Are You Truly Saved? What the Bible Really Says About Being Born Again

Many people believe they are saved simply because they believe in God, attend church, or confess Christ. But Scripture presents a more sobering question: What does it truly mean to be born again?

God Works Through Covenants

God operates via covenants. There is a covenant for everything. Your ability to identify and key into specific covenants will grant you their corresponding blessings. Be it health, wealth, or children, all these have covenants governing them.

A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties, where one party promises to do something for the benefit of the other party when the other party meets specific criteria. In other words, you give something to receive something.

Most of His covenants are strictly for His children. One of these is the covenant for good health. Ex 23:25 says, "And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." To enter into this covenant, you must serve Him. To 'serve' Him, Israel had to fulfil the covenant of circumcision. Only then, under the old dispensation, "will He be your God and you His people".

However, this was the old covenant. There is now a new way for Jehovah to be your God and for us to be His people. Christ came to usher in a new testament, Luke 22;20, Matt 26:27 (Testament means covenant). Now, to become a child of Jehovah, you need to operate under this new covenant. So what then is this new covenant, and how can we enter it?

The Limits of Belief Alone

Is it to believe that Christ is God? Well, he is, but it is 'written' "Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder", James 2:19.

Some Pharisees believed, but "they loved the praises of men more than that of God", so they did nothing about it. Yes, believing is the first step, then confession {Rom 10:9 10}, but these are just preliminaries.

Is it faith in His name, evangelising, casting out demons, and moving mountains? No, it is not. Christ says, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity Matt 7:22-23". Even Paul had to be careful lest he became a castaway. 1Cor 9:27

What Jesus Meant by “Born Again”

So what then is this new covenant that qualifies you to become a child of Jehovah? In John 3:3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". He further says in vs 5, "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (KJV) The kingdom of God he is referring to here is not heaven.

In Matt 16:28, He said, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom". He also said in Luke 22:16-18, at the last supper, "He shall not eat nor drink again till the kingdom of God comes". The next time Christ "ate and drank" was after His resurrection {Luk 24:41-43, Acts 10:41}. In 1 Corinthians 15:22-24, Paul talks about the coming of Christ and how he will deliver up the kingdom to God, meaning it is here already.

What Is the Kingdom of God?

Let's look at the scriptures. In Matt 12:28, Christ says, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you (KJV)". Luke 17:21 says, "behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (KJV). Rom 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy 'In the Holy Ghost'." (KJV). So the kingdom of God Christ was talking about was the Holy Ghost.

In John 14:16-17, Christ promises to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples. He even instructs them to wait for the Spirit in Acts 1:4-53. John 14:15-23 talks about the coming of the Spirit. Verse 20 says, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (KJV). Verse 23 says, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him". 1 Cor 6:17 NLT) says, "the person who is 'joined' to the Lord is one spirit with him".

So, being born-again means carrying His Spirit. To qualify to carry his Spirit, you must first be 'cleansed' of Sin. Christ had no 'Sin', so he could 'carry' the Holy Spirit. He took our sins on Him while on the cross and died for them - Jn 1:29, so we could carry the Holy Spirit.

Baptism and the New Birth

Repentance does not cleanse you of 'Sin'. It only grants you forgiveness. To be cleansed of 'Sin', you need to 'die'. To 'die', you need to believe He died for 'you' and be 'baptised' into His death. In other words, you die with/in Him (Rom 6:3-6, Gal 3:27}. For he that is 'dead' is freed from 'sin' {Rom 6:7}. So to be born again, you need to be 'born' of water {baptism} before you are then 'born' with the Spirit (John 3:5).

Baptism signifies dying with Christ. That is why you are 'baptised' fully immersed backwards, symbolising a burial. You then rise in the power of the Spirit, a new man with a new life {2Cor 5:17, 1Cor 15:22, Rom 6:8-113}. That is why it is called the New Birth.

The Apostolic Foundation of Salvation

So the covenant of salvation or sonship/daughtership is activated by being baptised in the name of Christ, meaning into Christ, Gal 3:27. Paul baptised people in the name of Christ {Acts 19:5}, so did Peter {Acts 2:38}. Any baptism carried out outside the name of Christ is wrong {Eph 4:5}. In Acts 19, the disciples who were baptised according to John's baptism, which is repentance, had to be re-baptised. Yes, Christ told the apostles to baptise "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matt 28:19), but He said name, not names; meaning the three share a name.

Christ said 'the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit,' symbolising offices or titles, not 'God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,' which connotes deities or persons. For those who 'baptise or were baptised' like this, I have a question? Was it God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit who died for you? For 'you need' to be baptised into that person's death to be 'saved'.

Right after Christ gave them the instructions on baptism, he commanded them to teach the people to keep the commandments he gave them (Matt 28:20). I will rather believe Peter, who was 'given' the key, and Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, over the popes or pastors that say otherwise. Eph 2:20 says we are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; (KJV).

A Sobering Question

Baptism is the foundation of salvation, and "if the foundations be 'destroyed', what can the righteous do" {Ps 11:3}.

Gifts don't mean you are 'saved'; Balam had a 'gift', yet he wished for the death of the righteous {Num 23:10}. Neither is salvation speaking in tongues and bowing to idols of so-called saints. You 'need' to believe, confess, and be 'baptised' properly to enter the 'kingdom of God', i.e., to carry the Holy Ghost.

SO, ARE YOU TRULY SAVED?