"Catholics and Protestants agree
that to be saved, you have to be born
again. Jesus said so: "Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God" (John 3:3)."
"When a Catholic says that he has
been "born again," he refers
to the transformation that God’s grace
accomplished in him during baptism.
Evangelical Protestants typically mean
something quite different when they talk
about being "born again." (The
"transformation" that this
author is referring to is understood by
Catholic teachers to be a metaphorical
transformation, this is not a true
transformation. The use of the
term "transformation" here in
this article is an attempt to equate
baptism with regeneration, and lay the
groundwork for the rest of the article.
The purpose of this article is two-fold;
first, to convince non-Catholics
(evangelicals) who truly are born-again,
that Catholics also experience the
"new birth", but by a
different system of events. Secondly,
this article purposes to convince
Catholics that they truly did experience
a "new-birth", when in fact
what they experienced at their baptism
and confirmation was nothing
(spiritually).
In fact, the
very act of writing this article with
the underlying intention to convince
Catholic parishioners that they have
experienced the same thing
"born-again" Christians have
experienced when they were saved, insinuates that those Catholics need
to be convinced. If someone needs to be
convinced that they have experienced a
transformation, could it be that they
never really experienced a
transformation - or the "new
birth"?
"For an Evangelical, becoming
"born again" often happens
like this: He goes to a crusade or a
revival where a minister delivers a
sermon telling him of his need to be
"born again."
"If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and believe he died for your
sins, you’ll be born again!" says
the preacher. So the gentleman makes
"a decision for Christ" and at
the altar call goes forward to be led in
"the sinner’s prayer" by the
minister. Then the minister tells all
who prayed the sinner’s prayer that
they have been saved—"born
again." But is the minister right?
Not according to the Bible."
The Names of the New
Birth
"Regeneration (being "born
again") is the transformation from
death to life that occurs in our souls
when we first come to God and are
justified. He washes us clean of our
sins and gives us a new nature, breaking
the power of sin over us so that we will
no longer be its slaves, but its
enemies, who must" (are
expected to) "fight it
as part of the Christian life (cf. Rom.
6:1–22; Eph. 6:11–17). To understand
the biblical teaching of being born
again, we must understand the terms it
uses to refer to this event."
"The term "born again"
may not appear in the Bible" (This
may be a lie, it most certainly does
appear in the Bible, not only in the
King James, but also in the Greek).
"The Greek phrase often translated
"born again" (gennatha
anothen) occurs twice in the
Bible—John 3:3 and 3:7—" (actually
the term "born again" also
occurs in 1 Peter 1:23) "and
there is a question of how it should be
translated. The Greek word anothen
sometimes can be translated
"again," but in the New
Testament, it most often means
"from above." In the King
James Version, the only two times
it is translated "again" are
in John 3:3 and 3:7; every other time it
is given a different rendering." (This
is untrue, Galatians 4:9 "palin"
is translated "again"
the first time the word "again"
is used in the verse; but the second
time the word "again"
is used was translated from "anothen";
"how
turn ye again to the weak and beggarly
elements, whereunto ye desire again
to be in bondage?"
The first time
the word "again" was
used in this verse was referring to the
act of turning to the weak and
beggarly elements, which are not
exclusively indicative of the time when
the Christian did not know God, but are
also present as the Christian knows God.
The second time the word "again"
is used is referring to the "desire"
that these Galatians apparently
displayed to return to the "bondage",
when they knew nothing but the "weak
and beggarly elements". This "desire"
IS an exclusive reference to the
previous state of "not knowing
God".
Although the
Greek word "anothen" is
frequently interpreted; "from
above, the top, the beginning, or
from the first" in many other
verses, it is always in reference
to something that happened in the very
beginning. Even when the word was
interpreted as "from above",
or "the top" it was
always in reference to that place as the
starting point and the end being
somewhere lower. (Matt. 27:51, Mark
15:38, John 3:31, John 19:11, John
19:23, James 1:17, James 3:15, James
3:17)
It is deceptive
for the writer of this article to
exclude the reference to "again"
in Galatians 4:9, as this
reference proves that the interpretation
of "gennatha anothen"
to "born again" in John
3:3 and 3:7 does specifically
refer to the birth at the "beginning"
at ones physical life.
There was
actually a more sinister deception in
the previous paragraph; as I mentioned, John
3:3 and 3:7 are not the only
places the phrase "born
again" is found in the Bible.
It is also found in 1 Peter
1:23.
"Being
born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth for
ever."
