Requirements of Being Born Again

 

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

I was going to name this article “Requirements of being a Christian” when I realized there are so many examples of people prior to the incarnation of Jesus who show the faith of true believers that I would be doing them, and God, a great disservice. Plus, there are all those people who have lived and never heard of Jesus.

Before we begin to explore this topic, it is important to point out that Jesus is the ultimate judge of whether someone is born again. As He says –

John 10:14-16

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 

Also, the idea that people who never heard of the name of Jesus are exempt is not true. As Paul says –

Romans 1:16-23

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

How do we reconcile John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life” – with what Paul said in Romans? How can Jesus say what He said about needing to believe in Him when people didn’t know Him because they were born in a time or a place where they could not know?

First, we remember what John wrote in the first verses of his Gospel.

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Then we remember what Paul wrote in Colossians -

Colossians 1:15-20

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

These passages from scripture make a very good case for the idea that someone who has never heard of Jesus, through no fault of their own, can come to saving faith in God by realizing all creation is made by His hand. Now, I’m sure there are things I am missing as I am treading on Holy ground, but the nature of our God is one where He wants His most cherished creation to be with Him for eternity. Paul says as much in his first letter to Timothy.

1 Timothy 2:1-5

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, ² for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 

Indeed, we see example after example from the Old Testament of people who will be in the Kingdom and who never heard of Jesus or what He did on the cross. Hebrews 11 gives us a wonderful rendition of those who followed in faith.

Jesus, Himself, talks about how the Queen of the South and the people of Nineveh will be in the Kingdom –

Matthew 12:41-42

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

And who cannot hear the words of Ruth, who was leaving her family and culture to follow God, and not hear the words of someone born again?

Ruth 1:16-17

¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 

Now we can come back to the reason for this article – what are the requirements of being born again?

For something as important as this, you would expect the Bible to say it often and you would be correct. It is not that one way is better than another, it is the fact that all of us hear and comprehend things differently. Therefore, it is important to say something important in as many ways as possible to get the point across to as many people as possible.

Jesus said it in John 3:16 and –

Matthew 22:37-40

³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Micah said it –

Micah 6:6-8

⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

And David said it in Psalm 1 –

Psalm 1:1-3

1 Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

Still, the biggest requirement of being born again is the realization that you cannot do anything to help yourself with your salvation. You cannot add a single hour to your life no matter what you do or how much you worry.

We are all like the Thief on the Cross. We are all stuck with no way to get unstuck. We are all helpless if we only look to ourselves. It is only when we look to Christ, to the works He did both through creation and at the cross, where He died once for all before rising on the 3^rd day, that we can truly fulfill the requirements of being born again and find the rest our soul yearns for.

Luke 23:39-43

³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 

⁴⁰ But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 

⁴² And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.”

However, to refuse to be born again and receive that saving faith means you will suffer for each and every wrong you have ever done in the Lake of Fire.

Choose wisely.