Herbert W. A r mstrong taught that being "born again" meant being changed from flesh to spirit at the return of Christ. He likened conversion and receiving of God's Spirit to human conception. The time of our spiritual growth, living as Christians, was likened to the nine-month gestation period, and the birth was equated with our resurrection, our change to immortal life as glorified children of God.

However, most Christian churches teach that the term "born again" applies to the conversion experience, in this life. It is the beginning of the Christian life. Joseph Tkach Sr. wrote:

Our doctrine can be briefly summarized as follows:

1) In this life, a person with God's Spirit is a new creature.

2) Through the Holy Spirit, the Christian walks in newness of life until Christ's coming and the resurrection from the dead.

3) At the resurrection (Christ's coming), the Christian is changed...and puts on immortality.

4) As immortal...beings, Christians will be like Christ and are to reign with him. (The Worldwide News, Jan. 28, 1991)

God is saving us. Herbert A r mstrong explained that we have been saved from our sins by Christ's blood; we are being saved from sin by his life in us through the Holy Spirit; and we shall receive immortality and glorious spiritual bodies when Christ returns. Upon repentance and faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to live in us, sanctify us and perfect us. We begin new lives as Christians. We become lights to the world.

The gestation analogy is not used in the New Testament, which likens conversion to a new birth. The Christian life of spiritual growth is equated with the growth of a baby to maturity. The resurrection is a not part of this analogy — it is described separately as a change from mortality to immortality. The analogy is different, but the main teaching about salvation is the same. We stress our need for spiritual growth and maturity after the time of conversion and receipt of the Holy Spirit.

This is what the Church of God (Seventh Day) taught. They teach that the Bible uses the term "born again" to mean conversion. Notice these statements from their booklet The New Birth, What Is It? When Is It?

Jesus referred to a new birth in denoting conversion to Christianity. His Word shows that personal repentance, confession, faith, and water baptism prepare the way for the entrance of God's Holy Spirit — marking the actual birth of a new spiritual being. Everyone who has received Christ as Savior and Lord, has been born again. In reality that person has become a new creation (creature) through God.

At our conversion our physical bodies remain the same. The conversion is that of the spirit. Our attitude, outlook and discipline are changed.... Those who are born of God become His offspring.... The new birth has no reference to physical change; in fact, the spiritual birth is indiscernible visibly.

This is the doctrine Mr. A r mstrong taught in the early part of his ministry. This is shown in article 10 of the Fundamentals of Belief, which was an official statement of The Radio Church of God when it was headquartered in Eugene, Oregon:

We believe that all who truly repent of their sins, in full surrender and willing obedience to God, accepting Jesus Christ as personal Savior in faith believing, are forgiven their sins by an act of divine grace, justified, pardoned from the penalty of past sins, reconciled to God, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which literally comes and abides within, supplying the divine love which alone can fulfill the law and produce righteousness; and thus are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ which is the true church of God. We believe in a true born-again experience, and that only those who have the indwelling presence of, and are being led by the Holy Spirit are Christ's. Bible evidence of being thus baptized by the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit in one's life.

About 1945, he started to teach a different idea. Being given the Holy Spirit was compared to the union of a sperm and ovum, and the Christian life was pictured by a gestation period. As a fetus grows large enough to be born, Christians grow spiritually, preparing to be "born again" at the resurrection.

In 1991, Mr. Tkach announced that we would teach that conversion is being born anew or born from above. Thus, the church returned to its historic teaching on this subject. The basic beliefs about salvation did not change, but the terminology did. We have long known that terminology was the issue: "Many who believe they are `born again' on receiving the Holy Spirit are more in error in terminology than in what happens" (Just What Do You Mean... Conversion?, page 14). He thought of this as a difference in terminology, not doctrine.

We teach that when one is born again, the new Christian is a spiritual babe, needing to grow and mature, led by the Holy Spirit in preparation for immortality. Thus, being born again is only the beginning of the Christian life. Spiritual growth or sanctification takes time. This is a biblical teaching.

The phrase "born again" is first found in John 3, so let's go there to see what Jesus said. One of the most important rules for understanding the Bible is to read it in context. We need to get the background, the history behind the stories, so we can better understand what was in the minds of those who were involved. In this way we can help the Bible explain itself.

