Released in the UK October 2009
Released in the US March 2009
Large trade paperback | 208 Pages
9781845504212 • £9.99 $15.99
BISAC – REL067100
When Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘You must be born again’, the devout and learned religious leader was unsure what Jesus meant. It would seem nothing has changed. Today ‘born again Christians’ fill churches that are seen as ineffectual at best, and even characterised by the ‘mosaic’ generation as ‘unchristian’. The term ‘born again’ has been devalued both in society and in the church. Those claiming to be ‘born again’ live lives that are indistinguishable from those who don’t; they sin the same, embrace injustice the same, covet the same, do almost everything the same. Being ‘born again’ is now defined by what people say they believe. The New Testament however defines Christians very differently.
John Piper
John Piper served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota for 33 years. He is the founder of desiringGod.org, a chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, and he has written more than 50 books including Desiring God and Don’t Waste Your Life.
9781527107182 |
9781781913000 |
9781871676273 |
9781527111615 |
"Have I been born again? is not a question to be answered hastily. In this book, Piper strips away our complacency, arguing that many people falsely believe they are Christians. By examining the Bible's teaching on the new birth, he shows us how to be certain our faith is genuine. Because no issue could be more critical, I believe this is the most important book Piper has written."
Adrian Warnock
Author of Raised with Christ and Hope Reborn and prolific blogger at adrianwarnock.com
"This is an excellent book. It combines the virtues of clarity and comprehensiveness, maintaining lucidity withut skimping on truth or avoiding difficulty. It is a clarion call to get this essential doctrine right - for our own sakes, and for the sakes of our churches, our friends, and those who follow after us."
Banner of Truth
"I cannot too strongly celebrate the publication of this book. Owing in part to several decades of dispute over justification and how a person is set right with God, we have tended to neglect another component of conversion no less important. Conversion under the terms of the new covenant is more than a matter of position and status in Christ, though never less: it includes miraculous Spirit-given transformation, something immeasurably beyond mere human resolution. It is new birth; it makes us new creatures; it demonstrates that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All the creedal orthodoxy in the world cannot replace it. The reason why "You must be born again" is so important is that you must be born again."
D. A. Carson
Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois
That prolific author John Piper has done it again. We dare not allow the new birth to be lost in the mists of our activity and emphasis. Often we hear sports commentators say that a certain mature sportsman has been 'born again' meaning that he is having another season of success following a dark period. The new birth should never be regarded as merely 'having another go'.
John Piper, with consummate skill, sets forth the Biblical doctrine of the new birth in all its magnificence and radical impact on lives that were formerly without form and void.
Terry Virgo
Founder of Newfrontiers and well-known Bible Teacher, London