Ye Must Be Born Again

“If you are not born again, all your reformation is nothing in the sight of God. You have shut the door but the thief is still inside.”             ~Thomas Boston

This is a quote from the great puritan on John 3:7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again”. He was speaking on the subject of regeneration.

When speaking about individuals, regeneration and being born again is the same thing. Thomas Boston was pointing out a very important fact: man can change aspects of his life by working to improve/reform himself, but without regeneration or being born again”, all his attempts end as filth before the LORD and unacceptable.

Without regeneration there can be no faith. A person dead in sin and trespasses cannot magically produce faith. Repentance and believing the gospel would be seen as good and pleasing to God, but as Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please God”.It is regeneration that proceeds faith. Meaning being born again comes before faith, not the other way around.

Man can reform his home life in a way that brings him closer to his family. He can drop addictions such as drinking and drug use. Man can clean his life up and make such a change that everyone around him sees him as a whole new person. But without regeneration, without being born again, he is still dead. He has closed the door on things and ways of his past but the thief is still inside.

The unregenerate may look and act new. One may presume them to be of the faith but true faith is something they lack. The outward appearance may seem clean and their actions towards others may seem good and pure, but they are as wicked and dead as they first were before their reform.

We can see a picture of the “good hearted” unregenerate person in Titus 1:15,16 ” to the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know god, but by their deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

Without being born again we are nothing and less than nothing, enemies of God. If we clean up our life on the face of it we would be as the Scribes and Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” Matt 23. Seemingly pure on the outside but full of dead man’s bones and rot.

So to the the good atheist who gives to charity and plays with puppies and loves everyone, the nice agnostic who is unsure what to believe but volunteers at the local soup kitchen and donates 50% of his income to cancer research, to the man that changed his ways and gave up much but still doesn’t have God…”Ye must be born again”. No amount of reform, no amount of work will get you to heaven. You may have cleaned your life and shut the door on many sinful ways, but the thief still resides with you in you heart and home.