Chapter 9: Except a Man be Born Again
The first narrative we will focus on will be when a religious leader, named Nicodemus, approached Jesus to ask Him questions. Throughout His time on earth, Jesus had been doing many notable miracles, which included instantaneous healing of the sick and feeding multitudes of people with a small bit of food. He was also preaching about the good news of salvation. Right before Nicodemus met Him, Jesus had miraculously created wine instantaneously from water. Being God, Jesus had control over the entire creation domain. People could not deny that His works were of divine origin, which is why Nicodemus came to speak with Him.
John 3:1-21: There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: (2) The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. (3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (9) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (10) Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (11) Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. (12) If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (13) And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (20) For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (21) But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
There is a lot significant here. Let us examine the dialogue:
- Nicodemus was “of the Pharisees.” This means he was part of a religious group that was very familiar with the law and the prophets in the Bible. He would have been familiar with everything we have discussed so far, and would have been considered most devoted to God by everyone.
While this group was held in high esteem by the masses for religious zeal, they largely were rejecting Jesus as the promised Savior (John 3:11). There are a few reasons for this, one of which was that Jesus did not conform to the clique of the religious elite, but rather exposed their hypocrisy. He did not have the fancy education or wealth (Isaiah 53:2). Because most Pharisees had rejected Jesus, he had to come by night, secretly, to speak to Him (John 3:2).
Nicodemus admitted that Jesus must be from God, because of the miracles He had been performing. - Jesus answered the question Nicodemus did not ask. The question Jesus answered was how to be right with and accepted by God, and the answer is, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
Just like every human being since Adam, we all were born into Satan’s kingdom. We are born at enmity with God, and we are His enemies. Being born again indicates that we must start over, and become a new creature. Romans 5:12 says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Jesus also defined being “born again” as being born of the Holy Spirit. We were all born in the flesh when we were born the first time, as descendants of Adam. We now must be born again, of the Spirit. - Nicodemus, though an expert in religion, did not understand. Nicodemus asked, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9).
- Sinful humanity cannot enter the presence of God as they are, but Jesus can. Remember how Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden because of their sin? Today, in the same way, human beings cannot enter into the presence of God because of sin. We are helpless to do anything about it. However, Christ, the perfect Son of God who came from heaven can enter into the presence of God because He is without sin (John 3:13).
- Jesus will be crucified, and by looking to Him, we can be saved. Moses lifting up the serpent requires some explanation. It would have been a story with which everyone in that culture would have been familiar. Centuries before Jesus came to the earth, God’s people had been complaining to the leader of their nation, Moses. God punished them by sending serpents among them (Numbers 21:4-6). When the people confessed their sin and asked for deliverance, God gave this instruction to Moses: “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8). As God had promised, when Moses made the brass serpent and placed it upon a pole, whoever looked at the serpent survived (Numbers 21:9).
Like the serpent, Jesus also was going to be “lifted up” (John 3:14). This was a common way to say that He was going to be crucified, which was a cruel way to slowly torture and execute a criminal. This was commonly used as the death penalty in Roman times. As One who would be “an offering for sin” (Isaiah 53:10), or a blood sacrifice, all people had to do was look and live.
In John 3:15, Jesus said that whoever believes that Jesus is the blood offering for their sin, that person would be saved from hell and have eternal life. This is what He meant to be born again.
Jesus reiterated again to be clear: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus left the splendor of heaven to identify with wicked human beings, you and me, here on earth. When we trust that Jesus Christ paid for our sins in His death, we would have eternal life. We are born into new, everlasting life.
An explanation is required on what it means that “God so loved the world.” In our culture, we are taught that love is sexual and permissive. Forget all of that. God does not love our wickedness; rather He is disgusted with us to our very core. Love here should be defined as service, just as we had defined it before. God served us and helped us by sending His Son. He knew that by nature all we could do is be rebels against Him. Everything we do and what we are deserves to be destroyed in Christ’s crucifixion. The violent death Jesus said He was going to face reflects God’s opinion of our sinful nature. This act of self-sacrifice is His love (His service) toward us. - Christ did not come to condemn, but to save. Jesus came not only to save us from the penalty of our sin, but also from sin itself. The issue of being condemned by God is no longer about sin; the issue is whether we trust Jesus Christ as our sin offering or not.
Next: Chapter 10: I am the Resurrection, and the Life
Previous: Chapter 8: He Was Wounded for Our Transgressions