Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
How are We Born Again?
There are many different beliefs on what it means but most of those come from not truly understanding the scriptures one reads. It is why we should not just read the Bible and trust the Holy Spirit will guide our understanding, but we should study the Word of God and learn exactly what the verses mean. Because when we only read it and trust the Holy Spirit will guide our understanding, we are essentially trusting in our own ability to recognize the difference in our own thoughts and desires, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. When we study the verses, we learn the full truth.
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
When people read this verse, the assume to know what it means. Obviously you must be baptized by water and by the Holy Spirit to be saved! The problem is, that's not actually what this verse says.
Let me ask you this, there are 11 verses by the writers of the New Testament that actually state "how" one is saved. There are 13 other verses in the words of Jesus Himself, on "how" one is saved. That is a total of 24 verses. Why do you suppose it is, that only in two of them, Water Baptism is mentioned and only once does it mention Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
If both baptism by water and baptism of the Holy Spirit were necessary to be saved, that would mean that 87.5% of the time, Jesus and those who were guided by the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God were negligent in mentioning a critical component to Salvation. Think about that. Do you honestly believe that our salvation was important enough to Jesus to be beaten, scourged, ridiculed and spiked to a cross and die for us, but not important enough that a critical component of our salvation is completely ignored in the vast majority of His teachings on Salvation? No, I don't buy that either.
Obviously, there had to be something about those verses that we were missing. The more I looked into them, I found these verses that mentioned water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit are not quite as clear as we assume. Let's take a look at John 3:5 again...
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
When you look closer at this verse, what is the one thing that stands out? A key word is completely missing here. Baptism! It never mentions the word baptism in this verse. When we read it, we are only assuming it is speaking about water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is the biggest problem with people reading the Bible today. They too often assume it means what they think and never look deeper into it. When in truth, it doesn't mean exactly what it seems to say.
To truly understand the truth of this verse, you need to have a better understanding of the overall process of our salvation. I warn you, that many who read this will likely learn some things they were never taught before, but I assure you they are all truth.
The first thing one needs to understand is that we do not just choose to serve God. At least not until God chooses us first! That's right, God chooses whom He will save and whom He will not save. He chose us before He even created the Earth! Many churches refuse to teach "Predestination" but the Bible absolutely and clearly does teach it.
God knows whom he will save ahead of time and when it comes their time, the first thing God does is change us. He gives us a new heart and He changes our spirit. When he changes our spirit, He changes it to desire Him, because Paul tells us before He changes us, we are not even able to choose God. So in order for us to be able to choose God, He must first change our spirit to desire Him.
Ezekiel 36:25-26 (NASB)
25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Now this is an old testament verse and He was speaking to the Israelites. However, often, scripture can be meant for two different purposes. I believe this secondary purpose of this scripture is to show us how He washes us clean. For Paul tells us we are washed.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Often this verse is listed as proof that sin sends us to hell. Those who use this scripture tend to leave verse 11 out of it, but that's the key to this scripture. These are not sins that are listed. These are sinners. A fornicator is not a sin, it is a type of a sinner. None of these sinners will inherit the Kingdom of God, not because of those sins, but because they rejected the Gospel of Christ. Those who believe however? Those are the ones mentioned in verse 11.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
So God chose us before He even created the Earth, and then at the right time, He changes our spirit to desire Him. When he changes us, He washes us clean by sprinkling clean water on us. Being Born of Water is not the same as being baptized by water. Being born of water is when God cleanses us spiritually by sprinkling water on us and then giving us a new heart and spirit. We then can choose to believe or not believe, but we always choose to believe. Why? Because that is how God chose us. Through foreknowledge. God knows who will accept Him and believe and who will not. So He chooses to save those who will. So He changes your spirit and when we hear the Gospel, we always choose to believe it is the truth. That is how predestination works. If you want to see the scripture that backs it up for yourself, read my article HERE.
Once we believe the Truth of the Gospel, this is what immediately happens...
Ephesians 1:13 (NASB)
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
After hearing the Gospel and believing it, God sends the Holy Spirit to you and seals you with a promise. A promise of what? There is only one thing that fits here. It is a promise of salvation. That is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is being born of Spirit.
So now we return to the original verse again...
