Born A Second Time?

Born a Second Time?

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

Jesus replied, . . . “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

John 3:3-4, 6

You have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end.

1 Peter 1:23

The majority of people who live in the United States describe themselves as “Christian.” But that means different things to different people. For some, since they are not Muslim or Buddhist or Jewish, and they believe there is a God and that Jesus was real, they call themselves Christians. But many of those people would not be willing to call themselves “born-again” Christians. This is a label given to believers who are a little more radical about Jesus than those who simply want to go to church and follow the teachings of Christ that fit comfortably into their lives.

But there’s no such thing as a Christian who has not been born again. That’s what Jesus said. He said that the only way anyone has any sort of genuine spiritual life is if he or she has experienced the miracle of being born a second time—not physically this time, but spiritually. Being born again is not just about changing—although a person who has been born again will change. It means the birth of a whole new life brought about by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that being born again is not just one form of saving faith or an addition to it; it is the only form of saving faith. He said that “no one can enter the Kingdom of God” without it (John 3:5, emphasis added). It is impossible to become a baby and be born all over again. That would require a miracle.

And that’s the point.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Can you think of a time when you made such a mess of something that, rather than fixing it, you just wanted to start over again?

What do you think people mean when they describe someone as a “born-again Christian”? What do you think Jesus meant when he talked about being born again?

How is being born again spiritually a miracle?