Entering Eternity
...Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:23-25
The word of the Lord remains forever. We have simply believed. It is the imperishable seed. You have been born again of it. There's no going back possible for the real eternal you, because the new birth was the birth of the real eternal you.
The phrase 'born-again' is Johannine. It occurs only in John, of the four gospels, and only in the Nicodemus discourse. A similar phrase is found, just twice, in 1 Peter chapter 1. It is a minority teaching, therefore, in Soteriology, the study of salvation. But it has something very important to say. Behind the Pauline concepts of the new man, the new creation, there is first the need for new birth. The new birth births us into these things. And the concept of birth, used as an analogy, is very illustrative of the experience of entering the Kingdom of God.
We have, for all time, entered into a new realm of existence, with a new type, a new quality, of life within. This was discussed in Part 2. We've entered into His love, which will take us over by degrees. We don't cease to have personality and individuality. Instead we are recreated in spirit and infused with the nature of God. We are family members. If you don't want this, you are not a Christian believer. He doesn't push you where you don't want to go, He is honourable, genuine, sensitive, gentle and considerate. And so He wins us over in that way.
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
1 John 4:16-18
John is saying that love will be perfected in us, and it leaves no remaining place for fear. In other words, God's end game is that we are completely swallowed up in love. This love will then govern our behaviour. Love is sufficient. Our new, true, nature is designed to be indwelled by love, at one with love. Man may think in terms of a little fear to keep us in line, but this is unnecessary and undesirable. We don't need the fear of damnation to keep us in line, not once we are saved. The closer we get to God, the less fear we have. When we fully share His nature, there will be no danger of us showing Him treachery by walking out. And He hasn't even mentioned the possibility of throwing us out. His nature is not treacherous, and so His nature in us is not treacherous either.
Human seed is sperm. It is perishable. It requires moisture and body temperature to remain alive. (It can be cryogenically frozen also, we won't go into that). If it dies, it cannot initiate reproduction and there will be no subsequent natural birth. But you are born again from imperishable seed, and into eternal life. It's extremely hard to argue that, based on scripture, the new birth is temporary or reversible. If you're born again, that's it. It is true there may be a gestation period; the seed needs to be sustained until the birth actually happens. There will be a certain time between planting and birth, during which the decision to go through with birth needs to be upheld.
By all normal word meaning and analogy, I'd say the new birth once it occurs is permanent and irreversible. The life it brings forth is eternal.
Entering in to the Kingdom
So entering the Kingdom is through the new birth. It isn't by membership of a church. It isn't by our own efforts at behaviour improvement. That's putting the cart before the horse. (The true church consists of born again believers. The church of God is a body of believers first and foremost, not an organisation with buildings).
When I read John 3, I'm struck by how radical Jesus sounded to the stunned Nicodemus. The encounter reminds me of Rudolph Hess, a very senior Nazi who wanted the British on side against Russia. He approached a member of the British gentry in an attempt to win him over. The mission was secret, only a handful of sympathetic Germans knew about it. (The analogy has its limits).
Nicodemus was also a reconciler. As a respected Jewish religious leader, he approached Jesus at night, early in His ministry, perhaps because he didn't want to be openly associated with Him for fear of his fellow jews. Nicodemus seemed to like Jesus and clearly esteemed Him. Perhaps he was going to try to 'tone Jesus down'. He states that Jesus is clearly from God because of the signs He performed. God was with Him. Jesus had read out Scripture and spoken in synagogues for a while without much problem. Maybe Nicodemus thought, 'if only we could get Him to do away with the bits where He implies He is God, we could do a deal and understand one another. He'd be a decent Rabbi. I can broker it. The Pharisees will be OK with that. So Jesus; just be a great Jewish teacher, maybe even a prophet. Don't stretch it too far. Everyone might benefit'
All this is indeed conjecture. If it's so, Nicodemus was to be disappointed and further challenged by what Jesus said next.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3
Bam. Nicodemus, there's way more to my ministry than you think. There won't be a watering down.
Born Again and Saved
So we need this new birth from on high. This is the 'passing from death to life' experience we spoke about earlier.
I believe if we have really received salvation, we have undergone the new birth too. They are essentially terms for the same thing. Believers are saved. It's in the past for us. (It's true the final salvation of our bodies awaits us, so in the bodily sense, we will be saved, although we have, in essence, already been saved. Similarly, we are being saved from the remaining power sin has over us. There is a progressive sanctification of the soul. At the end of the age, at the resurrection, we will be saved from the power of sin altogether. But these future 'salvations' are inevitabilities after initial salvation. It is worth bearing these tense distinctions in mind when we encounter the words for salvation).
How does it happen?
So what does it mean to be 'born again' ? And what do we do to choose, or allow, this new birth ?
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:4-6
The new birth is instigated by the Spirit. We are born again of the Spirit.
