“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ … Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” — John 3:3&5 (NKJV) 

A friend was telling me recently that the late Dwight L. Moody was questioned about why he preached “Ye must be born again!” so often, his response was, “because … Ye must be born again!”

The fact that Jesus gave us this teaching as an imperative to be acted upon by all who would enter God’s kingdom, seems to have been lost (or ignored) by many of our churches today. It seems that we are far too sophisticated and proper to think of ourselves as we really are; that we are an entire human race of fallen creatures, we are all in need of redemption, all in need of His cleansing blood, all requiring that we be born again. 

To be born again is to surrender ourselves to Jesus, to allow the Holy Spirit to work His work in our lives to restore us to our proper position in God’s family. That position is one of spiritual nature; where our spirit, having been restored to a position of authority over our person; is now leading instead of the sinful flesh. When Adam and Eve gave the flesh control over our lives by eating the forbidden fruit, our spirit lost his position of authority and our flesh began to control our thoughts and actions.

It is this change, this restoration of our spirit to its rightful place in God’s order that we call being born again. It is also the very thing that our flesh abhors above all else; it goes against the desire of our flesh to be in full control of our lives. When we are born again, then we are no longer led by the flesh, unable to comprehend God’s grace; we are then able to know, by spiritual discernment, the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:13-16), and we are then able to enter into a right relationship with Him.

As Jesus said, we must be born again to enter His kingdom. Our sinful flesh can’t see or enter it; only our reborn spirit may dwell in His eternal presence.

Rev. Bobby Thornhill is a retired pastor.