HOW TO BE BORN AGAIN

Bob Myhan

nasmuch as one cannot see or enter the kingdom of God without being born again (John 3:1-7), it is a basic responsibility of every citizen of God’s kingdom [not just preachers] to tell the lost “You must be born again.” But the lost must also be told what being “born again” means and “how” one is born again.

eter equates having “purified your souls in obeying the truth” with “having been born again...through the word of God” (1 Peter 1:22-23). When Jesus prayed to the Father, in John 17:17, He said, “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth”. Thus, to “purify your soul in obeying the truth” is to be “born again through the word of God.” The alien—one who is not a citizen of God’s kingdom—must, therefore, be shown the truth he needs to obey in order to be born into the kingdom of God.

aul explains that “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” [the new birth] is the means of our being “saved” (Titus 3:4-5). Thus, being saved is the result of having our souls purified in obeying the truth and being born again through the word of God. So one must obey the truth in order to be born again, and when he’s born again he is saved—no longer an alien sinner but a citizen in the kingdom of God.

ne might be saved from many things in the physical realm, but Jesus came to ‘save His people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). One is saved from his sins in that he is saved from falling “short of the glory of God” (see Romans 3:23), AND he is saved from having to receive “the wages of sin” which “is death” (Romans 6:23).

n order to be saved from our sins, therefore, we must have our sins remitted [or forgiven]. Shortly before he left the earth, Jesus told His apostles, among other things, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). He had earlier told them, “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

herefore, whatever the apostles bound on earth, as to the remission of sins, has been bound in heaven. Thus, we have purified our souls in obeying the truth, have been born again, and have entered into the kingdom of God, if, and only if, we have done whatever the apostles bound on earth, as to the remission of sins.

he apostles taught unbelieving aliens that they had to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, or born again (see Acts 16:29-31). The apostles taught believing aliens to “repent, and…be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ tar the remission of sins’ (Acts 2:38). This is equivalent to telling them to repent and be baptized, in order to be born again, for one is not born again until his sins are remitted. Believing, penitent aliens who desired to be baptized were encouraged to confess their faith in Christ (Acts 8:36-38; Romans 10:9,10; 1 Timothy 6:12,13).

aul of Tarsus had been a penitent believer for three days, spending all of his time in prayer, but was told, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). To wash away one’s sins is to have them remitted (compare Matthew 26:28. and Revelation 1:5). In view of Acts 2:38 and 22:16, the blood of Christ remits [or washes away] sins when one repents and is baptized for the remission of sins [in addition to believing and confessing, as noted above]. One is a new creature, if he is “in Christ,” and, thus, must be “born again” to get into Christ. And it is baptism which puts the individual ‘into Christ’ (see Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27), thus completing the “new birth,” making him “a new creature,” a citizen in the kingdom of God, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

THE WORD “FAITH” (Continued)

Bob Myhan

he Bible mentions various degrees of faith. There is “dead faith,” of which we have already spoken. This is mental assent unaccompanied by works of obedience (James 1:21-25; 2:14-20).

hen there is “little faith,” which begins to work but, for a variety of reasons, does not continue to work (Matt. 14:25-31). This would be equivalent to being “weak in faith” (Rom. 4:19). This is the faith of those who begin a life of discipleship, but without counting the cost (Luke 14:25-33). They “believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” (Luke 8:13; Matt. 13:20,21). Or “they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8:14; Matt. 13:22).

nd then there is “great” or “perfect faith,” which continues to work “to the saving of the soul” (Matt. 8:5-10; 15:28; Heb. 10:26-39).  This was the faith Abraham had as pointed out by James.

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (James 2:21-24).

his is the faith of which Paul, in the epistle to the Romans, writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

s a matter of fact, Paul both begins and ends the epistle to the Romans referring to “the obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:25,26), which is action that flows out of trust. When Paul writes “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3), he was not talking of “mere mental assent” but of “trust.” This becomes even clearer when we consider the following from Hebrews

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son” (11:8,9,17).

hus, Abraham obeyed God because he trusted Him, which by the way is the same point James was making in the portion of his epistle quoted above.

he word “faith” is also used in several passages of the Bible to mean, “what is believed, the contents of belief, the faith” (Vine, p. 411). Notice,

“Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy’” (Gal. 1:21-23).

“Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write unto you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

ome translations have “obedience to the faith” in Rom. 1:5 and/or Rom. 16:26, but this would not nullify the point that was made on those verses. Inasmuch as “the faith” demands “obedient faith,” the expression, “obedience to the faith,” is the equivalent of “the obedience of faith,” so the outcome is the same.

[To be concluded next week]