Reference: I Peter 1:22-23, and John 3:5
Today there are many thousands of peoplewho are confessing to be what the Bible calls "born again". And todaywe even have a president who also confesses to be born again. I am quite surethat there are but a very small few who truly know what it means to be bornagain as the Bible reveals it. The most common belief in the religious worldtoday of what it means to be born again is simply believing that one has becomea child of God ready and prepared for heaven.
Now to ask just about anybody whoconfesses to be born again just exactly what the term means and how it wasbrought about, I'll guarantee that hardly anybody will be able to explain whatit really means to be born again and how it's brought about in their life.
Just about everybody will say that the newbirth cannot be explained. They will say that nobody can understand it, but yetthey confess to be born again. From this description of what it means to beborn again, one is left thinking that the new birth is an emotional experienceof the flesh.
This is how most people try to explainwhat the new birth is. They believe it to be an emotional experience evidencedby a fleshly sensation. Of course there are others who do not think and believethat the new birth is an emotional experience, but the greatest majority ofpeople who confess to be born again believe that it's an emotional experiencewhen one accepts Christ as Lord and Saviour.
What most people fail to understand isthat, to be born again can be explained, but they certainly are not beingtaught this truth in the churches. In order to understand the meaning of whatit means to be born again one must first understand what the term or the word bornactually means. When Jesus told Nicodemus that a man had to be born again, hewas very much confused and asked how it was possible to be born again from thewomb of his mother. Now Jesus wasn't referring to being born of the womb of awoman, but Nicodemus did not understand this fact.
The only birth that Nicodemus knewanything about was of course the natural birth from the womb of a woman. Jesusthen told Nicodemus that whatever was born of flesh is flesh, but that which isborn of the Spirit is spirit. What the Lord actually meant by this statementwas that whatever is brought forth of the flesh is flesh and whatever isbrought forth of the Spirit is spirit. In other words Jesus was saying toNicodemus that in order for a man to be born again he had to be born again notof the flesh, but rather of the water and the Spirit.
Jesus did not say that a man had to beborn again of the flesh like Nicodemus thought, but rather he had to be bornagain of the water and of the Spirit. Now in order to be born of the water andthe Spirit we must understand what it means to be reborn or born once again.Now we were born once from our mother's womb, but in order to be born again wemust be born or begotten again by the Spirit. Now to be born simply means to bebrought into existence either as a fleshly being or a spiritual being. Now weknow that a fleshly being is a person composed of flesh and blood etc. When weare born from our mother's womb we are a fleshly or natural being, butwhen we are born again of the water and the Spirit we are still a fleshlybeing, but we are not only fleshly, we are also a spiritual being. Nowwhen I say we are a spiritual being, I simply mean that we are spiritual in thesense of not being carnally natured.
To be a spiritual of course means that wehave a new nature, which is a divine nature having been spiritually conformedto this state by the work of the water and the Spirit as Jesus said toNicodemus. Every person born from the womb of a woman is fleshly, possessing anatural or what the Bible calls a carnal nature. But when we are born again ofthe water and the Spirit we are yet flesh and blood but the carnal nature hasbeen eradicated or destroyed. The carnal nature is destroyed by our baptisminto Christ's death as Paul speaks about in Romans6:3-6.
This baptism into Christ's death isaccomplished by our walking in and obeying the truth revealed in the gospel ofChrist. The revealed word of truth will perform a spiritual operation on thewhole man consisting of body, soul, and spirit. Obedience to the word of Godwill purify the heart (which is accomplished by the Spirit of God taking up Hisabode there) and it will also renew the mind (by removing the knowledge of thegood and evil inherited through Adam) and will also crucify the lusts anddesires of the body.
The crucifying of the flesh is themortifying of our fleshly deeds, which are the works of the flesh as stated in Galatians 5:19-21.This entire operation is a work of faith as we walk in and receive and obey thetruth revealed in the gospel. To receive the truth revealed in the gospel willspiritually renew the mind giving us a new mind, which is the mind of Christ.
The spirit of God performs the operationof the new birth on a person by the revealing of the truth from the gospel. Therevealed word will do the washing and will cleanse us just like water willcleanse a dirty garment. This is what Jesus meant when He told Nicodemus that aman had to be born of the water and the Spirit.
We are washed by the water of the word ofGod applied by the revealing of the Holy Spirit in our heart. To be born againalso means to become a new creation in Christ where old things have passed awayand all things are become new. Becoming this new creation is a progressive workwrought on our whole being as we are obedient to the revealed truth. To be bornby the natural birth takes time from the moment of conception until we arebrought forth into the world and grow and develop into a matured adult.
The operation of the new birth begins withrepentance and doesn't really end until Christ comes making the final touch ofchanging our mortal bodies into an immortal being. When a person has been ledto repentance and accepts God's invitation, they will begin to experience thethings of God as to how he begins to deal with them. The first thing that willbe experienced will be the realization that one can't cease from sin untilChrist truly comes into the heart imparting the power to do so. After this hewill be led into the truth experiencing many different trials, temptations anddifficulties having waged war against his own flesh and carnal nature.
At true conversion, a person is faced withtheir own carnal condition and must fight the good fight of faith and overcomethe world and the flesh until complete victory is accomplished. Paul tells usthat we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We can conquer theflesh because greater is he (Christ) that is in us than he (Satan) that is inthe world.