You've probably heard it before. Perhaps you've even said it or you've been asked the question: "Are you born again?"
For many Christians, this question is asking whether or not one has gone through a "conversion experience," of going from a time of wayward living to a time when they have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
However, there's another group of Christians who are somewhat puzzled by this usage of the term. As powerful as the conversion experience is for many, it can be somewhat confusing to those who have been raised Christian and have embraced their faith for as long as they can remember. So what of these Christians who have spent their lives in faith? By looking to the Biblical source of the "born again" term, perhaps its meaning might be more clearly understood.
Being Born of Water and Spirit
The term "born again" (or "born from above") comes from John 3 when Jesus is explaining to the Pharisee Nicodemus that the only way one may enter the Kingdom of God is to be "born again." Jesus states that one must be born "of both water and spirit."
This is an odd melding that Jesus is referring to here. Since all people are born of water (ask any woman who has had her water break during labor), Jesus is outlining a new reality that the physical and the spiritual must combine. While one must be born physically, one must also be born spiritually - born "from above" or "again."
In Jesus' day, this would have been contrary to both popular Greek Platonic thought as well as Jewish notions of salvation.
Platonic philosophy believed the physical, material world was bad and only the spiritual was good. Jewish thought, by contrast, viewed "salvation" in physical rather than spiritual terms. Salvation was deliverance from a harmful situation and was usually directly related to either the preservation or restoration of Israel rather than a reference to the hereafter.
Jesus, however, is introducing a completely different notion - that both the physical and the spiritual are necessary elements in the issue of salvation. One must be born physically (of water) as well as spiritually (from above). Since all know what a physical birth looks like, it begs the question: what does a "spiritual" birth look like?
The Son of Man Must be Lifted Up
Within this overarching passage that deals with Nicodemus, Jesus continues on to explain how the Son of Man must be lifted up like the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9.
In the Numbers text, the Israelites had been bitten by snakes and were told that in order to be healed, they must turn in faith and face the image of that which was killing them.
Jesus, foreshadowing his death on the cross, points to the fact that in the same way Moses lifted up the bronze serpent for the Israelites to turn to in faith in order to save their lives, so the Son of Man will also be lifted up for people to look at in faith in order to have "eternal" life.
The word "eternal" however is the distinguishing difference between the type of healing Moses offered and the type of healing Jesus offers. Moses' healing was physical. Jesus offers both physical and spiritual wholeness.
In both cases - one must face that which is killing them in order to be healed. One must face one's sin, one's brokenness, the cause of one's destruction as it hangs on the cross. To turn in faith is to be "born from above" or "born again."
Encountering Christ
While John 3 is but one instance of Nicodemus' run-in with Jesus, there are several more encounters Nicodemus has with the Son of Man. The Nicodemus story highlights the point that encountering Christ is not a static, one time event.
The "born again" and "born from above" reality is a reality that is lived out from day to day. One must daily be turned to Christ through the workings of the Spirit. One must daily face one's sin and one's brokenness and cling to the promises of new life in Christ. Thus, one is "born again" every day.
Daily Dying and Rising
Lutherans refer to this daily turning to Christ a "daily dying and rising." In his explanation of baptism in the Small Catechism, Martin Luther states: "Our sinful self with all its evil deeds and desires should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever."
Thus for the Lutheran, being born again is tied intrinsically to one's baptism - where one begins the process of a life that daily "dies to the self" and now lives a life in faith (Galatians 2:20) in order to be "born again/from above." For more on the Lutheran view of baptism, read Why Lutherans Baptize Babies.
Paul states in Romans 6:4 that people are baptized into Christ's death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, "we, too, might walk in newness of life."
While the "conversion experience" is indeed a powerful testimony to the transformative power of Christ in a person's life, such transformation is not relegated to one moment and time. It is a daily walk, a daily dying, a daily turning to the cross to face the Son of Man in order to be eternally healed.
In short, to be "born again" is a life lived in faith.
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