To be born again means to begin a new spiritual life, which consists of knowing God by faith and leading one’s life under the guidance of the Spirit.

1 The biblical text: Jesus meets Nicodemus

The expression “to be born again” exists in only one biblical text, which is found in Chapter 3 of the Gospel according to John: it concerns Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a “sympathiser” among the Pharisees (religious leaders), who courageously came to question Christ about his teaching during the night:

1 But there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,
2 Who came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs which you do, unless God is with him.
3 Jesus said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born again he will not see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go back to his mother’s womb and be born again?
5 Jesus said in answer, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he has no place in the kingdom of God.
6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Have no wonder that I said to you, You have to be born again.
8 The wind blows where it wills, and you have the sound of it, but you have no knowledge of where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 3, verses 1 to 8

If we simply read this text, we can make a few basic observations:

• Jesus himself explains that what he means by “being born again” is “being born of water and the Spirit” (v5); leaving aside the question of water (which divides exegetes), let us remember that he then repeats that it is essentially a question of “being born of the Spirit” (v6-8); thus, it is a metaphor for speaking of a spiritual birth
• Contrary to what Nicodemus literally understood (v4), there is no question of being born again in a physical sense, and there is an opposition between being born of the flesh and being born of the Spirit (v6): we must therefore understand that this spiritual birth is something other than the natural birth, which is why it must take place “in addition”, i.e. “again”
• It is a condition for seeing the kingdom of God (v3) and for entering it (v5), and anyone who has passed through this “new birth” is mysteriously led by the Spirit, whose ways we cannot discern, just as we cannot see the wind (v8; the words “spirit” and “wind” translate the same Greek word pneuma).

2 Meaning of the “new birth”

This text is one of a series of accounts of Christ’s encounters with some of his contemporaries, carefully selected by the apostle John to compose his Gospel. The themes of these stories are all linked by the same purpose, which is explained at the end of Chapter 2 of the same Gospel:

30 Jesus did many other miracles in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
31 But these things were written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 20, verses 30-31

If we understand the meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus from this perspective, the “new birth” in question is a spiritual birth to a new life, the “eternal life” that this Gospel speaks of so abundantly, which is received here essentially through faith in Jesus Christ, and of which the resurrection of the body is the “eschatological” aspect (relating to the end of history) that forms part of Christian hope. The two themes of faith and birth are explicitly associated in the prologue of the Gospel according to John :

12 But to all who received him [the light, that is, the life that is in the Logos], to those who believe in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born,
13 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, verses 12-13

The essential motif of this Gospel is the idea that every person, as opposed to being born naturally, by their own efforts or by a religious act (v13), can undergo a spiritual rebirth, thanks to the faith that makes them a “child of God” (v12), a figure that also refers to the teaching, that is to say the guidance, of the Spirit.

3 The New Birth and the Kingdom of God

The “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” (similar expressions in the four biblical Gospels), which I am not distinguishing here, is an evangelical theme which refers to the advent of God’s authority in the world, and whose ramifications can be found throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

Let us simply note here that when Christ refers to the “kingdom of God”, he speaks of it as something that has two essential properties:

• It is a kingdom “to come”, which will manifest God’s judgement on the world and his authority over all things, through the second advent of Christ (think of the “Our Father”, which begins with: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done”)
• In the present, it is an invisible, interior reality that does not impose itself in a spectacular, religious or political way, but is called to take root and grow freely in the hearts of men and women.

So, while the “kingdom of God”, promised as hope by Christ to those who believe in him, is an ultimate reality that marks the end of history and, together with eternal life, forms the horizon of Christian hope, its manifestation comes progressively, and in the present time through faith, in the spiritual life of the believer. Through a “new birth”, the believer enters this kingdom where, led by the Spirit, he must become a “disciple”, that is to say literally an “apprentice”, of the divine will, which is the moral expression of the knowledge of God, which is the principle of eternal life :

1 When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you,
2 Because you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he might give eternal life to everyone you gave him.
3 And eternal life is that they may have knowledge of you, the only true God, and of him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 17, verses 1-3