What do you want to know about Evangelicalism? Pastor Rob Bryceson, of The Gathering House Church, and Elizabeth Backstrom, a member of The Gathering House, co-author this column. Submit your question here.
What does it mean to have a born-again experience?
Hi, thanks for writing in. A side note on stuff Christians say: I grew up Evangelical, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized how sometimes it sounds like we’re speaking an entirely different language. I remember one of the first times I realized we say things in the church that people not in it might find odd. I was editing an article with quotes in it from a pastor, and a friend pointed out one of the quotes and asked, “Is that a typo?” The pastor had said “We do life together,” which is something I heard people in the church say all the time. I told her it wasn’t.
To your question, being ‘born again’ is another of those things Christians say, but it’s from a specific place in the Bible, namely the Gospel of John, chapter 3. Jesus is talking with a Pharisee (a religious ruler of the day) named Nicodemus. That itself is kind of a thing, because the religious rulers of the day mostly wanted to kill Jesus. Nicodemus was different – he wanted knowledge. He came to visit Jesus at night, which I’m assuming was kind of a secret, and said “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus says back to him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asks. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
OK, let’s step out of the narrative for a second. Just let me say that this is one of those stories, growing up, that I just didn’t question. Being ‘born again’ was just one of those things you knew about and did. Not that it wasn’t important, but I didn’t understand why anyone would question it.
Now, looking back with the eye of someone who has spent a little time outside the church and come back, and a lot of time in the interfaith movement, I understand questions like these. Some of the things Jesus says are a definite ‘say what?’ moment. This is one of them.
Thank you so much for your clear explanations, and for your sense of humor. Your writing is immensely readable but still substantive. As a non-Christian, that’s much appreciated.
Haha…thanks! I try to write like I’m talking. Glad it worked 🙂
And thank you for not just plopping entire chapters of the Bible into your articles. I find that difficult to contend with sometimes unless there’s a lot of explanation.