Who's truly "Born Again"?

-->“Are you a Born Again Christian?”
This is a common question asked by many religious groups today professing to be Christian. It may appear, at face value, to be but a simple, innocent question rooted only in curiosity.

However, the question itself bears significant implications.

Why? There are preachers today whose teaching leads others to conclude that one must wear the title “Born Again” upon himself so as to be considered a Christian, and thus be worthy to attain coveted salvation offered by our Lord Jesus Christ.

This led some to merely search out groups that use the phrase “Born Again” believing that if affiliated with such group, their salvation is secured. But, is that so? Is joining any group whose members simply call themselves “Born Again” a guarantee of salvation? Is being born again just a change in a person’s way of life, or there are more involved?

These are some very important questions that one must ask before embracing a group declaring itself to be “Born Again”.

Being Born Again

First, does the expression itself have any biblical basis? It was no less than our lord Jesus Christ who spoke it in a conversation he had with Nicodemus:

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." John 3:1-3

It can be easily gleaned from this conversation that our lord Jesus Christ gave much importance to being born again and that it has direct relevance to one’s attaining eternal life. However, just as so many still today, Nicodemus misunderstood the declaration of the savior. He asked Jesus:

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." John 3:4-5

Clearly, Nicodemus misunderstood and was corrected by our lord Jesus Christ. Jesus went on to explain that being born again meant being born of water and spirit. The question that people must then ask themselves with a religious group that has for themselves a title of being “Born Again” or not, but rather if they have been born of water and spirit or not.

How can a person determine if he has yet undergone such a rebirth via water and spirit?

The water and spirit

Which are the water and the spirit one is to be born of? Jesus spoke of the water, not as that which would only quench a literal thirst:

"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

If it is not a literal water that will quench one’s thirst being referred to, but rather a water that will bring one eternal life, what then is being referred to as the eternal life-giving rather that leads one to become born again?

"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." I pet 1:23

It is the word of God that will lead a person to become truly born again, not merely a self-proclamation. There is a process one must undergo, which begins with the cleansing power of the words of God.

If that is what is meant by being born of water, what about the expression of Jesus when he mentioned that one must also be born of the spirit so as to be born again? Who is the spirit of which one must be born? Our lord Jesus Christ teaches:

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:24

The bible teaches us that god is spirit. Thus, to be born again, one must be born of God and of his words. If not, one would only be laying claim to a position of being born again but without sound biblical basis for such claim.

Undergoing rebirth

The bible teaches us how the process of becoming born anew takes place.

Apostle Paul taught:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." II Cor. 5:17

What takes place is a complete rebirth or the making of a new creation, according to apostle paul? If a person has not undergone this process of renewal, he could not truly born again.

So, who have become a new creation? Are they those who have merely made such a claim for themselves? No. According to Apostle Paul, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”. The Apstle identified those who are “in Christ”, thus:

"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace," Eph. 2:14-15

The new creation or those who are truly born again, therefore, are those who became part of the “one new man” which is composed of two parts. Anyone who wishes to be reborn or born again must be brought into the one new man by God through his words. It cannot be done by self declaration or only by affiliating oneself with a group that merely calls itself “Born Again”.

What are the two parts of the one new man which we are to become part of?

"And he is the head of the body, the church;...". Col. 1:18

The two parts of the one new man are Christ as head and the Church, his body. Which Church is Christ head of? It is the Church that carries his name—the Church of Christ:

"Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood." Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation

All truly born again Christians, therefore, are those who have undergone the process of becoming a member of the true Church of Christ. They have been born of the spirit, born of God, or born of his word; therefore they have been added as parts of the one new man composed of a head and a body. They are in the body of Christ or Church of Christ.

Membership in the true Church of Christ is therefore necessary for one to become a true born again Christian. One question people should ask themselves is whether they are in the true Church headed by Christ.

Complete renewal is needed

But is entering the Church of Christ the only thing needed so as to be truly born again? No. The renewal of one’s life is an important requirement in the process as well. As mentioned by Apostle Paul in the verse quoted earlier, “the old things have passed away” (II Cor. 5:17).

