What is born again?

[Andy 998]

Could someone please explain exactly what it means to be born again?

 

[juvenissun]

Could someone please explain exactly what it means to be born again?

To be born at the first time: A soul gets into a flesh.
To be born again: The Spirit gets into the same flesh.

Very clearly identified.
Too bad that you might not even recognize the first birth, needless to say the second.

 

[justlookinla]

Could someone please explain exactly what it means to be born again?

Wrong forum.

 

[Andy 998]

Wrong forum.

I am not allowed on any other parts of this forum so this is the only place I can post it.

 

[justlookinla]

I am not allowed on any other parts of this forum so this is the only place I can post it.

Oh. Ok.

Carry on.

 

[justlookinla]

Unnecessary for you to say that twice.

Just so's they didn't get it the first time.

 

[LilLamb219]

MOD HAT ON

This thread has been moved from the Creation & Evolution forum as it is a more appropriate place. Please note that the Statement of Purpose for this forum allows for only Christians to respond. A thread clean has been done.

MOD HAT OFF

 

[ViaCrucis]

The phrase "born again" comes from a discussion Jesus has with Nicodemus a Pharisee in the Gospel of John, chapter 3 if you'd like to read it in its entirety.

The actual Greek phrase is γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (gennethe anothen), "born anew" or "born from above". The adverb ἄνωθεν (anothen) comes from a root meaning "up" or "upward" but also indicates beginning, or from the start. In that sense it may not be entirely wrong to compare it to the English idiom we use, "take it from the top" which means to start over again from the beginning. It indicates a new birth, a new beginning, a fresh start.

Throughout the New Testament the language of newness, of rebirth, and new creation are used to describe what God is doing for the world in Jesus Christ. For example St. Paul speaks of those in Jesus as being "new creations". Those in Jesus are also described as having been adopted by God and made heirs with Jesus of the things of God. It speaks of dying with Jesus and rising together with Him to new life. Jesus is described as the "second Adam", and the humanity we have in Jesus a "new humanity" or "new man".

When we start getting into specifics Christians today tend to disagree on exactly what being "born again" means. For most Christians throughout history (we can tell this from their writings throughout the centuries) the new birth is identified with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. They saw in passages such as John 3:5 where Jesus says, "you must be born of water and Spirit" to be speaking of Baptism, which is water and Spirit. They also looked at passages such as Titus 3:5 which says that we are "washed with the water of new birth, and renewal of the Holy Spirit". Among many others. This remains the teaching of most Christian churches today: Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox, etc.

One will also find today a very different view, one usually associated with American Evangelicalism. Where the new birth is understood as an interior spiritual experience where one turns from their sin in repentance and toward God, and upon making a proclamation of faith and real faith they receive the new birth. Passages such as in Romans 10 that says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

I would expect that in this thread you will primarily find answers like the second. As a Lutheran I affirm the traditional understanding.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[football5680]

Baptism.

 

[Steeno7]

Could someone please explain exactly what it means to be born again?

Just as you entered into physical life through physical birth, you enter into spiritual life through spiritual birth. It is the spiritual transformation in a person, brought about by the Holy Spirit, that brings the individual from being spiritually dead to being a spiritually alive human being. Regeneration is another way of speaking about the new birth or the second birth or being born again.

 

[sunshineforJesus]

It means to accept Jesus as saviour and have a new spirit in him.

 

[aiki]

OP, you would be better served to have a biblical understanding of what being "born again" means rather than a "traditional" one. "Biblical" and "traditional" are not necessarily one and the same thing.

As has been recommended, read John 3:1-7.

Selah.

 

[def]

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which s born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you. You must be born again. (John 3:6-7). To be born again is the birth of the spirit.

The spirit is part of the living soul. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). It is interpreted as flesh (from dust) + spirit (breath of God) = living soul.

 

[graceandpeace]

The phrase "born again" comes from a discussion Jesus has with Nicodemus a Pharisee in the Gospel of John, chapter 3 if you'd like to read it in its entirety.

The actual Greek phrase is γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (gennethe anothen), "born anew" or "born from above". The adverb ἄνωθεν (anothen) comes from a root meaning "up" or "upward" but also indicates beginning, or from the start. In that sense it may not be entirely wrong to compare it to the English idiom we use, "take it from the top" which means to start over again from the beginning. It indicates a new birth, a new beginning, a fresh start.

Throughout the New Testament the language of newness, of rebirth, and new creation are used to describe what God is doing for the world in Jesus Christ. For example St. Paul speaks of those in Jesus as being "new creations". Those in Jesus are also described as having been adopted by God and made heirs with Jesus of the things of God. It speaks of dying with Jesus and rising together with Him to new life. Jesus is described as the "second Adam", and the humanity we have in Jesus a "new humanity" or "new man".