John wrote his Gospel so that we may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name (20:30-31). As we look at passages in John, we need to keep his purpose in mind. He has chosen each incident and event because it contributes to his purpose of proving that Jesus is the Messiah and that we have life in his name.

Jesus was God in the flesh (1:1). He is the Maker of all things (1:3). Life is in him, and this life is the light of mankind (1:4). Darkness does not understand or overcome light (1:5). John witnessed that Jesus is the Christ (1:6). The true Light came into the world, but the world did not recognize him (1:9-10). He came to the Jews, but they did not recognize him (1:11). But all who receive him and believe are children of God (1:12). God's true children are not so by heredity, ancestry or human choice, but by being born of God (1:13).

After this, we read of John the Baptist's testimony, the calling of the first disciples and, in chapter 2, the first miracle and the cleansing of the Temple. Now we come to chapter 3. Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, was a leading Pharisee, a respected and honorable man (3:1). Because of what we read in John 2, we know why the Pharisees would be interested in learning more about Jesus. He was doing some of the signs of the prophesied Messiah. John the Baptist had identified him as the Christ.

Pharisees considered themselves children of God because they were descendants of Abraham. In general, they prided themselves on being righteous. They baptized gentiles and circumcised them to bring them into Judaism, but Jesus said that they only made these proselytes into children of hell (Matthew 23:15). The proselytes were called new children, born again, but the conversions did no good. These rebirths were based on human emotion, human reason and human resources; they were not of God.

We must not think that we can be spiritually reborn by our own goodness, our own achievements, efforts or works. Jesus' comment to Nicodemus includes the thought that a real spiritual rebirth is brought about from above by God's Spirit. A real born-again experience is caused by the Holy Spirit of God changing our minds and taking away our hearts of stone and giving us hearts of flesh, to use words from Ezekiel 36.

Coming back to John 3, Nicodemus thought that the Jews were people of the kingdom of God and that Pharisees were the best children of God. They probably thought that the real Messiah would want to join the Pharisees and they could work together to liberate Judah and set up the prophesied theocracy. When Jesus said that no one could see or perceive the kingdom unless he was born again (3:3), it must have greatly surprised Nicodemus.

How do we know that the term "born again" means conversion, not the change that occurs at the resurrection? The context helps us understand. The apostle John tells us that believers, even in this age, have eternal life (John 6:54). All who believe are already children of God (1 John 3:1-2) — "children born not of natural descent...but born of God" (John 1:13).

Early Jewish rabbis spoke of proselytes — gentiles converting to Judaism — as being "reborn." Encyclopedia Judaica states, "A proselyte terminates all former family ties upon conversion and `is considered a newly born child' " (volume 13, page 1184, article "Proselytes").

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible states:

The Jewish direction for developing theologically such an illustration as Jesus provided is evident in the somewhat similar rabbinic comparison of the new proselyte with a newborn child.... "I make you a new creature, like a woman who is pregnant and gives birth" (Rabbi Judah bar Simon). (volume 4, page 27, article "Regeneration")

Further discussion of these concepts is found under the subject "Baptism" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible and in chapter 6 of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, by Alfred Edersheim. A summary of these points is also given in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 1985 one-volume edition, pages 114-115, under the heading "gennao."

New birth, as a figure of speech, is known to refer to proselyte conversion. It was understood to mean conversion of the mind and heart, beginning a new spiritual life with a new way of thinking, leaving one's old ways and ideas completely behind.

But there is no evidence that it could refer to resurrection. Indeed, if Nicodemus thought that "born again" might refer to a resurrection, he could have responded, "Yes, I know that everyone who is resurrected can see the kingdom, because it will come in its fullness at the resurrection. Is that the focus of your teaching?"

No, Nicodemus did not understand the new birth to be a resurrection. He probably thought it applied only to gentile converts to Judaism. But Nicodemus was a Jew, already one of God's covenant children, and more than that, he was one of Israel's teachers. Why would he need to be born again? Did he need to start all over? The thought was so radical that it didn't make sense to him. "Nicodemus employs a typical opening for debate by taking the most literal meaning possible" (Pheme Perkins, New Jerome Bible Commentary, page 955). Nicodemus was saying, in effect, "You can't mean this literally, so what do you mean?"

