What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

Are you born again? You might think that question is just as strange as the first guy who heard it. He was a Jewish religious leader in the first century named Nicodemus. He visited Jesus of Nazareth at night because he wanted to know who Jesus was and what he had to say about God. 

But Nicodemus had a problem. Like most of the Jewish religious leaders of his day, he assumed that he was already able to enter God’s kingdom because he was born into the right family and he did his best to live a good life. To Nicodemus’s surprise, Jesus told him that those things weren’t enough. In fact, Jesus told him that unless he was born again, Nicodemus couldn’t see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus was confused. He marveled over Jesus’ statement and wondered what Jesus meant by it. By saying, “you must be born again,” Jesus explained to Nicodemus the “how” of Christian faith. In other words, how does the God of the Bible tell us that we can enter a personal relationship with him, and become part of his kingdom?

Like Nicodemus, we're prone to think that as long as we try to be good people and follow some religious laws that God will be pleased with us and heaven awaits us. But Jesus says that in order to be right with God, we need to be made brand new—born again.

by Bibles.net