What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? A Biblical Answer
When I use the word regeneration, I am talking about someone who has genuinely been born again, not just someone who calls himself a Christian. A person can call himself a Christian, but we need to see evidence of the new creation through his actions. Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus explains why even a respected religious teacher needed this change and how a sinner receives the life only God can give.
Nicodemus Needed New Life
John 2 ends with people believing in Jesus’ name because they had seen His signs. Yet Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew what was in man. In the next chapter, Nicodemus came to Him at night and acknowledged that His signs showed God was with Him. He was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and a recognized teacher of Israel. His respectful words and religious credentials did not remove the need Jesus addressed:
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ word “unless” leaves no alternative entrance into the kingdom. Nicodemus could not obtain spiritual life through Jewish ancestry or a thorough knowledge of the Law. An admirable reputation could not give it to him either. He needed God to make him alive, because the problem went beneath what he knew and how other people regarded him.
Spiritual death means separation from God’s life and bondage to sin. It does not mean a sinner cannot hear and respond when God appeals to him. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and went on to call him to believe. God’s Word and Spirit convict and draw people, who remain responsible to receive what He offers or resist His appeal. Responding in faith does not mean a sinner has somehow produced his own spiritual life.
Paul describes what God does for the person who comes to Christ:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
A new believer now belongs to Christ and has a relationship with God he did not have before. He still needs instruction and correction, so we should not expect him to know everything a mature believer knows. The new birth is a real beginning; maturity develops afterward. A man newly converted may still appear less polished than someone who has spent years around religion, while possessing the life that religious person still needs.
I cannot determine whether someone has been born again simply by how impressive he appears in church. Nicodemus already had learning and standing in his community when Jesus told him he needed new life. Growing up among Christians and learning to explain their beliefs can be valuable, but neither takes the place of personally receiving Christ.
Born Again Means Born From Above
Nicodemus took Jesus to mean a second physical birth and asked how an old man could enter his mother’s womb again. The Greek phrase gennethe anothen can mean “born again” or “born from above.” Jesus answered by explaining that the life Nicodemus needed must come from the Spirit:
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Natural birth gives us human life, but it cannot give us spiritual life. Jesus compared the Spirit’s work to the wind, whose sound we hear without being able to direct its course. We cannot manufacture the new birth either. The Spirit gives that life, and His work becomes evident in the person He makes alive.
Some understand “water and the Spirit” as physical birth followed by spiritual birth. The contrast between flesh and Spirit in verse 6 helps explain that reading. I find a fuller background in Ezekiel 36:25-27. God first promises cleansing from defilement and idols, then a new heart and a new human spirit, followed by His own Spirit dwelling within His people:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
In John 3:10, Jesus rebuked Nicodemus for being Israel’s teacher and not understanding these things. God’s promise of cleansing and a changed heart was already in the Scriptures he taught. That is why I read “water and the Spirit” in light of Ezekiel’s promise.
I do not believe John 3:5 teaches that baptism produces regeneration. Baptism is a commanded act of obedience that publicly identifies a believer with Christ. It follows salvation rather than creating the new heart. An outward washing cannot replace faith in the Son or accomplish the Spirit’s work of making a sinner alive.
The New Birth Comes Through Faith in the Son
To explain how life comes through the Son, Jesus referred Nicodemus to Israel’s wilderness journey in Numbers 21. Israel had sinned against God, and venomous serpents brought death through the camp. God instructed Moses to raise a bronze serpent, and anyone who had been bitten could look at it and live. Jesus used that event to describe His own being lifted up:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Israelite who looked at the bronze serpent was not earning his recovery. God had provided the remedy and told him to look. In the same way, a sinner receives eternal life by believing in the Son. Faith doesn’t make him deserving of salvation or pay for any part of it. He is trusting the Savior to give what he could never obtain by improving himself.
I reject the Calvinist teaching of limited atonement, which says Christ’s saving death was only for the elect, those chosen for salvation. God loved the world and gave His Son so that whoever believes would not perish. His invitation is genuine for everyone, and Christ died for the whole world. People can resist God’s appeal and remain in unbelief, but everyone who believes in the Son receives eternal life.
Earlier, in the opening chapter of his Gospel, John describes the people who become God’s children:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
They receive Christ and believe in His name, yet the birth itself is God’s work. Christian parents can teach their children Scripture, but they cannot pass spiritual life to them through ancestry. Nor can anyone bring that life into existence through determination or decide another person’s conversion for him. Our response to the gospel is real, and God gives the right to become His children to those who receive His Son. Faith does not make that birth any less His work.
