Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 3/2/2006

Question
I'm not a Protestant but I'm interested in finding out where this whole "born-again" idea, popular in modern evangelicalism, came from. I know Jesus said we must be born again, but I thought that in historical Christianity and historical Protestantism the term reflected the act of being baptized and the mere intention/desire to live as a good Christian. Before the 20th century I'm just not seeing the idea of being born-again as one of a supernatural unique emotional experience everyone has to undergo before becoming a Christian. I can't imagine the Reformers advocating such a subjective idea. Perhaps you can tell me when and where this idea originated. Thanks.  

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

Short answer:  The idea of being born again came directly from the mouth of Jesus. John said, "John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jn 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'”
Jn 3:4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!”
Jn 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Jn 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Jn 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.'
Jn 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Jn 3:9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
Jn 3:10 “You are Israel's teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
Jn 3:11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
Jn 3:12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
Jn 3:13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Jn 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
Jn 3:15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jn 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Jn 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Jn 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Jn 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

The early church followed the principle of salvation or believing in Jesus Christ.  It was centuries later that the church changed this idea.  Paul clearly said that: "Eph 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Eph 2:9 not by works, so that no one can boast."

Somewhere in the history of the church, works and penitence became the dominate theory about salvation.  Martin Luther struggled with the idea of works and penitence.  He did everything that the church told him to do and yet he knew that it was not leading him to salvation.  He read the Bible for himself and discovered in the New Testament that it is by grace that you are saved.  He became more discusted with the church when the sale of indulgences began.  He wrote that it was a sin to say that by giving money to the church that you could buy favor or salvation from God.  This violated the very truths of the Bible.  

