Interesting Questions-104

Born again?  Who are they?

Letter to the Editor:
PASUGO, August 1995, p.2

I AM A born-again Christian. I wrote to you to clarify certain issues regarding our Lord Jesus  Christ. You teach that Jesus is man. If this was so, then the Scriptures should not have stated that every knee should be bowed before Jesus.

You also uphold that Jesus is not God because He is not omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. But didn't Jesus say that ALL authority is given unto Him? The Savior didn't say that SOME authority was given unto Him.,

Moreover, Christ didn't say that unless a man joins the Iglesia ni Cristo, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. But what He said was that a man must be born again. This is the key and not your so-called Church. Thus, who are we to believe? Your Church, or Jesus?

Noel Rojas
Manila, Philippines

Editor's reply:

     Your belief that Christ is God because of the scriptural mandate that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow is nothing else but your own opinion. The commandment does not in any way imply that Christ is God. Christ should be worshipped not because He is God but because it is God’s will that we do so to Him who is our Lord and Savior (cf. Phil. 2:11).

     Christ is neither omnipotent nor omniscient as is the Almighty Father. In fact, He admitted that He couldn’t do anything by Himself (cf. Jn. 5:30). Also, He doesn’t know when the day Day of Judgment will come (cf. Mt. 24:36). He is not omnipresent. If he were everywhere, why then would he still have to go to places?

     Matthew 28:18 states that all authority has been given to our Lord Jesus Christ. By the word given alone, it is clear that such authority is not inherent in Him. It is the Father who gave Christ authority over all things as stated in Matthew 11:27.

     We agree to what the Savior said that a person must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Being born again, however, is not simply by having accepted Christ as personal Savior and by showing that one has undergone some positive changes in his life and lifestyles. The Bible teaches the process by which one can be born again.

     In the first place, man is incapable of changing himself. Prophet Jeremiah says:

     “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” (Jer. 13:23, New International Version)

     For man to effect real change, he must first be redeemed from the curse of the law being referred to is the punishment for man’s sins – the second death, that is, death in the lake of fire (cf. Rom. 6:23; Rev. 20:14).

     Regarding the redemption of man’s sins, Apostle Paul writes:

     “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” (Eph. 1:4-5, NIV)

     God has predestined man to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ. In Christ, man is redeemed of his sins through the Savior’s blood (v. 7). Though redemption is for mankind, not all men are redeemed. To be counted among the redeemed, one must undergo regeneration according to the Lord Jesus (cf. Mt. 19:28). How? The Apostle Paul writes, thus:

     “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Cor. 5:17, KJV)

     Those who underwent regeneration as taught by Christ have become new creatures – born again. How can one be born again?

In Romans 6:3-4, this is written:

     “For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life.” (Today’s English Version)

     Those truly born again are those baptized in union with Christ. They share Christ’s death and resurrection. They are able to live a new life because they had already been redeemed from the curse of the law (cf. Rom. 6:7). They were baptized into the one body, the Church (cf. I Cor. 12:13; Col. 1:18) (emphasis ours).

     As to which Church, it is the Church redeemed or purchased by Christ’s blood, the Church of Christ (cf. Acts 20:28, Lamsa) (emphasis ours).

     The true born – again Christians, therefore, are found inside the Church of Christ. One cannot be truly born again unless he joins the true Church of Christ. Only by joining the true Church can he be born again.   

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