Spiritual rebirth (Christianity)

This term has been used to describe the process of conversion, when the convert is born into a spiritual life. It is what is meant by being born not of the flesh but of the spirit. When Christianity was largely a faith passed on to adults, who were converted and baptized, the rite of baptism was a symbol of the process of dying to the old life and being born again, purified, as one came up out of the water. Infant baptism and the sprinkling with water rather than total immersion have changed this, so that there is no distinct single initiation; the sacrament of confirmation symbolizes the baptism with tongues of fire that the coming of the Holy Spirit is described as being in the Acts of the Apostles. Spiritual rebirth is a personal experience of conversion symbolized by these rites, the encounter with God that brings forgiveness of sins and a new life. A key text is from St Paul's epistle to Titus III 5: "according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost".