We began Part I by referring to the old saying, “Ye must be born again.” We need to recognize here that for many who call themselves followers of Jesus, the Christ, this phrase is very important to them. I am certainly not intending to belittle that. To them this statement refers to a critical experience in their lives. Remember, I said there was still more to say about dating? These individuals can give you the precise date when this occurred. Their very faith seems to hang on to the ability to do this. They can point to the date, maybe even time when they made a conscious decision to follow Christ. From then on, they identified as Christians, even ‘born again’ Christians. Unfortunately, that has sometimes been accompanied by a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude to those who also claim to be Christians but don’t make the claim of being ‘born again’ in the same date-related experiential manner.
Some comments are in order here then as to why I am then referring to this saying as an “infamous turn-off line.” It has caused some who can claim that ‘born again’ date to question those who cannot provide such information. Maybe they are not really a Christian. Such individuals are actually made to feel guilty for claiming to be Christin with no date and time proof of when they were ‘born again’ into the faith. They are made to feel they are lacking somehow, because they cannot make this ‘born again’ claim. Some have grown so tired of this challenge that they have become sick of the phrase. Sadly, some of these have gone on to lose their faith entirely. If you hear often enough that you can’t be a Christian without making that claim, well maybe I am not a Christian. Would you not agree that a saying that causes people to lose faith in Christ can also be infamous? To these erstwhile believers, it certainly is.
Let’s a closer look at the origins of this saying. I know, some of you will say, well, that is what Jesus said to the night-visiting Pharisee Nicodemus as recorded in The Gospel According to St. John chapter 3. Indeed, verse 7 is the actual quote. However, Jesus has introduced the concept and begun to expand on it in verse 3.
But what is Jesus talking about? He is certainly not talking about human birth. He makes that clear to Nicodemus when this guest asks (3:4) how anyone as an adult can be reborn. Jesus tells him he is talking about “being born of water and Spirit (3:5).” Elaborating on the last Jesus compares it to the wind, “you do not know where it comes form or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Doesn’t that sound a bit nebulous? Does it sound like something you could hang your hat on as to a date? Maybe there is even a bit of a caution here about being too specific about your Spirit birth. You can say with reason why you know it has happened, but much of it is humanly unexplainable. More of that later.
Jesus is obviously, it seems to me, using birth as a figure of speech. This opens the way to look further about how birth, being born, is used in such a way. We talk about something being ‘born out of a need.’ We talk about things ‘in the process of being born.’ We understand that in both of these expressions we are talking about something that took place over a period of time. It did not happen at once, a specific date and time. So, when Jesus talks of being born again, why do we think we need to pin that down to a date, place and time?
If this phrase and the related experience it describes was so important, why is it not emphasized in the other gospels or the rest of the New Testament? If the line was so important, why does it only surface in this book written decades after the other gospels and all the other New Testament writings? Why is it only John who talks as much as he does about this business of being born?
If this phrase is so important, why does it not show up in conjunction with passages about how you know you are a Christian. Even Jesus, when speaking of the last judgment and who will be deemed eligible to enter his eternal kingdom, talks of those who do things like giving a cup of cold water, visiting those in prison, caring for the sick etc. he does not say anything about being able to point to when you were saved.’ Again, when the Bible speaks of evidence of what it means to be born again, it does not mention being able to point to a date, it talks about showing the fruits of the Spirit in one’s life. Even john writes (I John 2:29) “everyone who does right has been born of him.” In 3:9 he adds, “Those who have been born of God do not sin.” In 4:7 John writes, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.” If those who can point to a born again experience question the truth of another person’s confession of faith because they cannot make that claim, is that love? Or is that judgment? We know whom we are to leave such judgment to, only God can judge the heart. Our actions are the proof of a change in our lives. There many whose lives show such actions and who profess to believe in Jesus’ redeeming work. It is the repentance from past ways and confession of faith that saves and it is in our lives that we show proof of this.
And what of all those who came before Christ? Surely we do not believe Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and others are not going to be in heaven because they had not heard about being born again – well, you get the picture.
If you can claim to have had a born again experience, good for you. But don’t judge everyone else on a couple of phrases from what is written in quite possibly the second last book of the Bible to be written.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment