Arguably the two most confused terms in the church vocabulary, "born-again" and "saved", happen to have something in common with each other, which is the Kingdom of God, another highly misunderstood term, which connects the both of them.

And i was also among those who confused both words, as I thought being born-again meant the same thing as being saved, but it took the revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God for me to be able to see the difference between the meanings of both words.

For the different meanings of both words were tied to the meaning of the Kingdom of God, so understanding the true meaning of the Kingdom of God, meant understanding the difference between being born again and being saved, as both were applicable to the Kingdom of God but in different senses.

So the difference in meaning means that it would be erroneous to use both interchangeably as though they meant the same thing, for despite the they can both occur at the same time in the same instance, they hardly occur at the same time in the same instance.

Hence it's imperative that the telling difference between both words is clearly understood so as to avoid or reduce the consequent confusion and misapplication that exists as a result of the lack of knowledge of the true meanings of both words.

Therefore I have to go to the place that the words "born again" first featured in the Bible, and probably the only time as well, which was during the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus, For it was said:

John 3:3-5 (KJV)

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Now we can see the connection that exists between being born-again and the kingdom of God, for according to Jesus, who was the first person in the Bible to utter the word, only someone that's born-again can see or enter into the kingdom of God.

But Nicodemus thought he was talking about being born again via physical or biological means, but Jesus made him to understand that He wasn't talking about that kind of birth but the spiritual birth.

And though this was the first and only time given in the gospels that Jesus used the term "born again", this wasn't the first an only time in that respect that He talked about entering the Kingdom of God.

So in order to fully grasp what He meant by "born again", since it was what was required to enter into the Kingdom of God, we can be able to derive the meaning of "born again" or "born of the spirit", from another instance where He talked about what someone must do before He could enter the Kingdom of God, but used another term in the place of "born again", and it goes:

Matthew 18:3

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So now we have virtually the same statement that Jesus made to Nicodemus concerning the Kingdom of God, with the only difference being that the requirement of being "born again" was now replaced with being converted and becoming as "little children", as the requirement to enter into the Kingdom of heaven(which means the same thing as the Kingdom of God, hence is interchangeable).

Therefore we have you must be "born again" on one hand, and you must be converted to become as "little children" on the other hand, to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God.

So what is a new born called at birth, but a little child, so it means that if a man becomes "born again" he consequently becomes converted and become (as) a "little child or "little children".

Therefore for a man to be "born again" actually means for him to be converted and become as "little children", for that's what it takes to enter into the Kingdom of God.

So that was exactly what Jesus told Nicodemus to do, when He said to him that he must be born again, for as Jesus said, "for of such(little children) is the kingdom of God"(Mt 10:14)

Therefore for Nicodemus to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God, he must needs be converted and become as little children, for that's what it actually means to be "born again" and not that he should enter back into his mum's womb to be born again.

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You must be Born Again into the General Life of Christ. Your Name features permanently in the Book of Life.
Salvation is always adhoc not a general Blessing. You can be saved without being Born Again and one Salvation can make you Born Again.
You can be saved and still backslide but Born Again is Visa to Eternal Life.

So how then does being born again differ from being saved?

There is one instance I believe that epitomizes the difference, between being "born again" and being "saved" and it was that which had to do with Jesus encounter with the rich young man, which goes thus:

Matthew 19:16-24 (KJV)

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Now this is just about the most confused and misinterpreted saying of Jesus by the church, for just about everyone take it to mean that it's pretty much it's impossible for rich man to go to heaven.

And this has led some mammonic church leaders who are so covetous and money driven to desperately try to twist the meaning of "the eye of the needle" to mean something else than the obvious meaning of "the eye of the needle", so that it would become more lenient towards the chances of the rich making heaven, and hence agree with the mammonic gospel they preach.

But as expected it has thus far been an effort in futility, since they would not be able to also twist the extent of shock expressed in the response of the disciples of Jesus to that saying which proved that "the eye of the needle" that Jesus used in that illustration was the meaning of "the eye of the needle" as we all knew it to be.