Water and the Spirit
Opinions vary on what Jesus meant by 'born of water'. I'm inclined to think He meant born of amniotic fluid, mostly water, i.e. the mother's 'waters'. He might also be alluding to Ezekiel 36v25, one of several Exile-era Messianic prophecies from Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This one speaks of a sprinkling with water for cleansing, which was prophesied to occur prior to the granting of a new heart and the outpouring of the Spirit. This seems less likely to me.
Now a person cannot birth himself. (They cannot, incidentally, baptise themselves either). Either naturally or by supernatural re-birth, another is the agent. In the case of natural birth, a newly-minted little person merely yields to processes already in motion in the mother's body. With the new birth we also consent to what God already wishes to do. He does it though. If it were a question of saying a prayer, or washing ourselves, or vowing to try to improve ourselves, we could do that. But this is a spiritual birth, and only God can do it. The Christian life, in authentic form, is supernatural. It's not something we can conjure up ourselves.
So what is our part? How do we chose this new birth? How do we allow it to happen? First we must understand God passionately wants it to happen, and it is definitely something where God has to 'kick in' for it to be happen.
I believe it is chosen by us and by God. If we choose, He chooses. It is a meeting. He doesn't force us. That would be close to spiritual assault. Instead He wins our hearts, by degrees, usually. If we let Him.
Can two walk together unless they are agreed?
Amos 3v3
God already wanted to save you. He has said so pretty clearly.
(God our saviour) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
Calvinism
A few hundred years ago John Calvin and the Armenians developed rather differing views of salvation, which they believed were derived from scripture. Calvin emphasised the sovereignty of God, while the Armenians emphasised human choice. There are various forms of Calvinism, and a popular strain is known by the mnemonic 'TULIP'. As far as I can see the verses above cause great difficulty for this five-point Calvinist doctrine. Two of those five points are;
-Limited Atonement. The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross only paid for the sins of the elect. If so He isn't what 1 John 2v2 says He is.
-Irresistible Grace. You don't choose Christ at all. You can't resist. If salvation is irresistible, then logically, so is damnation. Those not chosen are damned. God must surely know this, and yet scripture says He wishes all to be saved.
Well it's true there are verses like:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
John 15:16
This clearly says He chose us, rather than us choosing Him. Jesus came along and pretty much commanded these first disciples to follow Him. If any refused outright, it is not recorded. But some seemed to follow more closely, to take their call more seriously. One ended up betraying Him outright. We seem able to veto, or even sabotage, God's calling. People can refuse God's call to salvation, which, based on Scripture, is a universal call. This will lead to perdition and damnation. (As Christians, we can also decide to resist God's will in our lives. However, I don't believe that jeopardises our actual salvation. There will be loses, perhaps serious, but our new spirit survives, 1 Corinthians 3v14,15. God also chooses certain people for particular tasks, people who have already chosen salvation, such as Paul and Silas in Acts).
Now there do seem to be contradictions on some points. God wills all to be saved, but some He hardens and gives over to a powerful delusion, 2 Thessalonians 2v11. But the powerful delusion only comes on those who have hardened their hearts by refusing to love the truth. In other words, harden your heart for long enough and God has set things up so as to further harden your heart. You can't sit on the fence forever, you side with sin and fallen angels or with God. He needs to fit you for Heaven or give you over to Hell. Even when God sends a delusion, I don't think He is the author of it. He merely gives a person over to Satan and his schemes, which is where they are headed. The road to destruction is wide, Matthew 7v13.
And so how to escape all this....
How to be born again
The really important bit. Nothing in life is more important.
We come back to how to be born again, as John 3v3 stipulates we must.
Jesus of course understands what is necessary. The experience is obviously not the same for everyone. Some just slowly realise they now believe, often when very young. Actually the terminology 'born again' is never used in association with an individual being saved in the New Testament. Instead, when people come to Christ, we see other words used. If there is a formula, it is 'Repent, believe and be baptised'.
That fits with Romans 10.
.. “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:8-10
So it's extremely simple. You believe, form the heart, and you are saved. What do you believe? That Jesus is the Son of God. He came as a man, died and rose from the dead. He took our sins and is ready to give us new life. By simply believing these things we are justified, or put right with God. In addition, we are to confess Him as Lord before men. Clearly, we use our mouth. If you are mute, believe for healing, and God will accept your public act of acknowledgement at baptism. There is a command to be baptised. There need be no time delay; there generally wasn't one in the New Testament. Acknowledge Him before men. Invite family, friends, colleagues.
As faith, confession and baptism occur, the new birth will occur too.
Only if the actions did not stem from heart faith is there the possibility that a person is not really saved.
I believe a good test of heart sincerity here is if a person asks himself or herself whether they are making a permanent decision to give God everything, as best they know. They are then truly trusting Him with their lives and giving them over to Him in every area, for ever. That's all God requires. We don't have to change first, we can't. Without Him we can do nothing, John 15v5.
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