Isn't being born again just turning over a new leaf?
John 1 and 3, Ephesians 2, and what Peter and James say about new birth.
The short answer Settled
No. It is new life from God. When a person believes, God gives him new life; he is born of God. It is God's work, not a decision to change, and every believer has it.
Born of God
To be born again is to be given a new life by God, as truly new as a child's first life. Jesus told Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (), and "You must be born again" ().
John says where this birth comes from. Believers "were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (). James says the same: "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth" (). Paul calls it "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit," and says God did it "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy" (). Regeneration means being born again.
A person can choose to change his habits. He cannot choose to be born. No one causes his own birth, and the new birth is no different: it comes from God.
Made alive
This new life is given to someone who was spiritually dead. Paul says God, "even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" (). The person cut off from the life of God is given that life.
Paul calls the result a new creation: "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" ().
Turning over a new leaf leaves the same old tree. God gives a new life.
Every believer
New birth is not for some believers only. "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (). Peter writes to all the believers he addresses as "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (): the word they heard and believed.
The usual objection
In everyday speech "born again" often means a person who has decided to turn his life around, or a certain kind of Christian who has had a dramatic experience. On this view new birth is something a person does, or something only some believers have.
John says believers were born "of God," not "of the will of man." It is God's work, done "according to His mercy," not by works a person does. It gives life to someone who was dead in trespasses. And it is true of every believer: "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
The words behind it
| Word | Where | Form | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός ek thelēmatos andros, "of the will of man" (Strong's 2307, 435) | Preposition with nouns | Not from a man's will. | |
| ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν ek theou egennēthēsan, "born … of God" (2316, 1080) | Aorist passive indicative | They were born; they did not bring it about. | |
| ἀπεκύησεν apekyēsen, "He brought … forth" (616) | Aorist active indicative | A mother's word: gave birth. | |
| παλιγγενεσίας palingenesias, "regeneration" (3824) | Noun | Birth again. | |
| συνεζῳοποίησεν synezōopoiēsen, "made us alive together" (4806) | Aorist active indicative | Life given, not improved. | |
| γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν gennēthē anōthen, "born again" (1080, 509) | Aorist passive subjunctive; adverb | "Again" or "from above": a second birth whose source is above. | |
| καινὴ κτίσις kainē ktisis, "a new creation" (2537, 2937) | Adjective with noun | Something made that was not there before. | |
| ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται ek tou theou gegennētai, "is born of God" (2316, 1080) | Perfect passive indicative | Born of God, and still so. | |
| ἀναγεγεννημένοι anagegennēmenoi, "having been born again" (313) | Perfect passive participle | Said of all Peter's readers. |
No textual variants affect the conclusion.
This study checks the Greek Received Text against the Majority Text, and the written Hebrew against its traditional reading. If a difference could change a conclusion, this note explains it. Otherwise it says that none does.