What does it mean to be born from above?

[TonyChanYT]

When I was born from my mother's womb, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God entered my physical body and I became a sentient soul.

What happened when I was born the second time?

The following is not some abstract theory but my own personal experience.

John 3:

3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, except anyone be born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."

i.e., born from above or born again

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit (wind) comes to you to cause you to be born again. It is a real supernatural event that happens. However, you may not feel it in real-time. I did not

John 14:

15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper <Paraclete> to be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

If one is born again, he has the Paraclete Spirit dwell in his spirit/conscience forever.

1 John 3:

9a No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, because God’s seed [G4690 sperma] remains in them;

i.e., the Paraclete

The Holy Spirit cannot dwell in the flesh, Romans 7:

18a For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

Instead, the Spirit is connected to our human spirit, Romans 8:

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

This is the promise of eternal life, John 10:

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The Paraclete is a special operation of the Holy Spirit. He is the Indwelling Spirit. The grammatical gender of the Paraclete is masculine. He enables us to hear God. I can sense him in my spirit anytime all the time. Every time that I do, peace fills me. I was born of the Paraclete. He is directly and permanently connected to my human spirit. This is not some spiritual metaphor but a spiritual reality. Eternal life starts now inside us. The last time I experienced any doubts about God was back in the 20th century

2 Corinthians 13:

5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

The first time when I was born, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God entered me. That became my animating human spirit. The second time when I was born, the non-detached Paraclete/Spirit from God connected with my human spirit and permanently dwelled there. The latter is a spirit-to-spirit connection.

Another term for rebirth is palingenesis or regeneration.

In terms of spiritual mechanics/reality, do you have the Paraclete dwelling in you? Have you been regenerated?

Can you sense the Paraclete in you?

 

[Pearl]

When I repented of my sin and asked Jesus into my life His Holy Spirit came and dwelt in me and I was reborn spiritually as a child of God. That could only happen because it was the Holy Spirit who revealed to me that I needed Jesus. And in the years since I was born again the loving nature of God has been revealed to me.

Spiritual birth can only happen when we make that choice. Our parents can't make it for us, it doesn't happen automatically because we go the church or believe in God. We must make a personal commitment to Jesus - like in a marriage.

 

[TonyChanYT]

When I repented of my sin and asked Jesus into my life His Holy Spirit came and dwelt in me and I was reborn spiritually as a child of God. That could only happen because it was the Holy Spirit who revealed to me that I needed Jesus. And in the years since I was born again the loving nature of God has been revealed to me.

Spiritual birth can only happen when we make that choice. Our parents can't make it for us, it doesn't happen automatically because we go the church or believe in God. We must make a personal commitment to Jesus - like in a marriage.

Amen, dear. I could not have said it any better

 

[marks]

Horizontally, when I was born from my mother's womb, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God entered my physical body and I became a sentient soul.

Um . . . children in the womb have sentience. God breathed into Adam after He formed him from dirt, and man became a living being. That was the first man. But children in the womb have personality, and identity, and can form relationships. They can experience pleasure and pain, can be restful or restless, they are little people, and are not waiting to become sentient beings only when they take a breath of air.

But this does help me to understand better your background.

Much love!

 

[Randy Kluth]

The first time when I was born, a detached breath/wind/spirit of God entered me. That became my animating human spirit. The second time when I was born, the non-detached Paraclete/Spirit from God connected with my human spirit and permanently dwelled there. The latter is a spirit-to-spirit connection.

In terms of spiritual mechanics/reality, do you have the Paraclete dwelling in you?

I agree that the Spirit does not indwell the flesh, in the sense that "the flesh" represents human carnality, or the independent spirit of Man. It is man as a animal, so to speak, which he is unless he cooperates with the Spirit of God.

But man was not meant to be purely an animal, but was meant to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit. And so, to be "born from above" means that Heaven comes down to man to restore his spirit to God. When the Holy Spirit makes man a vessel again of His presence, then man in a sense is "born again." That is, he returns to who he was originally created to be.

I grew up from infancy, knowing the presence and word of God. But I thought everybody had the same, and did not realize how bad I would become when I began to associate with pagans. At one point I felt God leave me, when I began to read on witchcraft and laugh. I begged God to return to me--I was in a juvenile delinquent center at the time.

God does gradually return to those, like me, who truly repent. But once we "bite of the apple," it is tough to "get back to Paradise. My best advice is, let God indwell you through the Holy Spirit and make a commitment to follow God's voice to the degree He speaks to your conscience. You will be blessed, even if you have to pay a price to be a righteous person.

 

[L.A.M.B.]

John 3:3
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW CREATURE: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

1 Peter 1:23
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing OF REGENERATION, A RENEWING of the Holy Ghost;

Romans 6:6
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

John 3:5-
5 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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Overall, a person must be born again by the wind of the Holy Spirit from above and raised up from the dead flesh in their inner person. Without this radical transformation lived out until death, no one can enter the eternal Kingdom of God.

Ephesians 2:5
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened (stimulated us to life) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)