How Can You Know If You've Been Born Again?

This is the most important question you'll ever answer.

"Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you — unless, indeed, you fail the test!"

— 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NET)

Paul doesn't say, "Remember that one time you prayed a prayer." He says "EXAMINE yourselves."

Test 1: Do You Love Jesus?

Not: "Do you believe facts about Jesus?" But: "Do you LOVE Him?"

"We love because he loved us first."

— 1 John 4:19 (NET)

"If you love me, you will obey my commandments."

— John 14:15 (NET)

If you're born again:

• You love Jesus more than anything else (even though you fail Him often)
• You think about Him
• You want to please Him
• You delight in His Word
• You grieve when you sin against Him

If you're NOT born again:

• Jesus is an idea, not a person you love
• You think about Him only when you're at church or in trouble
• You obey (if at all) out of duty, not love
• The Bible bores you
• Sin doesn't grieve you (you just regret the consequences)

Test 2: Do You Hate Your Sin and Fight It?

"Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him."

— 1 John 3:6 (NET)

This doesn't mean sinless perfection. Christians sin (1 John 1:8 — "If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us").

But it means:

• Sin is no longer your PRACTICE (your habitual pattern, your default mode)
• You FIGHT sin instead of embracing it
• When you sin, you confess and repent (you don't make peace with it)

Test 3: Do You Love Other Believers?

"We know that we have crossed over from death to life because we love our fellow Christians. The one who does not love remains in death."

— 1 John 3:14 (NET)

"Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

— 1 John 4:7–8 (NET)

If you're born again:

• You love other Christians (even the annoying ones)
• You want to be with God's people
• You serve them, bear their burdens, pray for them
• When they sin against you, you forgive them

Test 4: Are You Bearing Fruit?

"You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?… A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit."

— Matthew 7:16, 18 (NET)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

— Galatians 5:22–23 (NET)

If you're born again:

• Your life is changing (not instantly, but progressively)
• People see the fruit of the Spirit in you (even if imperfect)
• Your speech, your money, your relationships, your work — they're different than before

Test 5: Do You Persevere?

"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us."

— 1 John 2:19 (NET)

True believers persevere. They don't fall away permanently.

This doesn't mean:

• You never doubt (you will)
• You never struggle (you will)
• You never backslide (you might for a season)

But it means:

• You don't ultimately abandon Christ
• You get back up when you fall
• You finish the race (even if you stumble a hundred times)