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Encounter Messages  /  Once Saved, Always Saved? What the Early Christians Never Said  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 4
Daniel Willis says every early Christian who speaks of being born again ties it to baptism, and that a baptized Amish believer with no dramatic story has been born again. How should that shape the way we view Christians whose faith story has no emotional turning point?
Another way to ask: Early Christians connected being born again with baptism, even for people with no dramatic story. How should that change the way we see Christians without an emotional testimony?

Direct Answer

We should stop measuring someone's rebirth by how dramatic their story is. Daniel teaches that Scripture and the early church place rebirth where a repentant believer is united to Christ in baptism.

Support from the Message

- The early Christians saw John 3, born of water and spirit, as fulfilled when a repentant believer is immersed. - Tertullian is quoted as saying that those who think they can be born again without water despise the grace of baptism. - An Amish brother or sister who has repented, believed, and been baptized has been forgiven, adopted, given the spirit, and joined to the church, with or without a dramatic story. - Daniel does not discount emotional experiences and says God works in moments like that. Historically, though, such an encounter was not viewed as the moment of being born again.

Discussion Follow-up

Have you ever doubted another Christian, or yourself, for lacking a dramatic story? How would this teaching change that conversation?

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