How to know you're "born again"?

[praise_yeshua]

This came up in another thread and I decided to start a thread on this topic. This conversation is important. Maybe one of the most important conversation that a person will have in their entire life.

I'm not going to deal with this subject in the traditionally sense of "what must I do".

The fact is, though salvation has common aspects of certainty, it is also uniquely fulfilled in each individual. As such, "what must I do" is more than just reciting the given "narrative" found in "repeat after me"......

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "repeat after me doesn't work". I'm saying it doesn't work for everyone. It most certainly works for some. Let me explain myself.....

"Salvation" is a journey. Being "born again" is a "spot/place" in that journey. The journey for man's cooperation in salvation is complicated. There is no removing the "process" that leads to being "born again".

Many people are not ready for that point in their lives. Those people might have even expressed "saving faith" at some point in their lives. There 1 plus 2 plus 3 "math" here. There might be an "ABC's" associated with salvation but the path to become literate in ABC's doesn't always add up to identical equations.

I'm not saying there are different requirements. I am saying there are different circumstances in each individual's life.

Before I get into other details, can we agree on these basic facts?

 

[Bronson]

This came up in another thread and I decided to start a thread on this topic. This conversation is important. Maybe one of the most important conversation that a person will have in their entire life.

I'm not going to deal with this subject in the traditionally sense of "what must I do".

The fact is, though salvation has common aspects of certainty, it is also uniquely fulfilled in each individual. As such, "what must I do" is more than just reciting the given "narrative" found in "repeat after me"......

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "repeat after me doesn't work". I'm saying it doesn't work for everyone. It most certainly works for some. Let me explain myself.....

"Salvation" is a journey. Being "born again" is a "spot/place" in that journey. The journey for man's cooperation in salvation is complicated. There is no removing the "process" that leads to being "born again".

Many people are not ready for that point in their lives. Those people might have even expressed "saving faith" at some point in their lives. There 1 plus 2 plus 3 "math" here. There might be an "ABC's" associated with salvation but the path to become literate in ABC's doesn't always add up to identical equations.

I'm not saying there are different requirements. I am saying there are different circumstances in each individual's life.

Before I get into other details, can we agree on these basic facts?

Sounds right. Different circumstances could be like someone on death row getting saved and say a Preachers kid getting saved.

 

[praise_yeshua]

Sounds right. Different circumstances could be like someone on death row getting saved and say a Preachers kid getting saved.

Absolutely. Timothy is a perfect example.... The faithful should pass their faith to their children.

2Ti 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

 

[Bronson]

Some have been led to repentance by a significant emotional event called being “cut to the heart” in Acts 2:37. Others have been hit with a guilty conscience or brought to some other turning point in life.

Paul says that “godly sorrow” produces genuine repentance, which results in permanent changes that will lead a person toward salvation, in contrast to “the sorrow of the world,” which does not result in permanent change and leads to death.

“For Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” 2 Corinthians 7:10

 

[praise_yeshua]

Some have been led to repentance by a significant emotional event called being “cut to the heart” in Acts 2:37. Others have been hit with a guilty conscience or brought to some other turning point in life.

Paul says that “godly sorrow” produces genuine repentance, which results in permanent changes that will lead a person toward salvation, in contrast to “the sorrow of the world,” which does not result in permanent change and leads to death.

“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” 2 Corinthians 7:10

I generally list repentance as the last step in the "Order of Salvation" or "Ordo Salutis". While there is a sense of "change of mind" in seeking God..... Repentance is more meaningful than just "looking for God". Repentance is a point in salvation for the individual where you have learned what is required of you in order to be saved. It is more than just the face value of "repeat after me". It is where a person sincerely embraces God for who He is regardless of the future and what that decision means for the individual. It is an abandonment of our own will to embrace God's will.

Such can be very complicated. For a child, it is much less complicated than the baggage we care into adulthood. Repentance is "granted" in the sense only God personally.... can approve of such in the process of being "born again". There is an exchange that takes place that establishes a Eternal relationship in our very souls.

 

[Joe]

This came up in another thread and I decided to start a thread on this topic. This conversation is important. Maybe one of the most important conversation that a person will have in their entire life.

I'm not going to deal with this subject in the traditionally sense of "what must I do".

The fact is, though salvation has common aspects of certainty, it is also uniquely fulfilled in each individual. As such, "what must I do" is more than just reciting the given "narrative" found in "repeat after me"......

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "repeat after me doesn't work". I'm saying it doesn't work for everyone. It most certainly works for some. Let me explain myself.....

"Salvation" is a journey. Being "born again" is a "spot/place" in that journey. The journey for man's cooperation in salvation is complicated. There is no removing the "process" that leads to being "born again".

Many people are not ready for that point in their lives. Those people might have even expressed "saving faith" at some point in their lives. There 1 plus 2 plus 3 "math" here. There might be an "ABC's" associated with salvation but the path to become literate in ABC's doesn't always add up to identical equations.

I'm not saying there are different requirements. I am saying there are different circumstances in each individual's life.

Before I get into other details, can we agree on these basic facts?

You asked, How to know you're "born again"?

It is simple. Hear the Gospel and respond in repentance and belief. One is saved by believing from the heart God at His Word. When one does that, one will become a new creation-born again and must continue living a new life by faith. The person upon spiritual birth will be joined in spirit with the Holy Spirit, who "bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God".

God Bless

 

[praise_yeshua]

You asked, How to know you're "born again"?

It is simple. Hear the Gospel and respond in repentance and belief. One is saved by believing from the heart God at His Word. When one does that, one will become a new creation-born again and must continue living a new life by faith. The person upon spiritual birth will be joined in spirit with the Holy Spirit, who "bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God".

God Bless

There is complexity involved in belief. It is one thing to claim something in confession and entirely another thing to actually believe what we claim. I believe this is the very reason Paul mentioned the necessary order of belief being meaningful to confession.