Be Born Again

Good afternoon from the Oklahoma Panhandle. “Born Again” this has perplexed many people for many years. Some like Nicodemus who try and take it literally, some who look at it philosophically, and some who have looked at it theologically. Well today we are going to take a layman's view, cause Lord knows I'm no theologian or philosopher. So come on in pull up a chair or a place on the floor sit a spell and let open take a look at God's Word.

John 3:5-8

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

How fascinating that a member of the “Who’s Who of Jerusalem” should seek out Christ Jesus, a rustic itinerant preacher. Could He have anything in common with Nicodemus, a man with impeccable credentials? John describes Nicodemus as “a man of the Pharisees,” which meant he was one of the separated ones, an elite lay theologian dedicated to studying and living out every jot and tittle of the law and “a ruler of the Jews,” meaning he was a member of the Sanhedrin, that exclusive council which controlled the religious life of Israel.

Nicodemus had come because of all that had been going on. He said, “No one can do these things that You do unless God is with him.” The dramatic cleansing of the temple and the works that followed had created quite a stir. Surely these happenings had become common gossip on the streets of Jerusalem. There is a humility in the way he comes. He addresses Jesus as “Rabbi,” a title of respect he would use only because he believed he could learn something from this new teacher.¹

Nicodemus wanted to know by what authority was Christ Jesus doing these things? What was His purpose? Did He have some new truth to reveal? Nicodemus is speaking for men who were not falsely complimentary about what Christ Jesus had been doing. Earthly Birth and New Birth (vs. 3–7). Christ Jesus responds to Nicodemus’s friendly statement by coming directly to the heart of the matter. He does not waste time on peripheral issues. His statement, “Most assuredly,” at the outset calls for careful, single minded attention. Nicodemus’s destiny will hang on how he hears and answers what Christ Jesus will now say. “I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Only Christ Jesus has the authority to make this categorical, uncompromising statement! Once again Christ Jesus has used a basic earthly category—human birth—to illuminate a profound spiritual reality.²

(of water and of the Spirit)—A twofold explanation of the “new birth,” was startling to Nicodemus. To a Jewish cleric, so familiar with the symbolical application of water, in every variety of way and form of expression, this language was fitted to show that the thing intended was no other than a thorough spiritual purification by the operation of the Holy Ghost. The element of water and operation of the Spirit are brought together in a glorious evangelical prediction of Ezekiel - 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:25–27). Nicodemus might have remembered this passage if he had not been almost lost in the reigning formalism.

The symbol of water had already been embodied in an initiatory ordinance, in the baptism of the Jewish expectants of Messiah by the John the Baptizer, not to speak of the baptism of Gentile proselytes before that. And now in the Christian Church it is a visible sign of entrance into “the kingdom of God,” and as a symbol of the Holy Spirits work in our lives - 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5).

(That which is born,)—A great universal proposition; “That which is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it” [Olshausen]. (flesh)—Not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth, the entire person; in its fallen condition, in complete subjection to the law of the fall - 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:3–8). So that if a person “could enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born,” he would be no nearer this “new birth” than before. (is spirit)—“partakes of and possesses a spiritual nature.”

(Marvel not,)—If a spiritual nature only can see and enter the kingdom of God; if all we bring into the world with us is the reverse of a spiritual life, that is a carnal life; and if this spirituality comes solely from the Holy Ghost, no wonder a new birth is indispensable. Without new birth you will never see the kingdom of heaven.

(You must)—“You,” Christ Jesus said, not “we.” After those universal propositions, about what “a man” must do, to “enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5)—this statement shows that the choice to follow Christ Jesus must be an individual's choice. No one can make that choice for you, no one can except Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour for you, you alone must do so.

(The wind,)—Breath and spirit (one word both in Hebrew and Greek) are constantly brought together in Scripture as analogous (Job 27:3; 33:4; Ez 37:9–14). Where it comes from and where it goes no one (can tell,) —Meteorologist have gotten pretty good at predicting weather patters and such, but when it comes down to it what they give us is their best educated guess. What Christ Jesus is telling Nicodemus and us is that the workings of the Holy Spirit is a mystery, we will never understand how He brings about the new birth of an individual other than to know that He is God and He can do it. Better yet He will do it if we will ask.³

In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, neurologist Oliver Sacks tells about Virgil, a man who had been blind from early childhood. When he was 50, Virgil underwent surgery and was given the gift of sight. But as he and Dr. Sacks found out, having the physical capacity for sight is not the same as seeing.

Virgil's first experiences with sight were confusing. He was able to make out colors and movements, but arranging them into a coherent picture was more difficult. Over time he learned to identify various objects, but his habits--his behaviors--were still those of a blind man. Dr. Sacks asserts, "One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo . . . that is so terrible."

To truly see Jesus and his truth means more than observing what he did or said, it means a change of identity. - Terry Seufferlein Norman, Oklahoma.

Thanks for dropping by, I pray that our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus would richly bless you and yours.

Biblesurfer

1 Roger L. Fredrikson and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, John, vol. 27, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1985), 78–79.

2 Roger L. Fredrikson and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, John, vol. 27, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1985), 79.

3 Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 131.