What does it mean to be "born again"?

[Armour of God]

Being born of water does not birth the 'new' person who sees and enters the kingdom of heaven. Being born of the Spirit does. But it is necessary to be born of water, too. At the time Jesus is saying this people are being baptized in water for repentance in preparation for baptism in the Spirit.

Even today repentance almost always precedes the new birth by the Spirit. 'Natural man first, spiritual man second' is a principle seen all through the Bible. As necessary as repentance is, repentance births a natural man who cannot see and enter into the kingdom of heaven. You must also be born of the Spirit through faith in God's forgiveness through Jesus. Lawful repentance isn't enough. You must have faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin to see and enter into the kingdom of God.

Acts 20:21
21I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Welcome to the forum
And thanks for sharing your opinion.
God bless

 

[Armour of God]

It's my understanding that Jesus’s phrase “born again” in John 3 refers to the new supernatural life God gives the soul — a life that does not come from human birth (“born of flesh”) but from the Spirit (“born of Spirit”). In the dialogue, Jesus contrasts what human nature can generate with what only God can generate. Flesh produces merely natural life; Spirit produces divine life.

When Jesus speaks of “water and Spirit,” He is describing the two inseparable aspects of this rebirth:

• “Water” corresponds to the purification and renunciation of the old life — the cleansing that prepares the soul for God.
• “Spirit” is the infusion of divine life that enables the soul to live in a new way, with capacities it did not possess before.

John 3 also explains how one knows this rebirth has occurred: not by feelings, but by the effects Jesus describes — the ability to perceive (“see”) and enter the kingdom of God, a new interior orientation toward truth, and a life shaped by the Spirit rather than the flesh. Rebirth gives the soul the capacity to recognize and respond to the movements of the Spirit. As Jesus teaches with the image of the wind, the Spirit comes freely and cannot be controlled, but His presence is known by His effects; and only the soul that is alert, like a sailor who unfurls the sails at the right moment, can follow His call. This is why Nicodemus cannot understand rebirth (“How can these things be?”): without faith in the Incarnate Word, he cannot perceive the Spirit’s action, just as Jesus says that one must first believe in the Son to recognize the Spirit’s voice. The Spirit’s work is known by its fruits, and the reborn soul knows the voice of the Spirit of whom it was born.

The chapter’s later focus on baptism (“Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, and He baptized”) shows the sacramental context in which this rebirth is ordinarily given. Baptism is the visible, ecclesial means by which the purification (“water”) and vivification (“Spirit”) Jesus describes are conferred. But the essence of being “born again” is the interior reality itself — the soul’s rebirth through God, the creation of a new life that flesh cannot produce.

Welcome to the forum
And thanks for sharing your opinion
God bless

 

[Moonwood]

Well done.
Most logical and Scriptural explanation of that passage in this entire thread. (Including my own)
Well done.

Peace and the Holy Spirit be with you.

 

[Hillsage]

It's my understanding that Jesus’s phrase “born again” in John 3 refers to the new supernatural life God gives the soul — a life that does not come from human birth (“born of flesh”) but from the Spirit (“born of Spirit”). In the dialogue, Jesus contrasts what human nature can generate with what only God can generate. Flesh produces merely natural life; Spirit produces divine life.

When Jesus speaks of “water and Spirit,” He is describing the two inseparable aspects of this rebirth:

• “Water” corresponds to the purification and renunciation of the old life — the cleansing that prepares the soul for God.
• “Spirit” is the infusion of divine life that enables the soul to live in a new way, with capacities it did not possess before.

I have liked everything you have written, but your first post threw me a curve. Correct me if I'm just reading this incorrectly. You say "Jesus’s phrase “born again” in John 3 refers to the new supernatural life God gives the soul." And then at the end you say; — the soul’s rebirth through God, the creation of a new life that flesh cannot produce.

Are you saying it is just the 'soul' that is born again? I believe it is the 'born again' spirit which affects the soul's decision making process for how one is going to subsequently 'walk' in their fleshly body. I think that if you're led of the 'born again spirit' you will walk in righteousness. But if you walk according to the sin natured flesh, you will quench the born again spirit's cry and you will walk in unrighteousness.

 

[Moonwood]

I have liked everything you have written, but your first post threw me a curve. Correct me if I'm just reading this incorrectly. You say "Jesus’s phrase “born again” in John 3 refers to the new supernatural life God gives the soul." And then at the end you say; — the soul’s rebirth through God, the creation of a new life that flesh cannot produce.

Are you saying it is just the 'soul' that is born again? I believe it is the 'born again' spirit which affects the soul's decision making process for how one is going to subsequently 'walk' in their fleshly body. I think that if you're led of the 'born again spirit' you will walk in righteousness. But if you walk according to the sin natured flesh, you will quench the born again spirit's cry and you will walk in unrighteousness.

I wasn’t saying only the soul is born again. In John 3 the “soul” means the whole interior person. John doesn’t divide the human person into “spirit vs. soul” the way Paul sometimes does. Jesus’s contrast is between natural life (“flesh”) and supernatural life (“Spirit”). You can see this clearly in Johannine anthropology.

“Born again” means receiving the new divine life God gives — the life that transforms the whole interior person and enables one to perceive and respond to the Spirit. My phrase “the soul’s rebirth” was describing that interior supernatural life, not isolating one part of the person. This is the same contrast Jesus makes between flesh and Spirit: what comes from human generation and what comes from God.

 

[Lambano]

So I take it to mean the water from above (from when God separated the waters from above from the waters below). The water that if you drink you will never thirst. The water of the Word.

Keep going....