Born Again movement at a glance
The history of the Born Again movement can only be traced back into 1909-1915. Since they cannot claim to be the true church that Jesus Christ himself established, they are teaching that the church is not necessary for salvation and that they are not also interested in talking about church history. The phrase “Born Again” applies to people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior or Redeemer. The Born Again soul realizes that they are a sinner and that the penalty for that sin is death.
Being Born Again is having a change or transformation of the soul and heart by the work of God’s Spirit. One’s soul is the part of our being that consist of three things: the mind (or its disposition), emotions (feelings), and our will (what we determine). This spiritual makeover when we become a Born Again Christian is a change in the way we think, the way we manage our emotions, and choices we make by our will.
Born Again Christians are not to let their emotions control their behaviour. A born-again Christian is someone, who has repented of their sins and turned to Christ for their salvation, and as a result has become part of God’s family forever.
Because of our sin, we don’t have any right to inherit eternal life. According to Born Again faith, Jesus Christ came to save us and to make us part of His family forever! He did this by dying for our sins on the cross and by conquering death through His resurrection. As a human being we were born into a family. But when we come to Christ, we are spiritually reborn into another family—the family of God.
Being Born Again means that that our nature is not only human, as were the Old Testament people. But, as in the New Testament, that our nature is also divine, as adopted children and heirs of God and as brothers of Christ.
It also means that we live under a different law. The Old Testament law included over 600 specific laws (many about rituals and diets). Some laws were made by God (the Ten Commandments), but many were made by Man. The New Testament law for Christians is restated in the two Great Commandments of Jesus—love God and love your neighbour. Both those commandments have been broadly applied according to the “spirit of the law.”
As per Born Again faith, there is a difference in what love requires. In both Old and New Testaments, we must love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. In the New Testament, however, it is clear that love is self-sacrificing, even to martyrdom. Love of neighbours in the New Testament is not just our geographical neighbours (family, tribe, or nation), as in the Old Testament. But love is even of our enemies.
Born Again conveys a different kind of life. God is the creator of life in both the Old and New Testaments. But the New Testament sees a more abundant life on earth with Christ.
Through being Born Again, renewing their minds, and having an intimate relationship with God, they grow by spending time in His presence and in His Word (the Bible).
Ends