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by Roger A. Scully, Jr.
The January 15th Issue of Time magazine reports a story of the late former President Gerald Ford titled: “The
Other Born-Again President.” The writers, Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, record that Ford was “moved” by a sermon
presented by Billy Zeoli at a “pregame football chapel” in Washington when the “Dallas Cowboys were in town to play
the Redskins.” The title of the message was “God’s Game Plan,” and it was here that Zeoli said “Ford committed
himself to Christ.” Zeoli is then quoted as saying, “It’s hard to say when a man does that…that’s a God thing.” Is this
true? Is it hard to say when a man commits himself to Christ? Is it true that it is a “God thing,” the implication being man
really can’t know when he is saved or not?
If the Bible clearly identifies the point at which a person “commits” himself to Christ, that being understood as the
moment a person is “saved” or “born again,” then it is not “hard to say when a man does that.” So, the question is:
Does the Bible identify at what point a person is born again? Let us examine the Scriptures to see.
First, being committed to Christ and being born again must be understood as synonymous terms. The term commit is
defined as obligating, binding, trusting and following another. Being born again is identified, in Scripture, as the time a
person becomes obligated to follow Christ, to be bound to His will, to trust in Him as Lord, and to follow Him. Hence,
being committed to Christ and being born again are synonymous terms.
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus taught that disciples are made by being taught and baptized (ASV 1901). Since a disciple is
one who follows and learns of another as one committed to the cause of another, then one is committed to Christ when
he is taught and baptized. Jesus said, “unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of
God” (Jn 3:5). The means by which one is born again is here identified—water and the Spirit. Being born again of the
Spirit is to comply with the terms of the Spirit. Paul wrote that the Spirit revealed to him the mystery of Christ, which he
wrote in words, whereby when those words are read those who read them can understand as did Paul (Eph 3:3, 4).
From where did those words come? From the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13). Thus James writes: “Of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth.” Again Peter wrote, “being born again…by the word of God.” Peter also wrote that Christians are
sanctified by the Spirit (1 Pet 1:2), and Jesus said that we are sanctified by the truth (Jn 17:17). John wrote the Spirit is
truth in 1 John 5:6. Thus we are forced to conclude that the Spirit, by means of revelation, begets us through the word,
for in the word it is revealed how man is born again—by being baptized into Christ. Romans 6:3, 4 explains that in
baptism we put to death the old man of sin and are raised new creatures in Christ, born as sons of God, hence the
birth of water. It must, then, be concluded that being committed to Christ takes place at the time that a person is born
again, which is when one is baptized.
Now, is this something that we cannot really know, or is it something that can be identified? The student of the Bible
has to conclude that this is something that can be identified; hence Mr. Zeoli’s claim that it is “hard to say when a man
does that” is false.
In Acts 2:41 we read that those who received his word were baptized. What did they do? They committed themselves
to Christ by being born again. Can we know this? Indeed we can. In Acts 8:38 Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch.
What did the eunuch do? He committed himself to Christ by being born again. Again, is this something that we can
know or not? It is something that we can know because it has been revealed at what point a person is saved, hence
when one does what Bible has revealed must be done, we can know if that person has committed himself to Christ. We
admit it is a God thing, in the sense that God forgives man of his sins when man complies with His terms, but it is not a
God thing in the sense that man cannot know if he is saved or not.
It is not hard to say when I was born again, nor is it hard for anyone, who was truly born again in the biblical sense of
the term, to know. It happens when one believes Jesus to be the Son of God (Jn 8:24); when one repents of his past
sins (Ac 17:30); when one confesses his faith in Christ as the Lord of his life (Ac 8:37); and when one is baptized in
water for the remission of sins (Ac 2:38). Sadly, former president Gerald Ford never did these things, for Billy Zeoli
says, “[we] both put our trust in Christ, our Savior, and have relied on Him for direction and guidance throughout our
lives.” The Bible nowhere teaches that man is born again when he simply “put[s] his trust in Christ.” It is no wonder that
Mr. Zeoli thinks, “it’s hard to say when a man does that.” No sir, it is not.