That verse is true, of course, but it has nothing absolutely to do with being born again. During Acts, being born again was taught by the 12 and probably by Paul. Why, because the Gospel of the earthly Kingdom was still being preached, and born again was part of the Jewish Kingdom. But, Acts is ALL gone. The Truth For Today, that pertains directly TO you and me, is found ONLY in one place, Paul's post-Acts epistles - Eph, Phil, Col, 1&2Tim, Titus, and Philemon. That is the ONLY place in the Bible you'll find where any human will ever go to Heaven. ALL of the other 59 books were written to or about Israel and, since God has always treated Israelites completely different than Gentiles, you can find NOTHING about how God is dealing with Gentiles today in any of those 59 books.
From Gen 12 through the end of Acts, except for the last 25 years of Acts, the only way a Gentile could receive ANY blessings at all, was to become a proselyte, and essentially, become a Jew. Starting in Acts 10, Gentiles could join the Jewish church, but, they could only do so by being grafted into Israel, by becoming part of Israel. At the end of Acts, Israel was given up, or set aside, at Acts 28:28, for their failure to accept Christ. At the same same, EVERTHING associated with Israel has not existed during the 2000 year Gentile period we're now living in. Today's Gentiles have very little of what Israel had during the 2000 yr period from Gen 12 thru Acts. Nothing we have today is covered in ANY those other 59 books, except how to be saved. Everything we have today was a total mystery, a secret hid in God, that wasn't even hinted about in those 59 Jewish books. Everything we have today, as spelled out in detail in Paul's last 7 books, is brand spanking new, starting at Acts 28:28.
But, most who understand all of this believe that you don't get it unless you see it, believe it, and claim it. To obtain it requires faith, like salvation. I also believe that God has made it so that, if you continue to drag in Jewish stuff from those other 59 books and erroneously try to apply it to yourself, He won't give you the eyes to see or the ears to hear the truth in Eph, Col, etc. He said He is not the author of confusion and He knows that if you mix Jewish stuff with Gentile stuff, you will definitely be confused, will make the wrong choice, and will, therefore, understand nothing that He wants you to understand. That's why right division is so important to God and us. That's why you have to make a single, clean, correct cut through His Word, separate the 2 parts, and totally eliminate the Israel part from anything involving your hope, calling, rules, or directions today. That doesn't mean you should stop reading or studying those other books. Everything in them is true, interesting, and contains a tremendous amount of things that we can all benefit from. And the red letters are just as pure, loving, and tear-producing as they have ever been. And, everything it the Bible is God-breathed, equally inspired. It's just that when we see things that Israel was told to do, like the Great Commission, and when we read about Israel's future, like the Kingdom of Heaven or the New Jerusalem, and Israel's resurrections, like the rapture, we CANNOT apply ANY of these things to ourselves, unless they are repeated in Paul's post-Acts books.The entire Bible is written FOR us, but not all the Bible is written TO us.
We Gentiles that see God's truths, in the after-Acts books, are the pinnacle of His creation. We are Christ's actual Body. We are part of the Bridegroom. We will be resurrected to a place, far above all heavens, where Christ now sits at God's right hand. We will be in the first resurrection, when Christ Jesus Appears. That will be about 700 years before the rapture. And, on and on. The rub is that you have to SEE it and you can't see it until you get rid of all that Jewish baggage that makes up about 50% (probably more) of what almost all Denominational preachers make their living at, teaching poor, unsuspecting Gentiles.
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