Born Again

            In John 3, Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born again.  The idea confused Nicodemus, as is understandable.  To be honest, a lot of people today seem to be confused by the idea, and we have been given a much more conducive environment, since these words were spoken almost two thousand years ago.  In my younger days, there were a lot of people talking about being ‘born again’ and a lot of older people (even church people) that made fun of them.  I thought that was pretty odd then, I mean, if it’s Scripture, if it’s something Jesus said to do, then shouldn’t we do it?  People kept telling me that things were different then.  Well, they were, but the changes (at least, the changes in our religious perspectives) that have taken place since then have largely been because of what Jesus taught.

What exactly was Jesus talking about?  Nicodemus tried to pin Jesus down.  He asked him how a man could be born when he is old; further, can a man get back into his mother’s womb and be born again?  Jesus answered, “Unless a man be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”  He went on to talk about flesh being born of flesh, and spirit being born of spirit.  Now, some have said that when Jesus talked about water, He was talking about the amniotic fluid which nourishes and protects the fetus, and is allowed to flow out at birth.  Others have suggested that would imply that Jesus thought Nicodemus was stupid, and that He had to explain natural birth to him before he could explain spiritual birth.  To be honest, I can see both sides of that argument.  Nicodemus had just asked about being born again in terms of a natural birth; perhaps Jesus’ answer was intended to contrast the natural birth with the spiritual birth.  On the other hand, water is something that God has used over and over again as a purifying or separating agent.  In my last post, I mentioned Noah and the ark; God used water to separate Noah and his family from the people that refused to heed God.  Also, when the Children of Israel left Egypt, God used the water of the Red Sea to separate the Israelites from the Egyptians (and ensure that the Egyptians wouldn’t chase after the Israelites any more after that).  God even used water to signify the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Apostle Paul wrote extensively in Romans 6.  He wrote that we are buried with Christ by baptism unto death, and that, having risen from that watery grave, we should walk in newness of life.  Wouldn’t a new life be the result of being born again?  It seems to me that it would be, but that raises the question, if Jesus meant that you had to be baptized in order to be born again, why didn’t he just tell Nicodemus that he needed to get baptized?  I can only suggest that Jesus didn’t tell Nicodemus to get baptized because being baptized by John the Baptist wouldn’t have been enough, and that, the baptism for remission of sins, being our way of taking on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, couldn’t exist until Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and was resurrected. 

Notice also, that, in the Book of Acts (the history of the actions of the early church), when they shared the Gospel with someone, then they baptized that person (or those people).  In Acts 2, after Peter preached his first sermon, they baptized three thousand people.  In Acts 8, Philip the evangelist shared with a number of people who had been deceived by a sorcerer named Simon, but they believed Philip, and he baptized them.  Then God led Philip out into the desert, where he shared with a eunuch, and baptized him.  In Acts 9, God sent Ananias to pray with and to share with Saul the Pharisee (who was called Paul the Christian after that), and Ananias also baptized Saul (Paul).  In Acts 10, a Roman named Cornelius was seeking God, and told to send for Peter; Peter went and preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his family, and then baptized them.  In Acts 16, Paul shared with a woman named Lydia, and then baptized her.  Also, later on in the same chapter, Paul and Silas told the jailer that if he believed in the Lord Jesus, then he would be saved; this jailer took them from the prison to his own house, in the middle of the night, and Paul and Silas shared with his family, and then baptized them.

 I will admit that there are some instances that it doesn’t specifically say that the person or people being shared with got baptized.  For example, in Acts 18, we are told that Paul shared with a man named Aquila, and his wife Priscilla, and then, later on, they shared with a man named Apollos.  This chapter doesn’t say anything about any of those three getting baptized, however, in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul indicates that a fairly large number of the Corinthians were baptized by Apollos.  That wouldn’t make sense unless Apollos were baptized first. The question than would be, who baptized Apollos?  Aquila and Priscilla were the ones that shared with him, so they must have been baptized in order to baptize him.  That, of course, means that Paul must have baptized them.

In conclusion, I think that it is clear that water baptism is, at the very least, an important part of becoming a Christian.  Otherwise, there would not have been nearly so much emphasis put on it in the Scriptures.  It is through baptism that we take on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; it is how we get born again.