Born Again

Noel Rude

Pendleton, Oregon

Long ago we connected John 3 where Jesus said (verse 3), “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”, and verse 5 where he said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, with where Paul in the resurrection chapter said (1Cor 15:50), “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God …”

If one must be resurrected from the dead in order to inherit the kingdom of God, then can one “see” it or “enter” it (as in John 3) while still in the flesh?  What did Jesus mean when he said (Mat 11:11; Luke 7:28), “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  My sense is that this greatness is realized in the resurrection.

Paul follows his statement in 1Corinthians 15:50 with words that seem to mesh with the way Jesus follows his statement:

Perhaps in John 3 Jesus is pointing to how later he could appear out of nowhere, as in John 20:26, “… then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”

For those who take up the evangelical banner, however, John 3:6-8 is interpreted such that it refer not to the resurrection of the body but rather to the invisibility of the spirit that now animates the mind.  Let me suggest that one need not deny this perspective while acknowledging that Jesus refers not to the spirit but to the person so born: “so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Just as the spirit that now dwells in us is neither seen nor understood by the world, so the resurrected body which “…is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15) also might be hidden from the world (1Cor 15:49): “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”  And as Paul assures us (1Cor 15:44), “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

John, in fact, later alludes to the resurrection as the hope our sonship inspires:

Note that he says, “when he shall appear, we shall be like him”.  Here he is not talking about the second coming of Christ.  He is talking about God and his sons.  When God in the future appears we shall be like him—like God who is immortal.  Jesus said (Mat 22:31-32), “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

Then there is Psalms 2:7 which Paul quotes (Acts 13:33): “God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.”  Here being “begotten” of God is once again fulfilled by a resurrection.

If the Father is immortal so shall his sons and daughters be immortal!

John continues in his epistle contrasting those who keep the commandments with those who break them (verse 8): “He that committeth sin is of the devil…” which is reminiscent of the devil’s seed in (Gen 3:15), “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  Those who are Satan’s seed are our biological brothers, but they are Satan’s spiritual seed if they follow in Satan’s way, just as we become the children of God if we follow in God’s way (Rom 8:14), “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

But then in verse 9 John says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”  This sounds like the resurrection (Rev 20:6), “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power...”  While we are in the flesh the second death still has power and we can sin.  Therefore we are not yet born of God.

Some say this means that those born again do not practice sin, or that the spirit in them does not do the sinning.  But this stretches the Greek which has the present active indicative (ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ ‘does not commit sin’) and is contrary to context:

Thus we have two tests with exactly the same wording for those who claim to be born of God.  First is John 3:8 which compares the spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα) to the wind (τὸ πνεῦμα):

οὕτως ἐστὶν πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος

so is every one that is born of the Spirit

And the second test in 1John 3:9 asks whether we sin:

πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin

Sin and the second death are still possibilities—we are not like the “born again” Christians who believe that they cannot sin or fall away.

Becoming a child of God begins in the mind in the here and now and culminates in a future resurrection.  But some challenge the idea that being born of God mirrors the whole process from conception (via God’s word) to parturition, yet James uses this very imagery, first in a negative sense (James 1:14-15): “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth [ἀποκύει] death.”  And then in verse 18 James speaks of the Father, who “Of his own will begat [ἀπεκύησεν] he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”  If when lust is conceived it brings forth death, then the implied contrast is conception via the word with the result being life via a resurrection from the dead.

Paul similarly contrasts the flesh (the urges contrary to the law of God) with the spirit (by which he means the law of God):

What some of us once believed and our critics criticized was that being “born again” was a process—just as the creation of a child is a process—and that this process of becoming children of God, if not aborted, will culminate in a resurrection from the dead.  Jesus speaks of the children of God as (Luke 20:36) “…being the children of the resurrection.”  The sons of God cannot remain mortal—they must “put on immortality” in a resurrection from the dead.  As of today I have not yet put on immortality, but, as John says, it is this hope in me that should inspire me to purify myself now.

We quoted Paul (Phil 3:20-21): “For our [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”  It says “our vile body”—and mine’s getting viler by the day—for God will not, as we used to say, change our vile character in the resurrection.

But it was all instantaneous for our critics—wholly born from above now and awaiting heaven the instant we die—there was never any (Heb 4:1), “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”  Yet for Paul the focal point of it all was the resurrection (1Cor 15:19-20): “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.”

The relevant Greek word is γεννάω ‘beget’, which is from the father’s perspective and thus inclusive of the initial conception.  And so in the spiritual sense it includes a conception via the word of God—thus making us sons now—but the actual birth does not occur until the resurrection.  Peter too connects the word (1Peter 1:23), “Being born again [ἀναγεγεννημένοι], not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”  And he connects the resurrection (1Peter 1:3): “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again [ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς] unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”.  In other words we have been sired with the word and await birth via a resurrection.

The word and the spirit are used more or less interchangeably.  Paul contrasts Ishmael and Isaac (Gal 4:29): “But as then he that was born [γεννηθεὶς] after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.”  Though not explicit in the Greek, the implication is that Isaac was ‘begotten after the spirit’—i.e., ‘sired according to the word’.

If Jesus became the firstfruits of the resurrection, then why was his sonship not exactly the same as that also offered to us?

Jesus was not a son of God via his birth according to the flesh—it was his being “born again” that made him a son.  Here is how Paul begins his epistle (Rom 1:3­4): “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”.

Again recall that Jesus said (Luke 7:28): “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”  That implies a resurrection from the dead because (1Cor 15:50) “…flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”.  Therefore Jesus’ greatness arises—not from a virgin birth in the flesh—but from his resurrection.

In Colossians 1:18 Paul calls Jesus “…the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”  In Romans 8:29 Paul calls Jesus “…the firstborn among many brethren.”  The book of Revelation also opens by declaring Jesus to be (Rev 1:5) “…the first begotten of the dead”.

Then there is the allegorical picture of the celestial Jerusalem in the book of Revelation (Rev 12:2-5): “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. … And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”  Note that the birth here is his resurrection from the dead, and any suffering or death are the birthpangs of Messiah, for after this birth the Messiah does not die but rather is caught up unto God and his throne as in Acts 1:9.  Note that in verse 4 “…the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”  After this birth Jesus escapes death by being “caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

Revelation 12 is talking about Jesus’ sonship—not from a virgin birth by way of Mary—but via a resurrection from the dead!

Once upon a time many of us could not really grasp the Midrash of Revelation 12 because we thought Jesus had been the God of the Old Testament and therefore the husband of a Covenant rescinded by his death.  Jesus, however, said (John 8:54), “If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God”.  Note that Jesus’ Father is the one the Jews claimed as their God—the YHWH of the Torah is Jesus’ Father and our Father (John 20:17).

Paul speaks of (1Cor 8:6) “… one God, the Father, of whom are all things,” and he speaks of (Gal 4:26) “… Jerusalem which is above … which is the mother of us all.”  This Father and Mother were married at Sinai (Exodus 19, 24)—God became married to an idealized Israel—the analogy is everywhere, such as in

ü     Isaiah 54:1—“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.”

ü     Isaiah 54:5—“For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.

ü     Jeremiah 3:14—“Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you…”

ü     Jeremiah 3:20—“Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.”

ü     Jeremiah 31:32—“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD”.

ü     Ezekiel 16:8—“Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.”

And thus the first commandment with promise (Exodus 20:12):

If God is our spiritual Father, and Jerusalem our Spiritual Mother or Nurturer as it says (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2), “for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem”, then how long might be our days upon the land which the Eternal our God gives us?