Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 7)
by Jody L. Apple

The Steps of The New Birth - Part C

In the two most recent articles of our series "Born Again -What Does It Mean?" we presented and started to discuss the contents of two key charts: one entitled "The Great Commission," and the second called "Obeying The Great Commission" (subtitled "Cases of Conversion in Acts and the Epistles"). Both of these charts were designed to help us understand the specific requirements that must be met in order to be born again.

The first chart summarized the final commission of Christ as recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke. Those accounts were compared to the teaching of Peter in his message delivered to the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).There were many great things which occurred on that day: (1) On that day the Spirit came with power, as Jesus and the Old Testament prophets said that it would (Joel 2:28-32; Luke 24:44-49; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13ff; Acts 1:1-8). (2) On that day Christ's kingdom, his church, was established, as Christ and the prophets said it would be (Isaiah 4:1-4; Micah 2:1-4; Daniel 2:44; Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 16:18; Mark 9:1). And (3), on that day the full message of the gospel of Christ began to be declared (Acts 2:14-40; Acts 3:18-26; Ephesians 3:9-11).

Peter's lesson, then, is of great importance in that it fulfilled all of the instructions of Christ given in Matthew, Mark and Luke concerning the great commission. Faith, repentance and baptism were commanded by Christ in that commission, and they were preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost. All of this information is summarized on that first chart.

The second chart begins where the first one ended. It starts with Peter's preaching in Acts 2 and continues through the book of Acts and into the epistles to demonstrate that the message of the apostles, and other Christians too, was the same message that Christ proclaimed in the great commission. Furthermore, we learn that all of those people who responded to that message, by hearing the word, coming to faith in Christ because of the word, repenting of their past lives of sin, confessing and professing Christ as the Son of God, and surrendering their obedience to the Lord by being baptized into Christ, were, by virtue of these actions, born again of water and Spirit.

How can this be, you might ask? In our second and third articles, we took the time to examine how the process of inspiration works. God, through the Holy Spirit, revealed to certain men (the apostles, Mark, Luke, et. al.), things that he wanted them to write and speak about. When these things were written, or spoken, they were able to be understood by the readers and hearers in such a way that they were able to understand the message not just as the message of men, but as it was intended to be understood - as the message of God.

We also noted that to reject God's message was to reject the Holy Spirit. This is because it is through the inspiration of the Spirit that the message of God came. The message of the Spirit and the message of God are one and the same message. To reject one is to reject the other.

We continued to note that the message of the apostles was the same as the message of the Spirit and the message of God. Thus, to obey the message of the apostles was to obey the Holy Spirit. In our fourth article we showed, through a study of 1 Peter 1:22-25, that salvation, obedience to the truth (the message of the apostles) and obedience to the Spirit, the word of God (the gospel) and the act of being born again are all inter-related. When the word of God is preached, it has the ability to create faith in the minds of its hearers. That faith can develop into an obedient and saving faith, rather than one just in mind only. As it yields obedience to the truth, the hearer's faith follows the commands of his teacher, which leads to being born again of both the Spirit and truth, which results in the salvation of the soul.

We are thus begotten by the gospel (the word of God), the truth and the Spirit. If this is a correct overview of how we are born again, then it is important to understand the specifics of our obedience to Christ. This is why the two charts were included in our last two lessons. Both charts discuss the specific things we must obey in order to be born again of water and Spirit. Those specifics include, but are not limited to, hearing God's word (the message of the Spirit, the truth, the gospel), believing in Christ based upon the evidence of that message, repenting of our sins, confessing Christ, and being baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. This is what Jesus outlined in the great commission, and this is what we find preached throughout the Bible.

The new birth includes faith, repentance, confession and baptism, with baptism as the final act that completes the process of the new birth. Once having been baptized, a person (now a Christian, a child of God) continues to grow by feasting on the word of God (see 1 Peter 2:2), for it is the word of God that both begets us and causes us to grow.

We are begotten of the word of God when we follow the injunctions above. First, we must believe that Jesus is the Christ. Without faith in God and Christ, man is lost (John 8:24; Hebrews 11:6). The scriptures were given, in part at least, for the express purpose of convincing men that Jesus was the Christ (John 20:30-31), so that through him we would have the hope of eternal life. This faith is produced by evidence, by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Second, we must be willing to repent. Repentance, which is unto life (Acts 11:19), is the changing of mind, followed by a change of life. John the Baptist emphasized "fruits meet for repentance." The parable of the lost, or prodigal, son of Luke 15 indicates an example of what repentance is. The son came to himself, realized that he sinned against heaven and against his father, determined in his mind to do what was right, and then acted on that change of mind by following through with a change in his life.

