LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie wrongly insists in "Mormon Doctrine," page 101, that "no one can be born again without baptism." He maintains that the new birth process begins with water baptism by "a legal administrator" (someone holding the LDS priesthood). In disproving these LDS teachings, we will examine in depth what the Bible tells us about the new birth (sometimes called regeneration), and why it is necessary.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of a sect that was sometimes referred to as "the separated ones," as they kept themselves from any kind of impurity forbidden under the Levitical Law. He was also a teacher of religion and served on the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court in Israel. To put it in a nutshell, his life was devoted to holy living and serving the community. Yet Jesus told this pillar of righteousness that he wouldn't be able to see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter it, unless he was born again (John 3:3-5). But He wasn't talking about being born all over again physically. He was talking about the beginning of a new, transforming spiritual dimension in Nicodemus's life that he hadn't known before. And we're in the same boat as Nicodemus, in that if we are to understand the things of God we will also need to be born again.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14, KJV)

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, KJV).

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5, KJV).

THE WORD OF GOD IS AN AGENT OF THE NEW BIRTH

When we immerse ourselves in the Word of God, it has a cleansing effect on our lives, in much the same way as water cleanses. So the Bible sometimes uses water as a picture of the Word of God:

..... even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:25-26, KJV)

And it was this water of the Word of God to which Jesus was referring, when He talked about the new birth in John 3, because Peter confirmed that the Word of God is an agent of the new birth when he told Christian believers that they had been born again through the living and abiding Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). This ties up with the teaching that we are saved through faith in Christ, and that the saving faith we need comes about through hearing, or comprehending the Word of God:

And he [Christ] commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. (Acts 10:42-48, KJV) (Italics inserted by writer.)

So then, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17, KJV)

What happened here was that the people concerned were born again, i.e. they were spiritually regenerated on hearing and believing in Christ through God's Word that had been anointed by the Holy Spirit, before they were baptized by immersion. This indicates that neither baptism nor the laying on of hands is the means of receiving the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost. Nor is baptism necessary in order to be born again, as is erroneously taught by the LDS. Christ Himself confirmed this fact when He said in John 3:8, "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." (KJV) (Italics inserted by writer.)



THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AN AGENT OF THE NEW BIRTH

The other agent necessary in the new birth is the Spirit. So the new birth comes about as a result of the combination of the Word of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus said in John 3:5 that we must be born of water (a picture of the Word of God, as illustrated above), and the Spirit. And He Himself gives us the Spirit when we put our trust in Him to save us, i.e. when we have believing faith in Christ for salvation.

If any man is (spiritually) thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him were to receive ..... (John 7:37-39, NASB).

HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN WE'RE "BORN AGAIN?"

We'll know that we've been born again because of the change in our lives. We will experience the incredible freedom of forgiveness of sins, and will know that we are right with God. Also, our spiritual blindness will be a thing of the past. Spiritual truths we'd never previously seen, will become crystal clear to us. And the Bible will become so meaningful to us that, that we'll want to keep on reading it all the time. We'll be led and guided by our Saviour, and our lives will start bearing spiritual fruit (see Galations 5:22). Our priorities will change to such an extent that our lives will never, ever be the same again. And we'll be able to testify to the reality of 2 Corinthians 5:17 :

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (KJV).

Speaking to his fellow born again believers in the church at Colossae, Paul expressed the implications of the new birth in these terms:

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14, KJV). (Italics inserted by the writer.)

Becoming a Christian isn't possible, other than through being born again. And it's only Christ's Spirit indwelling us that makes us Christians.

..... Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9, KJV).

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2 Corinthians 13:5, KJV)

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:11-12, KJV)

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