Born again
What does it mean to be “born again?”
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In addition, Jesus made a clear distinction between being born of the flesh and born of the Spirit.
So, how do you know if you’re born of the Spirit?
God said that if we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we would surely die.[1]
They did not die in the flesh instantly but they died in Spirit. Their eyes were open to the fact that they did not have the authority or power to establish what was good and evil.
The English word power is often translated from the Greek word exousia[2] which means the power to choose. God granted man the power or liberty to choose many things but not the power to choose or decide what is "good and what is evil". the answer to that question is already established in creation by the creator and man has no power to alter that determination. This does not mean that man does not have the power t see what is good and what is evil but he merely cannot not alter the truth or evade the consequences that comes from his choice.
Lacking authority was synonymous to being naked. We walked with God in the beginning when he breathed the Holy Spirit into us but because we chose to turn our back on God we were cut off from the Holy Spirit that offers eternal life.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Peter 1:23
Born of water, flesh or corruptible seed are all describing natural human birth. Peter also writes of another birth.[3] The phrase "born again" mentioned in John 3:7 is a metaphor of that state where God is writing on your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. It is simply being born of Spirit as it goes on to states in verse 8. It is when you are walking in the spirit with God as we did before we chose to decide for ourselves what is good and evil by vainly eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Many say they are born again Christians but are they truly born of the Spirit?
Are they even Christians?
How do we do know if anyone is actually born again of the true Holy Spirit of Christ?
How do we know we are not under a strong delusion or worse yet Workers of Iniquity?
Before there can be rebirth their must be repentance.
It is clear God has granted man the power of some choices or there would be no need for instruction. If we are to return to God we must choose to repent.
"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" Acts 17:30.
Repentance by its nature is a choice which usually involves letting go of wrong ideas that are not in conformity to the teachings of Christ.
Man must first choose to repent which is a changing of what or the way he is thinking then he can be born again which is why we are told:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;" Acts 3: 19.
How do you know if you repented?
How do you know you are born again?
We are saved by grace through faith.
How do you even know you have real faith or if you are just fooling yourself?
The same John who tells you about being born again also tells you how you will know that you know him, meaning the real Jesus.[4] If you know the real Jesus and not some imagined Jesus through your personal or conjured up intellectual epistemology you keep the commandments that he gave us.
Do you believe in the real Jesus or an image of Jesus constructed in your mind by the vanity of the mind?
Is it not what you do that reveals if faith is alive in you or is dead?
"Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." Acts 8: 22.
Repentance should produce works that are not works of iniquity.
"But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." Acts 26: 20.
We know the apostles say that covetous practices is contrary to righteoysness and faith. We are warned to, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Revelation 2. 5.
The phrase "born again" mentioned in John 3:7 is a metaphor of that state where God is writing on your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. It is simply being born of Spirit as it goes on to states in verse 8. It is when you are walking in the spirit with God as we did before we chose to decide for ourselves what is good and evil by vainly eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3: 8.
Many people today are still eating of the tree of their own vain knowledge instead of simply conforming to Christ.
Being born of the spirit is a gift.
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13.
To "Ask" is a choice just like repentance. While repentance is choosing to change the mind it is required that the Holy Spirit must direct that change.
How do you know someone is born of the Holy Spirit?
Is it by what they do or do not do?
"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1. 16.
The Battle and Rebirth
Before going to Ur, Abraham and his people lived in the Indus Valley. They left because of conflict with the Asuras who were "The mercantile caste". What do they mean Mercantile caste and what was the conflict all about?
When the Bible says Abraham was led throughout all the land of Canaan, the term meant something particular. Canaan means "merchants" or "traffickers" which is what the Asuras were.
The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia followed by the development of a cultural symbiosis between them and the Sumerians. There was a convergence of the Sumerian and Akkadian people in the third millennium BC which produced the kingdom of Sumer and the earliest known civilization in the historical region. It was not only a crossroads of language but also of the philosophies, religions, and cultures of societies from the Indus Valley and Egypt.