This is very
significant because the phrase "born
again" in 1 Peter 1:23
is interpreted from the Greek word (anagennao)
which is defined literally as "to
bear again". Furthermore, the
act of being born again in 1 Peter
1:23 is directly referencing the
noun "incorruptible seed",
which was clearly contrasted with the "corruptible
seed" of the flesh by the sin
of the first Adam in the Garden of Eden.
This is a clear indication that the "new
birth" is not a metaphor, but a
literal negation of the first (or old)
birth. 2
Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
Maybe another
reason for omitting this verse, was that
this verse not only reinforces the use
of the term "born again",
but it denies the notion of "original
sin". The corruptible seed
mentioned in this verse was just that…
corruptible (able to be corrupted). It
was not already corrupted from birth as
the Catholic Institution teaches. This
verse also reinforces the truth of eternal
security (born of incorruptible
seed), we cannot lose our salvation
because the seed of the "new
birth" cannot be corrupted (the
new life in a saved person is not
changeable), therefore this new life
must be a literal indwelling presence
originating from God, and ending with a
new Christian… His Spirit.
"Another term is
"regeneration." When referring
to something that occurs in the life of
an individual believer, it only appears
in Titus 3:5. In other passages, the new
birth phenomenon is also described as
receiving new life (Rom. 6:4), receiving
the circumcision of the heart (Rom.
2:29; Col. 2:11–12), and becoming a
"new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17;
Gal. 6:15)."
Regeneration in John
3
These different ways of talking about
being "born again" describe
effects of baptism, which Christ speaks
of in John 3:5 as being "born of
water and the Spirit." In Greek,
this phrase is, literally, "born of
water and Spirit," indicating one
birth of water-and-Spirit, rather than
"born of water and of the
Spirit," as though it meant two
different births—one birth of water
and one birth of the Spirit.
The previous
paragraph is a misinterpretation of the
text of John 3:5 by failing to
interpreted it in it's immediate text.
The verse directly before, and the verse
directly following John 3:5 should be
considered when interpreting this text.
John 3:4
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a
man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his
mother's womb, and be born?
John 3:5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and [of] the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That
which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit.
In verse 4,
Nicodemus was confusing the birth of his
flesh with the act of being "born
again", as if one had to actually
be "born again" from his
mother's womb. Jesus' reply was to
clarify that misconception by stating to
Nicodemus that one must truly be born of
water (physically), but if you are not
born of the Spirit you cannot enter the
kingdom of God.
Jesus further
clarifies Himself by His statement in
verse 6, where he reaffirms that the
birth of water and the birth of Spirit
are two distinctly different births.
There is no excuse for a person to
misinterpret this portion of scripture,
the Bible is clear on the "new
birth"; a person (like Nicodemus)
must be born again spiritually to be
saved. This appears to be an intentional
deception to confuse being born again
with some act of water… which leads us
to the next section of this article by a
"Catholic apologist".
"In the water-and-Spirit rebirth
that takes place at baptism, the
repentant sinner is transformed from a
state of sin to the state of grace.
Peter mentioned this transformation from
sin to grace when he exhorted people to
"be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit" (Acts 2:38)."
Another
misinterpretation of scripture by taking
the verse out of it's immediate text.
For a complete explanation of Acts 2:38,
and a scriptural explanation of the
doctrine of baptism see my article
entitled "A
Repudiation of Infant Baptism"
under the heading "Baptism".
"The context of Jesus’ statements
in John 3 makes it clear that he was
referring to water baptism. Shortly
before Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the
necessity and regenerating effect of
baptism, he himself was baptized by John
the Baptist," (is
this author actually insinuating that
Jesus, who never knew sin, was in need
of regeneration?) and the
circumstances are striking: Jesus goes
down into the water, and as he is
baptized, the heavens open, the Holy
Spirit descends upon him in the form of
a dove, and the voice of God the Father
speaks from heaven, saying, "This
is my beloved Son" (cf. Matt.
3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke
3:21–22; John 1:30–34).
The author of this article left out the
last part of the Father's response to
Jesus' baptism "in Whom I am well
pleased". When Jesus came out of
the water He was not only at that time
recognized by the Father that He was His
Son, Jesus was already God's Son from
His conception… even from the
foundation of the world. Jesus was
baptized to demonstrate obedience before
He began His earthly ministry.
"This scene gives us a graphic
depiction of what happens at baptism: We
are baptized with water, symbolizing our
dying with Christ (Rom. 6:3) and our
rising with Christ to the newness of
life (Rom. 6:4–5); we receive the gift
of sanctifying grace and the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal.
