Exploring the invitation to Follow Jesus - to ‘Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised)’
Introduction
Over the course of this series we are building what we will refer to as the ‘One Page New Testament’ - #onepagenewtestament. This will be a pictorial summary of the main messages for disciples of Jesus in a systematically derived, structured form. We aim to keep the descriptive text to a minimum and share with you the different Themes that are being created. We will consider the scriptures on their own merit, Theme by Theme, without introducing much in the way of theology. Within each Theme, we will let the scriptures speak for themselves - hopefully in a way that demonstrates the validity of the analysis.
This article is the sixth in a series that is unpacking some of the analysis work currently being undertaken to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective. The previous articles can be found in the reference at Note [1] and focus upon the New Testament’s teaching that corresponds to the challenges of what we have called ‘Kingdom Fundamental 1 [KF1]’ - ‘Love God’, and ‘Kingdom Fundamental 2 [KF2]’ - ‘Follow Jesus’.
We have previously introduced that we consider that there are four Kingdom Practices under the invitation to Follow Jesus [KF2]:
Submit to Jesus’ Lordship - [KP3] (partly explored in previously in Systematic Discipleship Parts 3 to 5 and considered further here)
Pursue Holiness - [KP4]
Live out kingdom values - [KP5]
Exercise Discernment - [KP6].
Last time (Systematic Discipleship - Part 5) we began to explore New Testament teaching around what we have called Kingdom Actions 6 (Believe / have faith in Jesus / God) and 7 (Count the cost of discipleship) and the more detailed analysis that sits underneath them.
For completeness we remind regular readers that we have introduced eight Kingdom Actions under KP3 as follows:
Recognise that we all need a Saviour - Kingdom Action 5 [KA5]
Believe / have faith in Jesus / God - [KA6]
Count the cost of discipleship - [KA7]
Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised) - [KA8]
Receive the benefits of the kingdom (forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, eternal life …) - [KA9]
Walk / live by the Spirit not the flesh - in accordance with scripture - [KA10]
Bear fruit for the kingdom - [KA11]
Persevere in personal discipleship - [KA12].
In this Faith Article we will explore Kingdom Action 8 (Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised)). We have developed five sub-Themes under this heading:
Know that we are saved by God’s gift of grace - not by works - [KP8.1]
Repent of / confess our sins to God - [KP8.2]
Take Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord - [KP8.3]
Be made a new creation / put off the old self / put on the new self - [KP8.4]
Be baptised - [KP8.5].
The elements we will cover in this article are shown in light blue in Figure 1.
If readers take away nothing else from these articles than the sense, logic, and directive actions in the Figures - for disciples to put into practice in the strength God gives - we will hopefully have achieved our initial objective.
Figure 1 - New Testament Theme about the need to ‘Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised) - [KA8]’
Kingdom Action 8 [KA8] - ‘Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised)’
Part of the process of becoming a true believer in Jesus, as we submit to His Lordship, is to do what he tells us to - as scripture sets out. In this Kingdom Action, we are really at the heart of what is required to transition from our old life (pre-Jesus) to the new (in-Jesus).
A fundamental component of coming to Christ is to be ‘Born Again’. There are seven Greek words ([2] and [3]) that we can look at where there are corresponding New Testament verses that we need to note to understand this properly:
Gennaó (Strong’s 1080) defined as ‘to beget, to bring forth’ and used to describe the following contexts ‘I beget (of the male), (of the female) I bring forth, give birth to’ [4]. There are 97 instances [5] of this word in the New Testament.
Paliggenesia (3824) refers to ‘regeneration, renewal’ and is translated into instances of ‘a new birth, regeneration, renewal’. It appears twice.
Anagennaó (313) meaning ‘to beget again’ and used to describe ‘I beget again, beget into a new life’. It also occurs only twice.
Suzóopoieó (4806) describing ‘to make alive together with’ and rendered in English translations as ‘I make alive together with’. There are two appearances of this.