"There are several misunderstandings involved in Nicodemus' reaction to Jesus' words. These misunderstandings — a frequent device in the Johannine discourse — lead Jesus to explain more fully" (Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, Anchor Bible volume 29, page 138).

When Jesus said Nicodemus could not see or enter the kingdom unless he was born again, he referred to conversion, not to the future coming of the kingdom in its fullness to rule on earth.

Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, had come to Jesus and acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher, a miracle-worker whom God was with. It was a significant moment. Jesus did not just give a general truth about the distant future. Rather, Jesus used this opportunity to give Nicodemus a substantial summary of his teaching: Everyone needs a new spiritual start. He was talking about this life, not the next.

Nicodemus should have remembered that no one can understand or see or hear unless the Lord enables them (Deuteronomy 29:4). Only God can open a person's heart and mind to understand spiritual truths (Matthew 13:13-17; Luke 8:10).

John contrasts light with darkness — Jesus the true light had come, and the darkness, the unconverted world, did not perceive him. We who are converted are rescued from darkness — we can now see — and we are transferred into — we have entered — the kingdom of God's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

Jews didn't think they had to be reborn, but Jesus told Nicodemus that they were no better than others who needed regeneration. Nicodemus responded by talking about a literal birth, but this does not mean that he really thought Jesus was talking about literal birth. No one can prove exactly what Nicodemus meant, but here is a sensible explanation:

Nicodemus's reply has often been misunderstood: "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" (v. 4). Nicodemus was not speaking in literal terms. We must give him credit for a little common sense. Surely he was not so feeble-minded as to think Jesus was really talking about re-entering the womb and literally being born again. A teacher himself, Nicodemus understood the rabbinical method of teaching spiritual truth in symbols, and he was merely picking up Jesus' symbolism. He was really saying, "I can't start all over. It's too late. I've gone too far in my religious system to start all over. There's no hope for me if I must begin from the beginning."

Jesus was demanding that Nicodemus forsake everything he stood for, and Nicodemus knew it. Far from offering this man an easy conversion, Christ challenged him with the most difficult demand he could make. Nicodemus would gladly have given money, fasted, or performed any ritual Jesus could have prescribed. But, to call him to spiritual rebirth was asking him to acknowledge his own spiritual insufficiency and turn away from everything he was committed to. (The Gospel According to Jesus, pages 39-40)

Jesus did not come to put a new patch on an old garment or new wine in old bottles (Matthew 9:16-17). He did not come to add a new wrinkle to Judaism — he brought Christianity, based on faith and Spirit rather than human works.

Jesus told Nicodemus that his religion of human works and human wisdom was not acceptable to God, nor was his reliance on descent from Abraham. Nicodemus was surprised and puzzled. Jesus is saying that only those who believe in the Son of God can be God's children and participate in his kingdom. Nicodemus, the respected teacher, would have to start all over just like everyone else.

Only faith in Christ will save a person. Only those who believe will be given power to be God's children. Ancestry and fastidious works mean nothing, because salvation is not earned by works or status — it is a gift God gives to those who believe in Christ.

Don't misunderstand. Good works are better than evil works! But prideful reliance on human works to earn favor with God is unacceptable and a self-delusion. God accepts only real repentance and confession of sin and willingness to let Christ live in us to do God's works.

Verse 5 — Nicodemus should have known from Ezekiel 36:25-27 that when the Messiah brings the kingdom, even Jews will have to repent, be washed in the waters of renewal and receive a new heart by God's Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus means when he says one must be born by water and the Spirit.

Mr. A r mstrong took verse 6 out of context and interpreted it literally. There is a certain satisfaction in saying "the Bible means what it says." But an honest review of John will show that much of it should not be interpreted literally. For example, John 1:5 does not refer to a mere light going on in a dark room! In John 2:19 we do not take Jesus as referring to the literal temple. In John 6:53 we do not think Jesus referred to eating his literal flesh.

When we understand that Jesus was talking figuratively, we see that being born of flesh or Spirit is not speaking of the physical birth process, but of spiritual regeneration and orientation. Those born of the flesh think about this world. Those born of the Spirit (1 John 3:9) are spiritually minded and are able to believe in Christ and become children of God.