3:27); and we are adopted as God’s
sons (Rom. 8:15–17)."
"After our Lord’s teaching that
it is necessary for salvation to be born
from above by water and the Spirit (John
3:1–21), "Jesus and his disciples
went into the land of Judea; there he
remained with them and baptized"
(John 3:22).
Then we have the witness of the early
Church that John 3:5 refers to baptismal
regeneration. This was universally
recognized by the early Christians. The
Church Fathers were unanimous in
teaching this:
In A.D. 151, Justin Martyr wrote,
"As many as are persuaded and
believe that what we [Christians] teach
and say is true . . . are brought by us
where there is water and are regenerated
in the same manner in which we were
ourselves regenerated. For, in the name
of God the Father . . . and of our
Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy
Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive
the washing with water. For Christ also
said, ‘Unless you are born again, you
shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First
Apology 61).
Around 190, Irenaeus, the bishop of
Lyons, wrote, "And [Naaman] dipped
himself . . . seven times in the
Jordan’ [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for
nothing that Naaman of old, when
suffering from leprosy, was purified
upon his being baptized, but [this
served] as an indication to us. For as
we are lepers in sin, we are made clean,
by means of the sacred water and the
invocation of the Lord, from our old
transgressions, being spiritually
regenerated as newborn babes, even as
the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man
be born again through water and the
Spirit, he shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5]" (Fragment
34).
In the year 252, Cyprian, the bishop of
Carthage, said that when those becoming
Christians "receive also the
baptism of the Church . . . then finally
can they be fully sanctified and be the
sons of God . . . since it is written,
‘Except a man be born again of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God’ [John 3:5]" (Letters
71[72]:1).
Augustine wrote, "From the time he
[Jesus] said, ‘Except a man be born of
water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven’ [John
3:5], and again, ‘He that loses his
life for my sake shall find it’ [Matt.
10:39], no one becomes a member of
Christ except it be either by baptism in
Christ or death for Christ" (On
the Soul and Its Origin 1:10 [A.D.
419]).
Augustine also taught, "It is this
one Spirit who makes it possible for an
infant to be regenerated . . . when that
infant is brought to baptism; and it is
through this one Spirit that the infant
so presented is reborn. For it is not
written, ‘Unless a man be born again
by the will of his parents’ or ‘by
the faith of those presenting him or
ministering to him,’ but, ‘Unless a
man be born again of water and the Holy
Spirit’ [John 3:5]. The water,
therefore, manifesting exteriorly the
sacrament of grace, and the Spirit
effecting interiorly the benefit of
grace, both regenerate in one Christ
that man who was generated in Adam"
(Letters 98:2 [A.D. 408])."
Regeneration in the
New Testament
"The truth that regeneration comes
through baptism is confirmed elsewhere
in the Bible. Paul reminds us in Titus
3:5 that God "saved us, not because
of deeds done by us in righteousness,
but in virtue of his own mercy, by the
washing of regeneration and renewal in
the Holy Spirit."
The King James
clearly indicates that any effort on the
part of man to earn salvation is futile,
and according to the definitive
understanding of mercy, the initiative
can only be on the part of the merciful,
not on the part of the recipient of
mercy. Augustine, in an effort to
corrupt repentance, took it upon himself
to change one word in the text of Titus
3:5. He changed the word
"washing", which is a general
term, to the word "laver",
which is a specific term used to
describe a physical washing of water. By
changing this one word Augustine changed
the whole meaning of the passage,
instead of regeneration washing the
Christian in a metaphorical sense, a
laver (or physical washing) regenerated
the Christian.
Isn't it true
that repentance, not granted by God, can
be considered an act of righteousness?
Titus 3:5 confirms that no act of
righteousness can induce the mercy of
God, so there is an obvious
contradiction here.
Titus 3:5 Not
by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost;
The Catholic
teaching of baptism is one in which the
penitent person concedes to the
authority of the the Catholic
Institution, and is baptized to receive
grace… but this is an act of
righteousness. God doesn't save by acts
of righteousness which we have done, but
by His mercy.
"Paul also said, "Do you not
know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were buried therefore
with him by baptism into death, so that
as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might
walk in newness of life" (Rom.
6:3–4)."
The baptism
that Paul is referring to here is
salvation itself, with baptism being
used as a metaphor for the salvation
experience. Paul said that we (saved
people) were "baptized into his
death"; is that truly what happens
in baptism? Does a person really die
with Christ at the time of baptism? Of
course not, water baptism is a symbolic,
outward profession of what happened to a
person when they saved. The term
"baptized", since it so
closely resembles the spiritual
implications of salvation, is used as an
illustration in Romans 6:3-4.
