• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • Christian Forums is looking to bring on new moderators to the CF Staff Team! If you have been an active member of CF for at least three months with 200 posts during that time, you're eligible to apply! This is a great way to give back to CF and keep the forums running smoothly! If you're interested, you can submit your application here!

In terms of spiritual mechanics or dynamics, what does it mean being born again?

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,231
Toronto
Visit site
✟188,840.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
When I was born from my mother's womb, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God enter my physical body and I became a sentient soul.

What happened when I was born the second time?

The following is not some abstract theory but my own personal experience.

What is the mechanism of being born again?

John 3:
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, except anyone be born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."
i.e., born from above or born again
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”​
The Holy Spirit (wind) comes to you to cause you to be born again. It is a real supernatural event that happens.

ESV Titus 3:
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

However, you may not feel it in real-time. I did not.

John 14:
15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper <Paraclete> to be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
If one is born again, he has the Paraclete Spirit dwell in his spirit/conscience forever.

1 John 3:
9a Anyone having been born of God does not practice sin, because God’s seed [G4690 sperma] remains in them
i.e., the Paraclete.

The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the flesh. Romans 7:
18a For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

Instead, the Spirit is connected to our human spirit. Romans 8:
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

This is the promise of eternal life. John 10:
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The Paraclete is a special operation of the Holy Spirit. He is the Indwelling Spirit. The grammatical gender of the Paraclete is masculine. He enables us to hear God. I can sense him in my spirit anytime all the time. Every time that I do, peace fills me. I was born of the Paraclete. He is directly and permanently connected to my human spirit. This is not some spiritual metaphor but a spiritual reality. Eternal life starts now inside us. The last time I experienced any doubts about God was back in the 20th century.

2 Corinthians 13:
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

The first time when I was born, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God entered me. That became my animating human spirit. The second time when I was born, the non-detached Paraclete/Spirit from God connected with my human spirit and permanently dwells there. The latter is a spirit-to-spirit connection.
 
Last edited:

Gregory Thompson

Change is inevitable, feel free to spare some.
Site Supporter
Dec 20, 2009
29,797
8,370
Canada
✟851,867.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Christian Seeker
Marital Status
Married
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
This is key. It's like the wind, so the exact mechanism is a mystery.
 

friend of

A private in Gods army
Site Supporter
Dec 28, 2016
5,871
4,163
provincial
✟931,015.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Private
I don't think we can boil it down to a "mechanic" at all.
What about the idea that the wind symbolizes the Paraclete?
Wind is everywhere and moves in unpredictable ways, as does God's Spirit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dms1972
Upvote 0

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,231
Toronto
Visit site
✟188,840.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
I don't think we can boil it down to a "mechanic" at all.

Wind is everywhere and moves in unpredictable ways, as does God's Spirit.
Sure. Nevertheless, do you have the Paraclete dwelling in you?
 
Upvote 0

Gregory Thompson

Change is inevitable, feel free to spare some.
Site Supporter
Dec 20, 2009
29,797
8,370
Canada
✟851,867.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Christian Seeker
Marital Status
Married
What about the idea that the wind symbolizes the Paraclete?
every language that translates the word "Spirit" uses the word for wind or breath.

English is an exception since we use a bunch of languages. However, Spiritus comes from breath or breathing in its language.

A passage that came to mind is: as high as the heavens are to the earth, so are my thoughts to your thoughts says the Lord.

God is a Spirit, Adam was made from the earth.

Since the bodies we have reason as the earth, and God operates like the wind, there are some things we will not be able to understand by basis of our mechanical composition.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,231
Toronto
Visit site
✟188,840.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Since the bodies we have reason as the earth, and God operates like the wind, there are some things we will not be able to understand by basis of our mechanical composition.
I just modified the title of the OP. By "mechanics", I meant spiritual mechanics or dynamics.
 
Upvote 0

Soyeong

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2015
12,628
4,667
Hudson
✟328,702.00
Country
United States
Faith
Messianic
Marital Status
Single
Preamble: The following is not some abstract theory but my own personal experience.