For it was said:

Matthew 19:25 (KJV)

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Now that response which was one of shock and astonishment is one which only the obvious meaning of "eye of the needle" in that context could evoke, but never that lenient one for the rich which such mammonic church leaders have desperately fabricated in vain to advance their mammonically motivated agenda.

For they the disciples thought it was pretty much impossible for "a camel to pass through the eye of the needle" with respect to a rich man entering into the kingdom of God, hence their question that "who then can be saved?"

And even the response of Jesus to their shock, showed that the "camel to pass through the eye of the needle" was impossible with men, as it was said:

Matthew 19:26 (KJV)

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

So the saying of Jesus that "it is easier for
a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" in that context was obviously in the sense of the obvious meaning, even as the disciples and people generally viewed it.

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But where most get it wrong even as the disciples did at the time is that this saying of Jesus, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" meant that it was impossible for a rich man to be saved!

For that was not what Jesus actually meant.

And I would have to go back to the details of His conversation with the rich man, and dissect it in a bid to explain this.

For first the rich young man asked Jesus this question,

"what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

In other words he asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved, for being saved means the same thing as having eternal life, and hence are interchangeable.

And this was Jesus response to his question concerning what he needed to do to be saved:

"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

And the man seemed unsure of which commandments that Jesus had instructed him to keep to be saved, that he asked,

"Which?"

Therefore Jesus had to clearly spell out what He meant by the commandment in that context, so that there'd be no doubt as to what He meant, as He said:

"Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness...

And this was the response of the man to that saying of Jesus:

"All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"

Now let me pause here for a moment, and say that going by what Jesus said the rich young man needed to do to be saved, which was to keep those commandments, that since the rich young man had kept it, and hence done what Jesus said he needed to do to be saved, that the rich young man was saved.

And so in the respect of his question about what he needed to do to be saved, that should have been that about that, as Jesus had answered his question, and he had kept what Jesus said he needed to do to be saved.

But then it didn't because of this question he asked, "what lack I yet?" that gave the impression that the he wasn't satisfied with the fact that he had met the requirement of becoming saved, as he perhaps had expected at least something extra or more than what Jesus had asked him to do to be saved, which he had already kept.

And so it was now that question that led to the continuation or the second part of their conversation, as it was said:

Jesus said unto him,"If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me."

So Jesus obliged the rich man's request for something more than just being saved, that keeping commandments alone wouldn't be able to do for him, which was for him to become perfect, hence the instruction that Jesus had given to him for that purpose.

But despite that it was the rich young man asked for it, it was said:

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

So the rich man who had met the requirement to be saved, couldn't meet that which would make him perfect, hence the saying of Jesus:

"Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

So going by the purpose of the instruction that Jesus gave the rich man which he wasn't able to keep, which was to make him perfect, what Jesus actually meant by this consequent saying was not with respect to a rich man being saved but being perfect.

For the saying that Jesus gave to the rich young man to keep so that he would become perfect, was to make him to be able enter into the Kingdom of God, for just being saved was not good enough for one to enter into the Kingdom of God, but one must be perfect.

Hence the saying of Jesus of how impossible it is for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God, for because of their riches they would hardly want to meet the criteria of entering the Kingdom of God.

So there was really no need for those mammonic preachers to desperately start trying to misinterpret the saying of Jesus that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" in the first place, for it was not in the sense of being saved, but in being perfect which is the requirement to enter into the kingdom of God.

Therefore it's not that impossible for a rich to be saved, as that rich young man had shown in that instance, for he had already met the requirement to be saved according to Jesus.

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But it was when it came to being perfect to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God that he showed how hard or impossible it was for a rich to be able to meet that requirement, and why Jesus used that ""camel" and "eye of the needle" saying to illustrate how difficult it was.

