The Truth About Being Born Again

One of the most famous passages of scripture in the New Testament is found in the third chapter of the Book of John. Speaking to a sympathetic Jewish elder about spiritual life, Jesus proclaims: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (Verse 3). These words shocked and confounded the elder (who was certainly not new to spiritual life), and they have shocked and confounded a veritable multitude of other spiritual-religious aspirants ever since.

The question, of course, is one of interpretation. Clearly, these are loaded words. And our immediate reaction upon reading or hearing them is to wrestle with what Jesus could have meant. This was what Nicodemus (the elder) did. He did not simply accept them at face value. Rather he struggled mightily with their implications. Born again? “How can someone be born when they are old?” he asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (Verse 4). His logic sounds almost comical, but the fact is that the reaction of most people to these words is similarly confused and confrontational. Obviously, a human being cannot be born again when they are older—at least not in the same way that we are born when we first come into the world. Such a thing would be a biological impossibility. So, equally as obvious is the deduction that Jesus’ use of imagery in this case was metaphorical.

Metaphorically, most people have come to the conclusion that what Jesus was alluding to was a level of spiritual-religious commitment. In other words, being born again speaks of a degree of commitment that not everyone aspires to. This is the most common interpretation arrived at by dedicated Christians. For, the Church is filled with pew sitters who make no bones about their antipathy to intensive spiritual immersion. So, it is easy to make the judgment that these non-committal ones have yet to be born again—meaning that they have yet to become really sold to religious life and are mostly just going through the motions. In contrast, those for whom the religious life has become more than just a Sunday morning social-club ritual are not only more committed; they tend to believe that somewhere along the way they have experienced a kind of a new spiritual birth and that that is the reason for their deep sense of commitment.

The question is: If Jesus was speaking about a metaphorical, strictly spiritual new birth, what is the nature of this experience? Never did he say or intone that the born-again experience was an individual one that was different for everyone. On the contrary, he seemed to have been speaking in terms of a common or universal experience. Furthermore, he also spoke in terms of assurance. For example, many so-called born-again Christians cannot actually delineate their born-again experience. They cannot pinpoint a specific time that it took place or a new doctrinal slant that it evoked. Rather it is more of a vague sensation or feeling, based on their current outworking of dedication and commitment. In other words, they must have been born again spiritually, for that is the only explanation for how they now see life.

But if this was indeed Jesus’ meaning, why did he use the imagery of a new birth? Why not simply speak in terms of commitment and levels of dedication? Being born is not a feeling. It is a real life-changing experience. There is not a person alive on this planet that does not view their original birth in this light. None of us feels as though we must have been born. Rather we are sure about it and can even pinpoint the exact time and location in which it took place. So, was Jesus just being sloppy with his use of metaphor? I, for one, do not think this was the case. Rather not only was he not being slack; he was being very specific and intentional. His use of imagery was entirely purposeful and insightful. He meant exactly what he said. The born-again experience is not a feeling; it is a real event, just like your original birth was.

The key then to correct interpretation lies in the comparison with our original birth experience. This was the imagery he presented us with, and it was not an arbitrary choice. Nicodemus understood this. That was why he became so confused. Jesus really meant that the born-again spiritual experience is similar to a human being’s biological physical birth.

In truth, our feeling-based approach is an intellectual deduction. We deduce that based on everything else Jesus taught it was consistent for him to inform Nicodemus that his commitment level needed to be turned up a notch, if he ever hoped to lay hold of true spiritual life. This deduction resonates with our Adamic intellectual reality view. To this end then, Jesus used the most dramatic imagery he could think of. He spoke of Nicodemus needing a spiritual jolt to kick-start his level of commitment. And physical birth was certainly just such a jolt. Contrastingly, those whose commitment level is already high have no need for such a jolt, and logically this must mean that they have already experienced the new birth that Jesus spoke of, even if they cannot pinpoint exactly when this took place or what it involved. But all such logic is primarily intellectual in composition. Therefore, the born-again experience that so many swear by (and take pride in) is not so much experienced, as it is intellectually deduced.

But what about our original physical birth? Was that also an intellectual deduction, or was it an actual experience? Of course, it was an actual experience. One way that we can be sure of this is to look at the biological dynamics pertaining to that event. Biologically, at that stage of our development as a human being we were literally incapable of the sort of intellectual deduction and logic used by today’s adult born-again Christian community. Thus, we can see right away that there is something not right about our interpretation. Jesus knew that our original birth was a real experience and that meant that it was more than an intellectual deduction. Thus, the imagery he chose to use is meant to alert us to the fact that real experience and intellectual deduction are not necessarily synonymous—that real experience needs no intellectual deduction, while the use of intellectual deduction can often be revealing of the fact that there has been no real experience.

What all this means is that to Jesus the born-again experience was real and not simply an adopted terminology. But if this is true, we must then ask ourselves: What is the nature of this real experience? Jesus was well aware that being physically born again was a biological impossibility. And while his use of imagery was purposeful, he was not wont to confuse his listeners with biological impossibilities. Therefore, what he was doing was likening a certain spiritual experience to a certain physical experience for the sake of clarification. He was in essence saying: “Physical birth was a major life experience, to which there is a corresponding major life experience in spiritual life.” How is it corresponding? One way is in its currency of life-changing clout—that is to say that both are major experiences. But there are other ways as well, and that is why Jesus’ use of metaphor was neither vague nor intellectually formulated.

So, let us examine some of the similarities that build on the acknowledgement of their life-changing impact.

