What did Jesus mean about being born again?

Answer 1

Firstly, it would be advantageous to have the actual words so that both their simplicity and yet profound meaning can be seen:

John 3:1-21 (King James Version)

1There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3Jesus ed and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5Jesus ed, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9Nicodemus ed and said unto him, How can these things be? 10Jesus ed and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Normal Rabbinical Practice

Nicodemus, quite apart from the fact that he may have wished to keep his interest in Jesus secret, also wanted to have an uninterrupted audience and so came to Jesus by night. It was a common teaching style at that time for a person to ask a Rabbi or teacher questions and also for the teacher to ask the inquirer questions to draw out their understanding. This is seen very frequently in the synoptic Gospels where various people, opponents of Jesus tried to trap Him with questions. Frequently a question would be ed with another question. All this to eventually give clarity and get to the central sticking point or to the central element of the particular teaching.

Nicodemus' Misunderstanding

It is obvious from the discourse, that Nicodemus originally misunderstood Jesus reference to being born again as referring to a physical re-birth through the mother's womb. Jesus, who had already abruptly changed the direction of the conversation at the beginning, used Nicodemus' misunderstanding to explain the spiritual principles involved. The very fact that Nicodemus thought Jesus was referring to an actual physical rebirth, demonstrated his lack of understanding as well as the necessity of the experience.

Jesus' comment in verse 7 indicates Nicodemus was somewhat startled or surprised by Jesus suggestion that Nicodemus himself, as well as the teachers he represented needed the new birth:

7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Jesus explained in the discourse that a spiritual birth 'from above' is necessary for each and every person to enter the kingdom of God. It is not by having a good understanding or knowing The Bible backwards (the devil himself knows it better than anyone and loves to misquote it) that one can enter God's kingdom. Even having the belief as Nicodemus stated in verse 2 'Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him', is not and can never be enough.

6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Jesus used a number of similar illustrative points to make the one essential principal clear. No person can be saved unless they are born again. It is an absolute necessity, since flesh and blood, the level at which Nicodemus was operating, cannot enter heaven. There must be a spiritual birth, a new birth.

Thus no matter how noble, or clever, or strong a person is, or even how good and Holy a person is, or believes themselves to be they need to be 'born again from above.'

This is why those teachers of Jesus' day who purportedly were representing God, were so off center in their focus and why they were so hostile to Jesus. They were 'of the earth'. This statement is of course, as it was to Nicodemus, an affront to all who possess pride in their own ability or goodness, which is why the message of the Gospel is frequently seen as irrelevant. People do not believe they have a need for such as new birth since they are good enough themselves to reach God, or to reason Him out of existence by their scientific reductionism.

The fact that 'men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,' is just one of a number of points that Jesus makes in the discourse as He enlarges upon the absolute necessity of the new birth. The darkness in people's lives leads them to avoid, in whatever way they can, the necessity of the new birth. It may not be necessarily the open opponent of God, but is frequently also the outwardly religious person, as Nicodemus was who also needs the new birth 'from above.' If people who are outwardly good need it, and who are doing their best according to what they know, then this points out its absolute necessity for all. 'You must be born again.'

Normal Results of Being Born Again

A number of things are either directly spoken of or else alluded to in Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus. One of these relates to what is called darkness versus light, commonly used terms in John. The fact that 'men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,' is reversed via the new birth and they then become lovers of light and despisers of darkness. There are a multitude of possible applications for this, but light is basically anything that God approves and darkness is what He disapproves of. One sign of darkness is that people hide away and do not want to be exposed for who and what they really are. Truth and light have no fear of such, not in any kind of an audacious or proud sense, but in that they have their true confidence in the 'light of the world' and so have no fear of exposure.

The New Testament has a number of lists of the marks of the old life, the pre born again life, which illustrate the differences between the old life and the new, which under the guidance of the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus, provide further illustration or application of this principle.

In relation to Nicodemus himself directly it could be said that the focus of life changes from non essential things to essential things. When Nicodemus first came to Jesus and saluted Him, Jesus abruptly changed the subject from Himself and who He was to Nicodemus' own spiritual need. Numbers of people have testified that once being truly 'born again' by the Spirit of God they no longer were concerned about all kinds of things that bothered them before. This is not at all to say that they 'left their brains behind' when they became Christians but that in reality, many questions which were the outward issue were really just smokescreens for a deeper need. Once the deeper need to know Christ and have sins forgiven was met, then the other things became insignificant. Nicodemus evidently continued into true faith, since he was among those who brought spices for anointing Jesus' body after His death (John 19:39).

Whether it translates as born again or born from above, Jesus Himself has defined it, within the same passage. We must be born of water and the Spirit. Jesus is Himself the Living Water of which He speaks.

John 4:10 Jesus ed and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Answer 2

When Jesus spoke about being "born again," he was referring to a spiritual rebirth or renewal that comes from accepting and following him. This new birth signifies a transformation of the heart and a new life in Christ, leading to a deep relationship with God and living a life in accordance with his teachings.

Answer 3

The author of John often used ambiguity in the Greek language to show the opponents of Jesus as lacking in understanding. Jesus would state something, which invariably was misunderstood, after which he must clarify his remark.
In Jesus' meeting with the Pharisee, Nicodemus, he told him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born anothen, he can not see the kingdom of heaven." Nicodemus understood this Greek word to mean 'again'. This is one meaning it can have, but it can also mean 'from above', a fact that John's Greek-speaking readers would have understood. And so Nicodemus asked, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?' Nicodemus only understood the surface meaning of anothen - 'again'. Jesus invalidated this when he then said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'You must be born anothen'."

We may know the nuances of the original Greek, but they do not work in the English translation. Anothen must be written either as 'again' or as 'from above'.

The King James Version, like most English Bibles, has Jesus say, 'born again'. On the other hand, the New American Bible has Jesus say, 'born from above'. Either way, some of the meaning is lost. Even when translated into Aramaic, the language that Jesus would have spoken, the same dilemma exists.
Most translators now recognise that the appropriate English equivalent for the second anothen is "from above", since the preceding statement says, "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit". Consequently, Jesus would no doubt have meant "from above" throughout the conversation.

It can be added that Jesus himself meant nothing by the words "born again", since he did not use those words. The ambiguous Greek text was chosen by the author of John's Gospel for irony, but the intended irony would have had no meaning in Jesus' native language.