Born Again
John 3:1-15
Main Idea: We all must be born again and made new through the finished work of Christ.
This passage answers three questions about the new birth: Who needs it? What is it? How do we receive it?
I. Who Needs It? (3:1-3)
We learn that Nicodemus is…
A Pharisee
A “ruler” of the Jews (a member of the Sanhedrin)
The “teacher of Israel” (3:9)
Wealthy (cf. 19:39)
Nicodemus would have been a highly respected member of the Jewish community and a religious and moral exemplar in his time. Though he recognizes something unique and divine in Jesus, he approaches him “by night,” a seeming illustration of the warning given in 2:23-25.
John 2:23-3:1: Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man… Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus…
Though Nicodemus was a prominent man of great respect, success, and stature, Jesus is clear: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (3:3). If Nicodemus needed to be born again, then truly everyone “must be born again” (3:7).
Philippians 3:3–7: For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh… circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ…
II. What Is It? (3:3-8)
The new birth is:
Spiritual not physical (3:3-4): “Born again” can also mean “born from above;” this is the theological concept of “regeneration.”
“Of water and the Spirit” (3:5; cf. Ezek. 36:25-27; Isa. 44:3; Titus 3:4-6); the ‘water’ is symbolic for cleansing and purification, something pictured in baptism.
Bringing new spiritual life out of spiritual deadness (3:6; cf. Ezek 37; 2 Cor. 5:17)
Unseen, but evidenced (3:7-8)
Acts 4:13: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
III. How Do We Receive It? (3:9-15)
Jesus is surprised that Nicodemus, “the teacher of Israel,” does not understand the promise of new birth found throughout the Scriptures, a clear indication of his need to be “born again.” If Nicodemus is stumbling over the entry to the Kingdom of God, then Jesus is unable to move to the more glorious details of life in this kingdom (“heavenly things” | 1:12).
His problem is not only a lack of understanding but also an issue of authority; Nicodemus is unable and unwilling (at this point) to receive Jesus’ testimony” (1:11). Jesus has authority to bear witness to this birth “from above,” because he is the one who has descended from heaven as the “Son of Man” (cf. Prov. 30:4; Dan. 7:13).
To further illustrate his point to Nicodemus, Jesus reminds him of another famous OT passage from Numbers 21. The Lord provides a source of healing from the curse of the serpent’s poison by looking at the bronze serpent that is “lifted up” on the pole.
The challenge of being “born again” is that it is a passive reality. Jesus does not command us to “go and be born,” because this is not how “birth” works. There are two “musts” in this passage:
“You must be born again” (3:7)
“The Son of Man must be lifted up” (3:14)
“You don’t go and get born. Birth happens to you, but the baby doesn’t do a thing. It’s all the mother. The baby is brought into this world through the mother’s labor. The baby is brought into the world through the mother’s pain. The baby is born through the mother bearing the weight through all those months. Somebody else suffers. Somebody else is burdened. Somebody else is in labor. Somebody else is in anguish. Somebody else is bleeding.” ~ Tim Keller, “The New Birth”
John 1:11-13: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
