What does Tribe teach about born again?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on being born again starts with a distinction Brian draws from John 3: what is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit. A person is, at root, a spiritual being living inside what Brian calls an earth suit, and being born again is a spiritual transaction, not a physical one. Without that transaction, a person may have a pulse but is, in Brian's framing, spiritually dead. He who has the Son has life, and without the Son there is no life, regardless of what else a person has going for them.
Brian used the story of Nicodemus in John 3 across more than one session to put flesh on what that transaction actually requires. Nicodemus stood in front of something genuinely new and could not fit it into any category he already had. Jesus never offered to soften the message or pour a little new life into the old framework. He pointed Nicodemus toward needing something new entirely. The wineskin that holds being born again, as Brian put it to the room, represents a person's capacity to receive and adapt to a new work of the Holy Spirit in their life. An old wineskin, whether that means relating to God through religion, through law, or through a spirit that is still dead, simply cannot hold what Jesus is offering.
What makes the exchange possible, Brian taught from 2 Corinthians 5:17, is that the old life goes and a new life begins. But the flesh does not get born again; it needs to be crucified. The spirit is renewed at salvation, and the mind has to be renewed daily. The whole thing rests not on a person's merit but on who God is. Brian says, "He loves me not because of who I am or what I've done. He loves me because of who he is."
Taught from John 3:1-21 · 2 Corinthians 5:17 · 1 John 5:12 · Romans 12:1-2 · John 3:3-6
“If this is a place where a culture is created that we wear masks and that we can't be real and vulnerable, heaven forbid that this place be a museum of exhibits for saints.”
From New Wineskin, New Capacity
The passage taught · 2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- November 18, 2024 New Wineskin, New Capacity Brian Hunter walks through John 3 and the story of Nicodemus to ask one pointed question: what is the condition of your wineskin, and is there room for what God is pouring out?
- November 17, 2024 New Wine Deeper Explained A Tribe Church sermon on Jesus's teaching about new wine and wineskins, exploring what it means to stay open to the Holy Spirit's work in your life.
- October 24, 2022 Resurrection Series Week 1： New Life Brian Hunter walks through John 3 and John 11 to explore what resurrection really means, starting with the exchange that has to happen before new life can begin.