The difficulty of this question is understandable. Imagine that you say “yes”, is that not haughty and seemingly “arrived”? Have you got everything nicely together in life then?

But do you dare to say “no”? Then it looks as if you stand completely outside of it.

Someone remarks that “being born again” is still an ongoing process. Someone else counters this with the comment that God gave the being born again already at the time of baptism.

And so, it becomes clear that this topic gives plenty food for thought and encourages us to further study the Bible. In that regard I would like to pass on the following, for your consideration.

Another Source⤒🔗

Try to avoid the thought that you can measure the “being born again” by your performance, and by the degree to which you have your life all in order. It is not about what you have achieved, or so.

No, being born again indicates that God gives you a new start. A different way of thinking, of trusting, of longing.

By nature, we are inclined to stick to our own thoughts and defend ourselves. We set our goals and want to achieve them, for then you are somebody! This is how things go in the world: you are being measured by what you have and by what you do. The highest honour is a gold medal, that you can wear with pride. And for that you have trained many days, to be just a hairbreadth more or better than the other person. This attitude you encounter regularly, with others and especially with yourself. Everyone seems to have his/her own support posts: your finances, your house, your car (paid off or not), but also your tidy living room, your good appearance, or even your firm convictions in which you have become stronger. Everyone seems to have something of “this is how I come forward, and this is how you should look at me”.

Well, God crosses all of this out. He takes you completely off that track. Not what you achieve is the angle of approach, but what you receive.

Jesus Christ has come to become life for us. Everyone who believes in him receives him, receives his life, his love, his disposition. It is like a light breaking through when you discover that He gives you life and the content of life. You may expect everything from him. Through his Spirit he makes our spirit alive, and we begin to think as he does, we pay attention to God and to each other, and we empathize with those who seem to become lost in their unbelief. And especially: we are being filled with hope of Jesus, to expect all things from him, for body and soul, and for the whole world. A person who is born again can be specifically recognized by their trust in God; he does not have to defend himself; he need not act better than he is, he may be someone through God’s love and no one can take that away from him.

In short: we are being connected to another source, no longer to our sinful self, but to our loving Saviour. Through and from him we become new, in our thinking, our doing and our longing.

To Be Born Again, and Becoming Born Again←⤒🔗

So, it is all about another source. From there, everything becomes new.

When you put your hope on Jesus Christ in that manner, then you can wholeheartedly say that you are born again. Your roots have been moved, and they such up water that produces life. That is the big change in your existence.

But I am far from perfect. How can I then be born again?

Now we must learn to differentiate between two words: you are born again (when you place your hope in Jesus Christ), and you become born again (for the Spirit is not quite done with you yet).

Both phrases appear in the Bible. When you are not born again, you will never enter the kingdom of God (John 3). And at the same it is said that our inner person is being renewed from day to day (2 Cor. 4).

The Ephesians, who already believe, still receive the encouragement to put off their old self and put on their new self (Eph. 4:22-24). So, they go together: “‘you are” and “you become”. And that is not so strange, it is the same with the forgiveness of sins as well: my sins are forgiven, I know by faith, and they are being forgiven from day to day.

The Way of Life←⤒🔗

In that way, it could appear that our being born again was completed in a short time, somewhere in the past. This is how some spirit-driven folks can at times ask for the precise moment, as a real turn-around point in your life. However, a true born-again Christian does not find his support in the past, but in Christ. How remarkable and amazing certain conversion stories may be, the point is whether you want to live out of Christ today.

You may search for that in prayer and strive for that in your whole attitude (though you will notice plenty of counterforces).

Cooperate Yourself←⤒🔗

It cannot be that God gave us to be born again right away at the moment of our baptism. As being born again mostly does not happen at one specific moment in time. But especially, because it involves a change in lifestyle, where the Lord completely involves us with all our talents. In the Canons of Dort, (Chapter 3&4, Article 11) it says this: The Spirit lets us hear the proclamation of the gospel and penetrates with it in our innermost being and enlightens us. The Spirit opens the closed heart, he makes soft what is hard. He renews our will. Our will he turns from bad into good, from unwilling into willing, from unruly into obedient. That is being born again. At the same time, this is called regeneration in Article 12. It is a cooperation between God and people, in which the Spirit comes first: “And then the will so renewed is not only acted upon and moved by God but, acted upon by God, the will itself also acts. Therefore, man himself is rightly said to believe and repent through the grace he has received.” (Canons of Dort, Chapter 3&4, Article 12, Book of Praise, page 578).

So, all of this does not happen in the cradle, but in the full course of life; during the development of our understanding, our feelings, and our will. The (Roman Catholic) thought, that being born again takes place at the time of baptism, works a passivity from which a dead faith emerges.

Being born again is shown in baptism, it is even called the “washing of regeneration” in Titus 3:5 (and in Q/A 73 of the Heidelberg Catechism, Book of Praise), but with the understanding that God wants to make clear and seal his promise of regeneration to us (compare with Q/A 66 of the Heidelberg Catechism, Book of Praise).

That promise is to be fulfilled. That is completely from God. But not outside of men; we also are to stretch ourselves toward that fulfillment, in worship services, Bible studies, faith and prayer. God wants to be prayed for his Spirit, with heart and soul.

Are You Born Again?←⤒🔗

The faithful, positive answer will stir you to action again and again, toward the Source. Even when you do not dare say it so openly, you may still go to the Source. Let us go together.