Comment: In John 3:3, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless a man is born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. Now, the word “again” comes from a greek word “anothen” which means “from above.” This means what Jesus was saying was that, unless a man is born from above, he will not enter the kingdom of God. Now, to be born from above means to be born of God. So, in other words, unless God Himself gives birth to you, you will not enter heaven. So, how do I know if God has given birth to me? How do I know if I am born of God? The answer lies in the passage below. There are two tests in the passage below that when passed, indicate that a person is truly born of God.
- Being Born of God
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Word Study: After careful study of the Greek verbs used in the above verse. This is how the verse looks like when properly translated from greek:
Everyone who continues to believe that Jesus is the Christ, was born of God (in the past) and remains born even today (or remains alive even today), and everyone who continues to love the Father, continues to love whoever was born of him in the past and remains born even today (or remains alive even today)
Message: As one can now see, I did not change the verse but, all I did is put all the verbs in their proper tenses so that they become clearer. I would like to explain this but I don’t want to waste time on that. Now looking at the above verse together with John 3:3, we can clearly see that unless a person is born of God, a once off action by God in the past that continues even today, unless this person is born of God, they cannot believe in Jesus Christ. Looking at it the other way, a person can only believe in Jesus Christ and continue to believe in Jesus Christ, only if he was born of God, a once off action by God in the past that continues even today. Therefore, believing in Jesus Christ and continuing to believe in Him, it is not something that comes out of our own efforts. It is something that comes only after God has given birth to us spiritually. This is a process called regeneration. Once God has regenerated us, then and only then will we be in a position to believe in Jesus and continue to believe in Jesus. So, believing in Jesus is not something that you can switch on and off. Believing in Jesus is brought about by the fact that you have been born of God, meaning God has regenerated you. Once God has regenerated you, your default response is to believe in Jesus Christ and continue to believe in Jesus Christ. When you here a person saying I used to believe in Jesus and now I don’t, then that person is lying. Once God regenerates you, you will believe in Jesus and Continue to believe in Him.
Therefore, if a person believes in Jesus Christ and continues to believe in Jesus Christ then, that person has been born of or regenerated by God. At any point, if he stops believing in Jesus Christ, then he was never born of or regenerated by God. He was either lying or was deceived into thinking that he believed in Jesus Christ. Once born of or regenerated by God, you cannot stop believing in Jesus Christ.
Secondly, everyones who says they love and continue to love God the Father, they also must love and continue to love their fellow Christians. In simple terms, it means that if you don’t love fellow Christian brothers and sisters, you don’t love God. You can’t love God, if you don’t love His children.
Therefore, if a person does not love his/her fellow Christian brothers and sisters, that person does not love God.
- Keeping The Commandments
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Word Study: After careful study of the Greek verbs used in the above verse. This is how the verse looks like when properly translated from greek:
By this we continue to know that we continuously love the children of God, when we continue to love God and continue to obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we continue to keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Message: As one can now see, I did not change the verse but, all I did is put all the verbs in their proper tenses so that they become clearer. John repeats what he said in verse 1 but, now he expands on it. He did say that if a person loves and continues to love God the Father, that person loves and continues to love his fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Now, how does one show that he loves God. John tells us that if we love and continue to love God then, we will obey and continue to obey His commandments but not only to obey but guard and continue to guard them.
Therefore,, if someones obeys or performs and keeps or guards God commandments and continues to do that, then that person loves God.
Therefore in summary,
- If you say you love God, it will be shown by your continuing obedience to His commandments and in your continuing love for your fellow Christians.
- Also, if a person believes in Jesus Christ and continues to believe in Jesus Christ then, that person has been born of or regenerated by God and will stay like that until death. At any point, if he stops believing in Jesus Christ, then he was never born of or regenerated by God. He was either lying or was deceived into thinking that he believed in Jesus Christ. Once born of or regenerated by God, you cannot stop believing in Jesus Christ.
So, to answer the question I asked at the beginning: how do I know if am born of God. If you are born of God, you will meet three requirements:
- You will love and continue to love God
- You will obey and guard and continue to obey and guard God’s commandments
- You will love and continue to love your fellow Christians
Are you a Christian? If so, do you meet the above conditions as stated by John? How many other people that you know, who are Christians, do they meet the above conditions?