Have You Been Born Again?
My friend Jonathan Edwards taught that true conversion to Christ is difficult and rare, simply following the Bible and Jesus who said "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt. 7:13-14). In a recent book by John Piper called Finally Alive the subject of genuine conversion through regeneration or the new birth is addressed head on. It is truly one of the most important books he has written to date. One of the reasons why this book was written was to address, as Piper puts it,
Drawing from the letter of 1st John, Piper has helpfully drawn out 11 necessary evidences that to a greater or lesser extent must be present, must exist in the person who has been genuinely given life by the Spirit of God. For all those who have been genuinely born again this will serve as means of assurance and of exultation in God for what He has sovereignly and graciously brought about in our lives. Moreover, since the Bible tells us all to "Examine ourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (2 Cor. 13:5), and to "be all the more diligent to make your calling election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10), and since self-deception is a real and present danger, and since the popular view of the new birth has so desecrated its true meaning, we would all do well to reflect deeply on these things.
The claim that born again Christians have lifestyles of worldliness and sin that are indistinguishable from the unregenerate. I don’t think so. 1 John 5:4: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.” But my conviction is not rosy news for the church. It implies that there are millions of church attenders who are not born again.
Drawing from the letter of 1st John, Piper has helpfully drawn out 11 necessary evidences that to a greater or lesser extent must be present, must exist in the person who has been genuinely given life by the Spirit of God. For all those who have been genuinely born again this will serve as means of assurance and of exultation in God for what He has sovereignly and graciously brought about in our lives. Moreover, since the Bible tells us all to "Examine ourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves." (2 Cor. 13:5), and to "be all the more diligent to make your calling election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10), and since self-deception is a real and present danger, and since the popular view of the new birth has so desecrated its true meaning, we would all do well to reflect deeply on these things.
John gives at least eleven evidences that a person is born again. We could probably boil them all down to faith and love. But for now we’ll let them stand the way he says them. Not every verse below uses new-birth language. But it will be plain, if you think about it for a moment, that even where the language is not present, the reality is. Here they are:
1. Those who are born of God keep his commandments.
1 John 2:3–4: “By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
1 John 3:24: “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.”
2. Those who are born of God walk as Christ walked.
1 John 2:5–6: “By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
3. Those who are born of God don’t hate others but love them.
1 John 2:9: “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”
1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
1 John 4:7–8: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
1 John 4:20: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.”
4. Those who are born of God don’t love the world.
1 John 2:15: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
5. Those who are born of God confess the Son and receive (have) him.
1 John 2:23: “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”
1 John 4:15: “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
1 John 5:12: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
6. Those who are born of God practice righteousness.
1 John 2:29: “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
7. Those who are born of God don’t make a practice of sinning.
1 John 3:6: “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”
1 John 3:9–10: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
1 John 5:18: “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”
8. Those who are born of God possess the Spirit of God.
1 John 3:24: “By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
1 John 4:13: “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”
9. Those who are born of God listen submissively to the apostolic Word.
1 John 4:6: “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
10. Those who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ.
1 John 5:1: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”
11. Those who are born of God overcome the world.
1 John 5:4: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
Labels: Guest Post, Regeneration, True Conversion
posted by Bruce at
10:01 AM
3 Comments:
I've read Finally Alive, and I've heard Piper preach from 1 John. It needs to be taught!! Over and over and over again.
That's a good list to tack onto the doorways, maybe above the steering wheel too.
And with that list in mind, I don't think there is a verse more precious to me in the book of 1 John than the beginning of chapter two: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." As Charles Wesley said, "No condemnation now I dread!"
Thank you Bruce. In taking the 11 question test I have realized again that many of these evidences can be evaluated with a kind of "sliding scale." "Do I walk as Christ walked?" Well, yeah... sort of.
"Do I love the world?" No, I don't love it... and yet, I can be easily distracted by, or interested in things that draw away my attention temporarily away from the Kindgom.
Other questions I was able to answer straight up. "Do I believe that Jesus is the Messiah?" Absolutely yes...
Thank you for providing this opportunity to obey the apostolic command. I have once again examined myself... and I believe I am "in the Faith."
Well, first to Peter: You are so right that the evidences of the new birth, while necessarily present, are imperfect in any one of us. Though redeemed and made spiritually alive, sin remains until we are glorified. So, the question for us, as you demonstrated by personal application, is not are these evidences or manifestations of life present perfectly, but rather are they genuinely present at all (which they must be if we have truly experienced the miracle of regeneration)? So, very good observations Peter.
Which leads me to Jenn: If I read your implication correctly, you are so right that the reality of our remaining sin set over against the necessary evidences of spiritual life, could lead us to despair of that life----at the very least it certainly points out our sin and drives us afresh to the Saviour. And so, Oh-- how precious is the propitiatory work of Christ! Though alive, sin remains, and yet because of Christ we are simul justus et piccator----at the same time---simultaneuosly-- righteous and sinner! Oh--the sweetness of the gospel! Because of Christ and His imputed righteousness, as John Piper has expressed it so powerfully in another context, we are "clothed in an alien asbestos righteousness transparent to the glory of God, that can take me (us) into the flame of that 6 trillion degree centigrade holiness and enjoy it, instead of being consumed by it!"
Thanks for your responses!
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