Be Born Agin

“Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, 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. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'” (John 3:5-7 ESV). Life comes in two stages: first is physical life, which provides the possibility of spiritual life. Everyone physically born is born spiritually dead and needs to experience spiritual birth before physical death occurs.

The command before us is: “You must be born again.” If we ignore this command we remain in our sin under the wrath of God, “[but], if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 ESV), being in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV). That new creation has eternal life, the result of obedience to the command to be born again.

Prayer

Father, I believe salvation is a gift that is given, not something we can work for. Being born again is an event in our lives caused by you, not something we can do. To obey the command to be born again is to realize that it is a life and death event that we must be involved in. To ignore the command is to remain spiritually dead. Father, thank you for the gift of salvation.

See "The Commands of Jesus" Index to view other commands.