Born Again (1)

Many Christians prefer to describe themselves as “born again” Christians, as a way of distinguishing themselves from other Christians who are not quite as real. I find this practice odd, because I suspect that very few of these people could describe clearly what the expression actually means. I presume that most would be hard-pressed to explain what actually happens when a person is born again.

For many people it just means that they have raised their hand and prayed a “sinners’ prayer” at a church service or outreach meeting. But if I asked if everyone who has said a sinner’s prayer is actually born again, I imagine that most would say no.

Some will say that being born again means that they have become a new person, but in many ways, they are still the same person, so what really changed? We need a better understanding of what Jesus meant when he spoke of being born again.

Jesus used the expression “born again” when a pharisee called Nicodemus came to him with questions about the Kingdom of God. He told him that he needed to be “born again of the Spirit”. This was not a parable to make a complicated experience simple. It was an powerful image that Jesus used deliberately to jolt Nicodemus into a radical change of thinking.

Nicodemus was smart, but he struggled to understand what Jesus was saying, so it is not surprising that many Christians do not understand his meaning either.