People have birthmarks that are visible when they are physically born and help identify who they are. But what about those who have been born again in Christ? Although these “birthmarks” may not be visible on a person’s body, there are still marks that identify a person who has been born again.
Here are seven essential birthmarks for a born-again Christian.
1. The Birthmark of the Holy Spirit
When Jesus says to Nicodemus that he must be born again, He discusses being born of the Spirit (John 3:3-7). This new birth appears to be the same thing as being born of God. Those who receive the Word of God are born of God and thus become His sons and daughters (John 1:12-13).
Compatible with this idea of being birthed as God's children, Paul speaks of Gentiles who are adopted as sons and daughters when receiving God's Spirit into their hearts. As new children of God, they now cry out, "Abba, Father!" (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15). Paul also writes that those who follow the Spirit's leading are children of God, and without the Spirit, a person does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9, 14).
Scripture likewise speaks of the believers' rebirth as washing and renewal by the Spirit that saves them (Titus 3:5). Among other things, evidence of a person being filled with God's Spirit includes their virtuous conduct and operating in spiritual gifts (Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13).
2. The Birthmark of Faith
In 1 Peter 1:3, we read that disenfranchised communities in Christ are born again; God has "birthed" them anew so that they might experience a living hope through the resurrection of Christ. God reserves them for salvation and a heavenly inheritance through their faith grounded in the resurrection of Jesus.
The letter continues in 1 Peter 1:23-25 to confirm that the believing recipients are reborn from an imperishable seed through the living word of God, which turns out to be the word of the gospel proclaimed to these believers. What is the gospel? Given that their faith is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus, this event would seem to be an essential ingredient of that gospel.
Paul similarly maintains that he has birthed the Corinthians through the gospel he proclaims to them (1 Corinthians 4:15). According to the scriptures, that gospel is further explained as Christ dying for their sins, being buried, and rising on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
It’s important to note that Paul did not make up this gospel himself; it was handed to him from earlier apostles and witnesses of Jesus' resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3a, 5-7). In other words, it was apostles like Peter who first proclaimed the things we find in this Pauline passage. All the same, faith in the gospel means, at the very least, a belief and trust in Jesus's atoning death and resurrection.
Belief in Jesus as Messiah and Lord, then, seems to be an essential aspect needed in order to be birthed as God's children.
3. The Birthmark of Sins Washed Away
According to Jesus, the born-again experience involves not just being born of the Spirit but also being born of water (John 3:3, 5). Although this could be a way of speaking about natural birth, when one compares this passage with other New Testament texts, it more likely means being washed clean and purified from sins.
This washing seems to take place either in relation to water baptism or Spirit baptism, perhaps both, given that early Christ-followers expected these things to happen more or less together.
Paul makes sense of baptism along this line in Romans 6:3-11. He explains baptism as imitating a dying one's old sinful self, which is buried under water. The neophyte's body is then raised again from this water tomb to start a new life that anticipates the future resurrection of the body to take place upon Christ's return. As such, to die to sin and its power over the flesh would seem to point to this washing.
The water itself does not actually cleanse a person from sin, but it represents for the new convert a public declaration and commitment to dying to sin and one's sinful ways and living to God. Thus, a new person is born from baptism and takes on a Christian identity.
4. The Birthmark of Being "In Christ"
Paul affirms that if anyone is "in Christ," that person becomes part of God's new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is another term related to the new birth. Being in Christ has to do with being in union with Jesus and having a personal relationship with Him. Trust in union with Christ identifies believers as the offspring of God (Galatians 3:26-28).
5. The Birthmark of Justification
Although not directly linked with a born-again term, justification—being reckoned righteous by God—identifies a person as a son or daughter of God (see Romans 8:29-30; 9:26 with 9:30). This new identity thus indirectly links justification with being born again.
6. The Birthmark of Righteous Living
The Christian demonstrates a genuine born-again experience by living righteously. In 1 John 2:29b, the text says that the person who practices righteousness is born of God. If someone is truly born of God, that person no longer lives sinfully (1 John 5:18). Conversely, the one who lives sinfully is a child of the devil, and the one who does not practice righteousness is not a child of God (1 John 3:7-10).
Here, we find that ethical behavior is clearly associated with a new birth. Pauline discourse expresses this as putting on a new person, having a renewed mind, and practicing godly virtues. And one must rid oneself of the old person attached to vices and sinful living (Ephesians 4:21-24; Colossians 3:9-10; Romans 12:2).
7. The Birthmark of Love
First, John 4:7 affirms that the one who loves others is born of God, but the one who does not love his brother or sister is not a child of God (1 John 3:10; cf. 4:8). Similarly, the one who loves God is born of God and will also love the children of God (1 John 5:1-2). A born-again believer must exemplify love. This fulfills Jesus's two great commandments to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-41; Mark 12:28-31).
Given these seven essential birthmarks, have you been born again?
