You Must be Born "Anothen"

    John, Chapter 3, tells the account of a Jewish Religious leader and Jesus discussing what it takes to get to heaven.  Jesus could have told him to keep doing what he was doing, or he could have told him to add some more religious duties to his life – but instead, he told him that in order to go to heaven, he needed to be born anothen.  This is another paper about various Greek words used in the New Testament.

   The Greek word anothen is from the word ano meaning “from above, anew, again, or upward.”  This text has been translated as “born again”, “reborn from above”, “born anew”, and “spiritually transformed”.

   This is an incredibly important passage!  I consider John Chapter 3 to be one of the most important chapters of the Bible.  Jesus is telling Nicodemus the main requirement for heaven.

   Jesus spent a lot of time trying to talk to people about spiritual things.  Many times, people would struggle to understand what Jesus was talking about because it was not always something that could be seen physically.  Jesus would try and illustrate what He was saying in a physical way.  Notice how He does this with Nicodemus as they talk about this important subject.  Notice how Jesus takes Nicodemus back and forth comparing the physical world and the spiritual.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish council. He came to Jesus one night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him." Jesus replied to Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus asked him, "How can anyone be born when he's an old man? He can't go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?" Jesus answered Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual. Don't be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it's going. That's the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 

(John 3: 1-8 GW)

 

   Notice the side-by-side breakdown of these verses.  Jesus goes back and forth from the physical to the spiritual.

 

   Have you discovered spiritual life yet?  It seems that when people who have experienced a rebirth in Christ, try and explain what happened to them – they end up being labeled as “religious”, but in reality, they have discovered something that goes far beyond religion.  They have discovered a new way of living!  I have described this rebirth in a couple of my blogs.  In the blog “The Matrix and the Christian Life”, I compare the rebirth to Neo and his swallowing the red pill.  In the blog “What brought me to Christ”, I talk about my own spiritual rebirth in 1976 and the details of how Christ motivated me to invite Him into my life.

   There are a lot of stories of how Jesus tried to teach people about the spiritual dimension of life and how important it was to have the Holy Spirit of God in your life.  In John chapter 4 – He compares the new life to “living water”, and who drinks of it will never thirst again.  In John, chapter 6, Jesus compares the spiritual life to the “bread of life” and would satisfy you completely, and you would never be spiritually hungry again.

   It is not enough to follow the dictates of a religious belief.  It is not enough to do good work to try and gain God’s favor.  The best thing that religion could do – would be to motivate you to personally turn to Christ to save you.  The best thing that doing good works would do – would be to show you that your best efforts are being corrupted by your sinful nature and that you need something else to rely on.  The rebirth accomplishes everything you need for heaven.  It provides you with God’s acceptance.  “He that has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 Jn. 5:12 MKJV) It is that simple.  If you have Christ in your life – you are saved.  If you do not – you are lost.

 

    Please do not miss the important spiritual truths in the Bible.  Even though we are aware of the physical world all around us – we need to realize that the most important thing in life is to discover the spiritual life in Christ.  Jesus constantly used things in the physical world to emphasize things in the spiritual world.  You have been born physically… have you been born a second time, spiritually, from above?  Your eternal destination is dependent on it!

 

Written by Lee Malden  2022

For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com

 

These are my thoughts today, what do you think?  Please leave me a response or email me and I would be happy to hear your thoughts.