Get born again

I’m not going to debate whether “born again” or “born from above” is a better translation.  Both the King James Version and the Douay Rheims say “born again”, so that is the terminology I’m going with. 

Let’s talk about what the Bible says, you’ll not that I’m intentionally leaving stuff out for now. 

I’ve noticed a lot of people do the same, so I’m in good company.  Before I get started, if you’d like to support me (and make more of these articles possible, so I have better access to resources), check out my locals;Catholicism news and whatever Community

Now, on to The Bible-ing! 

“Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of spirit, is spirit.

Wonder not, that I said to thee, you must be born again. 

The Spirit breatheth where he will, and thou hearest his voice, but thou knowest not whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit”. (John 3:5-8)

Did you see anything that says “born again” refers to a warm, fuzzy feeling?  If you’re wondering why, it’s because it’s not there. 

It is, however, tied to baptism.

I’m not going to go over all the (novel) interpretations of what “born again” allegedly means. 

I do want to focus on two terms, though “water and the Spirit”. 

Why?  Because I believe that directly ties it to baptism, see here; (An overlooked passage on baptismal regeneration and infant baptism, and 1 Peter 3:21)

And we don’t even have to leave the Gospel of John for that to work (Although, I think it could be tied to Matthew 28:19). 

Consider this: John 3:22 says the following,

“After these things Jesus did and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there abode with them and baptized.”

Of course, because of time, I’m leaving out some stuff, but please, go read all of John 3 on your own, without stopping, and you’ll not that this is directly tied to the born again discourse.

In other words, people ignore the plain meaning of scripture, to interpret these verses according to manmade traditions.

The culprit behind this is how Bible chapters are divided into sections. 

This isn’t a bad thing, but in our heads, we put breaks in the text that were never intended by the original author.

Yes, I’ve been born again, and if you’re baptized, so have you. 

Adam Charles Hovey is the host of the weekly Bible study, “Coffee and Christianity”; Coffee and Christianity on the Adam Charles Hovey podcast.  He also started the Catholicism, News, and Whatever community on Locals, where you can connect with him; Catholicism news and whatever Community