What is the mechanism or the mechanical procedure of being born again?

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, except anyone be born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."

i.e., born from above or born again

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit (wind) comes to you to cause you to be born again. It is a real supernatural event that happens. However, you may not feel it in real time. I did not :)

John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper <Paraclete> to be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

If one is born again, he has the Paraclete Spirit dwell in his spirit/conscience forever.

1 John 3:9a No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed [G4690 sperma] remains in them;

i.e., the Paraclete

The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the flesh, Romans 7:18a For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

Instead, the Spirit is connected to our human spirit, Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

This is the promise of eternal life, John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The Paraclete is a special operation of the Holy Spirit. He is the Indwelling Spirit. The grammatical gender of the Paraclete is masculine. He enables us to hear God. I can sense him in my spirit anytime all the time. Every time that I do, peace fills me. I was born of the Paraclete. He is directly and permanently connected to my human spirit. This is not some spiritual metaphor but a spiritual reality. Eternal life starts now inside us. The last time I experienced any doubts about God was back in the 20th century :)

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
A chip off the old block is someone who has the same nature of character as their father expressed through doing the same works as them, so Jesus is the Son of God insofar as he is the exact image of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), which he expressed through setting a sinless example of how to walk in obedience to God's law, and that is the sense that we are born again as children of God when we are partaking in the divine nature through following his example. This is why those who do not practice righteousness in obedience to God's law are not born again (1 John 3:4-10) and why those who are born of the Spirit are contrasted with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to His law (Romans 8:4-14).

In John 8:39, Jesus said that if they were children of Abraham, then they would be doing the same works as him, so the way that the children of Abraham are multiplied in accordance with the promise is not through having physical descendants, but through teaching people to do the same works as him in accordance with spreading the Gospel, and someone who becomes a child of Abraham in this way is being born again. The fruits of the Spirit are aspects of God's nature so someone who is being taught to do works that express the fruits of the Spirit in obedience to God's law is born again in the same sense. Those who are born again have eternal life, so that is also why Jesus said in Matthew 19:17 that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments (Matthew 19:17, Luke 10:25-28).
 

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,231
Toronto
Visit site
✟188,840.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
A chip off the old block is someone who has the same nature of character as their father expressed through doing the same works as them,
Right, amen :)

In terms of spiritual mechanics/reality, do you have the Paraclete dwelling in you?
 
Upvote 0

d taylor

Well-Known Member
Oct 16, 2018
13,046
5,582
60
Mississippi
✟308,318.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Protestant
Marital Status
Single
What does it mean in terms of spiritual mechanics or dynamics?
...Spirit of God lives within him or her, enabling the born again believer to be in fellowship with God and enabling believers to have a helper within them to fight the sin nature that still resides in the believers.

...So the believer may not now live as the world lives. But that is only accomplished if they in their lives do not quench The Holy Spirit by still living as the world lives.

...In the actual Biblical times, the Holy Spirit actually had a physical presence. Like taking away Phillip to another location in a moment of time.
 

tonychanyt

24/7 Christian
Oct 2, 2011
6,061
2,231
Toronto
Visit site
✟188,840.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
...Spirit of God lives within him or her, enabling the born again believer to be in fellowship with God and enabling believers to have a helper within them to fight the sin nature that still resides in the believers.

...So the believer may not now live as the world lives. But that is only accomplished if they in their lives do not quench The Holy Spirit by still living as the world lives.

...In the actual Biblical times, the Holy Spirit actually had a physical presence. Like taking away Phillip to another location in a moment of time.
Good points :)
 
Upvote 0

friend of

A private in Gods army
Site Supporter
Dec 28, 2016
5,871
4,163
provincial
✟931,015.00
Country
Canada
Gender
Male
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Private
Right, amen :)

In terms of spiritual mechanics/reality, do you have the Paraclete dwelling in you?
I guess the "mechanical" behind it is a penal substitutionary transaction. Christ puts Himself in the place of the one who believes in Him and takes upon Himself the punishment due the individual believer.
 
Upvote 0