Methistémi (3179) which means ‘to change, pervert’ and translated as ‘I cause to change its place, move out of its place; I translate, transfer, remove’ which is found 5 times.
Apokueó (616) meaning ‘to give birth to’ and used to describe ‘I bring forth, give birth to (a child), a medical or physical word, marking the close of pregnancy’. This also occurs twice.
Verses we can identify that support this Theme include:
John 3:3 - Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born (1080) again.” [6].
John 3:5 - Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born (1080) of water and the Spirit.
John 3:7 - You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born (1080) again.’
Colossians 2:13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive (4806) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
Colossians 1:13 - For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought (3179) us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth (3824) and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
James 1:18 - He chose to give us birth (616) through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
1 Peter 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth (313) into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:23 - For you have been born again (313), not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:9(2) - No one who is born (1080) of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born (1080) of God.
1 John 5:18 - We know that anyone born (1080) of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born (1080) of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.
There are 18 verse references that we can group under this title.
Kingdom Action 8.1 [KA8.1] - Know that we are saved by God’s gift of grace - not by works
The essential distinction of Christianity from other religions is that that God reaches down to man (in Jesus) rather than man seeking after God - trying to earn his or her way to heaven by having more ‘good works’ than sins. There are two Greek words that we can consider here which this Theme pivots around:
Charis (5485) defined as ‘grace, kindness’ and translated into four possible contexts: ‘(a) grace, as a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ, (b) favor, (c) gratitude, thanks, (d) a favor, kindness’. This word is found 157 times in the New Testament.
Ergon (2041) meaning literally ‘work’ and used to refer to ‘work, task, employment; a deed, action; that which is wrought or made, a work’. This occurs 169 times.
Example scriptures we can look at that confirm this Theme include the following:
Acts 15:11 - No! We believe it is through the grace (5485) of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”
Romans 3:20 - Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works (2041) of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 11:6 - And if by grace (5485), then it cannot be based on works (2041); if it were, grace (5485) would no longer be grace (5485).
Romans 6:14 - For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace (5485).
Galatians 2:16 - know that a person is not justified by the works (2041) of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works (2041) of the law, because by the works (2041) of the law no one will be justified.
Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (5485).
Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace (5485) you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—.
Titus 3:5 - Not by works (2041) 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 (King James Version).
There are a total of 83 verses we can consider under this heading.
Kingdom Action 8.2 [KA8.2] - Repent of / confess our sins to God
Part of the process of being born again is the very clear need for each one of us to repent of our sins before God. There are five Greek words that support this Theme:
Metanoeó (3340) meaning ‘to change one's mind or purpose’ and used in the context of ‘I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent’. There are 34 instances.
Metanoia (3341) defined as ‘change of mind, repentance’ and translated as ‘repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man’. It appears 22 times.
Strephó (4762) used to describe ‘to turn, to change’ meaning ‘I turn, am converted, change, change my direction’. There are 21 New Testament references.
Epistrephó (1994) describing ‘to turn, to return’ and two applications ‘(a) trans: I turn (back) to (towards), (b) intrans: I turn (back) (to [towards]); I come to myself’. It is seen 36 times.
Ekklinó (1578) defined as ‘to deviate, to turn away (from someone or something)’ and used to describe ‘(lit: I bend away from), I fall away from, turn away (from), deviate’. There are 3 occurrences.
Our verse support includes 88 references where these Greek words appear, including:
Matthew 4:17 - From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent (3340), for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Matthew 18:3 - And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change (4762) and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 1:15 - “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent (3340) and believe the good news!”
Luke 15:7 - I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents (3340) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (3341).
John 12:40 - "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn (4762)—and I would heal them.”
Acts 2:38 - Peter replied, “Repent (3340) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 5:32 - I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (3341).”
