What does it mean to be "born again?"

[Pray_without_ceasing]

Well, you forgot to put the address - book, chapter & verse, so I searched and it came up as Ezra 7:13.

No, I did not. I linked it. Like this, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Unfortunately, the KJV. Is full of obsolete and archaic words. Certainly "freewill" as one word qualifies as archaic!

So I referenced it to modem, more clear translations and this is what I found!

"13 I have now issued a decree that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel—even the priests and Levites—who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem." NET

"I have now issued a decree[a] that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel—even the priests and Levites—who wishes to do so may go up with you to Jerusalem." ESV

"I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you." NASB

"13 Now I decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who volunteer to go to Jerusalem with you, may go." NIV

I like the word "volunteer" in the NIV, which means basically that anyone with free time may go to Jerusalem to help rebuild the temple. So not "free will" in the sense of the philosophy that people can choose their own path in life, freely, and without input and direction from the Holy Spirit. Instead, it is actually a message from God through Ezra, who delivers the message to the exiles in Babylon with 2 choices:

1. Choose to move back to Israel to rebuild the temple
2. Choose not to move back to Jerusalem!

So not free will at all, but rather God did not conscript or force anyone up go back to Jerusalem, but there are 2 options, neither one more right than the others.

Angela, may God forgive you for perverting his holy words which are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. I have no desire to take heed unto the folly of different Bible perversions which you have written here. Because God has commanded his people, saying, cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. Every word of God is pure and they are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. They are also able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

But this quote you gave from the KJV did make me think about the use of "freewill!" Because of the different language, vocabulary and grammar, uneducated people have always come up with wrong and misguided theology. One of the rules of hermeneutics, or Bible interpretation is you can never make a doctrine of one verse. In truth, this word is only found one place in 1 translation- the KJV! I'm not saying the translators were wrong, because 400 years ago. It could have meant something very different. For modern readers, freewill does not convey the idea that God is offering 2 choices, not that people see free to choose whatever they want. Wishes, volunteer, are a much better choice to convey what this verse is saying.

Of a truth, this is why it is written, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. You theologians are all the same. The word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

 

[arthurfleminger]

Jesus gives us a clear explanation and blueprint for those that have truly been reborn unto Him and into His family:

Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" (Matthew ) Then He answered His own question by identifying the DNA of the family of God. For whoever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

All of God's will is summed up, "Love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus further emphasized the importance of the Father's Will to each of us. "Many will call to Me, Lord, Lord and will not be saved. Only those that do the Will of My Father in heaven will be saved."

So, apparently, only those that do the Will of the Father will be part of the Father's/Jesus' family in heaven.

Jesus clearly is telling/teaching us that, if we want to be members of His family in this life or the next, we need to do the Father's Will. Love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself.

 

[karen0123]

God judges the motivation of the heart. If the motivation is self-interest, then the heart is sinful. The seed of God is His Holy Spirit which is in Jesus Christ and in us. It is the Holy Spirit that perfects us by filling our hearts with the divine love necessary for every thought and action to be motivated by Love. That is what is meant to be born of God. 1 Cor 13: 1-13 makes it clear that it is not what you do that matters, but the reason why you do it. When your motivation is love, you are obeying the Spirit of the Law ( Christ's commandments to love God totally and everyone else as yourself) and can not sin.
1 John 3: 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
As Christ is the Father's Son and is filled with the Father's Spirit, we who have the Father's Spirit through Jesus Christ, become part of the body of Christ and are in Christ. As such, the Father considers us as His adopted children. You can tell who they are by the love that they manifest.

Mind=blown

 

[BroTan]

Jesus told Nicodemus "you must be born again." How do you understand what it means to be born again? I'm not asking with a preconceived idea of my own. I just want to know what you think happens to a person when they're born again.

I'd really like to hear well-though-out ideas based on scripture. Please don't post long, wordy posts and walls of scripture. Keep it as simple as possible without being too vague.

Born again is a change in the body not the mind, Let’s jump right in a conversation that Jesus was having with a man name Nicodemus.
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 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.

Notice verse 3, except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We have just learned something here. If you are not born again you can not see the kingdom of God. As we go further you will understand this. Remember there is a time for everything.

