Born again
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and separately caused by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and it occurs when one is baptized in water. While all Christians are familiar with the concept from the Bible, it is a core doctrine of the denominations of the Moravian, Anabaptist, Congregationalist, Baptist, Methodist, Plymouth Brethren, Holiness and Pentecostal churches along with evangelical Christian denominations. These churches stress Jesus's words in the Gospels: "Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'". Their doctrines also hold that to be "born again", and thus "saved", one must have a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
The term born again has its origin in the New Testament. In the First Epistle of Peter, the author describes the new birth as taking place from the seed which is the Word of God. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus himself refers to the Word of God as the seed.
In contemporary Christian usage and apart from evangelicalism, the term is distinct from similar terms which are sometimes used in Christianity in reference to a person who is, or is becoming, a Christian. This usage of the term is usually linked to baptism with water and the related doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Individuals who profess to be "born again" often state that they have a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ".
Origin
The term is derived from an event in the Gospel of John in which the words of Jesus were not understood by a Jewish Pharisee, Nicodemus:The Gospel of John was written in Koine Greek, and the original text is ambiguous which results in a double entendre that Nicodemus misunderstands. The word translated as 'again' is ἄνωθεν, which could mean either 'again', or 'from above'. The double entendre is a figure of speech that the gospel writer uses to create bewilderment or misunderstanding in the hearer; the misunderstanding is then clarified by either Jesus or the narrator. Nicodemus takes only the literal meaning from Jesus's statement, while Jesus clarifies that he means more of a spiritual rebirth from above. English translations have to pick one sense of the phrase or another; the NIV, King James Version, and Revised Version use "born again", while the New Revised Standard Version and the New English Translation prefer the "born from above" translation. Most versions will note the alternative sense of the phrase in a footnote.
Edwyn Hoskyns argues that "born from above" is to be preferred as the fundamental meaning and he drew attention to phrases such as "birth of the Spirit", "birth from God", but maintains that this necessarily carries with it an emphasis upon the newness of the life as given by God himself.
The final use of the phrase occurs in the First Epistle of Peter, rendered in the King James Version as:
Here, the Greek word translated as 'born again' is ἀναγεγεννημένοι.
Interpretations
The traditional Jewish understanding of the promise of salvation is interpreted as being rooted in "the seed of Abraham"; that is, physical lineage from Abraham. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that this doctrine was in errorthat every person must have two birthsnatural birth of the physical body and another of the water and the spirit. This discourse with Nicodemus established the Christian belief that all human beingswhether Jew or Gentilemust be "born again" of the spiritual seed of Christ. This understanding is further reinforced in 1 Peter 1:23. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that " controversy existed in the primitive church over the interpretation of the expression the seed of Abraham. It is teaching in one instance that all who are Christ's by faith are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise. He is concerned, however, with the fact that the promise is not being fulfilled to the seed of Abraham."Charles Hodge writes that "The subjective change wrought in the soul by the grace of God, is variously designated in Scripture" with terms such as new birth, resurrection, new life, new creation, renewing of the mind, dying to sin and living to righteousness, and translation from darkness to light.
Jesus used the "birth" analogy in tracing spiritual newness of life to a divine beginning. Contemporary Christian theologians have provided explanations for "born from above" being a more accurate translation of the original Greek word transliterated. Theologian Frank Stagg cites two reasons why the newer translation is significant:
- The emphasis "from " calls attention to the source of the "newness of life". Stagg writes that the word 'again' does not include the of the new kind of beginning;
- More than personal improvement is needed; "a new destiny requires a new origin, and the new origin must be from God."
A Unitarian work called The Gospel Anchor noted in the 1830s that the phrase was not mentioned in any of the Gospels, nor by any Epistles except in that of 1 Peter. "It was not regarded by any of the Evangelists but John of sufficient importance to record." It adds that without John, "we should hardly have known that it was necessary for one to be born again." This suggests that "the text and context was meant to apply to Nicodemus particularly, and not to the world."
Historicity
Scholars of the historical Jesus, who attempt to ascertain how closely the stories of Jesus match the historical events they are based on, generally treat Jesus's conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 with skepticism. It details what is presumably a private conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, with none of the disciples seemingly attending, making it unclear how a record of this conversation was acquired. In addition, the conversation is recorded in no other ancient Christian source other than John and works based on John. According to Bart Ehrman, the larger issue is that the same problem English translations of the Bible have with the Greek ἄνωθεν is a problem in the Aramaic language as well: there is no single word in Aramaic that means both 'again' and 'from above', yet the conversation rests on Nicodemus making this misunderstanding. As the conversation was between two Jews in Jerusalem, where Aramaic was the native language, there is no reason to think that they would have spoken in Greek. This implies that even if based on a real conversation, the author of John heavily modified it to include Greek wordplay and idiom."Personal relationship with Jesus" was essentially unheard of, prior to 1960.
Denominational positions
Anabaptism
denominations, such as the Mennonites, teach that "true faith entails a new birth, a spiritual regeneration by God's grace and power; 'believers' are those who have become the spiritual children of God." In Anabaptist theology, the pathway to salvation is "marked not by a forensic understanding of salvation by 'faith alone,' but by the entire process of repentance, self-denial, faith rebirth, and obedience." Those who wish to "tarry this path" are baptized after the new birth.Anglicanism
The phrase "born again" is mentioned in the 39 Articles of the Anglican Church in article 15, entitled "Of Christ alone without Sin". In part, it reads, "sin, as S. John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things: and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."Although the phrase "baptized and born again in Christ" occurs in article 15, the reference is clearly to John 3:3.
The Baptism Office of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer directly connects baptism with new birth, affirming a baptismal regeneration view of the meaning of the phrase "born again", not a conversion experience.
Before the baptism, the prayers include:
"None can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous goodness he will grant to these persons that which by nature they cannot have; that they may be baptized with Water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy Church, and be made lively members of the same."
And: "Beloved, ye hear in this Gospel the express words of our Saviour Christ, that except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Whereby ye may perceive the great necessity of this Sacrament, where it may be had."
And after baptism: "yield thee humble thanks, O heavenly Father, that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the knowledge of thy grace, and faith in thee; Increase this knowledge, and confirm this faith in us evermore. Give thy Holy Spirit to these persons; that, being now born again, and made heirs of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, they may continue thy servants, and attain thy promises; through the same Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Holy Spirit, everlastingly. Amen."