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John 3 – What Does It Mean to be Born Again?
What does it mean to be born again? To be born again is language from John 3. Some invoke Ezekiel as the background that this teacher should have known, as Jesus rebukes Nicodemus. I think the background is Genesis 1-2.
Born of water and the Spirit is how creation begins. The Spirit hovered over the depths. Creation begins with water and the Spirit as does our new birth, our new creation.
But what does this mean? Genesis 1-2 keeps giving us the answers.
God created by providing structure and purpose. Everything has a purpose in Genesis 1, and each day corresponds to another day showing complementarianism in creation as is seen in Adam and Eve.
Structure and purpose are not all. They are a means to an end which is God resting where His creation lives. This is temple imagery (2 Chronicles 6).
Where does this take us? Our new birth involves water and the Spirit. Jesus begins restructuring our lives and giving us purpose. Our being newly created has as the ultimate end, God living in us and us in God.
This is our genesis. This is the meaning of our new birth.
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