The Savior we trust is the eternal Son, fully God and fully man. He lived without sin and willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured and crucified Him, shedding His innocent blood and killing Him. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father and Son were united in saving sinners. Christ’s sacrifice was complete through His shed blood and death before He was buried and rose bodily from the dead. The Spirit gives life as a sinner believes this gospel, leaving us no grounds to boast. The study on the gospel examines His saving work further.
The Spirit Regenerates, Indwells, and Seals
Paul explains God’s saving work in Titus 3 by beginning with His mercy:
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
The Greek word palingenesia means regeneration or new birth. Paul joins that beginning with the Spirit’s renewal as part of God’s saving act. He does not divide them into separate stages or make either a reward for good conduct. Here he is explaining how God saves, while other passages describe the continuing renewal that follows salvation. A person does not gradually earn enough maturity to become spiritually alive.
Peter connects this new birth with God’s living Word:
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.
The Spirit brings sinners to life through the truth of the crucified and risen Christ. A person need not have a dramatic conversion account to tell, but he does need the Savior revealed in the gospel. An intense private experience cannot replace that truth or become another way to receive life apart from Christ.
The Holy Spirit who gives this life is a divine Person. We may feel deeply moved in a church service, but that feeling is not the Spirit Himself. Jesus promised His disciples a Helper who would remain with them:
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.
Paul makes clear that having the Spirit is part of belonging to Christ:
Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Every person who truly belongs to Christ has the Spirit, including believers who are still immature. We do not keep ourselves spiritually alive by maintaining the emotional intensity of a particular service or experience. The Spirit lives within us, bears witness that we belong to God, and teaches us through His Word. He convicts us when we sin, even when we would prefer not to be corrected. The study on the Holy Spirit’s indwelling and coming upon explains His continuing presence more fully.
Paul also describes what God does for those who have believed the gospel:
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
The order is hearing the gospel, believing in Christ, and being sealed with the promised Spirit. The seal marks God’s ownership and gives the believer security. In the next verse, Paul calls the Spirit the guarantee of our inheritance until the purchased possession is redeemed. Our future rests on God’s commitment to keep His people.
I therefore reject the Arminian teaching that someone genuinely born again can later lose that life. God keeps the people He has made alive. That assurance does not authorize me to rebel against Him. In Ephesians 4:30, Paul tells believers not to grieve the Spirit who sealed them for the day of redemption. In that same passage, he tells them to put away lying and to forgive one another. Being secure in Christ gives me no excuse to keep deceiving people or nursing a grudge against a fellow believer.
New Life Produces Living Fruit
Good works cannot cause regeneration, but the life God gives will not remain permanently fruitless. We should expect the Spirit’s presence to begin showing in a believer’s conduct. John gives us practical evidence of knowing Christ:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
John had already warned against claiming to have no sin and instructed believers to confess their sins. He also identified Jesus as our Advocate, the One who acts on our behalf with the Father (1 John 1:8-2:6). John is not demanding sinless perfection. But a man cannot reasonably claim to know Christ while treating His commands as something he has no intention of obeying. New birth changes how we respond to the Lord, even while we still need correction and have much to learn.
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.
John explains this love in practical terms. If I see a fellow believer in need and have the means to help, love should move me to act rather than leave him with a few kind words (1 John 3:16-18). Being pleasant to people at church is not the whole of loving the brethren. The Spirit teaches us to care for people who belong to Christ, even when helping costs us time or money.
We should not demand instant maturity from a new believer. Old habits may still need to be confronted, and fear can hinder his growth. If a believer loses his temper, he needs to confess that sin and learn self-control. That does not mean he must be converted again every time he needs correction. His willingness to acknowledge the sin and receive instruction is part of learning to obey the Lord who saved him.
I should also be careful about reassuring someone who calls himself a Christian while remaining content to reject Christ’s commands. His label does not settle whether he has been born again. Obedience provides evidence of new life without purchasing it. John allows for struggle and confession, but he gives no reassurance to someone who intends to remain in unbelief and disobedience.
For the person who truly belongs to Christ, a difficult week does not undo the Spirit’s seal. We confess sin because it grieves the One who now lives within us, and we receive His correction without trying to earn our way back into life. Our assurance rests in the Savior and His promise to keep us, while His work begins to show in how we live.
My Final Thoughts
I cannot give myself the life Jesus said Nicodemus needed, and years around religion cannot supply it. God gives that life through His Spirit as a sinner believes in His Son. If you have not received Christ, His invitation is genuine: turn to Him in repentance and faith. If you belong to Him, you can trust His keeping power while learning to live as someone He has made new.