By Arthur R. Thompson
May 1, 2006
Has anyone ever asked you that question? Have you ever asked anyone including yourself that question? If not, it's worth asking.
The issue of being born again is -- or at least should be -- an important one for religious people. To some extent it has been captured by the evangelical wing of Protestantism, and that is a bit of a shame. It's not a shame that evangelicals focus on it; it's a shame non-evangelicals don't.
The idea of being born again, or a conversion experience, comes in the interchange between Jesus and Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again or he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 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.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
The question for us, then, “What does it mean to be born again?”
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Moreover, if it is required, we'd better be certain we get it.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The model for a conversion experience that is often used is the conversion of the apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. Paul, then known as Saul, was a Pharisaical Jew who adhered to the law. He believed so strongly in Torah Law that he spent his life persecuting those who diverged from it. One sect that seemed to be particularly errant was the band of followers of Jesus, so with characteristic zeal Paul hunted down and imprisoned as many as he could find.
Paul sought and received permission to travel from Jerusalem to Damascus to gather up the remnant of Jesus' followers and take them back to the temple for trial.
Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
On his way to Damascus, Paul was struck by a blinding light and confronted by Jesus. In that instant, Paul realized the error of his ways and was converted. Paul was born again.
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Now comes the question: To what was Paul converted; Christianity? There was no Christianity. The term wouldn't even be coined for another 75 years. And besides, Paul is a founder of Christianity.
Prior to Paul's ministry, the disciples of Jesus were an unorganized sect of Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Certainly Paul would have known of Jesus, but he had yet to begin to understand who Jesus truly was. No, Paul was not converted to Christianity. Paul converted to Judaism.
Paul, the Jew, was converted to see that he was not living as a good Jew. He came to the realization that the Pharisees and Sadducees were perverting the law to their own end; not God’s. What Paul was doing toward other Jews was not in accord with God's plan.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Jesus had not come to end the Torah Law that Paul so loved, but to call all people to live by the law, the law of grace and justice and never-ending covenant love by God for all of his creation.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
But not only was Paul converted to be a better Jew, he was converted to a ministry for God. That must be the other side of every conversion experience. Conversion is not to be just an internal changing of the ways, but a changing of how we relate to and treat all God's children. Unless there is a difference in how we do that, no real conversion has taken place.
Mat 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
So, to be born again means accepting Jesus as your Savior, confessing your sins to him asking for His forgiveness and then following His law. The conversion that follows is both spiritual, as God sends the Holy Sprit to dwell in your heart and physical, as you are now a part of the body of Christ.
Some 15 years after his Damascus Road conversion experience, Paul would say to the church at Corinth, "I die daily."
Given that he was very much alive, he must also have meant that he was reborn daily. Every day we must rededicate ourselves to God, our loving creator. Every day we must rededicate ourselves to God, who sustains us. And every day we must rededicate ourselves to fulfill God’s purpose for us.
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