Denny answers:
Being born again is God’s act in giving the sinner new life in Jesus.
You were born the first time as a baby. But even as a cute little baby, the Bible says you were a sinner. Your father and your grandfather and your great-grandfather all the way back to the first man, Adam, are sinners. All of us, except Jesus, are born with a sin nature inside us. So we each rebel against God’s commands (commands like loving God best, honoring our parents, and telling the truth).
As sinners, we deserve God’s judgment—eternal separation in hell. Even when we try to be good and do good things, we are still sinners deserving punishment (Ephesians 2:3; Titus 3:5).
Because we are born sinners, Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 3:7b). Jesus said this to a religious leader named Nicodemus.
“‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’” (John 3:4).
No, you cannot get back inside your mom to be born again! Being born again is not something you can see happen.
Being born again is also not something you can make happen. Did you make yourself be born the first time? No! And you cannot make yourself be born again (John 1:13; James 1:18).
God is the only One who causes a sinner to be born again! He gives new life through Jesus.
If God causes you to be born again, you will believe in Jesus—God’s one way to save you from sin. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1a; see also Acts 20:21).
Jesus told Nicodemus why God sent Him: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
In love, God sent His own Son to save believers from the punishment of sin—death—by dying on the cross in their place. Then Jesus rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death for those who believe in Him. To find out how to believe in Jesus, read “
How do I believe in Jesus as my Savior?”
If you are born again, you are a new person from the inside out (2 Corinthians 5:17). God gives the born-again believer the desire and power to obey Jesus.
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9; see also 1 John 2:29; 4:7-10; 5:3-4, 18).
You will still fight sin after you are born again. You will not be perfect. But if you are born again, you will keep turning from sin and trusting Jesus. Trust in Jesus as your only Savior from sin and Lord (Ruler) of your life!
Bible Truth
- “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1:12-13).
- “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).
- “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. . . . For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:3-5, 23).
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