- Jesus answered, and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
- Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time unto his mothers womb, and be born?
- Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
If you ask a Christian if they have been born again, most will quickly answer yes. But if you ask them how they know they’ve been born again, the answers vary. Some may point to being raised in church or believing in God. Others may mention being baptized or having accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Some may even point to the promise in Scripture of eternal life. There is nothing wrong with these answers as expressions of faith—but are any of them proof of being born again?
Being born again is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Christian life. And like most things that are misunderstood, it is often taken for granted. This should concern every self-proclaimed Christian, because Jesus made it unmistakably clear in John 3:3: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” There is nothing confusing about that statement. There is no reason to over-complicate it by cherry-picking doctrines about law and grace, or faith and salvation.
In John 3:3, the phrase “born again” is translated from the Greek gennēthē anōthen. Gennēthē comes from the root verb gennáō, which means “to beget” or “to give birth to.” The word anōthen carries a dual meaning. One meaning is ‘again’, and it can also mean ‘from above’. It is not entirely clear why Nicodemus interpreted Jesus’ words to mean “born again,” especially when Jesus immediately connected the phrase to “see the kingdom of God.” It is also noteworthy that John makes no attempt to clarify the meaning for his readers. The most reasonable explanation is that John assumed his audience would understand that Jesus meant born from above.
John uses the term anōthen in other passages, and he always uses it to mean “from above“. In John 19:23 when describing Jesus’ coat, he writes that is was woven “from the top throughout.” And in John 3:31 he declares, “He who comes from above, is above all.” John consistently uses anōthen to mean “from above,” not “again.”
It is the Holy Spirit that performs the work of regeneration—giving the believer a spiritual heart, and making them a new creation. No writer of Scripture speaks more boldly about the Spirit’s work than Paul.
In 1 Corinthians 3:16 he reminds us:
“Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?“
And in 2 Corinthians 5:17 he declares:
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
It is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and leads us to repentance. He holds a mirror to our lives, exposing our once ignored ungodliness. He gives us the desire to be obedient to God and restrains corrupt language, old habits, and fleshly desires that once separated us from God. This is the work of ‘regeneration’—a transformation that begins in our spirit and renews our soul, making us a new creation from the inside out.