Over centuries the conflict between rulers of these civilizations and individual rights has often been a "bitter struggle for power between the temple and the palace---the “church” and the “state”--- with the citizens ... taking the side of the temple." [5]
- “Are men the property of the state? Or are they free souls under God?
This same battle continues throughout the world?”[6]
During the reign of Urukagina there was opposition to "the wealth and criminality of the tamkarum [merchant-moneylenders]" who had enslaved the people. It is in the historical cuneiform "document that we find the word “freedom” used for the first time in man's recorded history; the word is amargi..." which may literally be translated "return to the mother" or her womb.[5]
The term ama-argi or ama-gi produced the idea of "freedom", as well as "manumission", "exemption from debts or obligations", "reversion to a previous state" Akk. anduraāru.[7]
- "Redemption is deliverance from the power of an alien dominion and the enjoyment of the resulting freedom. It involves the idea of restoration to one who possesses a more fundamental right or interest. The best example of redemption in the Old Testament was the deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage, from the dominion of the alien power in Egypt." [8]
Abraham, Moses and Christ came to set us free in spirit and truth from the sins that brought into bondage to the Cains, Nimrods, Pharaohs, and Caesars of the world.
In the Kingdom of God the people are "free soul under God" but when the people are of the world they are often little more than merchandise, surety for debt, snared in a system of bondage by way of their sloth and covetous practices.
If you make covenants with men who say they are your benefactors but exercise authority one over the other to obtain benefits at the expense of your neighbor then you will be snared by your covetous practices of having One purse and go into bondage to those Fathers of the earth you have chosen for yourselves. According to the Natural Law of God in a cause and effect universe as you judge so shall ye be judged. When you cry out the Lord will not hear you.
But if you repent and seek the Kingdom of God and do what Christ commanded out of true faith in Him and His Holy Spirit according to the law of love you may find redemption and be born again.
The fruit of faith would be the diligent practice of Pure Religion producing a daily sacrifice through fervent charity. Your modern Church would become more and more like the early Church. The modern Corban of the Pharisees that had offered you Social Security would be less important as a true charitable daily ministration grew in a network of love and faith. The Wages of unrighteousness offered by the unrighteous mammon would lose its lascivious attraction as you are willing to daily lay down your life in love for God, your fellow man according to the righteousness of God.
- "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19
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- ↑ Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
- ↑ 1849 ~ἐξουσία~ exousia \@ex-oo-see’-ah\@ from 1832 (in the sense of ability); n f AV-power 69, authority 29, right 2, liberty 1, jurisdiction 1, strength 1; 103 See Romans 13
- 1) power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
- 1a) leave or permission
- 2) physical and mental power
- 2a) the ability or strength with which one is endued, which he either possesses or exercises
- 3) the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
- 4) the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed)
- 4a) universally
- 4a1) authority over mankind
- 4b) specifically
- 4b1) the power of judicial decisions
- 4b2) of authority to manage domestic affairs
- 4c) metonymically
- 4c1) a thing subject to authority or rule
- 4c1a) jurisdiction
- 4c2) one who possesses authority
- 4c2a) a ruler, a human magistrate
- 4c2b) the leading and more powerful among created beings superior to man, spiritual potentates
- 4c1) a thing subject to authority or rule
- 4d) a sign of the husband’s authority over his wife
- 4d1) the veil with which propriety required a women to cover herself
- 4e) the sign of regal authority, a crown
- 4a) universally
- For Synonyms see entry 5820
- 1) power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases
- ↑ 1 Peter 1:3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- ↑ John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
- John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
- 1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
- 1 John 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
- 1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
- 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character By Samuel Noah Kramer documents of 2350 BC in the reign of Urukagina
- ↑ Cecil B. DeMille in “The Ten Commandments.”
- ↑ http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd/e324.html
- ↑ Redemption according to Zondervan's Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible.