Born Again or Born Above

Born Again or Born Above                            September 11, 2017 

Born Again! What a neat, overused, misused, abused, redundant, different meanings to different people, non-meaningful term. But the question remains what is “Born Again”?  We have way too many different meaning. 

Born Again - Conversion – Received the Holy Spirit – Changed to Spirit 

Born:  gennaō; ghen-nah'-o; to regenerate: - bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of.

Again:  nōthen; an'-o-then;  from above; by implication anew: - from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top. 

When I say, Born Again, what does that mean to you?  Keep an open mind. 

Born Again Definition:  (of a person) converted to a personal faith in Christ

A born-again Christian is someone who has repented of their sins and turned to Christ for their salvation, and as a result has become part of God’s family forever. All this takes place as God’s Spirit works with and lives in them. 

Others believe we are not born again until we are changed at Jesus Return.

Born Again: the words together are in 3 verses, John 3:3, 7 and 1 Peter 1:23

 

Born from above is in 2 verses, John 3:3, 7 

Well the first time that the term is used is in John’s Gospel.  You Must Be Born Again.  There have been untold messages on this we have heard in the past. 

John 3:1 Now there was a man from the Pharisees, a leader of the Jews, whose name was Nicodemus. 

We know a Pharisee were most righteous of all the Jews, because they were legalistic in every area of their lives because they had taken a vow to live completely under the law.  There were good and bad Pharisees. 

John 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 

Why would a member of the Sanhedrin (70 members) come to Jesus at night, not be seen or because there were fewer distractions, or to spend more time with Jesus.  Who really knows. 

We are unable to accept Christ as who he says he is and so we try to define him in our own terms, this is what he did. 

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, (Born from above – other translations) he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

Jesus answered the question what they wanted to know and that hadn’t been asked, “what should I do to inherit eternal life?” One of the most misunderstood statement in the Scriptures.   

Not good people, not religious people, not sincere people, only people who have been born again or born from above. Now they may be good, religious, sincere people, but that won’t be what gets them into the Kingdom. Being “Born Again” isn’t one of many roads into the kingdom of God, it is the only way into the kingdom of God.  So this is important. 

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"   (talking about physical birth again) 

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

 (a little more information here – water baptism (come up out of the water is being born again?) and receiving the Holy Spirit (born again?)  (we kill the old physical self and come up as a new creation?) 

John 3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

John 3:7 ISV Don't be astonished that I told you, 'All of you must be born from above.' 

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. That's the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 

John 3:9-10 Nicodemus asked him, "How can that be?" (10) Jesus answered him, "You're a teacher of Israel, and you can't understand this? 

John 3:11 Truly, I tell you with certainty, we know what we're talking about, and we testify about what we've seen. Yet you people do not accept our testimony.   (You people?) 

John 3:12 If I have told you people about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

(earthly things – born above?) 

John 3:13 "No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 

John 3:14-15 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 

1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not by a seed that perishes but by one that cannot perish--by the living and everlasting word of God.   (Is that seed the Holy Spirit) 

Born Again to a Living Hope and a new nature 

1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! Because of his great mercy he has granted us a new birth, resulting in an immortal hope through the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, from the dead (4) and to an inheritance kept in heaven for you that can't be destroyed, corrupted, or changed. 

1 Peter 1:5-7 Through faith you are being protected by God's power for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of this era. (6) You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trial for a little while, (7) so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed. 

We know a spirit exists in mankind. 

*Job 32:8 However, a spirit exists in mankind, and the Almighty's breath gives him insight. 

*1 Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the deep things of God. 

*1 Corinthians 3:16 You know that you are God's sanctuary and that God's Spirit lives in you, don't you?  (Spirit lives in us) 

*2 Corinthians 1:22 who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.  (we are sealed) 

*2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and--look!--all things have become new!  (Is this born again, since it is new?) 

The Holy Spirit is the One who does the work of making you a born-again person. It is a supernatural act. 

1 Peter 2:1-2 Therefore, rid yourselves of every kind of evil and deception, hypocrisy, jealousy, and every kind of slander. (2) Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation. 

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are as newborn babies, we need to grow spiritually as a baby needs to grow physically. 

We are still human, but we are different from those in the world, because we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and have Jesus living in us and are called saints. 

