What is the difference between born again and repentance

Carl, in Acts we read about believers literally, disciples in Ephesus who had been baptized, probably by Apollos, a Jewish convert. They had repented of their sins as taught by John , but maybe they did not even know about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. For us today, we receive the Holy Spirit when we become believers in Jesus. Paul assumes that all true believers have received the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is shown in their lives Gal.

All these things come with teaching and time. Just like being born again. Bless God for an article as this because I did have problem with comprehending the meaning of both. But then, I believe emphasis should be made on being born again as a life that must be lived.

The born again life is not a dormant one but one that need to be deliberately activated through the help of the Holy spirit in us. But when I began to look at the emphasis of Christ Jesus on the need to be born again which is a different form of life that only comes from him, then I began to see a little difference in the saved life and the being born again life.

Is every one who is a member of the Church is Saved, based on them confessing they believe? Therefore, do we think every one of them are going to heaven? What is the diff btwn believing and having Faith? Now, if we leave being saved to just believing Jesus as the Son of God, then everyone goes to heaven because Satan himself believes. Therefore, we must translate this believing to Faith because it sanctifies and distinguishes the TRUE believer from the believer.

Compelling Ministries. Wheeler: Good question about church membership. And it seems clear to me that many church members are not really believers. So no, not everyone who is a church member is saved. It is incumbent on all believers to submit themselves to God and ask him to work in their lives. I feel being born again is a prerequisite to being saved.. To avoid this we need to change our ways —to be born again and become new creatures in our thoughts our believes and our actions.

Your email address will not be published. Skip to content We received another excellent question on our Facebook page and wanted to share it with you. Elsewhere, Paul uses such terminology as futility of the mind, darkened understanding, separation from the life of God, ignorance, hardness of heart, callousness, guided by sensuality, greedily practicing impurity Eph.

In short, whatever is contrary to God, man may be described as indulging in it. Louis Berkhof concludes:. Sin, then, is something original, in which all men participate, and which makes them guilty before God. Let us just look at one more passage before coming to a conclusion in this section as to why regeneration must precede and effectually bring about repentance and faith.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Commentary: Again, we find in this passage similar depictions of fallen mankind: death, flesh i. Another key concept that we have already briefly looked at, but which receives explicit wording in this passage, is that of inability.

It is this concept of inability that I wish to focus on here. Those who are according to the flesh are all those outside of Christ i. Those according to the Spirit are those in Christ, those who possess the Holy Spirit. Again, all those who are according to the Spirit once were according to the flesh. As the text says, the mind set on the flesh is death; for flesh i. The flesh is hostile toward God; and why is the flesh hostile toward God? Remember, the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God.

He does not conclude that those of the flesh are not responsible for their sins because of their inability. Commenting on the same text, Paul Washer sums this thought up well:. Thus, as our text teaches us, man cannot obey or subject himself to the law of God because he will not , and he will not because he hates God [cf. The problem is not free will, but ill will. Fallen man so hates God that he will not submit to Him even if it leads to eternal destruction. We have just looked somewhat extensively at three key passages of Scripture on the nature of fallen mankind.

What have we found? The very core of man is corrupt, and this corruption breeds all kinds of evil. Man is an enemy of God their Creator. Being in the flesh they cannot please God, and they cannot because they will not; their wills are enslaved to sin. Free Will. When one says that man has free will, they must define their terms.

While this can be said of Adam and Eve prior to the Fall, it cannot be said of man post-Fall. To this, Calvinists can agree. Their nature is contrary to it. In light of this spiritual condition of mankind, the Reformed perspective of the new birth presents a consistent theology: regeneration precedes and effectually brings about repentance and faith. Put another way, fallen, sinful man must first be given new, spiritual life before he can savingly believe in the gospel.

Sproul provides a fitting conclusion to this section of our study:. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit upon those who are spiritually dead see Ephesians The Spirit recreates the human heart, quickening it from spiritual death to spiritual life. Regenerate people are new creations. Where formerly they had no disposition, inclination, or desire for the things of God, now they are disposed and inclined toward God. In regeneration, God plants a desire for Himself in the human heart that otherwise would not be there.

The only thing we have to do now is to look at key passages that specifically teach this Reformed perspective that the new birth precedes and effectually brings about repentance and faith.

Or consider this passage: " This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness " Ephesians Once again the same images are used to make the same points.

Since the point of change, the birth, comes at baptism, we then understand what Jesus meant when He said we must be born of water and the Spirit. Paul made the same point when he talked of the regeneration, which literally means "new birth. The "washing of regeneration" is a reference to the birth caused at the time of baptism. Here though, the imagery of being born is used in a slightly different manner.

When a person is physically born, he becomes a part of a family. So too when a person is spiritually born, he becomes an heir in another family -- the family of God. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Once again, faith and baptism is brought out as the point where a person becomes a son of God and thus an heir to eternal life. The power of this change was given through Jesus Christ. For an adult to become a child, he must be born again, this time into the family of God.

Now we need to turn to the other concept, that of salvation. When a person is saved, we ought to ask "From what are we saved? He renews us as though we were new creations which had never sinned. It would also be good for me to give you a little more information about the difference between the words ghost, spirit, and soul. The words ghost and spirit in Hebrew are actually the same word. Thus it is translated as these words by the KJV.

The KJV also uses the word ghost. There IS a reason and a difference for this. It is invisible, but active, like the wind as it is compared to in the Bible. It is the consciousness, or mind the very essence , of a person. It is what makes them live and breathe. The same word is used for ghost. It is also the consciousness, or mind the very essence of a person.

Why did the KJV use two different words then? In Hebrew, it is one word that signifies a few different things. Spirit — 1. Note: In English, we use the word spirit as well as soul to sometimes mean the same thing, the Hebrew word for soul can also be Nephesh, which is different from ruach.

Ghost — 1. Note Again: In English, we use the word spirit as well as soul to sometimes mean the same thing, the Hebrew word for soul can also be Nephesh, which is different from ruach. This is why we see the KJV use the two words. It is just a spirit with no body. When you see the Bible say someone was filled with the Holy Ghost it is saying that the Spirit of God surrounded them on the outside, and then entered their bodies.

After that, you would see it referred to as the Holy Spirit inside of them, since it was now IN them. If a body has a soul then that means it is a living being the soul animates the body. So what this boils down to is that the breath of God gives you life. That consciousness is because the soul is aware. Those are the differences between soul, ghost, and spirit. Now you will be able to understand why they mean basically the same things.