You have to be born again.

John 3.3-8.

“Born again” has become a Christianese cliché, a phrase we use to mean we’ve come to Jesus, and now we’re all different. And no, you might not be able to see we’re any different, ’cause we still act like the same fruitless, raging jerks you’ll find at political rallies and sporting events. But no, really, we’re born again! We said the sinner’s prayer (possibly years ago) and now we’re new creations in Christ. Bible says so.

Is that anything at all like what Jesus is talking about? Well it’s like what Jesus is talking about; it’s borrowing his idea that some sort of spiritual transformation has happened in a Christian’s life. Problem is, this spiritual transformation, if it’s valid, produces good fruit. That’s the part Christians tend to skip over, because plenty of “born again” Christians haven’t changed at all, and the only fruit they produce is excuses for why all their definitions for the Spirit’s fruit don’t sound at all like basic commonsense definitions should. Why their definitions kinda sound like they’re making excuses for why they have no such fruit.

In short it’s hypocrisy. Let’s not do that.

As popular Christianity would have it, “I’ve been born again” pretty much means “I believe Jesus individually saves me from hell.” Sometimes they also correctly believe he saves us from sin and death. So, y’know, they have one basic orthodox belief. One. Whether they get more of ’em, or whether they produce good fruit, or whether they follow Jesus’s teachings and stop sinning, are entirely different deals. As you’ve seen.

Now let’s look at Jesus’s expectation. As he explained it to Nicodemus:

John 3.3-10 KWL

3 In reply Jesus tells him, “Amen amen! I promise you:

Unless one is born all over again,

one cannot see God’s kingdom.”

4 Nicodemus tells Jesus, “How can a person, being old, be born?

One can’t enter one’s mother’s womb a second time and be born.”

5 Jesus answers, “Amen amen! I promise you:

Unless one is born out of ‘water’ and Spirit,

one cannot enter God’s kingdom.

6 One who was born out of flesh, is flesh.

One who was born out of Spirit, is spirit.

7 You ought not wonder because I tell you

that you have to be born all over again.

8 The Spirit blows wherever he wants.

You hear his voice,

but you didn’t know where he comes from,

nor where he goes.

Same with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Briefly I should mention the “born out of ‘water’ ” bit. I, and many commentators, are pretty sure Jesus uses “water” as a euphemism for bodily fluids. Some of ’em think it refers to the woman’s water breaking during childbirth; some of ’em think it refers to semen. In general it means what physically has to happen before a baby is made. And getting born of the Spirit is what spiritually has to happen before a Christian is made.

The Greek word πνεῦμα/néfma can mean both “wind” and “spirit” and “[Holy] Spirit.” (So can the Aramaic word רוּחַ/ruákh.) Translators have to determine from the context of the passage which definition is correct. You notice most bibles go with “wind” in verse 8: “The wind bloweth where it listeth,” has the KJV. I went with “Spirit” for a few reasons. One is Jesus may mean wind, but he meant for Nicodemus to simultaneously think of both wind and the Holy Spirit; the statement is true of both the wind and the Holy Spirit. One can detect the Spirit’s activity—one can hear his φωνὴν/fonín, “sound, voice”—but does that really mean we know what he’s up to? Not necessarily. Likewise do we know what the Spirit does within us? Not necessarily.

Should we? Well, yeah! Pay attention to him! Follow him. Don’t just dismiss what he’s doing, and presume he’ll just grow fruit within us without any participation on our part. Because it doesn’t work that way at all—as demonstrated by all the fleshly Christians in the world who make “born again” sound like a silly joke to pagans.

Born again, or from above?

Many a bible will stick a footnote next to “born again,” and in the footnote write, “Or ‘born from above.’ ” Certain Christians prefer to use that wording instead of “born again.” To them it sounds more heavenly. Like God waved his hands up in heaven, and presto-changeo, you’re now seated in heavenly places Ep 2.6 even though your earthly body might be seated on the living room couch. Or the toilet.

“Born from above” sounds to many people more spiritual, immaterial, mystical, out-of-this-world… instead of real-world. Okay, why not. Problem is, if it’s too otherworldly—if it’s so otherworldly it doesn’t affect our real world whatsoever—we’re doing it wrong.

Literally ἄνωθεν/ánothen, “again,” means “from the top.” Which means pretty much the same thing it does in music: Take it from the top. Start at the beginning. Do it again.