Third, one must be willing to confess/profess that Jesus is the Christ (Romans 10:9-10). Jesus, in Matthew 10:32-33 said "Therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." The importance of confession is emphasized most clearly when we note that some of the Jewish leaders refused to do so. John 12:42-43 states: "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believe in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." Though these men believed in Christ as the son of God, their faith alone did not save them. They refused to confess Christ. The strength of their refusal to confess Christ is clearly evident in the original language, the tense of which indicates that they not only did not confess initially, but that they continued to refuse to confess.

Fourth, and last, in order to enter the kingdom (i.e., the body of Christ, the church) one must be baptized into Christ. The Bible plainly declares that all spiritual blessings are "in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3), which simply means that in order to receive any, and all, spiritual blessings we must, in some way, get into Christ. There is only one way, according to the Bible, that an obedient soul gets into Christ ... and that is to be baptized into Christ.

Faith is unto righteousness (Romans 10:9-10). Repentance is unto life (Acts 11:18-19). Confession is unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10). All of these are necessary in order to be born again, but though they are necessary, they are not sufficient. They are unto (in the direction of) salvation, but not into Christ. They lead in the direction of salvation, but none of them actually take us into the body of Christ, the church. Only baptism is into Christ, as the following passages indicate. [see footnote 1]

Romans 6:3-4 "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (see Colossians 2:11-12)

1 Corinthians 12:13 "For by one Spirit were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have been made to drink into one Spirit."

Galatians 3:24-27 "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

This marks the end of our series. You are encouraged to review the seven articles which form our "Born Again - What Does It Mean?" series and ask yourself, "Have I been born again in this way?" If you have not, and you are interested in learning more about the new birth, then please take the time to contact us for additional information (admin@TheBIble.net). We will be more than happy to help you in any good way that we can. If you have any disagreement with these articles, we would be more than willing to respond to any suggestions or criticisms that you might have as well. It is our goal to teach only what the Bible teaches and obey only what the Bible says we must obey. We only want you to teach and obey the same.

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Footnote [1] The relationship that exists among the qualifications (steps) that we must follow in order to become a Christian is not fully developed here. It might seem, at first glance, that faith, repentance, confession and baptism are all on equal footing in one respect. After all, each appears to be"unto" salvation in exactly the same way, at least from one perspective. The term rendered "unto" with regard to each of these requirements is the same - the term "eis." If each requirement is said to be "eis" (that is looking forward to) salvation and righteousness, then how can we know both the significance of the overall order as well as the importance of each respective "step" of salvation? How can we know which step comes first, which comes last and which steps fall in the middle?

To be sure, these questions are critical, but because of the length of time that it would take to present them fully, let this suffice for the present time:

(1) coming to faith is the beginning of the salvation process. Without the chronological priority of faith, repentance is nonsensical. Many religious factions teach that salvation is final at the point of faith. To be "consistent" in their teachings, they must have all other "requirements" occur prior to faith. Thus, realizing that no one can be saved apart from repentance (Luke 13:3-5; Acts 17:30; 2:39; et. al), but keeping "faith" as the final, or culminating, aspect of salvation - repentance is placed "before" faith.

(2) The Biblical order, however, does not present such a glaring inconsistency. What is repentance? Briefly, repentance has been defined as a change of mind and heart that leads to a change of life (cf. the parable of the "prodigal" son in Luke 15). If this is true, and it is, then what exactly is that change of mind? What causes it? When the prodigal son "came to himself" - he realized the error or his ways, and purposed to change, and then carried out that change. This necessarily involves a change in his belief systems. Biblically speaking, faith always precedes repentance in the order of the steps of salvation. Placing faith after repentance makes no sense, and is thus nonsense. The Biblically penitent soul has already come to faith prior to his repentance.

(3) Baptism is described as a "dividing line" in the word of God. Those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (cf. Gal 3:26-27 mentioned above). When we are obedient to the gospel, that form of doctrine we initially heard and which prompted and produced faith in our minds, we were "then" freed from sin (Rom 6:14ff). There is a "then"-ness ascribed to baptism that is not ascribed to any other aspect of the divine steps we take to get into Christ.

Though we have not presented all that could be said about the "order" of these steps and their relative importance, we have not done any injustice in the presentation we have delivered. Faith precedes repentance. Repentance precedes confession. Confession precedes baptism. And baptism is that submissive act of righteous obedience which places us, by God's grace, into the body and kingdom of His beloved Son (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Acts 6:7; Rom 1:5; 16:25ff; 5:18-10; 5:1; Col 1:13).

See also:

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 1)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 2)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 3)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 4)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 5)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 6)

TheBible.net: Born Again: What Does It Mean? (Part 7)