The event of being physically born into this world happens not by choice but by destiny. It is a decision made not by us but rather for us. In truth, we have little say in the matter, and this is reflected by the biological reality that we are born into a helpless infantile state, in which we are literally incapable of making such choices for several years. Therefore, the decision to undergo another human incarnation through the portal of biological-physical birth (the only portal into human life that we know of) is made for us by a power greater than ourselves. One could call it destiny or karma, but in truth, both of these concepts speak not of accident but rather of law. There is a law that governs destiny and a law that governs karma. Thus, we are born into this world as a response to created universal law. Indeed, this law aspect inherent in biological human birth gives it a spiritual quality that is usually overlooked.

Similarly, the born-again spiritual experience is governed by law. How is this possible? Because while we can always make the choice for becoming more committed, we cannot always apply that same choice to being born again. Why not? Because most of us do not know what being born again entails. We have heard the terminology, but we have no frame of reference for what it actually means. So how can we choose to do it? Instead, the born-again experience happens to us as a matter of destiny or karma. And since most of us are not very well-equipped to clearly discern the workings karma, we rarely see this new birth coming. We can choose a deeper commitment and we can choose to walk the Way of the Cross. But we cannot choose the new birth because our karma acts independently of our choices. Thus, the new birth, like our original physical birth, happens according to the will of a higher power. It happens because our karma has brought us to that point of consciousness evolution, wherein we are ready to become a new creation—that is, wherein we are ready to pass from the karmic reality of Adamic consciousness into the Christ. This is what prompted Jesus to say in this same context, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit [born again].” (John 3:8). Being able to hear and feel the wind corresponds to being able to make the choice for a deeper commitment, but the fact that none of us can tell where the wind comes from and where it is going speaks of the independent agency of the law of karma and our lack of power when it comes to impacting that agency, whether it be where it has been in the past or where it is going in the future.

Then there is the temporal relationship pertaining to the place that these two births hold in the scheme of our evolutionary unfoldment. Physical birth takes place at the beginning of a new human incarnation. It is the portal for our soul’s entrance (or re-entrance) into this world of Adam. And since the purpose of all such incarnations is karmic growth and consciousness evolution, it might be said that physical birth is the starting point for whatever that incarnation is destined to bring us in that realm. Correspondingly, the spiritual birth of which Jesus spoke is also a starting point and a portal. It is the beginning, not merely of a deeper commitment to spiritual realities; it is the beginning of a whole new state of consciousness. Thus, the born-again experience turns out to be the portal through which Adamic consciousness gives way to the new consciousness of the Christ. But just as physical birth into a new incarnation of karmic growth does not catapult one all at once into that destined fulfillment but rather is like a doorway into future potentialities, so the spiritual born-again experience is a doorway into a fullness that unfolds slowly and incrementally. In the same way then that childhood follows physical birth there is a spiritual childhood that we must go through as we come into the Christ. And in both cases this period of childhood reflects future potential more than actual progress. When a child displays a profound precocity, we often ask, “What is this child destined to become?” And when one experiences the new spiritual birth into the Christ, we wonder, “Will this appearance of the Christ impact the world of Adam in a similar way to how Jesus’ did?”

So it is that both physical birth and the spiritual born-again experience are governed by universal created law and both come at the outset of an evolutionary thrust of human consciousness in the karmic unfoldment of an individual. (Of course, in the case of physical birth this thrust is first and foremost a potentiality that may or may not result in evolutionary growth.). They are both major transformational experiences. And they are both necessary for the relative experience that follows. With the case of physical birth it is mandated when our karma is still bringing us the lessons that we need to evolve beyond Adamic consciousness. And with the case of the spiritual birth, it is necessary in order to, as Jesus described to Nicodemus, “See and enter the kingdom of God.”

Physical birth opens the door to a new incarnation of human experience lived through the lens of Adamic consciousness. Being born again of the Spirit opens the door to the uncharted territory of a new creation (a new age), in which Adamic consciousness is left behind and Christ consciousness comes more and more powerfully into prominence. Both of these births are major events because the potential of the physical birth to lead to the spiritual birth in any given lifetime is inviolable.

And so, Jesus’ use of metaphor was not arbitrary or sloppy after all. The second birth of the Spirit is in many ways similar to the first birth of the flesh. The main difference is, as Jesus also pointed out, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” (John 3:6). In other words, the birth experience is similar, but the karmic outcome differs. When flesh gives birth to flesh in physical birth, karma brings such a birth to pass for the purpose of continuing to impact the evolution of consciousness through the manipulation of circumstantial experience and the ensuing lessons it brings. But when at long last Spirit gives birth to spirit, it is not because karma is pursuing the continuation of its teaching agenda; rather it is because karma knows that the evolution of consciousness has taken place to the point where its work is now finished. Thus, the new spiritual birth never needs to be repeated. It is a one-time birth that delivers us into the New Age kingdom of the Christ.

Physical birth into the world of Adam is a major event, but it is one that we have all experienced many times. Why then is it major? One reason is that we have no recollection of our past births (or lifetimes for that matter), and that lack of recollection renders the experience as forever new. But what really makes it a major event is its potential to result in the one-time, karmic-ending spiritual birth—that which Jesus called being born again. For, it is this second birth that carries eternal repercussions and unspeakable glory. It is this birth that secures a place for us in the New Age by enabling us to “see the kingdom of God.”

Any karmic physical birth into the world of Adam can be the one that results in the karmic-ending spiritual birth. That is why physical birth holds such great value. But we have no way of knowing that a certain physical incarnation will be the one that leads to this glory. Instead we have no choice but to live our lives to the best of our ability and know-how and leave the rest to the laws of karma and destiny, We can feel the wind blowing on our skin and hear its rustle in the leaves of the trees, but none of us knows where the wind comes from or where it will go next.