Today in this post, you will discover the 17 characteristics of a truly born-again Christian that every born-again believer in Christ inherits when they give their lives to Jesus at salvation.
The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 1:3-4 that if we are born again believers, we will have these traits and this article will give you 17 characteristics of a born-again believer to be able to recognize.
With that said, here are the 17 characteristics of a truly born-again Christian that differentiate true believers from non-believers or hypocrites who go to church on Sunday for show biz.
17 Traits Of A Truly Born Again Christian.
Here are the 17 traits of a born again Christian that will help you differentiate a true believer from a mere hypocrite who goes to church on Sunday for the sake of it.
- Purity of heart.
- Love for God & others.
- Integrity.
- Humility.
- Love for the truth.
- Godliness with contentment.
- Obedience.
- Patience.
- Faithfulness.
- Chastity.
- Victory over the flesh.
- Desire to live righteously.
- Forgiveness.
- Dead to sin but alive in Christ.
- Quiet time.
- New spiritual rebirth.
- Heavenly Minded.
1. Purity of heart.
A truly born-again Christian who is saved and washed by the blood of Jesus once shed on the cross of Calvary will have a pure heart cleansed by this same precious blood of Christ.
You can’t say you are genuinely saved if your heart is still dirty and harboring all manner of sins in it. Remember, only those with a pure heart will eventually make it to heaven and see God at last (Matthew 5:8).
So, if you are still harboring some sins and evil desires in that heart of yours, it simply means that you haven’t yet experienced a new birth experience.
If it were so, your heart would have pure desires and be free from the past sinful desires that controlled you when you were a sinner.
A pure heart is a must-have and not an option if you claim to be born again, if you don’t have this pure heart dear, forget about making it for heaven when you close your eyes in death.
2. Love For God & Others.
Having a new fervent love for God and others especially God is another characteristic you will have if you experience a new birth in Christ by the water and the Spirit (John 3:5).
Anyone who claims to be a true Christian will have this new agape love for God and others that that person has never had before since birth.
You see my dear reader, as human beings, we are all born with a sinful nature and it’s this sinful nature that makes all human beings selfish naturally at birth.
But when you experience a new birth in Jesus, this natural selfish nature is completely cleansed and uprooted by the blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of this world.
With this new love, you now love others selflessly and sacrificially with a pure heart without any ulterior motives just as Jesus first loved you when you were a sinner.
3. Integrity.
By definition, integrity is the ability, to be honest, upright, and straightforward with others. It’s one of the most important characteristics of a born again Christian claiming to be God’s child.
A true Christian is always upright with others in all situations whether good or bad, not just when things are convenient or easygoing.
One of the major problems the body of Christ is suffering greatly is because many people in the body of Christ lack integrity and can’t be counted on as they are full of deceit.
This ought not to be so dear saints in the Lord. You must let your integrity be a godly example to your fellow believers in Christ and unbelievers out there so God’s name isn’t blasphemed.
If you claim to be a true Christina but are still full of deceit and dishonesty towards your fellow brethren in Christ, you need to check up on your salvation if you are truly standing in the Lord before it’s too late to do so when you die in that state.
4. Humility.
Being humble is one of the characteristics that every born-again Christian will have as salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ makes one humble and have a gentle and quiet spirit.
Pride and arrogance are not compatible with a true Christian who has experienced genuine salvation because pride and humility represent two supernatural personalities, God and Satan.
If you are still full of pride and have a contentious spirit, then you are still of your father the devil my dear as the devil is the father of pride as we know it.
On the other hand, dear saint out there if you are truly saved and have a new life in Christ humility will be your trademark because Jesus is humble and meek in character, too.
Remember, God will always resist the proud and haughty in spirit but will grant grace and mercy to the humble and meek in spirit (James 4:6).
5. Love for the truth.
One of the fruits of a born-again Christian is the love for the truth and hate for error and false teachings, especially in this age we live in where false teachings and false teachers are prominent.
A true Christian will love God’s word, obey it fully, and live by it. Only fake Christians hate the truth and sound doctrine found in God’s word in the bible.
We live in a time where a lot of people hate the truth and can’t endure sound doctrine due to their itching ears as Paul correctly predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3.
Many so-called Christians today only want to be told what they want to heart and not the hard truth from the bible that will help them live victorious Christian lives that are above sin.
So, if you are a genuinely born-again Christian, you will love the truth even it if makes the flesh feel uncomfortable dear saint because you walk after the spirit and not the flesh.
6. Godliness with contentment.
In 1 Timothy 6:6, Paul wonderfully put in this way that godliness with contentment is great gain indeed. It’s the greatest gain and wealth a Christian can have in their arsenal.
