been born with a sin nature – a nature that is different from God’s nature and cannot coexist with the nature of God. Thus, God could not work through a descendant of Adam to redeem man because all of Adam’s descendants had a sinful nature. God would have to get another man into the earth with His life and nature.
But since all of creation was under man’s authority and cursed because of Adam’s sin, God could not simply form another man out of the dust of the earth. He would have to do something completely different: He would have to somehow get man’s cooperation to get a “second Adam” into the world. That man would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Genesis 3:14-15 records, “(14) So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. (15) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’” This was the beginning of God’s plan for man’s redemption.
God’s Plan for Redemption
God’s original plan was for the earth to be filled with people who had the same life and nature as His. God is perfect and holy and there is no sin in His nature and we see this in First John chapter one, verse five which says, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (First John 1:5) Therefore, people with God’s life and nature do not have sin in their nature. When Adam sinned, it introduced the sin nature to humanity. Romans chapter five, verse twelve states the following: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) The sin nature is the opposite of God’s life and nature. As long as a person has the sin nature, he or she will live in a way that does not please God or line up with His original intent for our lives.
God’s plan of redemption included more than just forgiveness. Forgiving man for acts of sin would not change his nature. God wanted man both forgiven for acts of sin and redeemed from the sin nature, which produced the sinful acts. In other words, because of Adam man lost God’s “life nature” to the sin nature. However, in Jesus, man could regain God’s life and destroy the sin nature. We see this beautifully expressed in verse 17 of this same chapter: “For if by the one man's offense (talking about Adam) death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)” (Romans 5:17) Understand, that even though there are times when we may sin, that does not mean that we still have a sin nature. We are children of God, and our nature no longer contains any sin whatsoever. We do not have to sin, but we can choose to do so.
This is one of the most important points that we need to stress in this lesson. We now have God’s nature on the inside of us and we no longer have a nature that binds us to sin and to committing sin. That’s why sin’s power over us is forever broken. Remember, Adam had been warned that he would die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That death was first spiritual and then physical. When he sinned, Adam lost the “covering” and “protection” that God’s life and nature in him provided.
Two things happened after Adam sinned and we see both mentioned in Genesis 3. Genesis 3:9-11 records, “(9) Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ (10) So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ (11) And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’”
The first thing we see recorded after Adam sinned is his response to God when He called out his name – “I was afraid.” For the first time, the created feared the Creator because he recognized that he was no longer like the Creator, and it scared him. This explains why we see “fear not” repeated when an angel interacts with men and women who have a sin nature.
The second thing that happened when Adam and Eve sinned – they became aware that they were naked. Because Adam and Eve recognized that they were naked, shame now became a part of their understanding. God was forced to make coverings for them when He removed them from the Garden of Eden. Their “clothes” were made from animal skins. An animal had to be sacrificed because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Genesis 3:21 says, “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” We know that this was a foreshadowing of the death that Jesus would suffer for humanity when His blood was shed on the cross.
This is the first record in scripture of any kind of physical death (in this case, animal death). It is also the first time sacrifice; bloodshed and death are connected to a person’s sin. Throughout the Old Testament people were commanded by God to sacrifice animals as an atonement for their sin. In the Old Testament the word ‘atonement’ comes from the Hebrew word kaphar, which means “to cover, expiate, make reconciliation, placate, to cancel. In the New Testament it’s the Greek word katallage, which means “to reconcile, restore, exchange.” This means that the death and shedding of animal blood was a substitute for the shedding of blood and death of people who had committed acts of sin. Through the blood and death of the animal, people were able to have a “fresh start” with God, but they still had a sin nature.
For God to accomplish His ultimate goal of making available His divine nature to man, the shedding of man’s blood was required. To fully do the job though, this man would have to be a perfect sacrifice. He would have to live a sinless life (Hebrews 9:11-14). He also would have to be the direct offspring of God, just like Adam. John 1:29 says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Through Jesus, all of humanity could have both atonement for the acts of sin and redemption from the sin nature. Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross as the sacrificial lamb for our sin. Jesus was God’s plan for man’s redemption. Romans 5:12 and 18-21 tell us, “(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…. (18) Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (19) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. (20) Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, (21) so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So this brings us to what it means to be born again.
What Is “Born Again”?
When a man or woman accepts Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, they are born again. Born again spiritually, shedding off the sin nature and putting on God’s nature. Adam sinned against God and when he did, he died spiritually. The spiritual death produced physical death that has been passed on to every single descendant of Adam. This means that all of Adam’s descendants throughout history have been born with a sin nature. Although Jesus was born of a woman, He was not a descendant of Adam. As recorded in Luke chapter one, the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary with the power of God and she became pregnant with Jesus. When Jesus was born He did not receive a sin nature from “father Adam;” He had the nature and life of His Father – God. As such, He became our sacrifice for sin. For all who accept Him as Savior, His blood atones for the acts of sin and cleanses from the sin nature.
We want to read about an interaction with you that Jesus had with a man named Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish council. Nicodemus had some questions so he came to Jesus by night, so that he could get them answered privately.
