Born Once....Die Twice, Born Twice....Die Once

Many people have heard this but few have understood it! I have seen many articles, papers and columns on how to be born again, and I am thankful for them, but what does this really mean to be be born once, die twice, but be born twice, die once? It sounds so confusing to the unknowing, but so simple of an explanation.

First, in John 3:3 Jesus says, "Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." In John 3:5, Jesus tells us this, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Then He says again in John 3:7, "Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." And John 6:47, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believe in Me, has eternal life." To understand what it means to be born again, one must understand that there are TWO BIRTHS, the "first" birth is the PHYSICAL BIRTH when you are born into THIS WORLD to your mother and father. In John 3:5, when it says one must be born of the water and the Spirit, the water does NOT mean baptism....it means the PHYSICAL birth! Many people take that out of context, whether from unbiblical teachings, lack of knowledge, or a new Christian who is still drinking milk. In any event, this is the FIRST birth. The second "birth" is the SPIRITUAL BIRTH, which means to be born of God's Holy Spirit. So, why, you ask, does someone need to be born spiritually and what is it?

The Bible teaches us that God CREATED mankind in His image in the form of a body, soul and spirit. Our body is the tabernacle to house our soul and spirit as found in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4! Our physical body is just the shell casing to house our spirit in order to recognize each other on earth!  To be clear, we have a mind to think, a heart to feel and the will to decide. The soul. The SOUL is distinctively different than the SPIRIT! Hebrews 4:12 speaks of this by saying, "For the Word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Breaking this down further, animals have souls....because they have a heart to feel, a mind to think and a will to decide, but they do NOT have a spirit to discern spiritual matters. God created man to be uniquely special, uniquely created above all other species, to have a relationship with Him. It's the SPIRIT that makes us totally different than animals which is one of the biggest arguments for CREATION! That's a whole new subject though! Man's spirit is dead in sin when we are born, being born void of God, with an inherited sin nature from Adam. So the reason we need to be born spiritually is because we've never been spiritually born to begin with! When the Bible speaks, and teaches, about being "born again" it means just that...we were born once, physically in sin, so we need to be born "again," SPIRITUALLY in Jesus Christ, for eternal salvation. God created us, but He also gave us the free will of choice to decide where we want to spend eternity.....and to choose to either die once or twice, will determine just that!

So, then with that said, here's how you die once or twice......A short lesson about Adam and Eve's disobedience in the garden first. When they disobeyed God's command to not eat the fruit off the tree of good and evil in Genesis 2:17, notice they did NOT die physically, but rather, spiritually because sin and death then entered into the human race. The Bible teaches us that from that moment on up til now, mankind has been born spiritually dead. So, to be “spiritually” born means that God's Holy Spirit “quickens” us (or makes us alive). When a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus as the Christ then God the Father and God the Son come into one's heart in the form of God the Holy Spirit (John 14:23). The “Holy Spirit” is “God within us.” If you are born once, physically/bodily, and never turn from your sins, never accepting Jesus Christ into your heart, then you will die twice...once physically, in the bodily sense, and a second time, a spiritual, eternal death, spending eternity in the lake of fire called Hell. The book of Revelation speaks of this "second death" in several places, one being Rev 20:6, "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." And again in Rev 21:7-8, "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (8) But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." 

However, if you are born twice, first in the physical/bodily sense, AND then again when you choose to turn from your sins, accepting Jesus Christ into your heart, SPIRITUALLY receiving Him, then you will only die ONCE....in the physical/bodily sense because SPIRITUALLY, you are alive, and will live eternally with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in Heaven!! Romans 8:9 tells us that the Spirit of Christ dwells within every believer. We have God's Spirit living in our bodies, but we are NOT God. The Godhead indwells every believer. The Holy Spirit of God guides us, comforts us, teaches us, rebukes us, chastises us, convicts me, encourages me,  loves me, and so much more. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to do these things. This is why it is critically important for every believer to live in their Bible and why humanity MUST be born-again. This is only possible through the Holy Spirit of God, which makes us alive again (quickened as the Bible says) by faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We are saved by repenting of our sins/unbelief and believing the Gospel that Jesus DIED, was BURIED and RAISED up three days later!! When you do that, you will only die ONCE but live ETERNALLY with God forever!