OPEN FORUM

            "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a work man who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

In this issue we reexamine a popular Christian catchword of ‘born again’ Such a query from our Christian friends is very useful to those who love the word of truth.

I have heard much about "born again" from Church goers.  To them, rebirth is a state of spiritual reformation.  As soon as one determines to believe and accept Jesus, he is born again.  That is the reason why the term "born again Christians" is so popular nowadays.  But what is the meaning of rebirth in the Bible?

It is true that most Christians regard as “rebirth” a new awareness or a new existence when they come to believe the Lord and repent of their sins.  On many an evangelical occasion the evangelist would ask the audience to step forward to the altar or to raise hand for "confessing and accepting" Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  Then, the evangelist would declare that those who have acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior and decided to live as a new being have been saved, They are now the born again Christians.

However, this simplified procedure of salvation seems only to provide people with a Christ consciousness.  The efficacy of salvation should go beyond mere verbal confession and mindful belief, even though Romans 10:9 has made such a promise for anyone who wishes the salvation of the Lord.  Romans 10:9 shouldnot be construed as an exclusion of other necessary and sufficient grounds of salvation from the Bible context.

To search for the Biblical meaning of salvation and rebirth, one must turn to the remarks of the Lord Jesus himself and the apostles concerning this subject.  In John 3:3-8 Jesus teaches that to see and to enter the kingdom of God one must be born again from water and the Spirit, This is a sure saying for it is related to justification and sanctification, two vital steps toward the saving of souls.  The kingdom of God of course refers to a spiritual assembly, an ecclesia redeemed by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28) and filled by the Spirit of the Lord (Ephesians 1:23).  It also refers to the glorious heavenly kingdom realized at His Second Coming.  Jesus in John 3 unequivocally points out that to be saved by Him one must be born again from water baptism and from the receipt of the Holy Spirit.  Simply examine how the Lord Jesus before His Ascension commanded His disciples to save souls by means of water and receiving the Holy Spirit: Matthews 28:19-20, Mark 16:1620, John 20:21-23, Luke 24:47-49.  Acts 1:4-8.

Like Jesus, the apostles never ignored the rebirth from water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit as the prerequisites for salvation.  After having received the promised Holy Spirit as the great commission on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), the disciples obeyed the Lord's commandments to preach the salvation.  The apostolic message of Peter and Paul is clear about baptism into Christ: Belief, repentance, water baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  Please refer to Acts 2:38, Acts 9:17-18, Acts 10:44-48, Acts 11:13-18, Acts 22:16, Titus 3:5.