Acts 3:19 - Repent (3340), then, and turn (1994) to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 20:21 - I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance (3341) and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Acts 26:20 - First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent (3340) and turn (1994) to God and demonstrate their repentance (3341) by their deeds.
1 Peter 3:11 - They must turn (1578) from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.
Kingdom Action 8.3 [KA8.3] - Take Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord
Faith is a key component in coming to Jesus. There are things we can know, but some things require faith - including putting out trust in Jesus. We have a specific scripture that defines faith for followers of Jesus in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Let’s look at two Greek words that we consider are relevant here:
Epikaleó (1941) meaning ‘to call upon’ and used in two contexts ‘(a) I call (name) by a supplementary (additional, alternative) name, (b) mid: I call upon, appeal to, address’. It is found 30 times.
Sózó (4982) defined as ‘to save’ and used in the context of ‘I save, heal, preserve, rescue’. It is seen in 108 verse references.
Relevant verse references that we can cite include:
Acts 2:21 - And everyone who calls on (1941) the name of the Lord will be saved (4982).
Acts 22:16 - And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on (1941) his name.
Romans 10:13 - for, “Everyone who calls on (1941) the name of the Lord will be saved (4982).”
2 Timothy 2:22 - Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who calls on (1941) the Lord out of a pure heart.
Hebrews 7:25 - Therefore he is able to save (4982) completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
There are in the order of 14 verse references that we determine support this Theme.
Kingdom Action 8.4 [KA8.4] - Be made a new creation / put off the old self / put on the new self
Our analysis has (to date) identified 12 Greek words that support this Theme. Some of the more important ones are outlined below:
Palaios (3820) is defined as ‘old, ancient’ and used to describe ‘old, ancient, not new or recent’. There are 19 instances in the New Testament.
Kainos (2537) meaning ‘new, fresh’ and translated as ‘fresh, new, unused, novel’. It occurs 42 times.
Enduo (1746) which is used to explain ‘to clothe or be clothed with (in the sense of sinking into a garment)’ and translated as ‘I put on, clothe (another)’. It is found in 27 places.
Kainotés (2538) used to describe ‘newness’ and translated in the context of ‘freshness, newness, novelty’. It only occurs twice.
Anakainósis (342) meaning ‘renewal’ and used to describe ‘renewing; a renewal or change of heart and life’. It is also found twice.
Ktisis (2937) describing ‘creation (the act or the product)’ and used in three contexts ‘(often of the founding of a city), (a) abstr: creation, (b) concr: creation, creature, institution; always of Divine work, (c) an institution, ordinance’. There are 19 instances.
Kardia (2588) is the Greek for ‘heart’ from where we get the word cardiac. It is used to describe ‘literally: the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center’. It occurs 158 times in the New Testament.
Apekdusis (555) meaning ‘a stripping off’ and translated as ‘a putting off (as of a garment), a casting off There is only one occurrence.
The supporting verses that these words appear in include:
Romans 2:29 - No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart (2588), by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
Romans 6:4 - We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new (2538) life.
Romans 6:6 - For we know that our old (3820) self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—.
Romans 7:6 - But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new (2538) way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new (2537) creation (2937) has come: The old has gone, the new (2537) is here!
Galatians 3:27 - for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed (1746) yourselves with Christ.
Ephesians 4:24 - and to put on (1746) the new (2537) self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians 2:11 - In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off (555) when you were circumcised by Christ.
Colossians 3:9 - Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old (3820) self with its practices.
Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal (342) by the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 3:21 - and this water symbolizes baptism (908) that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There are around 24 verses that support this Theme.
Kingdom Action 8.5 [KA8.5] - Be baptised
There are four Greek words that we can consider here:
Baptizó (907) defined as ‘to dip, sink’ and translated as ‘literally: I dip, submerge, but specifically of ceremonial dipping; I baptize’. It is found 81 times in the New Testament.
Baptisma (908) means ‘(the result of) a dipping or sinking' and is used to describe ‘the rite or ceremony of baptism’. There are 15 occurrences.
