November 2, 2024
What is a “born-again Christian”? Is there any other kind? Is there any connection to water baptism? This is not a fringe topic! Jesus said that a person cannot enter God’s Kingdom without being born again.
Two Accounts of Drastic Change
Both John 3 and Romans 6 picture a drastic change in life. One depicts being reborn; the other depicts dying and resurrecting. In both accounts, an old life is left behind; a new life is begun. But the setting of the two accounts is quite different. John 3 took place before Calvary. Romans 6 was written decades after Calvary. That difference is of great importance for correctly interpreting John 3, because there are many things that were only partially revealed while Jesus was on earth.
“All Truth”
There is a “rule” of interpretation that asks, “How would the hearers have understood that?” That rule can be helpful, but it must not be blindly applied to everything Jesus said. The Gospels contain many things that nobody understood before Calvary and the empty tomb. For example, once when Jesus was at the temple in Jerusalem, he said, “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews therefore said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?’ But he spoke of the temple of his body” (John 2:19-21). They had no clue what Jesus was talking about, and Jesus did not clarify it at that time.
One of Jesus’ most important declarations was made to the apostles the night of His betrayal: “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13). Everything Jesus said was true, of course, but He did not reveal “all truth” while He was here on earth. For his followers to have “all truth,” it was necessary that revelations by the Holy Spirit be given through the apostles after Jesus’ ascension. Therefore, it is essential that we read and study the rest of the NT – from Acts 2 to Revelation 22 – in order to learn the remainder of “all truth.”
John 3
Jesus famously told Nicodemus: “Unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom… unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom” (John 3:3-5). We cannot try to understand this by surmising how Nicodemus understood it. He didn’t! He asked Jesus, “How can these things be?” (3:9). Nor would he have understood the (now) famous John 3:16, which is just a few verses later. Nobody could have understood that before Calvary. Peter even had the audacity (misplaced love) to rebuke Jesus for saying He would die: “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you” (Matt. 16:21-23).
New birth cannot be understood from John 3 alone. A person can grasp that Jesus was talking about a drastic change and that the Holy Spirit is involved. But there is no clue as to how or when the new birth takes place, nor what the new birth is like, nor how a person can know if they have been born again. And there isn’t any clue as to whether the water mentioned is literal or spiritual.
John 1:12-13 sheds some light: “But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The new birth is God’s will, not man’s. But what is God’s will? The text says His will is to give new birth and sonship to those who believe in and receive His Son. But again, how do you “receive” Jesus?
More truth is found after Calvary: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). And how does a person get into Christ? “For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:26-27). “New creation” and becoming “children of God” are just other ways of expressing a new birth, being born again. These texts say it is through faith and baptism.
John 3 whets the spiritual appetite. Various texts, like the two just quoted, give some clarity. But Romans 6 is perhaps the closest parallel and fullest discussion of the new birth – with a figure that is different but obviously discussing the same thing: a drastically changed new life. New life is in Jesus – after Calvary!
Romans 6
The heart and basis of the gospel is “that Christ died for our sins… that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor. 15:1-4). All during Jesus’ ministry, nobody, except Jesus himself, understood what was going to happen to Jesus, much less its significance. But later, when Paul wrote, he declared that new life in Christ is inextricably connected to those historical events. “We who died to sin… we were buried therefore with him… just as Christ was raised from the dead… we also might walk in newness of life… our old man was crucified with him… ” (Romans 6:2-11). A beautiful and most meaningful depiction of the new birth.
When and how does that drastic change of life take place – that death and resurrection – that new beginning, that new birth? In the context, Paul is clear: “Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4).
[By the way, if you are not sure Romans 6 is talking about water baptism, check the link below for Insight #357–Which Baptism? In brief, virtually all churches recognize that in Matthew 28 Jesus commanded water baptism until He returns. Years later, by the time Paul was writing letters, he wrote that there is “one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). The “one baptism” must be what Jesus commanded, and it equally applies to all Paul’s letters.]
(The quotes in the following paragraphs are from Romans 6:3-6.)
When being immersed in water, not only are we dying but at the same moment we are connecting to Jesus’ death: “Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with.” This involves repentance. Our repentance is of value only because Jesus died for us; thus, when we are baptized, we are “baptized into his death.” The water itself doesn’t take our sins away; Jesus’ blood/death does when we are immersed in water – if we are crucifying the “old man,” that is, repenting of all our sin.
“We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death.” Our water burial is a beautiful portrayal of His burial and at the same time the burial of our old life. But we don’t stay in the watery grave. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead… so we also might walk in newness of life.” Newness of life begins immediately after baptism into Christ.
“Born of water and spirit” in John 3 is only a partial introduction to the richness portrayed in Romans 6 – that new life is inextricably connected with Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. When a person submits to being buried in water and raised to a new life, they are confessing that they are incapable of saving themselves. As they humbly surrender their body to the person who baptizes them, they are simultaneously surrendering their souls to Jesus – in effect saying, “Lord, I am lost, I can’t save myself; I believe and trust in your sacrifice on the cross to cleanse and save me.”
It is in baptism that we join Christ: “We who were baptized into Christ Jesus… have become united with him in the likeness of his death.” We get “into Christ” and are “united with him” and receive Christ in the watery grave, not before. In that watery grave we bury the old life and are born again. Jesus does all the work; we just submit.
Yes, baptism is a work. “Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12). “Faith in the working of God.” The baptizer does a little work. The one being baptized just submits. God does the real work! Do you have faith in the work that God promises to do if you submit to being buried with Christ in baptism?
“Born-again Christian?”
A “born-again Christian”? There is no other kind! You can never understand the new birth without digging deeper than John 3. Romans 6 is one of the best texts to more fully understand the new birth, the new beginning which consists of dying to sin and rising to new life. Have you been “born anew,” “born of water and Spirit,” been “buried with him in baptism” and been “raised with him through faith in the working of God” – “that the body of sin might be done away with” “so we [you] also might walk in newness of life”?