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now we can look at this through a new understanding. Unless one is born of water, which is not water baptism but happens when God cleanses us to give us a new spirit. And the spirit, which happens immediately upon our hearing the Gospel and believing the Truth and God sends the Holy Spirit to enter us and seals us with the promise of salvation.
Now lets look at another verse.
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Notice this verse does not mention baptism either? Yet it gives specific directions on "how" we are saved. And we now know that the moment we believe, we are washed clean and the Holy Spirit is sent to us to seal us with the promise of salvation. Suddenly now, both of these verses align perfectly. One is not being completely negligent to mention critical components to our salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ask yourself, what would someone boast of if salvation was a result of works? There is only one thing they could boast of. That they saved themselves. If we were saved by works of any kind, that would practically make the entire event of Jesus dying on the cross useless. If we were saved by works, why would Jesus have needed to die on the cross? We could just do works to be saved. But clearly Paul tells us in the for mentioned verse that salvation is not a result of works.
Think about it. What exactly would define works? In order to make it so we cannot boast of saving ourselves, the definition of works here would need to be "anything we or another person does intentionally." We intentionally choose to get baptized by water do we not? Are we not intentionally lowered down into the water and intentionally raised back up out of it?
If water baptism was necessary for salvation, it would mean that by the very definition of works, we are saved by works. And Paul clearly tells us it is not a result of works.
Now I cannot tell you what to believe. I can only give you a different understanding of scripture and let you decide what to believe. The choices are simple.
1) To be saved, you must be baptized by water and baptized in the Holy Spirit.
To believe this however, you have to do so in direct contradiction to Paul telling us that salvation is not a result of works.
You also must accept that Jesus as well as the men God chose to be guided by the Holy Spirit to write His Word, we all extremely negligent and only gave the complete truth of how we are saved once in over 24 verses that describe to us "how" we are saved. And you do so strictly on the assumption that John 3:5 is speaking about water baptism even though it never mentions the word baptism.
OR
2) To be saved you must believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord.
To believe this, you allow all of the verses on how we are saved to align perfectly. You do not create a contradiction with Paul telling us salvation is not a result of works.
I cannot tell you how to believe, but one rule I stand strong on is that God's Word has no real contradictions. If what you believe creates even one direct contradiction, then it must be wrong. When your belief allows all scripture to align? That is when you know you have the truth.
Similar article: How We are Saved
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
When people read this verse, the assume to know what it means. Obviously you must be baptized by water and by the Holy Spirit to be saved! The problem is, that's not actually what this verse says.
Let me ask you this, there are 11 verses by the writers of the New Testament that actually state "how" one is saved. There are 13 other verses in the words of Jesus Himself, on "how" one is saved. That is a total of 24 verses. Why do you suppose it is, that only in two of them, Water Baptism is mentioned and only once does it mention Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
If both baptism by water and baptism of the Holy Spirit were necessary to be saved, that would mean that 87.5% of the time, Jesus and those who were guided by the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God were negligent in mentioning a critical component to Salvation. Think about that. Do you honestly believe that our salvation was important enough to Jesus to be beaten, scourged, ridiculed and spiked to a cross and die for us, but not important enough that a critical component of our salvation is completely ignored in the vast majority of His teachings on Salvation? No, I don't buy that either.
Obviously, there had to be something about those verses that we were missing. The more I looked into them, I found these verses that mentioned water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit are not quite as clear as we assume. Let's take a look at John 3:5 again...
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
When you look closer at this verse, what is the one thing that stands out? A key word is completely missing here. Baptism! It never mentions the word baptism in this verse. When we read it, we are only assuming it is speaking about water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is the biggest problem with people reading the Bible today. They too often assume it means what they think and never look deeper into it. When in truth, it doesn't mean exactly what it seems to say.
To truly understand the truth of this verse, you need to have a better understanding of the overall process of our salvation. I warn you, that many who read this will likely learn some things they were never taught before, but I assure you they are all truth.
The first thing one needs to understand is that we do not just choose to serve God. At least not until God chooses us first! That's right, God chooses whom He will save and whom He will not save. He chose us before He even created the Earth! Many churches refuse to teach "Predestination" but the Bible absolutely and clearly does teach it.