When Jesus said that "Flesh gives birth to flesh," he wasn't stating the obvious. He was speaking spiritually, about the heart and mind. Those born naturally have the natural heart and mind. Only those (re)born spiritually have spiritual hearts and minds. Jesus refers to what he has just stated, that one must be "born of water and the Spirit." Compare this with Titus 3:5, which speaks of the same thing: "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

When Jesus told Nicodemus that all who are born of the flesh are flesh, he meant that they are unconverted, controlled by the sinful nature. Clearly one could not, as Nicodemus had thought, be a child of the kingdom merely by physical birth and descent from Abraham. Natural birth brings only a mind that cannot please God nor see the kingdom. Paul tells us in Romans 8:9-10 that the converted person is "not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness" (King James Version).

This is what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemus that "Spirit gives birth to spirit" (John 3:6). Jesus was speaking of conversion, the water of regeneration and receiving of the Holy Spirit. The context shows that Jesus was not speaking of the composition of the body (physical versus spiritual essence), but of the orientation of the mind. The heart is either fleshly or spiritual depending on whether one has been converted. To see the kingdom of God, one must be born again — have his fleshly mind converted into a spiritual mind.

In Romans 6, Paul described this as the death of the old self and the beginning of a new life in Christ. The old has died; the new person now lives. This is a new birth. At the resurrection we do not have yet another birth, but a dramatic change from mortality to immortality. One could, of course, draw an analogy of the resurrection as a birth into a new kind of existence, but we should not confuse that new analogy with the analogy in John 3. The new birth Jesus spoke of and that Paul describes and that Peter writes about is our spiritual renewal, by water and the Spirit, into the new life in Christ now. We are already new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). This is why conversion is called the "new birth."

Verse 8 has sometimes been used to claim that those born of God are invisible. If this meant that those born again were invisible, it would prove that the new birth did not happen in this age. But Jesus was speaking in metaphors — not literally and physically.

When Jesus said that those born of God are like the wind, he meant that just as you cannot see the wind or know it is there, except by what it does — rustling the leaves, raising the dust, etc. — you cannot see any outward difference in those who are born again. But you can tell who is born of God by what he or she does, by the fruit produced in the Christian life. Just as the invisible power of the wind accomplishes things that can be seen, the invisible power of the Holy Spirit working in converted Christians accomplishes works and produces fruits that can be seen.

Verse 9 — How can salvation come by faith? Jesus uses the example of the bronze serpent. The people were delivered from death by looking at it (Numbers 21:8-9).

That bronze snake on a pole was the means God used to give new (physical) life to the children of Israel if they were bitten in the plague of snakes [Numbers 21:8-9].... By God's provision, new life was graciously granted. Why then should it be thought so strange that by the gracious provision of this same God there should be new spiritual life, indeed, "eternal life" (v. 15)?

Nicodemus was being challenged to turn to Jesus for new birth in much the same way as the ancient Israelites were commanded to turn to the bronze snake for new life.... Here then is the frankest answer to Nicodemus' question, "How can this happen?" (v. 9). The kingdom of God is seen or entered, new birth is experienced, and eternal life begins, through the saving cross-work of Christ, received by faith. (D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, pages 201-202).

Jesus' authority is from God (3:11-13). He will be lifted up on the cross to save all peoples (3:14). Everyone, not just Jews, who believe will have eternal life (3:15). God doesn't love only the Jews — he loves all people (3:16). The children of God will be evident by their deeds, which reflect the working of the Holy Spirit, not human works. Believers come into the light and acknowledge Christ so it may be seen that what is being done in their lives is being done by God (3:19-21). Their works are a result of salvation, not done in an attempt to earn it.

Salvation is not complete until we are glorified children of God. We will receive immortality on the day Christ comes, and God will then give us spiritual bodies. As long as you know what is actually happening and the reality of our transformation and perfection done by God's Spirit, the terminology isn't crucial. The Bible calls conversion a new birth, and we are using that terminology.

Several have asked about Colossians 1:18, where Jesus is called the "firstborn from the dead." In Romans 8:29, he is called the "firstborn among many brethren." "Firstborn" is from the Greek word prototokos, and, when used of Jesus, it is a title rather than indicating when he was "born" in the sense of gennao.

