What does it mean to be born again?

Short answer

To be born again means receiving new spiritual life from God. The Holy Spirit gives it through the word of God to those who trust Christ, so that a person becomes a child of God and a new creation.

“Born again” is a phrase many people use without knowing where it comes from. It comes from a night-time conversation between Jesus and a respected Jewish teacher named Nicodemus. The phrase has since been used as a label, sometimes as a joke, but in the Gospel of John it describes something simple and radical: a second birth, this time from God.

What Jesus told Nicodemus

Nicodemus came to Jesus with a compliment and, probably, a question about the kingdom of God. Jesus did not answer the compliment.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:3 · King James Version (1769)

John MacArthur says that Jesus answered the question Nicodemus did not ask: He read his thoughts and went to the root of his problem, the need for a spiritual change worked by the Holy Spirit. William MacDonald puts it simply: Nicodemus had come to learn something, but what he needed was a new birth. As the first birth is needed for physical life, the second is needed for the life of God. John Wesley adds that no outward profession, no ceremonies, no privilege of birth could entitle anyone to the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom. An entire change of heart was needed.

Nicodemus took the words literally, and asked how a grown man could enter his mother’s womb a second time. MacDonald notes that the natural person cannot understand spiritual things; this is why the new birth is not self-improvement, but something God does.

The New Geneva Study Bible points out that the Greek word can mean both “from above” and “again”, and probably both are meant: a new birth that comes from above. Jesus presses the point.

Jesus answered, 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. 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, Ye must be born again.
John 3:5–7 · King James Version (1769)

Water and Spirit

Christians understand “born of water and of the Spirit” in more than one way. William MacDonald lists the main ones. Many take “water” literally as baptism, but he argues that this contradicts the rest of the Bible, where salvation comes by faith in Christ and baptism is for those already saved. Others take water to be the word of God, as in Ephesians 5:26. John Wesley, by contrast, reads it as an inward change by the Spirit together with baptism as its outward sign.

John MacArthur and the New Geneva Study Bible read the verse against the Old Testament. MacArthur sees spiritual cleansing, as in Ezekiel’s promise of clean water and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–27). The New Geneva Study Bible agrees that the Old Testament links water and Spirit for the outpouring of God’s Spirit at the end of time, which also explains why Jesus faults Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, for not understanding. On any of these views, one point is the same: the new birth is the work of the Spirit. See What is baptism? for the question of baptism.

God gives, and we receive

Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind (John 3:8): we do not control it, but we see what it does. The New Geneva Study Bible stresses that the initiative in salvation belongs to God, and that this does not remove the need for our response in repentance and faith.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Titus 3:5 · King James Version (1769)

Albert Barnes says that this is a fundamental principle of the gospel: our own good works have no share in our justification. John Wesley notes that Paul gives us the cause, which is God’s kindness and love, and the effects, which are justification and renewal by the Spirit. MacArthur sees in the phrase “washing of regeneration” the cleansing from sin and the gift of a new, spiritual life as children of God.

Peter says the same thing in his own way.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

1 Pet 1:23 · King James Version (1769)

MacDonald explains that physical life begins from seed that decays and dies, while the seed of the new birth is the word of God, which is living and lasting. Hearing and reading the Bible convince people of their sin and show them that Christ is the only Savior. MacArthur adds that the Spirit uses the word to give life, and this is the saving truth of the gospel.

A new creation

What changes when someone is born again?

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Cor 5:17 · King James Version (1769)

John Wesley writes that only the power that makes a world can make a Christian. MacDonald points out how the verse is sometimes misused: it describes a believer’s position in Christ, not that all old habits instantly disappear. The believer is truly new in standing, in life and in direction, and the change then works its way outward through the rest of life. The New Geneva Study Bible notes that being “in Christ” is the heart of redemption and means sharing in the new creation that the prophets announced.

For the one asking the question, this is good news. A new birth is not something we earn or can achieve by trying harder. It is given to those who turn to Christ and trust Him. If you want to know how to take that step, read How can I be saved?.