John 3:1-7 records the following, “(1) There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. (2) This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ (3) Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (4) Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?’ (5) Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
Everyone alive has experienced a physical birth. This is what Jesus referred to when He said “born of water” and “born of flesh”. When we are born of our earthly father, we are born spiritually dead with the sin nature. Even though we are alive, God sees us as having “no life.” This is our first birth Jesus said we must be born again, and this was the concept that confused Nicodemus. The Greek word translated as “born” is “gennao” and it means “generation, kind, offspring.” It is translated “begat” 42 times. The word “begotten” paints a truer picture of what happens with the new birth. We are “begotten” of our new father, God. We become part of His family. As E. W. Kenyon says so eloquently, “Don’t forget for a moment that in the mind of the Father you are sharing in the Throne of Grace. You own a share in it.” (E. W. Kenyon, “New Creation Realities: A Revelation of Redemption,” page 65)
The Greek word translated as “again” is “anothen” and it means “from above, from a higher place, again, another time.” An amplified definition of Jesus’ words could be, “You must experience another birth, becoming the offspring from above.” Musician Michael Card, in his book, “The Parable of Joy: Reflections on the Wisdom of the Book of John,” explains the significance of the term born again or new birth to the Jewish mind. “’ New birth’ was a rabbinic term applied exclusively to Jewish proselytes. It signified that through baptism they had become completely different persons. The rabbis even debated whether a man who was born again as a proselyte could marry his own mother since he was a ‘new person.’” (page 30)
One way to paraphrase Jesus’ words in John 3:5-6 is as follows: “Listen closely to what I say because it is an absolute truth that will never change: A person who has been born in the natural must also experience a spiritual birth or else he will never enter the kingdom of God. When people are born into this world, that is their natural birth which is produced by their natural parents; but there is also a spiritual birth necessary which can only take place in the realm of the spirit. So do not be surprised when I tell you that you must experience another birth, one which causes you to be the offspring from above.”
We must understand that a person cannot live with a “dual spirituality.” He is either spiritually dead with a sin nature, or he is spiritually alive with the life and nature of God. When a person accepts Jesus as Savior the sin nature is removed and that person experiences a “spiritual birth from above.” Just as the power of God gave Adam life and caused Mary to carry and give birth to God’s life (His Son Jesus), this same power purges us from the sin nature and causes us to be born again. The term “born again” literally means, “Having experienced a spiritual birth wherein God is now your Father; and though you are not deity, you have His same life and nature.”
The result of being born again is that we now have what is referred to as a born again spirit or, the new nature or, spiritual life. When a person is born in the natural, he is a natural baby. Over time he will grow and mature. Likewise, when a person is born spiritually he is a “spiritual baby.” This is why we need to understand what the definition of born again is. If we understand this we are able to explain it to others. We do not have to hide in a closet when someone asks us if we are born again. We can tell them “absolutely!” and then explain to them why we have experienced what we have and offer this same experience to them.
Let’s read a few Scriptures that demonstrate what it means to be born again.
In First Corinthians 3:1 Paul writes, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.”
Then Peter wrote in First Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” A natural baby needs natural food that provides proper nourishment. Unnatural “junk food” produces stagnated growth and an unhealthy baby. Spiritual junk food produces stagnated spiritual growth and maturity and an “unhealthy” Christian.
When Satan tempted Jesus to turn a stone into bread so that He could eat after He had been fasting for 40 days, Jesus responded by saying, “….It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” (Matthew 4:4) Proper spiritual nourishment only comes from God’s word. Absolutely nothing but what is found in God’s word will provide spiritual nourishment. A person who is born again has God’s life and nature. God is now his Father. He once had the life and nature of his fallen earthly ancestral father, Adam. Now he has the life and nature of his spiritual Father, God. He also has his name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Philippians 4:3 says, “And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.”
Also, Revelation 21:22-27 says, “(22) But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (23) The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. (24) And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. (25) Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). (26) And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. (27) But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.”
Now, since God is now our Father, we have a relationship with Him. This relationship enables us to have fellowship with Him. First John 1:3 says, “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” In the natural, a child may be the offspring of his father, but that does not mean he has fellowship with him. The same is true in the spirit. We may be God’s children but that does not mean we have fellowship with Him. A close relationship of fellowship with God is developed as we spend time in His presence.
When we were lost (not born again) we did not have either a relationship or fellowship with God. Now that we are born again, God has become our Father. In a most literal sense, we are a closer relative to God than we are to our earthly parents. He has a love and compassion that cannot be compared to that of an earthly parent. It is unfair to look at the example of abusive fathers on earth and conclude that God must be the same way. The more we know Him, the more we will understand His faithfulness, forgiveness, mercy, and love.
Summary
In summary, to be born again is to realize that we now have the very nature of God on the inside. God is our father. We are part of His family. It means that we are sons and daughters of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter eight we read the following: “(16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17) Christ’s inheritance is our inheritance.
Everything the Father gave Christ – the power, authority, dominion – He has given to us. To be born again is to realize that we were rescued out of Satan’s death grip. Christ purchased our redemption. Satan no longer has dominion over us. Colossians 1:13 states “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” To be born again is to remember who we are – sons and daughters – and whose we are – God’s!
