17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The biblical concept or idea of becoming a Christian or getting born again is not that of converting from one faith to another or just having one’s sins forgiven. It is a concept that must be understood only in biblical terms, and not by the different experiences of people and the different descriptions or appellations of such experiences. The Lord Jesus was the first to use the expression “born again” when He was speaking with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, who came to Him at night asking to know the secret of His mighty miracles. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3 that he must be born again, and He explained what He meant by being born again. He meant to be born anew, not physically, but spiritually; for He said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. In essence, the Lord Jesus meant that a man is born again when he is born of the Word and of the Spirit of God deep within, such that his spirit nature is recreated or regenerated.
When man, by transgression, fell in the Garden of Eden, his spirit nature was corrupted by sin. The fall was much more than a problem of transgression, or else forgiveness alone would have been sufficient to restore man. But the Word tells us in our opening verse that any man in Christ is a new creature, and that old things are passed away, and that all things have become new. Why a new creation? If the first man was only a transgressor, there wouldn’t have been any need for a new creation. Evidently, the first man’s nature or spirit, Adam, had been corrupted by transgression, so he needed to be born anew; he needed to be born again. Adam, mankind, had become children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:3). So, new creation, or being born again, cannot be mere conversion from one faith to another, neither can it be mere forgiveness of sin with retainment of the old nature of sin. New creation is being born anew on the inside with a new kind of life or nature consistent with righteousness and true holiness – a brand new man altogether with a new nature wired with new capacities and realities. Hallelujah!!! So, when anyone gets born again by repenting of his sins, confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God has raised Jesus from death for his justification, he becomes a new creature for real (Titus 3:5)!
My Solid Front (Confession): I declare that I am a new man in Christ Jesus. The old is gone, the new is here. I walk after the order of the new man following righteousness and holiness. Thank You Heavenly Father for newness of all things in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further Meditation: 1 Peter 1:23; Ephesians 4:24.