Baptismos (909) is ‘(the act of) a dipping or washing’ and is rendered in translations as ‘dipping, washing (of a ceremonial character)’. It is found 5 times.
Loutron (3067) refers to ‘a washing, a bath’ and used to describe ‘a bath (of water, not the vessel), water for washing, washing’. This appears twice.
Verses that support this Theme include:
Matthew 28:19 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing (907) them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:5 - The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized (907) by him in the Jordan River.
Acts 2:38 - Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized (907), every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:4 - We were therefore buried with him through baptism (908) into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
1 Corinthians 12:13 - For we were all baptized (907) by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Colossians 2:12 - having been buried with him in baptism (909), in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing (3067) of rebirth (3824) and renewal (342) by the Holy Spirit.
There are in the order of 72 relevant verse references that relate to this topic.
Summary
This is the sixth Systematic Discipleship Faith Article, where we have investigated what we have called Kingdom Action 8 (to ‘Be born again / made a new creation in Christ (repent and be baptised)’) and the supporting sub-Themes derived from our analysis. We have tried to set out the rationale for each of these Themes and sub-Themes based upon a detailed consideration of the Greek words and idioms set out in Louw and Nida’s resource [2]. Just as with many English words, Greek words can have more than one meaning and consequently when translated into Biblical texts can be used to convey several different sentiments. Which is used is dependent upon the context.
Ultimately, this analysis and these groupings are subjective, as will be the inclusion (or exclusion) of many verses within each Theme and sub-Theme. We should note that some verses have a much stronger relevance to the derived Themes than others.
During this analysis, the aim has been to restrict the number of Themes that can be associated with any specific Greek word to eight or less - as any more implies poor analysis technique and the wrong heading choice / naming process.
In the next Faith Article, we shall consider some of the other Themes and scriptures that we can derive under Kingdom Action 9 (See Figure 1). As ever, the aim will be to try and make it informative, but manageable in terms of the time and effort needed to look at and understand each area.
Any constructive thoughts on this Article, the process being undertaken, and related feedback are welcome.
Notes:
[1] - All previous Faith Articles focusing on the One Page New Testament can be found at this page: www.teachthemtoobey.co.uk/blog/
[2] - “Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, based upon Semantic Domains” Volumes 1 and 2 - Louw and Nida - Published by and © United Bible Societies - 1988
[3] - “Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words” - © William D Mounce, 2006 - Published by Zondervan
[4] - biblehub - https://biblehub.com/greek/
[5] - The number of instances of specific Greek words can vary considerably depending upon the Greek manuscript(s) that is / are referenced by the data underpinning a particular program or website. For example, there can be differences in the number of instances of a Greek word depending upon whether your information source is, say: biblehub.com, blueletterbible.org, or Accordance Bible software. For example: the word Kurios (Lord) appears:
722 times according to biblehub
748 times in the Textus Receptus (TR) Greek for the blueletterbible
717 in the Morphological Greek New Testament (MGNT) in the blueletterbible
717 times for the Legacy Standard Version in Accordance
711 times for the ESV in Accordance.
In general, we have used the biblehub.com counts for the number of instances of the Greek words we are presenting. If there are major discrepancies with the other resources we are using we will try to highlight these explicitly.
[6] - Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM.
The Bible references presented are illustrative rather than aiming to be ‘proof texts’. They are examples only as there are, generally, many more we could look at. Please note that when looking at any Bible verse references, you should ideally consider more than one translation / respected version to get a more rounded view, and look at the wider context for each verse too. When Greek words are translated, Bible scholars do not always use the same English word every time it appears in the Greek. This is why it is useful to look at more than one Bible version.
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Reading the articles will take only a little time to study - more if we look up the additional Bible references - and probably a lifetime to work out in practice. Hopefully they will help make each of us ‘Become more like Jesus’!
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