What does born again mean
What Does Born Again Mean
What does the term "born again" mean and where is it found in the Bible? For most Christians the term "born again" means something like, you have died to the old way "the flesh" and have been born anew into Christ in the spirit. I will say that I don't disagree that this is sort of what it is like when one becomes a Christian, or better said, when one is saved. 1 Peter 1:23 is an example of this usage of the term "born again". We'll look at this verse a little later. But, is this what Christ meant when he mentioned being born again?
Note: in order to understand what born again really means as Christ used it you must know that before we were born in the flesh we were all with God as angelic beings. This is documented in the study on 'The Pre-existence' and 'The Three Earth Ages'. If you do not understand this Biblical fact then you will not grasp the true meaning of being born again. I will assume this fact for the remainder of this study.
Let's look at scripture where Christ is talking with Nicodemus about being "born again".
John 3:1-8
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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?
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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
What does the Strong's concordance have for the words "born" and "again" as used in these verses?
The word "born" for verses 3:3 and 3:7 are both #1080 in the Strong's Greek dictionary and means "to beget."
Strong's Concordance
gennao: to beget, to bring forth
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: gennao
Phonetic Spelling: (ghen-nah'-o)
Definition: to beget, to bring forth
Usage: I beget (of the male), (of the female) I bring forth, give birth to.
The word "again" for verses 3:3 and 3:7 are both #509 in the Strong's Greek dictionary and means "from above."
Strong's Concordance
anothen: from above
Part of Speech: Adverb
Transliteration: anothen
Phonetic Spelling: (an'-o-then)
Definition: from above
Usage: (a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.
Now that we know that the term born again is really "born from above" what does it mean? Is there any scripture that talks about individuals that were not born again, in other words, not born from above? The answer to this question is yes, there is scripture that talks about those that were not born from above.
One place we can find this in the book of Jude.
Jude 1:6:
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
The Greek word for habitation in this verse is Strong's #3613 which means a dwelling place, like a residence.
oikatarion: a habitation
Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter
Transliteration: oikatarion
Phonetic Spelling: (oy-kay-tay'-ree-on)
Definition: a habitation
Usage: a dwelling-place, habitation, abode.
This verse is referring to the angels that chose not to be born of woman but instead came directly from Heaven to the earth as angelic beings and were not born again, in other words they were not born in the flesh from above. They, the angels, went against God's requirement of being born innocent in the flesh and having no knowledge of the first Earth age. By doing this they sentenced themselves to death come judgement day. Keep in mind that we were just like the angels referred to here before we were born in the flesh (Revelation 22:8-9) as we were all angles with God before this earth age. So, why did these angles do this?
Let's step back for a minute and take a look at the scripture that first mentions these angels, known as fallen angels, Genesis chapter 6. Here we see where the fallen angles are first mentioned. This is where they chose not to be born in the flesh but instead left their first estate in Heaven and came directly to earth to seduce the daughters of Adam. The offspring of these fallen angels were giants.
Genesis 6:1-4
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
In verse 2 the "sons of God" according to the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew) are angels. These angels that came to the earth directly are known as "fallen angels" as we saw in Jude 6 and they did this in order to seduce women, daughters of Adam, no doubt in hopes of corrupting the blood line of Christ, (see 'Purpose of Noahs Flood'). We can be sure that these angels were working for satan (see 'The Overthrow'). In doing this act of not being born from above "born from woman in the flesh", they sentenced themselves to death as stated in Jude 6 because God determined that all must be born of woman as a flesh being and make up their minds whether to follow satan or God. As Christ said in John 3:5 "Except a man be born of water and of the Sprit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.", because when we are born in the flesh we have no memory of the prior earth age (see 'The Three Earth Ages') and are born innocent. This way everyone has a fair chance to choose to follow God or satan.
But the fallen angles did not follow God's requirement of being born in the flesh "born again" and still had all of their knowledge of the first earth age and were still supernatural and thus were not innocent as one is when born in the flesh. And with that knowledge they could cause great harm to the plan of God and to those that were born innocent in the flesh. One of the side effects of these angels that were still in their spiritual bodies mixing sexually with the women in the flesh is that their progeny were giants (nephilim in the Greek), unnatural freaks of nature, like Goliath. Yes, the angels were able to have sex with flesh women, as stated in Genesis 6:2. For this, God destroyed them all, (see 'Purpose of Noahs Flood').
So, the term "born again" as used in John 3:3 and 3:7 is not talking about becoming saved as a Christian. The term "born again" means to be "born from above" as apposed to not being born from above like the fallen angels referred to in Jude 1:6 and Genesis 6:1-4.
So with this we can say every person that was ever born (born in the flesh, born of water, from the womb) has been born from above and therefore born again. This does not mean they are saved. It just means that they have the opportunity to be saved if they choose God over satan.
As a side note, the one other place in the KJV Bible where the term born again is used, 1 Peter 1:23 as I mentioned earlier, is different from born from above.
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The word "again" in this verse is not the same as used in John 3:3 and 3:7. The Strong's concordance word here is #313.
Strong's Concordance
anagennao: to beget again
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: anagennao
Phonetic Spelling: (an-ag-en-nah'-o)
Definition: to beget again
Usage: I beget again, beget into a new life.
In this verse Peter is talking about when one becomes a Christian, saved, they are now a new creature in Christ and have been born from an incorruptible seed, which is Christ. This verse is often used in conjunction with John 3:3 and 3:7 where Christ mentioned being born again to Nicodemus. But we now know that Christ was talking about being born from above, in the flesh, innocent, without any prior knowledge of the first earth age. And this verse, 1 Peter 1:23, is not talking about being born from above. And we also know that all must be born from above, born from the flesh from the womb, in order to have a chance of being saved, which means the option to believe Christ or believe satan.
In summary, we can see from these scriptures that the term "born again" that Christ used means to be born innocent, into the flesh, from the womb and therefore have no prior knowledge of the first earth age, innocent from birth, so that one can truly make up their own mind whether to follow Christ or satan, and that is what this second earth age is all about. (see 'The Three Earth Ages').
If you have a Companion Bible see appendix 23 and 25 for additional details on this subject.