Born Again with R. C. Sproul, “Must I Be Born Again,” 1

A few weeks ago I was speaking with a gentleman who said to me that he wanted to learn more about the Christian faith. He said that he thought that he was a Christian, and he wanted to know more of what it involved, but he said, I don't want to be a born-again Christian.

And I sort of smiled as I heard that, and my mind snapped back to what I think many of us recall during the presidential campaign, the year that Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States, he identified himself before the whole world as a born-again Christian.

And suddenly this term, born-again, became a hot news item, and this word that for the most part had been reserved to a very small segment of the church, now received all kinds of national attention.

Shortly after that, during the Watergate fiasco, Charles Colson, Chief Counsel to the President of the United States, declared to the world that he had an experience by which he was born again. In fact, he wrote a book by that title that sold over two million copies, and Hollywood did a film of the life and of the subsequent conversion of Charles Colson, which was also titled Born Again.

Eldridge Cleaver and even Larry Flint got into the act by announcing to the world that they had become born again. So suddenly this concept received new currency in the English language, and it was then borrowed by the secular world and applied to other things apart from a religious base.

If a baseball player had a good year this year after a bad year the year before, they said he was a born-again baseball player. Businesses got into the act. Telephone companies were born again, and you could go out and buy born-again flypaper, whatever that was.

Why “Born Again” Means Regeneration

And what we want to do in this series of lectures is to examine what it means biblically and theologically to be born again and what it is all about. Let me begin by saying this, that the phrase born-again Christian in a narrow sense, in a technical sense, is what we would call a redundancy for this reason, that according to the New Testament in order to become a Christian one must first be born again.

And if one is born again, that person is therefore a Christian. So that to call somebody a born-again Christian is like sneezing and saying that that person is a Christian Christian, because the New Testament knows of no other kind of Christian.

I might also say that the term born-again is a popular expression for what we in theology call the concept of regeneration. Now, I know of no church in the history of Christendom that does not have some doctrine of regeneration or of what we call rebirth.

That is, every Christian body that has passed on the scene of Western history has had to develop some kind of concept of what it means to be reborn spiritually. And the reason for that is that the concept was originated not by the theologians or by the President of the United States, but the very idea of spiritual rebirth has its origins in the teaching of Jesus.

And since Christians identify themselves as followers of Christ, naturally Christians have been interested in understanding what Jesus says about this idea. So in this segment, by way of introduction, I'd like to turn your attention now to that New Testament account where the story is told of Jesus first teaching on that subject.

Nicodemus Comes to Jesus by Night

We find it, of course, in the third chapter of the gospel according to Saint John. I'll just read the first couple of verses of that chapter and then offer some comments on it. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews, and this man came to him, that is to Jesus, by night.

Let me just pause right there. The character is introduced by name. His name is Nicodemus, and we are told two things about him in terms of his background. One is that he was a Pharisee, and the other was that he was a ruler of the Jews.

Now the Jewish nation as a religious body was, of course, under the imperial authority of Rome, and they were ruled locally by a Roman procurator, I can't say it, a Roman governor, but they had a puppet king from their own race.

But the religious authority in Israel was vested in a group of seventy men who were known as the Sanhedrin, and they were the ones who exercised the rule over these people. Now, not all Pharisees were members of the Sanhedrin, but some members of the Sanhedrin were Pharisees, and when the New Testament identifies Nicodemus as a ruler of the Jews, it is clearly indicating that he is one of those ruling members of the Sanhedrin.

It would be as if we would find in our own country a minister who was also a senator of the United States, or he would have the rank, perhaps, that a cardinal would have in the church at Rome. In other words, Nicodemus was an educated man.

He was obviously highly trained in theology. He's a clergyman, and you know clergymen have to be very, very careful about new preachers that come into town, and before we endorse every preacher that comes down the street, we want to know what his credentials are.

We want to know if he's going to try to steal our sheep, or if he's going to mislead the people in some kind of dangerous teaching. Well, the clergy of the ancient world weren't any different than that, and so we are told by the Bible that this Nicodemus, who was a theologian and a ruler, comes to see Jesus by night.

Why do people do things that way? I have a suspicion that Nicodemus was a little bit nervous. He did not want to be seen publicly with this fellow who had generated so much popular enthusiasm, and huge crowds following him all over the place, and so he was careful to be discreet in his first meeting to Jesus.

But he comes to Jesus with fine words of flattery. Listen to what he says. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, that's significant, that this cardinal of the church recognizes Jesus as a rabbi.

