Back to Basics: Being Born Again

Q. My friend calls herself a “born again Christian,” and has asked me if I am “born again.”  How should I respond?

Many of our Protestant brothers and sisters put a great deal of emphasis on the moment when one places trust in Jesus Christ for salvation.  Asking, “Are you born again,” often means something like “have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Now, first thing’s first.  For all of us as Christians, the answer to that question should be a resounding “YES!”  But is that what scripture means by being “born again?”

While a personal relationship with Christ is at the heart of the Christian life, it may be surprising to some that the Bible never talks about “accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.”  The phrase “born again” comes from the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.

Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "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 3:3-5)

In Greek, the word here for “again” can also mean “from above.”  Jesus probably intended the double meaning: you must be born again, from above.  How?  Jesus clarifies: “Of water and the Spirit.”  Christ is referring to Baptism!

The context of John 3 makes this clear.  Our Lord’s teaching that it is necessary for salvation to be born (again) from above by water and the Spirit (John 3:1–21) is followed shortly thereafter by: "Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized" (John 3:22).

This idea of rebirth through baptism is clear elsewhere in the Scriptures.  Paul writes to Titus: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3:4-5)

What’s more, when the early Christians mentioned being “born again,” they inevitably linked it to Baptism.  For example, Justin Martyr writes in the middle of the second century:

"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly… they are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151]).

Again, around 190 AD, St. Irenaeus of Lyon wrote:

"For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’" (Fragment 34).

The list goes on.  The early church Fathers all unanimously held that being “born again” meant being baptized.

So, if you’re ever asked, “have you been born again?” you can respond, “yes, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and savior.  But I have been born again the Bible way, through water and the Spirit, at my baptism.”