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Garner Ted Armstrong
Whatdoes itmean
to
be
"Boro
Again''?
M
illions upon millions of U.S.
Evangelicals have always pro–
fessed to have been "born
again." But the " great awakening" in
terms of the media's awareness of their
numbers didn't take place until the elec–
tion of a "born-again" Presiden! in 1976.
That one event alone brought the whole
movement out of the woodwork of rel i–
giosity and onto front-page promi–
nence in the various vehicles of the
modern news media.
Then carne Charles Colson's best–
seller entitled
Bom Again.
The former
Nixon aide convincingly recounted that
the whole Watergate experience finally
resulted in his personal repentance
and conversion to Christ. And now on
the book market is another best-sel ler
by a famous American evangelist tell–
ing everybody
How To
Be
Bom Again.
Not taking anything away from the
si ncerity of anybody's c laim to a
" born-again" experience. do those
two words really describe what actually
happens to a person who is converted
by Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Accord–
ing to the Bible, are you born again in
an instan! of time when you, in deep
repentance, surrender yourself uncon–
dit ionally to Jesus Chri st? Strict ly
speaking, is the term " born again"
synonymous with becoming a real
Christian?
We all understand the literal meaning
of the word, " born. " lt's the process by
which we carne to be on this earth- the
moment of partur i t i on from our
mother's womb. Now suppose you had
never previously heard the expression
" born again. " Just pretend you
weren ' t famil iar with the common
44
American, evangelica( emotional, reli–
gious experience. What would your re–
act ion be if Jesus Christ of Nazareth
told you that you had to be born again
or you could never enter the Kingdom
of God? What would you think He
meant?
Fortunatel y, we have a bibl ical case
history that tells us exactly how a man
named Nicodemus responded to that
very declaration. Christ said to him: " Ex–
cepta man be born again , he cannot see
the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
Nicodemus reacted like a man who
had never heard the present day,
de
tacto
meaning of "born again." He
simply asked Jesus Christ: " How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's
womb, and be born?" (Verse 4.)
Nicodemus was completely con–
fused. So Christ went on to explain
what He meant in a fair amount of
detail. " Jesus answered, Veri ly, verily,
1
say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. That which is
born of the
ffesh is f/esh;
and that
which is born of the
Spirit is spirit"
(verses 5-6).
You can take the old hatpin test and
quickly discover you are flesh and
blood and not spirit.
Jesus continued to explain to the be–
fuddled Nicodemus: "Marvel not that
1
said unto thee, Ye mus! be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth
[wills), and thou hearest the sound
thereof . but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth:
so is
every one that is born ot the Spirit"
(verses 7-8).
The meaning of these last two verses
is made even plainer by another rather
succinct biblical statement. " Now this
1
say, brethren, that flesh and blood
can–
not
inheril the kingdom of God . . ."
(1
Cor. 15 50) . Be i ng " born of the
spirit " -being " raised a spiritual body"
(1
Cor. 15:44)-is something which oc–
curs at the time of the resurrection.
alter an individual's death. So strictly
speaking. to be literal ly born again
does
not
mean to be converted while
sti ll in the human flesh. Remember
Jesus said that
every one
that is
born of the spirit has a body that
can 't be discerned by human sight and
touch.
Flesh and blood composition simply
cannot enter the spiritual realm of the
family of God. But does that mean we
cannot
now
be converted in the human
flesh and eventually, at a specified time
in the future. enter the Kingdom of
God? Of course not. Paul clarified this
matter to the Corinthian Church : "As
we have borne the image of the earthy
[human flesh] , we
sha/1
also [ata future
time) bear the.image of the heavenly [a
spirit-composed body] "
(1
Cor. 15:49).
The rest of the chapter then goes on to
explain exactl y at what time and event
this change from flesh to spirit is going
to take place.
lt 's a vast subject. and far more than
can be explained in just one column.
So write for our free booklet that thor–
oughly covers the ins and outs of this
whole topic. lt's entitled
Just What Do
You Mean-Born Again?
And whi le
you' re at it you might write for the com–
panion booklet,
Just What Do You
Mean- The Kingdom ot God?
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1977