Long answer:Why do we die?  The Bible says, "It is appointed for men to die" Hebrews 9:27.  Yet when it occurs, people have difficulty in accepting the reality of the event.  Paul called death "the last enemy" 1 Cor. 15:26.  He also taught that death entered the world as the result of sin, Romans 5:12.  If there had not been sin, there would have been no death, Romans 5:17.  Death is more than a natural phenomenon:  "The soul who sins shall die" Exek. 18:4  When Paul describes death as receiving the "wages of sin," he means much more than its inevitable consequence Roman 6:23.  Death is God's verdict upon human sinfulness Romans 1:23.  Jesus Christ conquered death when He overcame sin and the devil.  Spiritually, believers have already passed from death to life John 5:24, and the broken relationship with God has been restored.  Believers still face the weakness and pain that accompany dying, but they need not be afraid of death itself.  Jesus Christ the victor will finally overcome the last enemy also 1 Cor. 15:26, 54-57.
Our penalty for sin is death.  Sin is the reason we are condemned to Hell.  The only way to go to heaven is to have that sin forgiven.  The Bible says the only way to do that is to have salvation through Jesus Christ.  In fact, the Bible says no one or other way is available for salvation except Jesus.  John 14:6  “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”  You cannot get to God except through Jesus.
How are we saved? God wants you to know that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) God wants you to know that Jesus Christ has already provided the way of salvation. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but will have everlasting life." (John 3:16) You must repent of your sins, confess them and forsake them. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9) God wants you to know that acceptance or refusal determines your destiny. "Everyone who has faith in the Son has eternal life. But no one who rejects Him will ever share in that life, and God will be angry with them forever." John 3:36  “Those who call upon the name of the Lord, will be saved Romans 10:13.   “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph. 2:8 If you wish to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, then you must pray to God and let Him know that you believe, you repent of your sins, you ask for forgiveness, and you ask Him to save you and be your Lord (Master).  A Prayer would go something like this: "Dear God, I believe Jesus died on the cross for me and is alive today. I know I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. Please forgive me. I want Jesus to live in me as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for hearing me. In Jesus' name. AMEN."
All those who are saved go to heaven.  All those not saved, go to Hell.  It is that simple.
Remember, God does not send anyone to hell because they never heard of Christ or never accepted Him.  He sends people to Hell because they have sinned.  Romans 3:9-12 tells us “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:  "There is no one righteous, not even one;  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless;  there is no one who does good, not even one." Even a Child knows the difference between what is right and wrong.  As an adult, we cannot say that we are ignorant of what is right and what is wrong.  The judgment for sin will be in relationship to how much they knew.  A person growing up in the U.S. with a church on every corner will be judged more harshly than someone who never even heard the name of Jesus.  But even someone who grew up in an uncivilized jungle knows in his conscience that there is a god that is worthy of worship.  The Bible says his conscience will either accuse him or excuse him on the day of Jesus Christ.  God is not going to condemn people if their own consciences excuse them.  Regretfully, every human being has sinned against his or her own conscience.  God does not judge people for failure to believe in Jesus, but because they are sinners.  The Bible says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
What about those people in the Old Testament?  Before Jesus came to this earth, it was faith that put people in right standing with God.  Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (see Hebrews 11)
Original sin is the term for being born a sinner.  Remember, man was created in the image and likeness of God.  Man was a free moral agent, freely able to choose God or turn away from him.  By eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he did the one thing he was asked not to do.  Breaking God's one commandment to him was sin.  At that point Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden and cut off from the tree of life.  From that moment on, the spirit of man was damaged.  It is as if man is now born with a moral handicap.  He is lame in the most important part of his being- his spirit.  That is original sin.  There is a rebellious nature in most children.  They just like to do whatever you tell them not to do.  This natural rebellion stems from man's original sin.  Instead of being morally free, man has a decided tendency toward sin - urged on toward evil by what is called "the world, the flesh, and the devil."  Original sin is a tendency to do evil, not an act of evil itself.  God does not punish people for tendencies to do evil, only for what evil they do in light of what they know.  In other words, babies and children do bad things but do not truly understand the difference between good and evil.  They may even know that what they are doing is wrong, but they do not understand that it is evil.  Therefore, little babies and young children do not go to hell because of original sin, because babies have never committed any sinful acts.  So babies do not even need to be baptized until they are old enough to choose Christ and baptism themselves.
Baptists believe that once you are saved you are always saved.  That accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and believing in Him means you go to heaven.  Nothing else will give you salvation.  We believe that you are saved forever because: 1. there is security because of God's Promises (Romans 8:31-39), 2.  God's presence assumes security (John 10:27-30 & John 3:16), 3.  Because of God's power the believer is kept (1 Peter 1:3-5),  
My wife and I adopted a child.  We have come to love her just as we love our other 2 children.  Can you imagine that we would stop loving her just because she did something wrong or was disobedient to us?  When you are saved, you are adopted into the family of God.  You must, out of your love for God, try to live a Godly life.  Acts of sin or rebellion will take away the joy of salvation.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, he lost the joy of his salvation.  When he wrote Psalm 51 about it, he said, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." He had no joy, because he had rebelled against God.  He did not lose his salvation, only the joy of it.  Jesus said in John 10:29 that "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."  Once you belong to God, you can never be taken away.    There is a difference between being immature in Christ (that is still sinning) and rebellion (those who sin without salvation).
However while a person can not lose his salvation, a person can openly denounce God.  If a Christian were to become a Muslim or a Satanist, then they are publicly and spiritually saying that they denounce their salvation.
Hell is both physical and spiritual. It is a place and not simply a condition. It is the place where all those who have refused the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ go upon death. Jesus presented it as a place of eternal torment for the devil, his angels, and the sons and daughters of Adam who rejected him and his sacrifice for their sins.  It is a place of damnation where the fire is not quenched (Matt 23:33; Mark 9:48). Their soul leaves their body and descends into the physical place hell.  Now, at the end of time in Rev. 20:11-15, all those who died without Christ will rise from the dead.  Their literal bodies will reform and stand before God in judgment.  Then their bodies will join their souls in hell for eternity.  
It has been said that if Jesus is not God, then we should worship the man who thought him up. Never has anyone in history spoken the way he did.  I see that the teachings of Jesus are self-validating.  Throughout history, they have been proven true over and over again.  When the teachings of Jesus are put into practice, they lead to peace, harmony, victory, and love.  This does not mean His teachings do not bring conflict.  For evil will always fight against the truth.  Jesus' words pulsate with wisdom.  For example, about governments "Give to Caesar the things of Caesar and to God the things of God."  The teaching that God the Father is a Spirit, not a man or woman.  The Sermon on the Mount has a treasury of wisdom, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you."  Remember, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  
Ultimately, I know that Jesus is God.  The only true God.  I know this because of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible tells us that our faith is foolishness to those who do not believe.  When I accepted Christ into my life, the Holy Spirit of God became a part of me.  I can feel His power.  I know the truth as He reveals it to me.  It is an overwhelming knowledge, joy, and peace.  Most other faiths cannot claim that they have true joy and peace.  I have been with a lot of people when they have died.  I have noticed that Christians seem to die at peace.  But non-Christians fight, and fight, and fight to their last breath and still die unhappy.