Jesus held the title "firstborn" from eternity. In Colossians 1:15, he is called the "firstborn over all creation" by virtue of having created all things under the Father's direction. The title "firstborn" signifies Christ in his relationship to the Father — he was before creation and produced all creation. This title indicates the preeminence of Christ in relationship to the church. He also is the first to rise permanently from the grave, but this is not related to gennao. It was a resurrection, not a birth. Jesus Christ is firstborn in many capacities.

"Firstborn" is used as a title in Exodus 4:22, where Israel is called God's firstborn. This does not assert that Israel was the first nation or that others would be born later; the Jews did not understand it in that way. Rather, "firstborn" signifies a special relationship with God. We see the same in Psalm 89:20-27 — David will be God's firstborn, higher than other kings of earth. He was not the first king God appointed to be over Israel, nor was he his father's first child. He was the first in his royal line, but this prophecy in Psalm 89 had nothing to do with birth.

The title "firstborn" often goes to the oldest male child, but not always (Genesis 48:14-19). In reference to Christ, it is a title of preeminence and privilege over creation and the church.

The church has a special position and relationship with God. In Hebrews 12:23 we are called "the church of the firstborn," and this word is plural, indicating that we are all reckoned as firstborn, as inheritors. Again, this is used as a title of honor and preeminence.

Some feel that 1 Corinthians 15 indicates a new birth at the resurrection. The Bible describes the resurrection as a spiritual body given to us as we are raised from the dead (or changed if still alive). A newborn baby, however, has essentially the same body as it had before its birth. This is another way in which resurrection is not analogous to birth.

Some said that Romans 1:4 indicated that resurrection is a birth. Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." But this does not say that Jesus became the Son of God by the resurrection. Jesus was declared to be the Son of God before his crucifixion — he did not become the Son of God by his resurrection. Rather, the resurrection declared him to be not just the Son, but the Son with power.

The analogy of a gestation period to show a process of growth and then a new birth is a useful one in some ways. It may help some people picture the fact that the spiritual-maturity process takes place over a period of time. However, this is not the analogy used in John 3.

The biblical analogy is that a person is born again upon receiving the Holy Spirit. Rather than representing a gestation period, this life corresponds to the growth and learning process of a baby who has been born and grows and develops to a mature human over the course of life.

This is a better analogy. After all, a fetus does not have to make any decisions, is not aware of trials, is completely nurtured by the mother. A fetus is not responsible for itself. And, most important, a fetus does not have contact with its father for most of its preparation for birth. In contrast, Jesus taught Christians to talk with the Father and to discuss their needs with him. A child already born can do this, but an unborn fetus cannot.

Any analogy will break down when extended too far, but the fetus analogy breaks down faster than the baby analogy does; the baby analogy is more useful. A baby can talk with its father and receive help to meet difficulties. A baby has to make decisions, albeit simple ones at first. There can be no fruit of the Spirit borne without choice, and in this life God commands us to bear fruit. We have always said that. The analogy of a newborn baby growing to maturity better illustrates what we teach about spiritual growth.

In Christian life, trials present themselves, and it is through wrestling with these difficulties and overcoming them by using God's Word and Spirit that one matures in God's mind and character. One of our old booklets, Just What Do You Mean...Conversion?, when describing Christian life, found the baby analogy more useful than the fetus analogy: "But, suppose, like an 8- or 10-month-old baby trying to learn to walk, as he `walks' this new way, he stumbles, `falls down,' as it were, and sins. Is he then condemned — lost — no longer a Christian?" (page 14).

If we have been called by God and have let him lead us to repentance and have received his Holy Spirit, we are already children of God. We have been given a new start, a new birth; we have been born again. And we must continue growing from infancy toward maturity so we may be changed from mortal to immortal when Christ comes.

"As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name: who were born [past tense], not of blood [not reckoned children of the kingdom by genealogy, as Jews thought], nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man [no one can come except the Father draw him], but of God" (John 1:12-13).

We are new creations in Christ, children of God, empowered to live by faith and do the work of God. This is the historic doctrine of the Church of God and the teaching of the Bible. The Bible says Christians are born again, and so we are using the terminology the Bible uses. We all need to ask God to help us understand the doctrine in our hearts, not merely use the correct words!

I come back to the fundamental point. It is the reality of Christ living in us and saving us that is the truth. Whatever one wishes to call this reality is not as important as whether Christ lives in us. Christ in us is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Copyright 1993