"You Must Be Born Again": What Jesus Really Meant in John 3
What does it mean to be born again? Jesus told Nicodemus it was an absolute necessity — but new research reveals that Christians across denominations disagree about who qualifies. Here's what the Bible actually says. It is one of the most recognized phrases in the English-speaking world — and possibly one of the least understood. "Born again." You will find it on church marquees and bumper stickers, in political surveys and census forms, in the names of ministries and the titles of memoirs. Gallup has tracked the statistic for decades. Researchers debate what percentage of Americans qualify. But here is the thing that should give us pause: Jesus said it to one man, in the middle of the night, in a private conversation — and that man had absolutely no idea what He was talking about. Recent data from the 2024–2025 Cooperative Election Study reveals just how widely the term is interpreted across the American church. Among Assemblies of God members, 92% self-identify as born-...