2007-03-27 08:17:51 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Someone who has accepted Jesus Christ into their heart is called "born again" because Jesus works on our hearts to transform our lives to something new. Just like a baby is born into the world with a clean slate, so are we.
It doesn't happen overnight, but trust me, it works.
2007-03-27 08:21:24 · answer #1 · answered by Kiwi 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
John said, "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." (1 John 3:9)
However, this Scripture does not mena that a born-again Christian can never commit sin. Within every born-again Christian a completely new nature has come into being. Paul calls this new nature "the new man." The contrast is the old man. Old man is depraved and corrupt. New man is righteous and holy. The new man has the possibility of leading a life of complete victory over sin. The old man has no alternative but to commit sin. He is the slave os his own corrupt, fallen nature.
After faith comes tht spiritual experience called the "new birth" or "being born again." the born again Christian experiences a new kind of spiritual life brought forth within him by the Word of God received by faith in his soul.
Peter describes Christians as being "born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." (1 Peter 1:23)
It is a principle, both in nature and in Scripture, that the type of seed determines the type of life which is produced from the seed. Corn seed produces corn; barley seed produces barley, etc. So it is also in the new birth. The seed is divine, incorruptible, eternal Word of God. The life which this produces, when received by faith into the heart of the believer, is like the seed - divine, incorruptible, eternal. It is, the very life of God Himself coming into a human soul through His word. The Holy Spirit within teaches us all things. The Holy Spirit purifies and refines and whatever the Holy Spirit starts in us the Holy Spirit is more than able to finish.
2007-03-27 08:30:09 · answer #2 · answered by Jeancommunicates 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
According th the Bible, someone who's born again is a person who has belief in Christ and the Spirit of God within him or her. Jesus said that people are born of the flesh (being the first birth) but to become His, one must be born again (born in the Spirit). In other words, if you believe in and on Jesus Christ and ask Him into your heart, you have faith in God through Him... then you are born again because no one can call Jesus Lord without the help of the Spirit of God.
2007-03-27 08:24:38 · answer #3 · answered by Charity 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I agree, being born again means the phenomenon that happens when a person realizes how helpless he is without God, and accepts Jesus...the Spirit of God comes to dwell within them, literally, and they begin to change.
I'd like to add a couple of observations of my own, however, since, as with every good gift God has ever given, Satan is quick to step in with a substitute.
First, you need to understand, there is no such thing as a Christian who has not been "born again". As stated, when a person comes to Jesus, His Spirit comes to him/her, and their life begins to change.
Now, this is NOT the same thing as "being baptized in the spirit" as you may have seen or heard of practiced in charismatic type churches. There is ONE Lord, ONE faith, and yes, boys and girls, only ONE baptism. That baptism might have the outward sign of being dipped in water or not, but when it happens, Jesus, as He promised, will baptize with fire and with the spirit.
Neither Jesus or any other Christian in the first century would have any idea what you were talking about if you said "slain in the spirit" or "drunk in the spirit" or "holy laughter"....nor would Paul recognize the babbling that goes on in these places as "the tongues of angels". Please do not be taken in by this stuff. Most of the people doing these things are fakes, but those few who are actually being moved by the spirit to do them are NOT...repeat NOT...being moved by a Holy Spirit.
Think about it.
2007-03-27 08:40:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
First you must hear the Word Rm10: 9-17
then you ask for it! What is it ? Anew life!
You are born again when you are buried
as Christ in the grave inclosed in water Rm 6:4
and you are being made free from sin unto the fruit
of holiness Rm 6:22 unto everlasting life
Its simple, when you follow the words of PETER
ACTS 2:37,38
2007-03-27 09:16:46 · answer #5 · answered by manoman 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
One whose spirit has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That happens when a person realises he is a sinner, that God, through His holiness has to judge him as a sinner, and that Jesus Christ chose to bear his sin on the cross so that he can re-establish an intimate relationship with his creator.
A more detailed explaination:
Genesis 2:7 says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." In the beginning, God created the figure of a man with the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils "the breath of life." When the breath of life came in contact with man's body, the soul was produced. The soul is the consummation of man's body and his spirit. This is why the Bible calls man "a living soul." This "breath of life" is man's spirit, the source of man's life. The Lord Jesus tells us that "it is the Spirit who gives life" (John 6:63). This breath of life comes from the Creator. Yet we should not confuse this spirit, which is the "breath of life," with the Holy Spirit of God. There is a difference between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit. Romans 8:16 shows us that the spirit of man is different from the Holy Spirit; the two are not the same. "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God." The word "life" in the expression "the breath of life" is chay; it is plural in number. This tells us that God's breathing produces two lives, a spiritual one and a soulish one. This means that when God's breath of life entered the human body, it became the spirit. At the same time, when this spirit came in contact with the body, it produced the soul. This is the source of the two lives, the spiritual life and the soulish life, within us. But we should make a distinction here: this spirit is not the life of God Himself; it is merely "the breath of the Almighty [which] hath given me life" (Job 33:4). It is not the entrance of the uncreated life of God into man. The spirit that was received in the beginning is not the life of God that we received at the time of our regeneration. The life which we received at the time of our regeneration is the life of God Himself; it is the life represented by the tree of life. This spirit of man is eternal, but it does not have the "eternal life."
