Question:
Being born means coming out of. Are we born of God until God’s power brings us out of the earth in the resurrection or changes us from mortality to immortality?
Answer:
“Born” does not necessarily mean what you state. Instead, it means to bring into being and is used not only for birth but also for begetting. In fact, this is the primary idea. The original word means “born,” by extension. The most important thing in man is character. The natural earthly character must be changed to an incorruptible heavenly character, and the new incorruptible nature must as truly come from above as the incorruptible body; more, given the incorruptible character, and the like body follows. The great lesson that Jesus sought to impress upon Nicodemus was not that sometime the Lord would change him and take him to heaven. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus doubtless believed that. The great fact for him and all others to learn is that the heart, the motives, the affections, the will, the conscience— the whole moral man— must be re-created, “born from above,” before he can be counted a member of the kingdom of God. (See Colossians 1:13; John 1:13; 1 John 3:1, 9; 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18). Of course, when Christ comes, the incorruptible character will put on an incorruptible body. (See 1 Corinthians 15:51-54).
