Born Again

1 Cor 15; 3-9 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles.

Here, Paul is witnessing to the church of Corinth about the crucifixion and ressurection of Jesus Christ and how, through Him, we are forgiven of our past sins once we accept Jesus into our lives. But just as Jesus died and came back to life, we as christians need to do the same. Of course we don't need to be crucified for our sins...Jesus has already paid that price for us, but we do need to be reborn. The old 'worldly man' has to die so that the new 'spiritual man' can emerge. Being 'Born Again' in this way is not an invention of the modern church. It is required of us by Jesus Himself.

John 3; 1-5 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.'' Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'' Nicodemus said to Him, "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, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

Once we have given our lives to the Lord in prayer and made that 'first move' then we need to allow Jesus to work in our lives. To submit to His will rather than our own and listen to God when He speaks to us, either through the bible, at church or in our own consciences. Exactly how our new life will emerge is up to God and God alone to know. All we need do is submit to the Lord's will and have faith in Him to re-shape our new lives out of our past existence in sin.

One thing we do need to do though is to be 'born of water' and this refers to the ceremony of water baptism; to be totally submerged underwater as an outward sign of our new life in Christ and symbollic of our past sins being washed away. Jesus Himself was baptized by John the Baptist and in the scripture above we are shown that we too need to be baptized in this way. And in Jesus' words below; "It is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness."

Matt 3; 13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?'' But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'' Then he allowed Him. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.''

John and Jesus were cousins so they knew each other a long time. But John did not know who the Messiah was until God revealed it to him. John tells us in the next scripture that he would not have known except that God told him, "The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” John did not see this confirmation until after Jesus was baptized and He came up out of the water!

So why John’s reaction to Jesus when He came to be baptized? At the point Jesus came to him for baptism, John still did not know Jesus was the Christ. After all, this was John the Baptist who feared no man, who ate locusts and wild honey and defied a king. He wore camelhair clothes and a leather belt and lived in the wilderness. He called the Pharisees and Sadducees snakes and vipers to their faces. He loudly denounced king Herod as an adulterer. He was not one easily impressed.

And yet of Christ, he says that he was not fit to untie His shoes. And even before it was revealed to him John is so impressed by Jesus that he tries to tell Jesus that Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized, but instead he needs to be baptized by Christ. Jesus must have led an unbelievably righteous life even at that point to cause such a stirring reaction from John - a life that could only be led by the sinless Lamb of God: But John tried to deter Him, saying ”I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

But Jesus would not be deterred…Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

John 1; 29-34 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, `After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.'' And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, `Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.''

Now if Christ - who was without sin, insisted on being baptized, then we, who are His sinful followers - and are to follow His example, need to be baptized as well. For anyone to teach that one does not need to be baptized in light of Christ’s own baptism is missing the fact that following Jesus entails following Him in this action as well. If there ever was anyone who should not have needed baptism, it was Jesus Christ. But Jesus himself submitted to baptism. And so should we.

Romans 6; 3-6 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.