Evangelicalism & the “Born Again” Message
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God... I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit." -- John 3:3,5 NLT
I'm not going to define what Jesus means by "born again" as much as talk about how our religious society often gets it wrong, but if you would like an in-depth explanation, check out this Got Questions article on the subject. Basically, the term "born again" means to be regenerated, or made new, by God. It implies that everyone is a sinner by nature, and that spiritually we are dead and subject to God's wrath... but because of Jesus' sacrifice, anyone can place their faith in Him as their Lord and Savior and by God's grace have their sins forgiven, be given a new nature, and have their relationship with God restored. That's the basic message of the Gospel (or Good News) -- all of it biblical, by the way. We all must hear and share the "born again" message, and believe it to be saved.
To put it succinctly, that’s why we have the term “evangelical.” Evangelical essentially describes someone who believes what I just described — the born again message — and it sets them apart from other "religious" people who say they believe in God and His Son, but don't believe they need to be made new. John Green, author of Religion and Culture Wars, fascinatingly contrasts the two types of people:
"The easiest way to explain the differences between evangelicals and mainline Protestants is to start with evangelicals, because evangelicals have a clearer set of beliefs that distinguish them than mainline Protestants do.
The term evangelical comes from the word "evangel" which is a word form in Greek from the New Testament that refers to the good news of Jesus Christ -- that Jesus came to save humanity -- and evangelicals have a particular take on the good news. That makes them distinctive from other Christians. It could be summarized, I think, with four cardinal beliefs that evangelicals tend to hold, at least officially.
One belief is that the Bible is inerrant. It was without error in all of its claims about the nature of the world and the nature of God. A second belief is that the only way to salvation is through belief in Jesus Christ. A third belief, and one that is most well known, is the idea that individuals must accept salvation for themselves. They must become converted. Sometimes that's referred to as a born-again experience, sometimes a little different language. Then the fourth cardinal belief of evangelicals is the need to proselytize, or in their case, to spread the evangel, to evangelize.
Mainline Protestants have a different perspective. They have a more modernist theology. So, for instance, they would read the Bible, not as the inerrant word of God, but as a historical document, which has God's word in it and a lot of very important truths, but that needs to be interpreted in every age by individuals of that time and that place.
Mainline Protestants tend to also believe that Jesus is the way to salvation. But many mainline Protestants would believe that perhaps there are other ways to salvation as well. People in other religious traditions, even outside of Christianity, may have access to God's grace and to salvation as well, on their own terms, and through their own means.
Mainline Protestants are much less concerned with personal conversion. Although they do talk about spiritual transformation, they'll often discuss a spiritual journey from one's youth to old age, leading on into eternity. So there is a sense of transformation, but there isn't that emphasis on conversion -- on that one moment or series of moments in which one's life is dramatically changed."
There’s a little more nuance to evangelicalism than he described, but overall I think Green did a good job characterizing the two worldviews within the “Christian” movement. At Great Lakes Church, we would describe ourselves (other than followers of Jesus) as an evangelical, charismatic church. That is, we believe in the born again message along with an emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit still being available today. To the latter point, there are those who would disagree with the Charismatic movement and believe the power gifts of the Spirit ceased after the last Apostle died... which we think is a mistake, but at least it's not a damnable heresy. Many of our true brothers and sisters in Christ we’ve worked alongside believe that. HOWEVER, if anyone doesn't ascribe to the evangelical message of regeneration, then that IS a damnable heresy.
Again, like Jesus said, we must be born again to enter His kingdom. We must be made new through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ; by His grace, not our own works. The theology of evangelicalism is critical for us to believe.
In the Twin Ports and around the Western world, we are very "religious," but necessarily born again. If you drive through Duluth and Superior you will see lots of active church buildings -- Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Adventist, and others. Lots of religion in our area's history. But I'm afraid there's big lack of understanding in the born again message. In other words, many people out there go to church and want to incorporate God into their lives in some way, but don't want to (or don't know they need to) die and be made new and surrender their hearts completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
In the end, most people want to do their own thing. They want control of their lives. But the Bible clearly says that kind of lifestyle leads to death, and a life humbly surrendered to Jesus leads to an eternal, regenerated life. The choice is yours. What have you decided?
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23
P.S. visit the National Association of Evangelicals for more clarity on what I just wrote.