Why 'Saved' and 'Born Again' Must be Preserved

[Waiting2BwithHim]

By Dan Delzell

Pastor Tim Stevens from Indiana told The Christian Post that he is bothered by words in the Bible like “saved” and “born again.” He thinks these words get in the way of us reaching unbelievers in our world today. I get it. Lost people don’t use Bible words in their everyday life. But guess what? The Holy Spirit chose these very words to describe people who have been converted by His miracle working power. Spiritual conversion happens instantaneously. It is not a process. It happened in an instant for every believer and it may or may not have involved praying a specific prayer.

We must preserve these very words because they have been given to us in God’s inspired and inerrant text. These words are His words. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” (John 3:7) It is a beautiful thing to describe to an unbeliever how your spirit comes alive when you are born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Our Lord knew what he was doing when he used these very words. Being born only one time isn’t enough to get into the kingdom of God.

Justification is not a process in the life of a Christian. It is a past event. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1) When the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin the way He convicted the jailer in Acts 16, we have the privilege to announce the good news as we proclaim the very words used by Paul and Silas: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) In other words, you will be justified before God. After this conversion takes place, God now looks at me “just if I’d” never sinned.

These words that describe the new birth are essential because they communicate something that man cannot produce for himself. You cannot cause yourself to be born, or to be born again. To be “saved” means among other things that you didn’t do the saving. These words also help us to keep our theology in the right order; first conversion, and then Christian living. If we blur these two miracles of God’s grace, we move away from Christianity. It is like putting the left contact in the right eye. It wasn’t designed to work that way. The words “saved” and “born again” must be preserved so that we do not blur the miraculous act of conversion with the lifelong journey of Christian discipleship. The Holy Spirit did not blur these specific words or their meaning when He gave them to us. Who are we to toss aside the precious words He graciously chose to give us?

[OldShep]

Why are you posting some other person's OPINION?

Do you have questions, do you agree or disagree, what does the Bible Say about the subject matter?

I disagree with these statements;

Spiritual conversion happens instantaneously. It is not a process. It happened in an instant for every believer and it may or may not have involved praying a specific prayer.

But I can not question the person that wrote them. I can not ask what do you mean by it is not a process. I can not ask, well are you saying that the first time you tell some person about Christ that persons conversion is instantaneous.

Just wondering.

May Peace be with you.

Dennis

[nebula]

The problem with these phrases, though, is people do not understand what they mean.

Once a person is "saved" and "born again" you can teach them of these things, but if you are hung up on the phrases in trying to reach people you'll lose them. It's best to speak their language, reach them, then teach them our language - rather than teach them our language, then reach them.

[Guest shiloh357]

The apostles and Jesus Himself used those very words to speak to the lost about themselves. They are not hard concepts to explain to unbelievers. They may not use those terms in reference to themselves, but the Bible was written to mankind. It was not written only to Christians. Who are we to suddenly think we can say it better than the Bible does.

Satan does not want us to use terms like saved, born again, sinner, lost, etc. because they perfectly communicate the message of the Gospel. They are the words God chose to communicate to the world. We are not in a position to alter God's message or change the words He chose to use in order to present something that is more soothing to the ears of the word. When we use the words that God uses, it forces people to face up to what God says about them in a more honest way.

[nebula]

Let me ask you this, if "born again" is so simple, how come Nicodemus, Israel's teacher, didn't understand it?

[Guest shiloh357]

Let me ask you this, if "born again" is so simple, how come Nicodemus, Israel's teacher, didn't understand it?

I did not say it was simple. I said it was not hard to explain what it means. I mean we can use the words of Scripture and we can also rely on the Holy Spirit to minister those words even to the minds and hearts of unbelievers. That is His job.

It doesn't mean that if they understand it, they will receive it. Many people understand the Bible just fine, but reject it anyway.

In Nicodemus' situation, Jesus upbraided Nicodemus for not understanding what "born again" meant. In that passasge the fault lies with Nicodemus for not understanding. The fault did not lie with Jesus for using a term Nicodemus did not understand. Jesus went on to expalin what it meant.

Likewise, we can and should use the words of Scripture and we can also be prepared to explain what they mean. The problems ensue when we try to be too creative in our presentations.

[shodan]

Here is a short essay that I did on "born again" which is really not the translation but an interpolation.

http://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/born-again-or-born-from-above/