Born Again

“Jesus answered 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? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3-6)

No one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he or she has been born again or born from above. How in the world, many will think, do I accomplish this? How do I go about being born again? Many in the evangelical world think it happens by saying the sinner’s prayer, by acknowledging Jesus as their Lord and Savior, by repenting from sin. 

Being born again is a lot like being born: it happens to us, it not something we do. The person being born has no choice or ability to be born. It is the natural result of the actions of others which began when the chid was created in the mother’s womb. So it is with all those born of the Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus. He, like so many of us, was amazed by this statement because he did not understand. Jesus told Nicodemus that the way to heaven was not by keeping the Law, or any actions of ours, but by the actions and choice of God.  It is He who gives us that new birth. It is not our action, but His.

When Jesus meant was that what is required is a radical change of heart attitude. Works of righteousness follow such a change but they do not cause it, for our works of righteousness  do they make us right with God. What God demands is a new person, one who has died to self with its sinful ways and pride and accepted his or her own sinfulness. This is impossible without the faith the Lord imparts by and through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

And what is that faith? Jesus cited the incident of the bronze serpent in the wilderness. The Israelites were punished by a plague of fiery serpents. Those bitten died unless they looked at the bronze serpent Moses had fashioned at the Lord’s command. The faith was given to the survivors. Those who thought that looking at an inanimate and unscientific object had no faith and so died. That serpent is a type of Christ. He became sin on the cross. What was deadly brought life. All who look to His cross in faith are saved from eternal death. And that faith is granted to them by God. Why He chooses some and not others is a mystery, one which faith enables us to accept. https://trinityhicksville.org