Colossians
2:11-13 In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ: Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye
are risen with [him] through
the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead. And
you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses;
As Romans 6:4
does not literally state that we die
with Christ during baptism, Colossians
2:12 does not literally state that we
literally rise with the resurrection of
Christ when we come out of the water,
again, baptism is used as an
illustration.
Water baptism,
because it so closely illustrates the
spiritual transformation in a saved
person's life, is used many times by the
Apostle Paul to describe the spiritual
implications of the "new
birth". Jesus Himself actually used
the same analogy:
Mat 20:23 And
he saith unto them, Ye shall drink
indeed of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism that I am baptized with:
but to sit on my right hand, and on my
left, is not mine to give, but [it
shall be given to them] for whom
it is prepared of my Father.
The cup that
Jesus was referring to was the cup of
His suffering, but the baptism that
these two men were to be baptized with
was the death, burial and resurrection
that Jesus was soon to experience. This
is the "baptism of Jesus",
no-one can be saved unless they follow
Him through that baptism which water
baptism so closely illustrates.
There are
several different baptisms mentioned in
the New Testament, and it would be
irresponsible to consider the term
"all inclusive".
This teaching—that baptism unites us
with Christ’s death and resurrection
so that we might die to sin and receive
new life—is a key part of Paul’s
theology. In Colossians 2:11–13, he
tells us, "In [Christ] you were
also circumcised, in the putting off of
the sinful nature, not with a
circumcision done by the hands of men
but with the circumcision [of] Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism
and raised with him through your faith
in the power of God, who raised him from
the dead. When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumcision of your
sinful nature, God made you alive with
Christ" (NIV).
The Effects of
Baptism
Often people miss the fact that baptism
gives us new life/new birth because they
have an impoverished view of the grace
God gives us through baptism, which they
think is a mere symbol. But Scripture is
clear that baptism is much more than a
mere symbol.
In Acts 2:38, Peter tells us,
"Repent, and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins; and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit." When Paul was converted,
he was told, "And now why do you
wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash
away your sins, calling on his
name" (Acts 22:16). Again,
see my article "A
Repudiation of Infant Baptism",
for a complete explanation of this
verse.
Peter also said, "God’s patience
waited in the days of Noah, during the
building of the ark, in which a few,
that is, eight persons, were saved
through water. Baptism, which
corresponds to this, now saves you, not
as a removal of dirt from the body, but
as an appeal to God for a clear
conscience, through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:20–21).
Peter says that, as in the time of the
flood, when eight people were "saved
through water," so for
Christians, "[b]aptism . . . now
saves you." It does not do so
by the water’s physical action, but
through the power of Jesus Christ’s
resurrection, through baptism’s
spiritual effects and the appeal we make
to God to have our consciences cleansed.
The King James
Version reads:
1Pe 3:20
Which sometime were disobedient, when
once the longsuffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while the ark was
a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The
like figure whereunto [even]
baptism doth also now save us (not the
putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God,) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Peter used
another illustration for salvation; Noah
and the ark. Eight souls were told to
enter the ark (and God shut them in
Genesis 7:16). When the rain came and
the flood waters rose, the ark rose up
above the water. Those eight people were
saved by rising up, while the remainder
of the people in the world perished.
Peter used Noah and the ark to
illustrate the "rapture",
which we find will occur in the same
way… rising up (1 Thess. 4:16,17).
Another proof that this was an
illustration for the rapture; is that
when Noah rose up from the earth, they
saw a rainbow, God's sign of the
covenant of mercy. When God's people are
taken out of this world, we will stand
in white robes in the throne room of God
(Rev. 7:9), and we will see a rainbow
around the throne of God (Rev. 4:3).
The word
"baptism" in 1 Peter 3:21 was
used as an analogy to reference
salvation and the "new birth"
which will effectually bring about the
resurrection of the dead, and the
"meeting in the air" (1 Thess.
4:17) of which 1 Peter 3:21 references.
These verses showing the supernatural
grace God bestows through baptism set
the context for understanding the New
Testament’s statements about receiving
new life in the sacrament.
Protestants on
Regeneration
It is important to
understand that "Baptists" are
not "Protestants". Baptist
people did not come out of the Catholic
Institution, or separate from them.
There have been persecuted,
separated groups of people since the
time of Christ that believed the Pauline
doctrine the same way we do today.
