It needs to be understood that the blind and arrogant world outside of genuine Christianity is in the habit of borrowing our vocabulary and redefining it. “Reborn” and “Born again” are two of the terms or subjects of Christianity that the world has come to abuse.
In the world’s use of these terms they capture the idea of gaining a new perspective or lease on life. What they address and imagine is so far from the reality of the believer’s new birth that it ranks as pure silliness. While this “rebirth” they imagine has brought along to them new hope for this life and maybe even a birth of new disciplines and morality, it is still light years away from the reality of the Biblical rebirth. Notice with me a couple of Scripture references on this matter:
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
We find here that the new birth is a result of the work of God in the life of an individual. Now to be sure it has the characteristic of a new lease of life, in that entails the addition of a “…lively hope…” for the believer but it is far more than just that. Consider this following Bible reference:
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.
With just a little study you will find that this idea of “…a new creature…” is a reference to the believer becoming a new creation. Man is one particular species by his natural birth and by his salvation by faith he becomes an entirely new species. It is in this sense that a believer is spoken of as a “child of God”. The extended consequences of this are both huge and wonderful. While the reality of this is lost upon the unbelievers it is nonetheless, the great foundation of true Christianity.
