What does it means to be born again?
There was a pharisees ,named Nicodemus , a ruler of the jews ;The same came to jesus by night , and said unto him,Rabbi ,we know that thou art a teacher come from God ;for no man can do these miracles that thou doest ,except God be with him.Jesus answered and said unto him,verily ,verily ,i say unto thee ,except a man be born again ,he cannot see the kingdom of God .Marvel not that i said unto thee ,ye must be born again
John 3:1-3,7
In this passage ,Jesus had discussion with a man called Nicodemus .Jesus was at home one night when Nicodemus came to him.Nicodemus was a very important person in town
The bible says he was the ruler of the jews ,a master of israel ,a leader in the synagogues .Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night ,so that all the people who respected him would not see him
This prominent Jewish leader said something to Jesus ,which prompted him to give an interesting reply , Nicodemus told Jesus that he recognized him as a great man of God
Jesus saw right through him and replied "you must be born again again.you area good person .I know you pay tithes and fast often .you are a pharisee ,and a ruler of the Jews ,but you still need to be born again
Now , the questions we have to ask ourselves are these :"why did Jesus tell Nicodemus that he had to be born again"Why did he launch out this sermon ?
The word" born", means "to be produced or created ".Therefore ,to be" born again", means" to be produced or created again"
There are a lots of people doing all sorts of religious things .
These religious activities makes people look like and feel that they are christians ,but actually they are not , Being religious does not make you a born again .Such people are not born again
Indeed ,apart from Christianity there is no religion that requires a person to be born again or created again .All the major religions of this world give instructions for their followers to obey .There is ,however ,no religion that claims an inner new birth , christianity stands alone in this claim
To understand what it means to be born again ,we can look at what being born again is not !, To understand the bible better , i often try to look at the opposite of what is written .This can be revealing .For example ..............seek ye first the kingdom of God ,and its righteousness ,and all these things shall be added unto you {mathew 6:33] The opposite of this :"....do not seek first the kingdom of God ,and all these things shall not be added unto you ",it is as simple as that
So understand the concepts of being born again