But this was not the first or only time that Jesus has talked about the requirement of entering into the Kingdom of God, as we've already seen the instances here such as that with respect to Nicodemus where the requirement was becoming "born again", and the other instance of His disciples where it was becoming as "little children" which I opined meant the same thing and so were interchangeable in that context, since it was what someone must do to enter into the Kingdom of God.

So the same also applies to becoming "perfect" which Jesus implied was a requirement for one to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God, and therefore being perfect meant thing as being "born again" or becoming as "little children", and hence are interchangeable in that particular context.

Therefore Jesus only told the rich young man the same thing that He told Nicodemus, or His disciples, even that he must be born again or be converted and become as little children for him to be able to enter into the Kingdom of God.

For that was the same requirement that Jesus instructed him to observe which despite being saved he wasn't willing to meet because of his riches, that made Jesus talk about how hard it was for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God etc.

So it was with respect to how hard it was for a rich man to become born again, or become as a little child, which is the requirement for someone to enter into the Kingdom.

And that's an epitome of the difference between being saved and being born again, for while the rich young man had no qualms to meet the requirement of being saved, when it came to the requirement of being born again, he couldn't meet up.

But if he did, he would have been both saved and born again, for any one that is born again is also saved.

But since he didn't he was only saved but not born again as most saved persons are, so he could not enter into the Kingdom of God.

That's how both can occur at the same time in the same instance, despite that both hardly occur at the same time in that respect.

And speaking of the Kingdom of God, obviously that's where the confusion of these terms mostly, stems from, for some would wonder how could someone be saved and not yet be able to enter into the Kingdom of God?

This reason is because the Kingdom of God being implied here, was not that which is in heaven but that which was (coming) on Earth(Remember the prayer of Jesus, "Thy Kingdom come"?).

So that's how someone could be saved is in the sense of the Kingdom of God in heaven, and yet not be able to enter into the kingdom, because the kingdom of God i. that context was not in the sense of that which was in heaven but that which was in Earth.

For the Kingdom of God is a standard, even that which was observed in heaven, so that was the standard that God gave to Jesus to bring to the Earth for mankind to observe, so that in doing so, the Kingdom of God which was the standard in heaven, would be established on Earth.

Therefore it's by observing that standard of the Kingdom of God which applies in heaven, that one would be able to enter into the Kingdom of God even though that person is yet on Earth.

So for those who are yet saved but not able to observe the standard of the Kingdom of God while on Earth as the rich man on that particular occasion, when they die saved, they would be able to observe the standard of the Kingdom of God in heaven.

Because they have now become(born of the) spirits and no longer flesh, hence the limitations of the flesh(such as the value it places on earthly riches) which made them to be unable to observe the standard of the Kingdom of God while they were yet on Earth, would no longer apply.

But for those who are able to observe the standard of the Kingdom of God while on Earth, they do not have to die first or exit their flesh to enter into the Kingdom of God, for hence they have become born again even of the Spirit, and therefore begun to live the life of spirits while yet on the Earth, according to this saying of Jesus:

John 3:6-8 (KJV)

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

So that's what happens when a man becomes born again and begins to live the life of the spirit and of the Kingdom of God upon on Earth, for he becomes as the wind that those who are not born of the spirit are not able to understand his ways or movements.

That's why Jesus who was born of the Spirit told Nicodemus that he must be born again, for that was the only way he was going to be able to do so.

So being born again is not the same thing as being saved, despite that they have some form of relationship.

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And importantly it's not what happens when someone is baptised of the Spirit as some misinterpret it to be, as that happens as a confirmation that someone is truly born of the Spirit.

Hence the disciples of Jesus were already born of the Spirit even before they were baptized of the Spirit, because they had begun to observe the standard of the Kingdom of God prior that, and hence this saying of Jesus concerning them:

John 17:14 (KJV)

14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

So this saying of Jesus concerning them not being of the world, even as He was not of the world prior to His death, signifies that they were already born of the Spirit as He was even before they were baptized of the Spirit, for by observing the standard of the Kingdom of God, they ceased to be of the flesh and of the world, but were now of Spirit and of the Kingdom of God, even as Jesus Himself was.

