What is required for someone to be saved and enter eternal life? Just one thing – being born again in the New Testament sense. Jesus was emphatic in John 3:3 that one cannot enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again. He was also clear to tie this experience of being born again with himself; in John 3:15-16 he declares that whomever believes in the Son of Man (Jesus) will have eternal life. This experience of being born again is also closely allied with Christ’s resurrection. Peter associates the experience of the new birth with the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:3).

Once we (1) express repentance and (2) place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are instantly born again and become new creatures, experiencing a transcendent regeneration . . . i.e., we are born again (1 Cor 5:17). If we link salvation with anything else and fail to emphasize these two components (repentance and faith), we are deceived. Worse yet, we lead others away from true salvation into a deluded, fatal and false sense of security.