That is, he is addressing Jesus with the respect that was reserved for a doctor of the church. He is acknowledging the fact that Jesus is an authentic teacher of the Word of God. And you have to understand that in professional circles, for one professional to grant that kind of recognition to another sometimes requires a certain amount of humility, because we're very proud of our own turf, and we guard our own turf, and if we see somebody come along and we don't know quite where his educational background is or what degree he holds or from what university or what seminary, we're going to be very reticent to give the honorary forms of address that we withhold for those who are properly steeped in their credentials.

This man comes to Jesus secretly, presumably, and he addresses Him as rabbi. And then these words of flattery, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one could do these signs that you do unless God were with him.

Do you notice something here? How different Nicodemus is from some of his friends in the party of the Pharisees. They didn't have this kind of sanguine view of Jesus. They didn't come to Jesus and say, Jesus, we know that you're a teacher sent from God, because there's no other possible way that you could do these things that you do unless God were with you.

But in fact, they came to Jesus and they said, this man is working through the power of Satan. That charge was brought by Pharisees. But here's a Pharisee who doesn't make such an outrageous charge, but rather he comes praising Jesus, saying, Jesus, it's as if to say, I'm not like those other guys.

I didn't come here to throw stones at you. I recognize that you must be a teacher sent from God, because God wouldn't possibly endorse any man with the kind of power that you have displayed unless God was authenticating His message.

Just a word on the side, that's sound thinking and thinking that we need to follow in our own understanding in the modern age. But notice what Jesus does. What does Jesus say? Well, gee, I'm humbled by this honor that you've bestowed upon me, ruler of the Jews, member of the Sanhedrin.

Gosh, I can't imagine being so praised by someone in such a lofty position as you enjoy in your ruling authority. It's not what Jesus did. It's almost as if Jesus couldn't wait for Him to stop talking and stop honoring Him for Jesus to go, as He always does in His teaching, cutting through the fluff, cutting through the protocol, and cutting through all of this business and gets to the heart of the issue.

And He says, as soon as Nicodemus says, you know, you're a wonderful teacher and all that, Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Necessity of New Birth for Entering the Kingdom

Nicodemus says, stop talking about peripheral matters and even about personal honors. The thing I want to get across to you is this, that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now let me just stop for a minute.

That's not Billy Graham, and it's not R .C. Sproul, and it's not some television evangelist making that declaration. It is not Augustine. It's not Aquinas. It's not Athanasius. It's not Luther. It's not Calvin.

It's not Edwards. It is Jesus, the founder of the Christian faith, who is now making a statement that calls attention to something that is necessary for every human being. In theology, we enjoy making distinctions, and a distinction that's very important in philosophy and theology is the difference between what we call a necessary condition and a sufficient condition.

A necessary condition is defined as something that absolutely must take place before something else can possibly follow. For example, in order for us to have a fire, we absolutely require the presence of oxygen.

If there's no oxygen, there is no fire. Now a sufficient condition is something that if that condition is met, it necessarily brings to pass the desired result. Now a necessary condition has to take place for the result to happen, but if it does take place, it doesn't guarantee the result.

You can't have fire without oxygen, but you can have oxygen without having the fire. But what I want to emphasize is this whole concept of necessity. A necessary condition is a sine qua non, that without which the desired effect will not follow.

Now, any time Jesus teaches necessary conditions, our ears should perk up, because He's discussing now and articulating an absolute requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God. And He uses these words, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

That is, unless A takes place, B cannot, is not able, it is not possible for B to follow. Now, do you see why that's so important? Jesus is talking now about the necessary conditions for coming into His kingdom.

And He interrupts Nicodemus and says to this man, who is highly trained in theology, who is a religious ruler, who is confident, obviously, of his status before God, he certainly receives the recognition and the praise of his fellow citizens in the commonwealth of Israel for the lofty position that he enjoys.

And now Jesus hits him right between the eyes and said, you need to be born again. It would be like if I walked in to a minister's church, and while he was asking me a theological question or saying something kind to me, I just said, hold it.

You can't even see the kingdom of God, because you need to be born again. I mean, no wonder that the Pharisees became so hostile towards Jesus. What he's saying at this moment is that unless you experience spiritual rebirth, you are outside of the kingdom of God.

Let me say it in words that Americans simply cannot bear to hear. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are not spiritually reborn, you're not a Christian. It is necessary to be reborn to be a Christian. No one is born a Christian.

No one enters into this world already in a state of being incorporated into the kingdom of God. The Pharisees thought that they were born in the kingdom of God, didn't they? We're the children of Abraham.

