John 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.”
“ἀπεκρίθη ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.”
“apokrinomai ho Iēsous kai legō autos amēn amēn legō su ean mē tis gennaō anōthen ou dunamai horaō ho basileia tov theos”
In the physical world, the primary concern for most people is survival; this is either the survival of themselves or the survival of those close to them.
Unfortunately, most people understand survival as looking out for our physical, mortal shells; however, it is far more important to look out for our eternal souls… As time goes on and people grow older, they realize that death is inevitable. They cannot avoid it. This often leads people to find religion. Those blessed few who find the right religion – a life with the living Christ – then realize what they have been missing out on all those years. The BBA years (Before Born Again)…
“Except if a man is born again…”
Let us have a look at the Greek text translated as “Born Again”. gennaō (be born) anōthen (again). The Greek word “Anothen” can mean “again” or “from above”. Nicodemus (to whom this verse was directed) clearly understood Jesus as saying “again”. Now although the meaning “again” is not wrong, it can be misunderstood – as evident in the chapter. To see the kingdom of God we must be born again, but this time, not in a physical form, but a spiritual one. We must be born again “from above”.
There is a list of requirements needed before someone is “born again”.
- The person must realize that everyone has sinned and therefore fall short of God’s requirements
- The person must understand that the penalty for sin is death
- The person must also understand that Jesus took our sins upon Himself at the cross and without His sacrifice we cannot enter heaven
- The person must believe that Jesus died for his or her sins and rose again three days later
- The person must repent of their sins (that is: feel regret for sinning, asking forgiveness and then turn away from sin)
- The person must then accept Jesus’ sacrifice by inviting Jesus into their heart and into their life, changing their lifestyle to match God’s will. (then their life as a Born-Again begins)
You will notice that nowhere does the Bible say “say a little prayer and you will be saved”. There is a big problem in Christianity today when it comes to “The Sinners Prayer”.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the sinners prayer, I am all for it! I have done it myself and I have led people through it, however, I have a problem when it is not presented correctly.
Saying the words of “the sinner’s prayer” does not save anyone. The devil can say them and it won’t save him. If a person’s heart is not there, or they don’t really know what they are saying then the prayer is absolutely useless. There are thousands of people who have said the prayer without meaning it or without understanding what they said and they slipped away. These people were not “born again”. There are also hundreds of people who have never said “the sinner’s prayer”, but have fulfilled all the requirements. They have Jesus as their personal Lord and savior, loving Him with all their heart and they have repented of their sins, but they have never heard of “the sinner’s prayer”. These people are born again.
Whether a person has said the “sinner’s prayer” or not does not necessarily indicate their BA status (Born Again Status). The purpose of “the sinner’s prayer” is to audibly declare to God (as well as all principalities of darkness) that one understands and accepts the requirements. The person saying the prayer also audibly repents and invites Jesus into his or her life. The prayer runs through the list of requirements, ticking them as it goes along.
Unfortunately Christianity has placed too much emphasis on “saying the sinner’s prayer”… There are Christians who lead people through the sinners prayer without explaining what they are about to say. Some lead people through the prayer without even listing the requirements for salvation! Others say that if you have not said “the sinner’s prayer” then you are not born again! There are hundreds of people who say the sinners prayer and at the end have no idea what they said or even why they said it, all they know is that somehow they are now “born again”… This is a serious problem because those people are not born again and if they die their destination is not bright as the Christian makes it out to be!
The Bible is clear that we must fulfill the requirements for salvation; the prayer can most definitely help, however, saying it does not automatically mean that the person is saved, nor does the lack of it automatically bar you from the kingdom!
Before we lead someone through the sinner’s prayer, we must make sure that they fully understand what they are about to say and what impact the change will make in their lives! Only when they fully understand what they are going to say is it possible to truthfully declare anything.
BBA:
People who are not yet born again fall into one of two categories: Non-“Christians” and Fruitless “Christians”.
1) Non-“Christian”
Non-Christians are people who deny Christ. This is a huge umbrella group that holds atheists as well as people in other religions. These people either have no idea who Jesus is, or simply does not care. These people must be introduced to Christ from scratch.
2) Fruitless “Christian”
These are people who take Christianity as a religion, but they do not make it a lifestyle! They may even have said the sinner’s prayer, but never really meant or understood it.
The story is told of a wealthy man who, although he was outwardly religious, was not a Christian. He had in his employ an old gardener, a true believer, who tried to show him the emptiness of mere religion without Christ. Now it happened that there was one tree on the rich man's estate which never bore any fruit. However, one day as the owner was walking in his orchard, he saw some beautiful apples hanging on it. Imagine his surprise, especially when he went to pick some and found them to be tied on! The gardener by this simple illustration wanted to point out to his employer the difference between real Christianity and pious sham. Religion without Christ is like a barren tree on which the fruit is merely "tied on"!
“See the kingdom of God”
Now that we understand that there is a difference between being a religious Christian and a Born Again Christian, we can look at the rest of the verse! Jesus said that unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God.
The Greek word translated as “see” is “horaō”, some Greek manuscripts uses the word “eido”.
Both “Eido” and “horaō” can be translated as “see”…
A direct translation would be “to stare”, however, the correct translation would be “to discern clearly”. The form of this word also implies “not tell”. In English we can accurately say that it is a discernment that cannot be taught or explained, it can only be experienced.
Jesus is actually telling us that unless we are born again we cannot discern clearly the kingdom of God. Later Jesus also says that we cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are born again.
It is easy to understand this if we look at the world today. Where the people “in the world” would see something as coincidence, we see providence. Where people see “luck”, we see the hand of God moving behind the scenes. People in the world glorify their own achievements, leaving God out of everything, while we see God present in every achievement, giving Him the glory!
Another way of looking at it is with these questions: How do you KNOW God exists? How do you KNOW it is not all made up? How do you KNOW that the miracle is really a miracle and not just coincidence? The answer, as difficult as it is for the world to understand, is simply “Because we know”. There is something inside of us that convinces us and no argument can convince us otherwise! There is discernment within us that the world simply does not have. This is why so many people find it difficult to “just believe” something or to “just have faith” in something.
People who have not been born again cannot see the kingdom of God like we can, therefore they cannot be part of it. Since we all make up the body of Christ we all need to receive our instructions from God. What good is a foot if the brain cannot control it? In the same way a “Christian” is useless in the body of Christ unless he can receive instruction from God. The only way to receive instruction from God is to discern clearly what is from God and what is not and the only way to do that is by being born again.
As sinners we are spiritually dead and cannot discern clearly. Only through Christ Jesus can we be saved. So the question is:
Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Have you changed your lifestyle to fit with His will, or have you changed what you believe to be God’s will to fit with your lifestyle?
We must take our salvation seriously. Are you really born again, or are you just going with the motions? Are your works real fruit, or are they just tied on?
‘The only "works" of unsaved men that will endure in Heaven are the nail prints in Christ's hands!’ – W. P. Loveless