Martin Luther wrote in his Short
Catechism that baptism "works
the forgiveness of sins, delivers from
death and the devil, and grants eternal
life to all who believe." His
recognition that the Bible teaches
baptismal regeneration has been
preserved by Lutherans and a few other
Protestant denominations. Even some
Baptists recognize that the biblical
evidence demands the historic Christian
teaching of baptismal regeneration.
Notable individuals who recognized that
Scripture teaches baptismal regeneration
include Baptist theologians George R.
Beasley-Murray and Dale Moody.
Nevertheless, many Protestants have
abandoned this biblical teaching,
substituting man-made theories on
regeneration. There are two main views
held by those who deny the scriptural
teaching that one is born again through
baptism: the "Evangelical"
view, common among Baptists, and the
"Calvinist" view, common among
Presbyterians.
Evangelicals claim that one is born
again at the first moment of faith in
Christ. According to this theory, faith
in Christ produces regeneration. That
is why we are called "children of
Abraham" (Galatians 3:1-29) Abraham
believed God and his faith was counted
to him for righteousness (Galatians 3:6,
Genesis 15:6) The Calvinist
position is the reverse: Regeneration
precedes and produces faith in Christ.
Calvinists (some of whom also call
themselves Evangelicals) suppose that
God "secretly" regenerates
people, without their being aware of it,
and this causes them to place
their faith in Christ.
To defend these theories, Evangelicals
and Calvinists attempt to explain away
the many unambiguous verses in the Bible
that plainly teach baptismal
regeneration. One strategy is to say
that the water in John 3:5 refers not to
baptism but to the amniotic fluid
present at childbirth. The absurd
implication of this view is that Jesus
would have been saying, "You must
be born of amniotic fluid and the
Spirit." A check of the respected
Protestant Greek lexicon, Kittel’s
Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, fails to turn up any
instances in ancient, Septuagint or New
Testament Greek where "water"
(Greek: hudor) referred to
"amniotic fluid"
(VIII:314–333).
Evangelicals and Calvinists try to deal
with the other verses where new life is
attributed to baptism either by ignoring
them or by arguing that it is not
actually water baptism that is being
spoken of. The problem for them is that
water is explicitly mentioned or implied
in each of these verses. It
is the writer of this article's opinion
that "water is explicitly…
implied in each of these verses",
that statement has no place being
presented as truth.
In Acts 2:38, people are exhorted to
take an action: "Be baptized . . .
in the name of Jesus Christ," which
does not refer to an internal baptism
that is administered to people by
themselves, but the external baptism
administered to them by others.
We are told that at Paul’s conversion,
"he rose and was baptized, and took
food and was strengthened. For several
days he was with the disciples at
Damascus" (Acts 9:18–19). This
was a water baptism. Yes,
this was water baptism, but before that,
in Acts 9:17 Luke tells us that Ananias
saluted Saul as "brother"
before he received his sight. Paul was
already saved, he was baptized after he
was "born again". In
Romans 6 and Colossians 2, Paul reminds
his readers of their water baptisms, and
he neither says nor implies anything
about some sort of "invisible
spiritual baptism."
In 1 Peter 3, water is mentioned twice,
paralleling baptism with the flood,
where eight were "saved through
water," and noting that "baptism
now saves you" by the power of
Christ rather than by the physical
action of water "removing . . .
dirt from the body."
The anti-baptismal regeneration position
is indefensible. It has no biblical
basis whatsoever. So the answer to the
question, "Are Catholics born
again?" is yes! Since all
Catholics have been baptized, all
Catholics have been born again.
Catholics should ask Protestants,
"Are you born again—the
way the Bible understands that
concept?" If the Evangelical has
not been properly water baptized, he has
not been born again "the
Bible way," regardless of what he
may think.
The truth is,
Catholics shouldn't be attempting to
convince Protestants, and Protestants
shouldn't be trying to convince
Catholics, that they haven't been born
again if they haven't been properly
baptized; and no-one should EVER attempt
to convince another person that they are
"born again" because they have
done what they are supposed to do.
The real
question is… despite what convincing
intellectual argument someone has given
to convince you that you have been
"born again", do you really
have new life in you? If you have been
born again, you should be aware of that
life.
Being born
again is not a metaphorical "new
life" just because the Catholic
Institution says it's so. A relationship
with Jesus Christ is not just a
relationship of obedience to God through
the traditions and sacraments of the
Catholic Institution; a relationship
with Jesus Christ is a real, personal
relationship with the person of Jesus
Christ… Do you have one?… Do you
know Him?
If you can't
say you know Jesus personally, and you
can't say you really have new life in
you… you can find out more here.
John Hardin
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