We have the church. We belong to the church. We do all of these things. We have the law of Moses. Jesus says, you are not the children of Abraham, but you are the children of those whom you serve. And so Jesus makes this pronouncement, which I can't underline enough to call attention to how radical it is.

It sounds radical to your ears. It sounded even more radical to the contemporaries of Christ. But He said it, unless a person is born again, they can't even see the kingdom of God. So the first thing that I want to communicate about rebirth is that it is necessary so that my friend who said to me, R .C., I want to become a Christian, but I don't want to be a born-again Christian, that it was like he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

But probably what he meant by that, he says, was I want to be a Christian, a real Christian, but I don't want to be one of these people that wear it on their sleeves and drive everybody else crazy with their obnoxious methods of evangelism.

And that's what he was identifying, a group of Christians that made him uncomfortable, a style within the Christian church that he was perceiving as a style unique to those who were, quote, born-again Christians.

But you understand what I'm saying here is that in the actual meaning of the language, there's only one kind of Christian. There's all different styles of that one kind of Christian. Some of them are polite, and some of them are rude.

Some of them are quiet, and some of them are vociferous. We have all different kinds of Christians in the world. Some of them are conservative, some of them aren't so conservative. But the only kind that get in to the kingdom of God are the regenerate kind, because Jesus makes it a necessary condition.

Jesus’ Repetition and the Authority of His Warning

Now those of you who've heard me lecture on the holiness of God, which is frankly my favorite series that I've ever done, and we looked at that passage in Isaiah 6 where the antiphonal response of the seraphim is recorded where the one sings to the other saying, holy, holy, holy.

And when I gave the lectures on those series, I labored the significance of the Hebrew form of repetition. How many of you remember that? How many of you have never seen it? What's wrong with you? Well, I'm not going to take the time to reiterate it in detail, only that when the Jews wanted to make something emphatic instead of just putting an exclamation point or underlines or italics or whatever, they would repeat it.

And Jesus uses two forms of this kind of repetition to Nicodemus. Notice how He introduces this necessary condition to this theologian. He doesn't say, Nicodemus, unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God or he cannot see the kingdom of God.

He says, truly, truly. Now those words are familiar with you. Only from time to time Jesus will preface His teaching by the repetition of the word amen. He says, amen, amen. We get the English word amen from it.

It comes from the Hebrew amut. And Jesus now is saying, using that technique of repetition. And it's like when Jesus teaches and He prefaces His teaching by saying, truly, truly, it's like He's telling you, you better put an asterisk next to this because this is super important.

In my seminary classrooms at the school, I tell my students, I said, any time you see me write something on the board, you better put a red X next to that in your notes because you can almost bet that that's going to be on the examination because I'm taking the time to labor it enough to write it up on the blackboard.

That's important. And a word of the wise is sufficient. Well, that's what Jesus did as a teacher, as a rabbi. When He wanted to say, now here's something coming that's very important. He would say, truly, truly.

And so this is what He says to Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Ladies and gentlemen, there are thousands of ministers in the United States of America who will stand up tomorrow morning and say to you, to your face, it's not necessary to be born again.

And whoever says that to you, let me ask you to remember that that's not what Jesus said. And when you get that conflict between whether this is a requirement or not a requirement, you're going to have to decide who speaks with the supreme authority for the Christian church.

The Lord of the church says with emphasis, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now let me just add to this. There's another way in which the Jews used repetition.

They didn't just take the same word and repeat it, but they would repeat the same concept. Remember when the Apostle Paul was warning the Galatians when he said to them, if anyone preaches unto you any other gospel other than that which you have received, let him be what?

Anathema or accursed, anathema is the word there. Let him be anathema. And no sooner does the Apostle let that thought sink in than he says what? I say again, if anybody teaches any other gospel, even if it's an angel from heaven, let him be anathema.

Paul was using that Jewish method of repetition. What does Jesus do? He says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old?

He can't enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? I'll treat that in the next lecture. But then we have in verse 5, Jesus answers, again, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

What It Means to Be Born of Water and the Spirit

Here's what I deduce from the teaching of Christ, that it is impossible to see the kingdom, and it is impossible to enter the kingdom unless you are born again. But what does it mean to be born again?

As I said, every church has some doctrine of regeneration. Believe me, they don't all have the same doctrine. We all acknowledge, historically, that regeneration or rebirth is a requirement to get into the kingdom of God.

We don't all agree, historically, on how that requirement is fulfilled and precisely what it is that it involves. And we're going to look at those questions in the segments that are to follow. But for now, just for starters, by way of introduction, let's get it settled that without dispute Jesus taught the necessity of regeneration as a sine qua non without which there is no entrance into His kingdom.