Truly Truly I Say to You Unless One Is Born Again

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This sermon series includes the following messages:

The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Attestation Commentary on John 3.

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is one-time? He cannot enter a 2d time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Practice not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, just do not know where it comes from and where information technology is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (three:4–8)

Jesus' shocking statement was far more than Nicodemus had expected. Incredulous, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a 2d fourth dimension into his female parent'due south womb and be born, tin can he?" Certainly, this highly educated Pharisee was non so obtuse equally to have misinterpreted Jesus' words in a simplistically literal sense. He knew our Lord was not talking about being physically reborn, but he replied in the context of the Lord's illustration. How could he get-go all over, go back to the outset? Jesus was telling him that archway to God'southward salvation was non a matter of adding something to all his efforts, non topping off his religious devotion, merely rather canceling everything and starting all over again. At the same time, he clearly could not grasp the full meaning of what that meant. His questions convey his confusion, every bit he openly wondered at the impossibility of Christ'due south statement. Jesus was asking for something that was not humanly possible (to exist born over again); He was making entrance into the kingdom contingent on something that could not exist obtained through man effort. But if that was true, what did it mean for Nicodemus's works-based arrangement? If spiritual rebirth, like physical rebirth, was impossible from a man standpoint, then where did that leave this self-righteous Pharisee?

Far from minimizing the demands of the gospel, Jesus confronted Nicodemus with the near difficult claiming He could make. No wonder Christ would later say to His disciples, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24). By calling him to exist born again, Jesus challenged this most religious Jew to admit his spiritual bankruptcy and abandon everything he was trusting in for salvation. That is precisely what Paul did, every bit he alleged in Philippians 3:8–9:

More than than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them merely rubbish and then that I may gain Christ, and may be establish in Him, non having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the ground of faith.

Jesus answered Nicodemus's confusion by elaborating on the truth He introduced in poetry iii: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless i is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." A number of interpretations have been offered to explain the phrase built-in of water. Some see two births here, one natural, and the other spiritual. Proponents of this view interpret the water every bit the amniotic fluid that flows from the womb but before childbirth. Merely it is not articulate that the ancients described natural birth in that way. Further, the phrase born of water and the Spirit parallels the phrase "born again" in verse three; thus, simply one nascence is in view. Others see in the phrase built-in of h2o a reference to baptism, either that of John the Baptist, or Christian baptism. Just Nicodemus would not take understood Christian baptism (which did non withal exist) nor misunderstood John the Baptist'due south baptism. Nor would Jesus accept refrained from baptizing people (4:2) if baptism were necessary for salvation. However others see the phrase as a reference to Jewish ceremonial washings, which existence born of the Spirit transcends. However the two terms are not in contrast with each other, but combine to grade a parallel with the phrase "born over again" in poesy 3. (For a conscientious examination of the various interpretations of born of water, encounter D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary [One thousand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 191–96.)

Since Jesus expected Nicodemus to sympathise this truth (v. 10), information technology must accept been something with which he was familiar. H2o and Spirit often refer symbolically in the Erstwhile Attestation to spiritual renewal and cleansing (cf. Num. 19:17–19; Isa. 4:4; 32:fifteen; 44:iii; 55:ane; Joel ii:28–29; Zech. xiii:ane). In ane of the about glorious passages in all of Scripture describing Israel's restoration to the Lord by the new covenant, God said through Ezekiel,

For I will accept yous from the nations, gather you lot from all the lands and bring you into your ain state. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will exist clean; I will cleanse yous from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside y'all; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit inside you and cause y'all to walk in My statutes, and y'all will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek. 36:24–27)

It was surely this passage that Jesus had in mind, showing regeneration to be an One-time Testament truth (cf. Deut. 30:half dozen; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 11:18–20) with which Nicodemus would accept been acquainted. Against this Onetime Testament backdrop, Christ's point was unmistakable: Without the spiritual washing of the soul, a cleansing achieved simply by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) through the Word of God (Eph. 5:26), no one tin can enter God's kingdom.

Jesus continued by farther emphasizing that this spiritual cleansing is wholly a piece of work of God, and non the result of human effort: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Only equally merely human nature can afford man nature, so also only the Holy Spirit tin can effect spiritual transformation. The term flesh (sarx) here refers merely to human nature (every bit information technology does in 1:thirteen–14); in this context, it does not take the negative moral connotation that it ofttimes does in Paul's writings (e.grand., Rom. 8:1–8, 12–xiii). Fifty-fifty if a physical rebirth were possible, it would produce simply flesh. Thus, only the Spirit tin can produce the spiritual birth required for entrance into God's kingdom. Regeneration is entirely His work, unaided by any human being try (cf. Rom. 3:25).

Although Jesus' words were based on Old Attestation revelation, they ran completely contrary to everything Nicodemus had been taught. For his entire life he had believed that salvation came through his ain external merit. Now he found it exceedingly hard to recollect otherwise. Aware of his astonishment, Jesus continued, "Do non be amazed that I said to you, 'You lot must be built-in again.' " The verb translated must is a potent term; John used it elsewhere in his gospel to refer to the necessity of the crucifixion (3:14; 12:34), of John the Baptist'southward inferiority to Christ (3:30), of the proper method of worshiping God (4:24), of Jesus conveying out His ministry (4:4; 9:iv; 10:16), and of the necessity of the resurrection (20:9). It was absolutely necessary for Nicodemus to get over his astonishment at beingness so wrong about how ane is accepted into God's kingdom and seek to exist born again if he was to enter. And he could never do so based on his own righteous works.

So the Lord illustrated His indicate with a familiar example from nature: "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the audio of information technology, but practice non know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." The wind cannot be controlled; information technology blows where information technology wishes. And though its full general direction tin can be known, where it comes from and where it is going cannot exist precisely determined. Nevertheless, the wind'due south furnishings can be observed. The same is true of the work of the Spirit. His sovereign piece of work of regeneration in the human heart can neither be controlled nor predicted. Yet its effects tin exist seen in the transformed lives of those who are built-in of the Spirit.

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Source: https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0302/what-does-it-mean-to-be-born-of-water-and-spirit