When we start getting into specifics Christians today tend to disagree on exactly what being "born again" means. For most Christians throughout history (we can tell this from their writings throughout the centuries) the new birth is identified with the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. They saw in passages such as John 3:5 where Jesus says, "you must be born of water and Spirit" to be speaking of Baptism, which is water and Spirit. They also looked at passages such as Titus 3:5 which says that we are "washed with the water of new birth, and renewal of the Holy Spirit". Among many others. This remains the teaching of most Christian churches today: Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox, etc.

One will also find today a very different view, one usually associated with American Evangelicalism. Where the new birth is understood as an interior spiritual experience where one turns from their sin in repentance and toward God, and upon making a proclamation of faith and real faith they receive the new birth. Passages such as in Romans 10 that says, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

I would expect that in this thread you will primarily find answers like the second. As a Lutheran I affirm the traditional understanding.

-CryptoLutheran

^this!

& as one who attends the Episcopal Church, I also affirm the traditional view.

 

[Andy 998]

The phrase "born again" comes from a discussion Jesus has with Nicodemus a Pharisee in the Gospel of John, chapter 3 if you'd like to read it in its entirety.

Please forgive what might seem like a silly question but how do we know what Jesus and Nicodemus talked about?
was someone writing it all down? the Gospel of John was not written by someone who actually met Jesus in fact no one who ever wrote anything in the N/T ever actually met Jesus, everything Jesus ever said in the Bible is based on hearsay.

Have any of you ever thought about this fact?

 

[98cwitr]

Baptism by the Holy Spirit.

fify

 

[ViaCrucis]

Please forgive what might seem like a silly question but how do we know what Jesus and Nicodemus talked about?
was someone writing it all down? the Gospel of John was not written by someone who actually met Jesus in fact no one who ever wrote anything in the N/T ever actually met Jesus, everything Jesus ever said in the Bible is based on hearsay.

Have any of you ever thought about this fact?

The Gospels didn't appear in a vacuum. They are the products of an already well-established oral tradition. The Synoptics are one expression of that tradition, the Gospel of John another. John's Gospel is unique, largely because it is out of order compared to the Synoptics, and seems far less focused on the telling of the Jesus Story itself and on expounding upon the theology about Jesus.

The Gospel of John in sense comes across as a polemic against early proto-Gnostic sentiments that were floating around the end of the 1st century/start of the 2nd. Chiefly of relevance seems to be Docetic teachings where Jesus was said to have only been an apparition, not a real human being. John's Gospel takes great pains to express that Jesus is real flesh, He is the Logos Ensarkos, the Incarnate Word.

The Gospels do not need to be written by journalists sitting around Jesus with a notepad. They just need to be faithful remembrances and the Story as the Apostolic Church taught and told--and what Christians had received already. And there is every reason to believe that is exactly what they are. As we can see in the Pauline Corpus, which are the earliest Christian writings we have.

So yes, I've thought about this.

But it's not particularly relevant to the topic as-is.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Heissonear]

To be born at the first time: A soul gets into a flesh.
To be born again: The Spirit gets into the same flesh.

Very clearly identified.
Too bad that you might not even recognize the first birth, needless to say the second.

.

Juv,

You stated things correct but may need more detail in how the Holy Spirit "gets the flesh".

We are body, soul, and spirit. I Thessalonians 2 5:23

If our soul minds the flesh, our natural body, our fleshly life, we give ourselves to being only natural and earthly in action, deeds, etc.

Such is the unborn again - merely living after the natural life and world.

When our soul minds the Spirit, and we heed Him as He works in our spirit, we become born again through the Spirit, where the Spirit controls what our natural life, our body of flesh life, does in this present world.

Many do not receive the Spirit by not hearing the Spirit in their spirit. These types walk by the bodily senses or taste, touch, smell, hear and see, all through their fleshly body.

.

 

[Heissonear]

Just as you entered into physical life through physical birth, you enter into spiritual life through spiritual birth. It is the spiritual transformation in a person, brought about by the Holy Spirit, that brings the individual from being spiritually dead to being a spiritually alive human being. Regeneration is another way of speaking about the new birth or the second birth or being born again.

 

[Heissonear]

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which s born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you. You must be born again. (John 3:6-7). To be born again is the birth of the spirit.

The spirit is part of the living soul. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). It is interpreted as flesh (from dust) + spirit (breath of God) = living soul.

.

So right, brother. When our soul turns to the Spirit, and we receive God's Breath, things become new. His Life is in us, and we commune with Him, and are filled with Him, through His Spirit.

.