BORN AGAIN

One of the most misunderstood passages about salvation are the verses where Jesus replied to Nicodemus question concerning salvation.His reply is found in the gospel of John chapter 3 verses 3 through 6.Jesus answered and said unto him,Verily,verily,I say unto thee,Except a man be born again,he can not see the kingdom of God.Nicodemus saith unto him,How can a man be born when he is old?can he enter the second time into his mother's womb,and be born?Jesus answered,Verily,verily,I 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 flesh is flesh;and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Some want to make the water spoken of above refer to water baptism.This is not the case as the water spoken of here refers to the natural birth.The spiritual birth spoken of here is the actual birth of our dead spirit as the Holy Spirit performs his work in our hearts and minds.Our spirit is the part of us that communes with God,in prayer.To understand why our spirit is dead we must go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.

Verse 4 and 5 And the serpent said unto the woman,Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day that you eat thereof,then your eyes shall be opened,and ye shall be as gods,knowing good and evil.

This is an example of Satan using partial truth to get someone,in this case Eve, to disobey God.The part about their eyes being opened to know the difference between good and evil was true.The statement "Ye shall not surely die" was a lie.As soon as they ate the fruit their spirit died and before the thousand year "day" ended they died physically.The spirit,then and now,is the part that can commune with God.That is why we must be born again.It is the spirit that is born again.When we are saved the soul and spirit are saved but the body must wait for the glorified body given at the rapture.

I do not want to close this without adding the following.Being born again is one of the ways Christians can be sure they are saved and on their way to heaven.Look back and compare the way you were before you accepted Jesus as your personal saviour.You should be able to see clear differences in your conscience and your personal behavior.If you can not see differences then it is time to check up on yourself.