God knows whom he will save ahead of time and when it comes their time, the first thing God does is change us. He gives us a new heart and He changes our spirit. When he changes our spirit, He changes it to desire Him, because Paul tells us before He changes us, we are not even able to choose God. So in order for us to be able to choose God, He must first change our spirit to desire Him.
Ezekiel 36:25-26 (NASB)
25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Now this is an old testament verse and He was speaking to the Israelites. However, often, scripture can be meant for two different purposes. I believe this secondary purpose of this scripture is to show us how He washes us clean. For Paul tells us we are washed.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Often this verse is listed as proof that sin sends us to hell. Those who use this scripture tend to leave verse 11 out of it, but that's the key to this scripture. These are not sins that are listed. These are sinners. A fornicator is not a sin, it is a type of a sinner. None of these sinners will inherit the Kingdom of God, not because of those sins, but because they rejected the Gospel of Christ. Those who believe however? Those are the ones mentioned in verse 11.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
So God chose us before He even created the Earth, and then at the right time, He changes our spirit to desire Him. When he changes us, He washes us clean by sprinkling clean water on us. Being Born of Water is not the same as being baptized by water. Being born of water is when God cleanses us spiritually by sprinkling water on us and then giving us a new heart and spirit. We then can choose to believe or not believe, but we always choose to believe. Why? Because that is how God chose us. Through foreknowledge. God knows who will accept Him and believe and who will not. So He chooses to save those who will. So He changes your spirit and when we hear the Gospel, we always choose to believe it is the truth. That is how predestination works. If you want to see the scripture that backs it up for yourself, read my article HERE.
Once we believe the Truth of the Gospel, this is what immediately happens...
Ephesians 1:13 (NASB)
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
After hearing the Gospel and believing it, God sends the Holy Spirit to you and seals you with a promise. A promise of what? There is only one thing that fits here. It is a promise of salvation. That is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is being born of Spirit.
So now we return to the original verse again...
John 3:5 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now we can look at this through a new understanding. Unless one is born of water, which is not water baptism but happens when God cleanses us to give us a new spirit. And the spirit, which happens immediately upon our hearing the Gospel and believing the Truth and God sends the Holy Spirit to enter us and seals us with the promise of salvation.
Now lets look at another verse.
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Notice this verse does not mention baptism either? Yet it gives specific directions on "how" we are saved. And we now know that the moment we believe, we are washed clean and the Holy Spirit is sent to us to seal us with the promise of salvation. Suddenly now, both of these verses align perfectly. One is not being completely negligent to mention critical components to our salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ask yourself, what would someone boast of if salvation was a result of works? There is only one thing they could boast of. That they saved themselves. If we were saved by works of any kind, that would practically make the entire event of Jesus dying on the cross useless. If we were saved by works, why would Jesus have needed to die on the cross? We could just do works to be saved. But clearly Paul tells us in the for mentioned verse that salvation is not a result of works.
Think about it. What exactly would define works? In order to make it so we cannot boast of saving ourselves, the definition of works here would need to be "anything we or another person does intentionally." We intentionally choose to get baptized by water do we not? Are we not intentionally lowered down into the water and intentionally raised back up out of it?
If water baptism was necessary for salvation, it would mean that by the very definition of works, we are saved by works. And Paul clearly tells us it is not a result of works.
Now I cannot tell you what to believe. I can only give you a different understanding of scripture and let you decide what to believe. The choices are simple.
1) To be saved, you must be baptized by water and baptized in the Holy Spirit.
To believe this however, you have to do so in direct contradiction to Paul telling us that salvation is not a result of works.
You also must accept that Jesus as well as the men God chose to be guided by the Holy Spirit to write His Word, we all extremely negligent and only gave the complete truth of how we are saved once in over 24 verses that describe to us "how" we are saved. And you do so strictly on the assumption that John 3:5 is speaking about water baptism even though it never mentions the word baptism.
OR
2) To be saved you must believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord.
To believe this, you allow all of the verses on how we are saved to align perfectly. You do not create a contradiction with Paul telling us salvation is not a result of works.
I cannot tell you how to believe, but one rule I stand strong on is that God's Word has no real contradictions. If what you believe creates even one direct contradiction, then it must be wrong. When your belief allows all scripture to align? That is when you know you have the truth.
Similar article: How We are Saved
