You Must Be Born Again

The temple’s owner stays in Jerusalem for the Passover, and many believe in His name when they see the signs He is doing (John 2:23). That sounds like revival. John immediately tells you it is not that simple.

John 2:23-25 — He knew what was in man

Jesus did not entrust Himself to them (John 2:24). Many believed in Him. He did not believe in them. He knew all men, and He needed no one to tell Him about man, because He Himself knew what was in man (John 2:25) (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

A crowd impressed by signs is not the same as men born of God (John 6:26, 66). Jesus does not need a poll. He does not need the Passover crowd’s backing to do the Father’s work, and He reads every heart in it. Your enthusiasm about Christ is not the measure. His knowledge of you is.

John 3:1-2 — A man who came by night

Then John shows you one of those men. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1). He comes to Jesus by night (John 3:2). He is religious, educated, respected, and in the dark in more than one sense (John 1:5; John 3:19-21).

He opens with a compliment. Rabbi, we know You are a teacher come from God, because no one can do these signs unless God is with him (John 3:2). It is true as far as it goes, and it goes nowhere near far enough. Teacher from God. Signs. Respect. This is sign-faith with a seminary degree.

John 3:3 — Born from above

Jesus does not return the compliment. He cuts to the root. Truly, truly, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The word means again, and it means from above. Nicodemus hears only the first. Jesus means both. A man must have a new birth, and that birth has to come from Heaven.

This is the birth John already named in the prologue. Not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). No man has ever caused his own birth. He did not sign up for it, earn it, or decide it. The ruler of the Jews brought his learning. Jesus told him he could not even see the kingdom yet.

John 3:4-6 — Water and Spirit

Nicodemus takes it literally. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time (John 3:4)? He is thinking about flesh, because flesh is all he has to think with.

Jesus answers: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). The teacher of Israel should have known this (John 3:10). God promised to sprinkle clean water on His people, give them a new heart, put His Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in His ways (Ezekiel 36:25-27). The water is cleansing. The Spirit is new life. It is one work of God, not a rite a man can arrange by getting wet. Baptism signifies this birth in the one who has it (Romans 6:3-4) (Colossians 2:12). It does not produce it.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). Flesh can improve, reform, study, and attend. It cannot become spirit. Only God makes that new man (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Ephesians 2:1-5).

John 3:7-8 — The wind blows where it wills

Do not marvel that I said you must be born again (John 3:7). The must is not a demand that a man do it. It is a statement of what has to happen to him.

Then Jesus explains whose work it is. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8). The same word means wind and Spirit. You do not command the wind. You do not schedule it, earn it, or block it. You see the trees bend. The Spirit gives new birth to whom He wills, when He wills, and no man’s refusal, cleverness, or rank stops Him from giving life to those the Father gave the Son (John 6:37, 44, 63).

That is not cold news. It is the only hope a dead man has. If your rebirth hung on your will, you would never have it.