This is so because a truly saved Christian knows that this world isn’t their home and that their real home is heaven that is incorruptible and full of glory.
You must remember, that as you came into this world so will you return hitherto the grave (Job 1:21). Whatever you may acquire in this world be it money or riches they will all be left behind when you die.
And this is why you must learn to be content with whatever you have no matter how little because godliness and contentment are the greatest wealth you can ever have in this world.
If you are truly saved, you won’t have covetousness in your heart that makes people lust and covert what others have instead of being content with what the Lord has given them. This ought not to be so my dear reader reading this.
7. Obedience.
Being obedient to God’s commandments found in His word is a must-have trait for anyone who claims to be born again or saved.
If you are truly God’s child, you won’t find obeying God’s commandments grievous to do. Rather, you will delight in obeying them even if they are uncomfortable for your sinful flesh to do.
See, my dear saint out there, your sinful flesh will always want you to do things that are contrary to God’s word in the bible but you must not succumb to your fleshy desires If you love your soul.
But with God’s grace that becomes available to you immediately, you become saved will help you to deny all forms of ungodliness and sinful desires of the flesh that cause you to sin in the first place (Titus 2:11.).
You can only live in total obedience to God’s word that contains everlasting life if you walk after the Spirit and not the flesh which only happens when you become truly born again (Romans 8:1-4).
8. Patience.
Patience is one of the most important nine fruits of the Spirit you will display as a true Christian who is washed in the blood of the Lamb (Galatians 5:22).
As natural sinful human beings, patience isn’t our natural trait as our sinful flesh wants instant gratification by all means. Our sinful flesh hates to wait.
But if you experience the new birth in Christ, you will now become more patient and longsuffering in all situations whether convenient or not.
It’s this patience that comes from the Lord that will now enable you to be patient in all situations in life without murmuring and to wait upon the Lord.
Impatience is not compatible with the life of a born again Christian. If you claim to be saved and struggle with patience, you need a reality check of your Christian life to see if your conversion is genuine.
9. Faithfulness.
The ability to be loyal and honest with everyone and whatever you have been entrusted with by others is what faithfulness is all about and this is what true Christianity is all about.
If you are genuinely saved with real salvation in your life, you will be faithful and truthful to others. No longer will you have a crooked mind of the devil to swindle or rip others off be it your fellow saints in the Lord or those not in Christ.
Sadly, unfaithfulness is very rampant among so-called Christians and this is why these days, it’s difficult to find someone who is trying faithful and loyal even in the church today.
If you don’t have faithfulness in your Christian life, just know that you are a fake Christian still needing salvation in your life ASAP.
The Bible admonishes you and me to be loyal and faithful to one another in much and little especially if we claim to be Christians and followers of Christ (Luke 19:17.)
10. Chastity.
The ability to remain sexually pure and abstain from all forms of sexual immoralities before or after marriage with a person who isn’t your lawful wedded spouse is what chastity is all about.
Sadly, there is too much fornication going on in the body of Christ. This ought not to be so dear saints in the Lord as God has called us unto holiness, not uncleanness, please.
Now, listen up dear reader. If you are truly born again and are filled with the Holy Spirit, you won’t indulge yourself in fornication, no matter how much your flesh may pressure you into that sinful act with your own body.
Unlike other sins, sex outside marriage is sinning against your own body as all other sins are done outside your body (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Flee all forms of fornication or youthful lusts leading may into sexual sin and pursue righteousness and all that is pure as befitting a true Christian. Walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh dear saint.
Related: 7 Easy Ways To Maintain Sexual Purity While Dating.
11. Victory over the flesh.
Your sinful flesh will no longer have authority and control over you when you become saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who empowers us to deny and overcome our fleshly sinful desires.
The works of the flesh listed in Galatians 6: 19-21 will no longer have victory over you. Rather, you will now have the fruits of the Spirit controlling your life.
Since you no longer live after the flesh when you become genuinely born again through Jesus’s blood, you will no longer desire to do those sinful things your flesh told you to do when you were unsaved.
If your sinful flesh still has victory over you, then you need to go on your knees and ask Jesus to cleanse you from all the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit that are causing you to struggle with sin and not live a consistent victorious Christian life.
The flesh must not have victory over you as a truly born-again Christian who is on your way to heaven because if that’s the case, you then still need that new birth experience and God’s grace to help you overcome your flesh before it leads you to hellfire.
12. Desire for righteous living.
Righteousness will now be your new lifestyle and daily oxygen you live by if you experience real salvation. You will begin to now hate evil and sin as a new believer in Christ.