“Born” tends to imply created, made from scratch. That’s what some Christians claim: Before we came to Jesus, we were defective. We had a spiritual component missing. Calvinists like to claim our spirits were dead—not that they used to be alive, but something killed ’em. More like a new toy robot we just got from the factory, and it’s never before had a battery put in it. (Batteries weren’t included.) So now we gotta buy a 4-pack of triple-A batteries, insert two… and it’s alive! And in the same way, Calvinists figure the Spirit makes our spirits alive: Before Jesus, spiritually dead. With Jesus, spiritually alive.

Only problem with the Calvinist idea is it contradicts something James wrote—

James 2.26 KJV

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

When people die, our spirit leaves our body, leaving behind a dead body. So if the pre-Christian has a dead spirit, shouldn’t that person be all-the-way dead, instead of just spiritually dead?

But being born again doesn’t mean God made something. It means he remade something: We were broken and we’re getting fixed. We weren’t working properly, and now we’re getting placed on the right track.

So now the debate becomes when we get born again:

• Is it when we first accept Jesus as our Lord and savior?
• Is it when we really accept Jesus as our Lord and savior?—’cause we might not really mean it the first time.
• Is it at the beginning of time, when God predetermined who was his and who isn’t? Ep 1.4
• Is it at baptism?—’cause Jesus mentions being “born out of water,” Jn 3.5 and water baptism represents the start of our Christian life, of course.

When’s it happen? Well, Jesus doesn’t say. So we Christians make ourselves absolutely nuts with our guesses. Some of us even require others to believe our guesses—which is wrong, because a lot of these guesses declare, “This is what you do to be born again,” as if we birth ourselves.

I had no say in my birth. My parents wanted kids, so they made me. Neither my birth nor my family was my idea, nor up to me. I’m glad I was born; I’m happy I exist; I love my family; but let’s be honest, I didn’t choose any of those things. And it’s the same deal with getting born again. Wasn’t my idea; it was totally the Holy Spirit’s. He wanted me, so he got me. If I think it’s in any way my idea, I’ve obviously got the wrong idea about how birth works.

Plus there’s this passage:

John 1.11-13 KJV

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

We aren’t made God’s kids by our will. It’s his. Only his.

Wait, what about free will? Oh, it’s in there; read verse 12 again. Jesus came to us, and some of us accepted him. He initiated a relationship with us beforehand. And then God—and only God; this is the only part of our relationship which is unilateral—made us his children. Then we were born again. ’Cause we don’t have the power to do that. Not even close.

This the mistake many people make. We assume salvation is a one-sided affair. Pagans assume God takes everyone to heaven (except really evil people, of course), and we don’t have any say in the matter; if you don’t wanna go to heaven, tough cookies. Determinists entirely agree, but they usually flip that and say God’s putting an awful lot of people in hell. And Pelagians (of which there are way too many in Christendom) assume we decide absolutely everything: We choose God, and heaven, and whether to be born again. We’re the ones with the say.

Wrong on both ends. God wants a relationship with his kids, and being born again has to do with what we both want. He definitely wants us; we have to want him too. He saved the world before we ever realized we needed him to, Jn 3.17 and offers us his kingdom—not as a outrageously disproportionate reward for good behavior, Ep 2.8-89 but just ’cause he loves us. If you want it, and wanna follow Jesus from now on, Ep 2.10 the kingdom is yours. If you don’t… well, God’s graciously provided us an alternative destination, but I think you’re really gonna hate it. It’s hot and smells like the worst farts. Rv 21.8

Getting born again, and resurrection.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he was in a very literal sense born again. He was dead; now he’s alive. Forever. And we Christians are likewise getting raised from the dead when Jesus returns. When Jesus talks about getting born again, he is to a degree also talking about resurrection.

Which looks a bit like the apostles described here:

1 Corinthians 15.47-50 KJV

47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

When Mary of Nazareth gave birth to Jesus, his original body was made of the same stuff ours is. Genesis describes the first human as being made from dirt. Ge 2.7 But Jesus’s new body, his current body, his resurrected body, his born-again body: It’s made out of heaven.

Whatever that means. But what it does mean is it’ll last forever, it won’t decay, it won’t perish, it won’t die. And if we aren’t resurrected same as Jesus, we won’t inherit God’s kingdom. Decaying organic matter can’t inherit an indestructible kingdom. Only that which is entirely born of Spirit can receive it.

I know; you likely thought you were already born again, once you became Christian. And you kinda did. The Holy Spirit is working with you, making it easier to hear his voice, follow Jesus, do good deeds, producing good fruit, and becoming more like Jesus than your average self-centered human. He’s re-generating us. That’s kinda being born again. But getting resurrected? That’s really being born again.

And that’s what Jesus means when he says we gotta be born again to enter God’s kingdom. It starts by learning to become more like Jesus. It ends with us being like Jesus in every way—including resurrection.