Nicodemus asked a very good question. Take a look at the next set of verses. John 3:4 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.

In verse 5, born of the water in this case is the Word of God. Notice the Lord mentions the kingdom of God again, but He adds a little more information. He says "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. When he mentions spirit He means exactly that. Watch how the Lord gives something physical to describe exactly what He means.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Notice: He made a difference between flesh and spirit. Ask yourself that question, was you born flesh or spirit?

John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Notice: He compared the wind to a spirit. Can you see the wind? No! We have seen things being blown around by the wind, but we have never seen the wind. If you are born of the spirit you are like the wind. This is when you are truly born again, when you are born of the spirit.

Notice: what Jesus does in these next few verses. Remember, this is after His resurrection.

John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

Note two very important things within these verses. 1. Jesus appeared in the midst of them and the doors were shut. 2. Thomas called Him God. When Jesus came out of the grave he was born into the God family (we will have a greater understanding as we go further in this). When Thomas called Jesus God was he still a man?

 

[persistent]

Hello again ResidentAlien, et al, here's a short article that addresses the main topic of this thread. It was written by one of my very favorite teachers, Anglican theologian, Dr. J. I. Packer.

I'm also doing this to see if what I am writing and pasting in is any clearer this time around (as ResidentAlien said that he found the look of my last post to him to be "sloppy" ). Please let me know what you think of my formatting. It looks ok on my end/on my computer, but perhaps the formatting doesn't look that good on your end?

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REGENERATION
THE CHRISTIAN IS BORN AGAIN

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
JOHN 3:3​

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Regeneration is a New Testament concept that grew, it seems, out of a parabolic picture-phrase that Jesus used to show Nicodemus the inwardness and depth of the change that even religious Jews must undergo if they were ever to see and enter the kingdom of God, and so have eternal life (John 3:3-15). ​

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Jesus pictured the change as being “born again.”​

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The concept is of God renovating the heart, the core of a person’s being, by implanting a new principle of desire, purpose, and action, a dispositional dynamic that finds expression in positive response to the gospel and its Christ. Jesus’ phrase “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5) harks back to Ezekiel 36:25–27, where God is pictured as symbolically cleansing persons from sin’s pollution (by water) and bestowing a “new heart” by putting his Spirit within them. Because this is so explicit, Jesus chides Nicodemus, “Israel’s teacher,” for not understanding how new birth happens (John 3:9–10). Jesus’ point throughout is that there is no exercise of faith in himself as the supernatural Savior, no repentance, and no true discipleship apart from this new birth.​

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Elsewhere John teaches that belief in the Incarnation and Atonement, with faith and love, holiness and righteousness, is the fruit and proof that one is born of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4). It thus appears that as there is no conversion without new birth, so there is no new birth without conversion.​

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Though infant regeneration can be a reality when God so purposes (Luke 1:15, 41–44), the ordinary context of new birth is one of effectual calling—that is, confrontation with the gospel and illumination as to its truth and significance as a message from God to oneself.​

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Regeneration is always the decisive element in effectual calling.​

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Regeneration is monergistic: that is, entirely the work of God the Holy Spirit. It raises the elect among the spiritually dead to new life in Christ (Ephesians 2:1–10). Regeneration is a transition from spiritual death to spiritual life, and conscious, intentional, active faith in Christ is its immediate fruit, not its immediate cause. Regeneration is the work of what Augustine called “prevenient” grace, the grace that precedes our outgoings of heart toward God. ~Packer, J. I. (1993). Concise theology: a guide to historic Christian beliefs (pp. 157–158)​

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~Deut

Packers' work is worth investigating.

 

[CorrectiveLens]

He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

That is in Ezra 7: 13

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Jesus told Nicodemus "you must be born again." How do you understand what it means to be born again? I'm not asking with a preconceived idea of my own. I just want to know what you think happens to a person when they're born again.

I'd really like to hear well-though-out ideas based on scripture. Please don't post long, wordy posts and walls of scripture. Keep it as simple as possible without being too vague.

Acts 16:30...

"And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

 

[DJT_47]

Means the same as being saved.