John 14:20 At that time you will know that I am in my Father, that you are in me, and that I am in you.  (Jesus lives in us) 

Romans 8:10-11 But if the Messiah is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit is alive due to righteousness. (11) And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you. 

We have just covered that the old nature (spirit in man) needs to be replaced with a new heart. It cannot be fixed.  Then we are God’s children.

Ezekiel 36:26 "I'm going to give you a new heart, and I'm going to give you a new spirit within all of your deepest parts. I'll remove that rock-hard heart of yours and replace it with one that's sensitive to me.

(new heart – new spirit)  

John 1:12-13 However, to all who received him, those believing in his name, he gave authority to become God's children, (13) who were born, not merely in a genetic sense, nor from lust, nor from man's desire, but from the will of God.   

This is the only way we can be a partaker of the divine nature and the life of Christ Himself. 

*Galatians 2:20 I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Jesus lives in me) 

We as Christian must grow in spiritual knowledge and character to become PERFECT, which we shall not receive until we are changed or we can say, born, as spirit beings.  We are already children of God, not changed yet.

We have within us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Eternal Life - Spirit life - Divine life - BUT, only from and through GOD. We do not, yet, have any eternal life inherent - of ourselves, independent of God!

1 John 5:11-12 This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. (12) The person who has the Son has this life. The person who does not have the Son of God does not have this life.  (has given us eternal life) 

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 (50) Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay. (51) Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changed-- (52) in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. 

Is this, when we our bodies are change to spirit, that we are truly Born Again? 

Remember the 4 soils, 4 different hearts; the Hard Heart – resists the Word of God; the Shallow Heart – having no depth; the Crowded Heart – the worldly cares and the Fruitful Heart – evidenced by a changed life. 

It is significant that three-fourths of the hearts did not produce fruit (they were never truly born again (received the Holy Spirit). 

What did John say about this. 

*1 John 2:19 They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us. 

“Us” = the fellowship of believers; not all who are in a fellowship are saved;  but remaining in the fellowship is one evidence of their conversion.  

It is interesting that in the history of the false cults and anti-Christian religious systems, almost every leader started out in a local church. They were “with us” but not “of us.”

If we are born once (physical birth), you will die twice. If you are born twice, you will die once.   Just as there are two births, the Bible teaches there are two deaths: two are physical, and the spiritual change. Jesus warned that we are to fear the second death more than the first one.

*Revelation 21:8 But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death." 

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God's Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him. 

What are the Seven Traits of the Born Again person (or various translations - begotten of God, born from God, born of God) 

1. Practices righteousness 

*1 John 2:29 Since you know that he is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been fathered by God. 

2. Cannot go on sinning

*1 John 3:9 No one who has been born from God practices sin, because God's seed abides in him. Indeed, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born from God.

 

3. Love one another 

*1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us continually love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 

4. Believes that Jesus is the Messiah 

*John 11:27 "Yes, Lord," she told him. "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world." 

5. Loves the parent (Father) also loves the child (Jesus) 

*1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born from God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves the child. 

6. Overcome the world. 

*1 John 5:4 because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 

7. Son of God protects them 

*1 John 5:18 We know that the person who has been born from God does not go on sinning. Rather, the Son of God protects them, and the evil one cannot harm them. 

The Holy Spirit is designated as a down payment, a “first fruits,” to be followed by more. 

Romans 8:23 However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 

When we have to Holy Spirit in us, we are sealed for Jesus protection and Jesus ownership is what sealed us means.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now the one who makes us--and you as well--secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God, (22) who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. 

What are we seal with? 

Ephesians 1:13-14 You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory.   (sealed with the promised Holy Spirit) 

We are to endure until the end 

*Mark 13:13 You will be hated continuously by everyone because of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved." 

Our Christian life is not a sprint, but a marathon. It’s a battlefield; not a playground. 

This is encouraging news for us and Jesus is talking about us. 

John 10:26-30 but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. (27) My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. (28) I give them eternal life, they will never be lost, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (29) What my Father has given me is more important than anything, and no one can snatch it from the Father's hand. (30) I and the Father are one." 

No one can snatch us from Jesus or the Father hands. When we are changed at Jesus return to the earth, then we will received the full payment and then we will be fully Born Again at that time. 

From what we have read, it can either be spiritual or physical change.  Born again or Born above.