Differences between Catholics and Baptists:


1.  Before the Reformation, Protestants and Catholics were one church.  Martin Luther tried to reform the Catholic Church.  It had strayed from what it was founded on, Jesus Christ.  

2.  Baptists believe that all matters of Faith come from our understanding of God through the Holy Spirit helping us interpret the Bible.  Nothing can out weigh what the Bible says is truth.  Because of this, we only look to the Bible not to man to understand who God is and how we fit in His Plan.   The Catholic Church believes that the Pope is God's direct representative on earth, in a line of succession directly from the disciples themselves.  Anything the Pope says about God is higher than what the Bible says.  For example, the Bible says that Mary, Jesus' mother, had other children.  A Pope once said that no, Mary remained a virgin until her death.  You can begin to see the problem.  Anything in the Bible that disagrees with a Pope's teaching is taken out of their Bible.  

3.  Because of their view of the Bible, the Catholic Church has developed a unique theology of who Jesus is and who Mary is.  They believe in the virgin birth, Jesus' baptism, his ministry on earth, his death and resurrection, and ascension into heaven.  However, they believe that you must obtain works or penitence in order to receive grace.  The Bible says that grace is a gift that cannot be earned.  They believe when you die, you go to purgatory, a place of punishment, until you have served enough time to have your sins forgiven since your last confession.  The word purgatory is not found in the Old or New Testaments.  They believe if people pray for the dead they can be elevated into heaven.  This means if a non-believer goes to hell, he can be prayed out of hell and into heaven.  They can also be bought out of hell.  This is called an indulgence.  This was Martin Luther's biggest complaint, that if someone gave enough money they could have their sins forgiven.  This flies in the face of everything Jesus taught in the Bible.

4.  Mary Worship - the Catholic Church also teaches that you must go through a priest, a dead saint, or Mary to pray to God.  Jesus told us to pray directly to the Father in His name, not go through someone who cannot hear you.  There are now elements within the Catholic church that even believe that Mary is the co-redempter with Jesus Himself.  In other words, they believe you can be saved through Mary just like you are saved through Jesus.

5.  Baptists believe that you must be saved to go to heaven.  Jesus told Nicodemus this in John chapter 3.  You must be born again.  Catholics teach that if you are baptized you go to purgatory then to heaven.  

6.  Salvation.  The Catholic Church teaches that Salvation comes through the church, upon Baptism then Conformation.  The Bible says that Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ.  

7.  Original Sin.  The Catholic Church teaches that all sex is sin.  That sin is directly transferred to a child by the sin of sex of their parents.  This sin condemns you to hell unless you are baptized into the church. Baptists believe that Original sin is the term for being born a sinner.  Remember, man was created in the image and likeness of God.  Man was a free moral agent, freely able to choose God or turn away from him.  By eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he did the one thing he was asked not to do.  Breaking God's one commandment to him was sin.  At that point Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden and cut off from the tree of life.  From that moment on, the spirit of man was damaged.  It is as if man is now born with a moral handicap.  He is lame in the most important part of his being- his spirit. The act of sex between a husband and wife is not a sin. In fact, the Apostle Paul said that to withhold sex from your mate is a sin.  Original sin does not come to a child because of the sex of their parents but is a sinful nature in man himself that is in everyone since the fall.  There is a rebellious nature in most children.  They just like to do whatever you tell them not to do.  This natural rebellion stems from man's original sin.  Instead of being morally free, man has a decided tendency toward sin - urged on toward evil by what is called "the world, the flesh, and the devil."  Original sin is a tendency to do evil, not an act of evil itself.  God does not punish people for tendencies to do evil, only for what evil they do in light of what they know.  In other words, babies and children do bad things but do not truly understand the difference between good and evil.  They may even know that what they are doing is wrong, but they do not understand that it is evil.  Therefore, little babies and young children do not go to hell because of original sin, because babies have never committed any sinful acts.  So babies do not even need to be baptized until they are old enough to choose Christ and baptism themselves.

There are many Catholics who are born again believers.  In fact, there is a revival movement going on in the Catholic Church.  I would not be surprised to see another split in the next 20 years.

This is just a brief explanation.  Remember if you are talking to your friend about God, you cannot argue just with the Bible because they do not hold it in the same light as we do.  God Bless.