The ways of life that must be left behind by anyone becoming part of the Lord’s body or Church were described also by Apostle Paul, thus:

"throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes." Eph. 4:22-23

The apostle also taught the church about what happens to the former self of a person once he becomes part of the new creation or is truly born again. It dies and is buried:

"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Rom. 6:3-4

Jesus taught that we need to be born again to receive eternal life. We must therefore not resist the correct process of becoming truly “born again”.

The bible does not show any shortcuts. One becomes a born-again Christian by becoming a member of the true Church of Christ and by living a life in accordance with the will of God.

Can faith alone save you?

Proponents of this so called “faith alone concept” almost invariably cite our Lord jesus Christ statement in John 3:16 to support their alleged share in the promised everlasting life. 

Obviously enough, this expedient man conceived formula of salvation emerged from these preachers’ superficial and erroneous interpretation of biblical pronouncements regarding faith and salvation. 

Superficial in the sense that it does away with numerous important and vital commandments of God through Jesus Christ necessary for man’s salvation; and erroneous in that it purports faith alone to be the sole basis of attaining eternal life.

Let us quote in full citation in the book of John:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jn. 3:16

Who is appointed to by the verse as the recipient of the promised everlasting life? Whosoever believes in Christ. Faith, indeed, is indispensable for man’s salvation. But is it enough to believe in Christ to be assured of salvation?

Not by Faith Alone

Can faith alone justify man to be worthy before the sight of god to inherit life eternal? In James 2:24, this is documented:

“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”

It is not faith alone, therefore, that makes man justified before God; to say otherwise is to question the righteousness of God’s justice! What does it mean that man is not justified even if he has faith but has no works? Apostle James states:

“What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can his faith save him?” Jas. 2:14

The spirit of James’ discourse can easily be gleaned: faith alone, without works, cannot save man. How far from the truth and salvation are those who propagate and adhere to the so-called “Faith alone concept”? Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (Jas. 2:17)

Does this mean then that faith is devoid of any religious significance in man’s service to God? No!

It is in fact one of the three cardinal virtues mentioned by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians:

“So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
I Cor. 13:13

Faith by works

But what faith has value for it will certainly and ultimately lead to one’s salvation? In james 2:22, this is stated:

“Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect?”

This is then the kind of faith joined with works that everyone believing in Christ should possess to be worthy of God’s promise: perfect faith. What works should be done so that faith will be perfect? Apostle Paul writes:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10

Apostle Paul points to the good works which God had foreordained that we should do. What are these good works referred to by Paul? In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle states:

“Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Phil.1:11

This is the reason why faith alone is not sufficient for man’s justification before God: he needs to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, unto the glory and praise of God. What is the means prescribed for man to be filled with the fruits of righteousness? Apostle Paul’s statement is clear—“by Jesus Christ” .

What does it mean that “fruits of righteousness” are by jesus Christ? Does it simple mean to believe in Christ and profess him as Lord and savior? In John 15:4-5 this is written:

“Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, itself, neither can you, unless you are in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

But how could man be joined to Christ? Who are truly joined to Christ, as branches of the vine, according to the testimony of the bible? What is the equivalent of Christ being the vine and those joined to him being the branches? 

In Col. 1:18, this is written:

“He is the head of the body, the church...”

Which is the Church referred to by Apostle Paul as the “body” of Christ?

In eph. 5:23, 25, lets read:

“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: and he is the savior of the body” “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”

It is the Church which Christ so dearly loved. Why was it necessary, after all, for Christ to die for the church? Because the church is his body and he himself is its savior. Lets read Acts 20:28 (Lamsa translation) that says:

“Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the holy spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.”

The redeeming power of the blood of our Savior is meant only for the Church of Christ (Iglesia ni Cristo). We have to believe in Christ and accept him as a Lord And Savior, but faith alone cannot justify us unto salvation, but it is faith by works of righteousness!