Your new spiritual life will now be characterized by the hunger and thirst for righteousness of which you be filled as Jesus promised in Matthews 5:6.
Sadly, most people claim to be Christians but have no desire to follow after righteousness and holiness of life but are in life with their sinful lifestyles and pleasures.
But if you are saved, you will desire to live a righteous life since you have a new Christ-like nature reigning supreme in your life that will make you hate doing evil and love righteousness.
Remember, without a pure and holy heart, you won’t enter heaven as only those who are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and have His righteousness dwelling in them will enter heaven on the final day of separation.
13. Forgiveness.
If you are truly a child of God, you are going to easily forgive anyone who wrongs you because forgiveness is part of loving others and the mark of true Christianity.
You can’t say you are Christ’s follower if your heart is full of unforgiveness towards your offenders because Jesus forgave all His enemies and those who hurt Him badly. So as His follower, you must do the same.
On the contrary, Jesus said in Matthew 6:15 when He was explaining the parable of a wicked unforgiving servant to His disciples that if we don’t forgive others, neither will God in heaven forgive us, too.
Remember, if you don’t forgive others, you are a murderer and no murderer has eternal life dear. This is because unforgiveness is classified as murder too as hate and unforgiveness always go hand in hand.
You will only fail to forgive someone if you hate them. Yes, forgiveness may be hard at times especially if the offender isn’t remorseful of their wrong deed but leave that to God dear saint as vengeance is His, not yours.
14. Alive in Christ & dead to sin.
It’s just a matter of fact that when you become born again with a new nature in Christ, you will become dead to sin and become alive in Christ (Romans 6:11).
This means that the innate desire you once had to sin will be replaced with the new nature and desire to do and follow after righteousness.
Sin will no longer be attractive and appealing to you anymore but rather will become distasteful to you since you are now alive in Christ who has no sin Himself.
Being alive in Christ and dying to the sinful self that causes you to sin in the first place is what being born again by water and the Spirit is all about.
By being alive in Christ dear saint, you become alive to doing and following after holiness because He who has called you He’s holy and commands you to be holy just as He’s holy (1 Peter 1:16).
15. Have regular quiet time.
As a saved man or woman boy or girl, having the regular quiet time you can spend alone with the Lord is crucial for strengthening your Christian life so that you don’t fall into temptation.
Having regular quiet time in the morning by praying and reading a scripture or two in the bible will help you grow immensely as a Christian especially if you are a new convert.
It’s having this quiet time early in the morning that will help you draw close to God and establish yourself in Him. Remember, Jesus too had a quiet time when He was on earth. So why not model your Master who set a perfect example for all of us to follow?
If you are a saved Christian as you claim, then practice having quiet time daily as it will fully equip you to withstand the wiles the devil has prepared for you on that day.
The reason most Christians fall easily into temptations when they come can be traced to a lack of daily quiet time. Don’t let that be you.
16. New spiritual rebirth.
New birth in Christ is paramount for you to be truly saved and this is what Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus who came to ask Him this very question on being born again.
This new spiritual rebirth is also accompanied by a new mind and new desires which are a result of having a new spirit and a new heart the Lord promised in Ezekiel 36:26.
With this new birth in Christ, our old nature of sin that makes us prone to sin and evil is replaced with a new desire to follow after holiness.
And this new spiritual rebirth is what will make you feel new and alive again in Jesus because you were now spiritually dead in your sins but now are spiritually alive in Christ.
Since we are all born spiritually dead with the Adamic sin nature we all inherited from our first parents when they fell, we need this new spiritual birth experience so that we can be born again with a new nature.
17. Heavenly-minded.
In Colossians 3:2, Paul admonishes us beloved saints of God you and me to set our minds and affections on heavenly things and not corruptible things on earth which will pass away one day.
If you have a new mind and new life in Christ, your heart and affections will no longer be attached to worldly things that can’t give you eternal life by the way.
Similarly, Jesus Christ in Matthews 6:19-21 tells us to lay up our treasure in heaven and not on earth where thieves can break in and this can only be if you are heavenly-minded.
Unfortunately, so many so-called Christians are earthly-minded and are trying to get this and that which will one day perish.
Remember, as a saint en route to heaven, this world isn’t your home. You are just passing by in this world. So, lay your treasures in heaven which will never fade away or get corrupted.
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Conclusion.
These are all the 17 characteristics of a born again Christian I had to share with you in this post and I hope they will help you become a better Christian.
If you are not saved yet, kindly check this post on how to be born again which will help you become saved today as tomorrow isn’t promised, dear. Do it now as tomorrow may be too late.
If this post on the traits of a born-again Christian was helpful to you, kindly share it with others so they can benefit as well. Stay blessed.
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