One significant advantage that being born again has over being saved is that once someone is born again and hence begins to live the life of the spirit on Earth, it is impossible for the individual to lose his salvation.

For as hard as it may be to achieve it, once an individual is able to enter into the Kingdom of God on Earth, salvation is a settled matter eternally as God has assumed responsibility for everything that pertains to that very soul.

Hence i would liken it to the scientific concept of the escape velocity, for it is very hard and takes a lot to get to the minimum required velocity, to be able exit the gravitational pull of the Earth.

But once that is surmounted, the object now becomes free, as it are no longer subject to the gravitational influence of the Earth.

So also is being born again like attaining the escape velocity of the world to enter into the Kingdom of God, which is very hard to do, but once you are able to get in, it is finished!

For one consequently become forever lost to hell because satan could never have the person's soul, for he has escaped the field of satan reach(the world) and now entered into the field of God influence, which is the Kingdom of God.

But for someone who is only saved, the person is not yet free, as he can yet lose his salvation and hence it is not permanent secured in that case, but dependent on if the saved soul continues on that path or not.

For if he continues to meet the requirements of salvation until the day of his death, then that's when his salvation would become permanent and eternally secured, because he had kept his salvation intact until he began to live the life of a spirit upon death.

But if he does not continue in that respect, and hence loses salvation before his death, then he has permanently lost his salvation upon his death, as he began to live the life of a spirit without being saved.

That's why Jesus also gave the saved rich man the standard of the Kingdom of God to observe, and become born again, because it was going to guarantee his salvation, even as was implied in His saying, "and thou shalt have treasure in heaven".

So now it should be understood why I say that once a true Jesus' disciple of Jesus, always a true disciple, because all true disciples of Jesus are not just saved but also born again, so their eternal destination is guaranteed, for even though they be in the world, they are not of this world, but of the Kingdom of God.

Therefore what Jesus wanted to make the saved rich young man to become by that saying, was His disciple. But the man wasn't willing, so he didn't become a Jesus disciple at least not on that very occasion.

Therefore despite being saved, he wasn't was not among the disciples that Jesus used to found His church, for Jesus wanted to build His church upon the rock, even the standard of the Kingdom of God, which guaranteed that regardless of whatever the gates of hell could muster, it would not prevail against it.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

The End.

The difference!

What it truly means to be born again.

In short sentence can you explicitly show how to be saved and born again.

Meel:
In short sentence can you explicitly show how to be saved and born again.

To be saved keep the commandments of the law of Moses, while to be born again keep the commandments of Jesus.

Like the scientific concept of the escape velocity

You must be born again!

The life of a spirit

Very hard to achieve, but once achieved, it is finished!

Salvation guaranteed!

Being born again = Guaranteed salvation.

Salvation guaranteed!

Which are you?

You must be born again to have guaranteed salvation.

How to be truly born again!

The Truth!

Is it the same law of Moses that you said your zombie god changed or a different one? LoL

John 3:7-8 (KJV)

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

As the wind

Born of the Spirit.

The Words of Jesus.

Beware of twisted Facts. It's Abracadabra-A Magic not Miracle.

As least you should now be able to see why i have chosen not to dignify your extent of ignorance and blindness to the Truth with a response.

For instead of submitting yourself fully to the obedience of the Word of God so that He can teach you His ways, you are living of life contrary to His Word and yet thinking that just by knowing some letters of the Bible that qualifies you to become a judge of what's true and not true in His Word?

Of course you're entitled to your own opinion so you can keep displaying the extent of your ignorance all over the place, but my response to it of silence would yet continue as it has hence been justified.

How to be born again.

Are you saved or born again?

Which are you?

This is very comprehensive and comprehensible.
More Grace to you, brother.

pressplay411:
This is very comprehensive and comprehensible.
More Grace to you, brother.

Thanks a lot brother and I say big amen to your prayer.

God be with us.