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." This refers to man's body. "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." This refers to the fact that man's spirit comes from God. This man then became "a living soul." This speaks of man's soul. When the spirit caused the body to come alive, man became a living soul, a living person with his own consciousness. A complete person is a tripartite being, a person with a spirit, a soul, and a body. According to this verse, man was created with two independent materials—spirit and body. When the spirit entered the body, the soul was produced. The soul is the result of the union of the spirit and the body. The body was dead, but when it met the spirit of life, a third entity was produced, the soul. Without the spirit, the body is dead. When the spirit came, the body became alive. When the spirit is in the body, something organic is produced. This something that is organic is called the soul.
Here it says that the man became "a living soul." This signifies not only that the soul is produced from the union between the spirit and the body, but that after the soul is produced from this union of the spirit and the body, both the spirit and the body are incorporated into the soul. In other words, the soul and the body are fully joined to the spirit, and the spirit and the body are incorporated into the soul. Before Adam fell, his spirit and his flesh were of course not in conflict with each other daily as it is with us today. The three elements of his being were fully in harmony one with another. These three were mingled together. The soul served as the linking chain, the seat of man's personality, making it possible for man to exist independently. The soul is the consummation of the spirit and the body, the totality of the elements within man. After man's spirit and body were fully integrated, man became a living soul. This soul is the very result of the union of the two things; it is man's own personality. We may consider an incomplete illustration: if we put a drop of ink into a cup of water, the ink and the water mingle together and become ink-water. You can say that it is ink; it is indeed ink. You can also say that it is water, for it is still water. The ink and the water are integrated together and have become a third thing—ink-water. (Of course, the soul produced from the union of the spirit and the body is an independent and insoluble element, just as the spirit and the body are.) In the same way, the spirit and the body were two independent elements, but after they combined, the combination became a living soul.
God characterizes man by his soul because in His creation man's characteristics lie in his soul. This is similar to the angels being characterized by their spirit. Man is not only a body, and he is not only a body with the breath of life, but he has become a living soul. This is why later on in the Bible we see God calling man a "soul"; He did not call man a man, but He called him a soul. The reason for this is that a man is judged by his soul. The soul represents the man and expresses the characteristics of his personality. The soul is the organ of man's free will, and both the spirit and the body are incorporated into it. It has a free will. If it chooses to obey God, it can make the spirit the master of everything, according to God's design. But it can also suppress the spirit and take as its master the part that it likes. The three things—the spirit, the soul, and the body—are like a lighted electric bulb. Within a bulb, there is the electricity, the filament, and the light. The body is like the filament, the spirit is like the electricity, and the soul is like the light. Electricity is the source of light, and light is the consequence of electricity. The filament is a physical material for conducting electricity and for emitting the light. When the spirit and the body combine together, they produce the soul. The soul bears the characteristics of the combination of the spirit and the body; it is the product of the union of the two things. The spirit is the motivating force behind the soul, while the body is the means to express the soul. This is like electricity being the source of light, while the filament is the means through which light shines.
However, we should clearly remember that in this life the soul is man's consummate expression, while in the next life and in resurrection the spirit will be man's consummate expression. This is why the Bible says, "It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44). Since we are now joined to the resurrected Lord, through Him the spirit can control our whole being. We can control our being because we are not joined to the first man Adam, who was a living soul, but to the last Adam, who is the life-giving Spirit.
-THE SPIRITUAL MAN by Watchman Nee
2007-03-27 08:36:14 · answer #6 · answered by Jay Z 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Trazzy, it means "born of the spirit". Everyone is born once, not everyone is born twice. When a person realizes that they are a sinner, when they see that nothing they can do will erase that sin, when they stand humbly before God and confess that sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the spirit of God comes into them, and they are "born again", the bible calls them a "new creation".
Very exciting, and the dawn of a new life.
2007-03-27 08:23:22 · answer #7 · answered by Esther 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Someone who used to be a nonbeliever (as they define it) or they "fell away from god" and then came back, hence being "born again"
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I'm an atheist who used to be a born again Christian. I was a Christian, than at the age of 12 I became an atheist (but my grandmother guilt tripped me and what can I say, I was a kid), then shortly afterwards I became a very devout Christian, but later, through philosophy and reasoning, I became an Atheist . . . and I plan to stay that way.
2007-03-27 08:22:46 · answer #8 · answered by A 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
a true convert. "Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" - John 3:3.
To be born again means to be born of the spirit of God. You are born naturally in this world but spiritually dead and an enemy of God. Through repentance of sins and faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ, God grants you spiritual life in accordance with John 3:3 making you spiritually alive and no longer an enemy of God. At that point, God gives you a peace that is not of this world but only of God and you pass from death..........to life eternal.
2007-03-27 08:25:01 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Trazz - it refers to two things here. One is that you must be born again in Christ to be saved...this is what the Bible says and most of us who have been lifetime Christians believe its when we profess Christ as our Savior and are baptized or confirmed.
The second reference is to people who did not believe in God who have a sudden dramatic conversion. And that is all I have to say about the second reference.
The Skeptical Christian, JPO
Grace and Peace
Peg
2007-03-27 08:23:27 · answer #10 · answered by Dust in the Wind 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