Got Questions What Does It Mean to Be Born Again
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This sermon serial includes the following messages:
The post-obit is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on John 3.
Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is erstwhile? He cannot enter a second fourth dimension into his female parent'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 exist amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and y'all hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where information technology is going; then is everyone who is built-in of the Spirit." (iii:4–8)
Jesus' shocking argument was far more than than Nicodemus had expected. Incredulous, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is onetime? He cannot enter a second fourth dimension into his mother'southward womb and be born, can he?" Certainly, this highly educated Pharisee was not and then obtuse as to have misinterpreted Jesus' words in a simplistically literal sense. He knew our Lord was not talking almost existence physically reborn, but he replied in the context of the Lord'southward illustration. How could he kickoff all over, go dorsum to the beginning? Jesus was telling him that archway to God's conservancy was not a matter of adding something to all his efforts, not topping off his religious devotion, but 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, as he openly wondered at the impossibility of Christ's statement. Jesus was request for something that was not humanly possible (to exist born again); He was making entrance into the kingdom contingent on something that could non be obtained through human effort. But if that was true, what did information technology mean for Nicodemus's works-based system? If spiritual rebirth, similar concrete rebirth, was impossible from a homo standpoint, so where did that leave this self-righteous Pharisee?
Far from minimizing the demands of the gospel, Jesus confronted Nicodemus with the most difficult challenge He could make. No wonder Christ would afterward say to His disciples, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24). By calling him to be born again, Jesus challenged this almost religious Jew to acknowledge his spiritual bankruptcy and abandon everything he was trusting in for salvation. That is precisely what Paul did, as he declared in Philippians 3:eight–9:
More than that, I count all things to exist 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 but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Police, but that which is through religion 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 verse 3: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." A number of interpretations accept been offered to explain the phrase born of water. Some see two births here, one natural, and the other spiritual. Proponents of this view interpret the water as the amniotic fluid that flows from the womb merely before childbirth. But it is not articulate that the ancients described natural birth in that way. Further, the phrase built-in of water and the Spirit parallels the phrase "born once again" in verse 3; thus, but ane birth is in view. Others see in the phrase born of water a reference to baptism, either that of John the Baptist, or Christian baptism. But Nicodemus would not take understood Christian baptism (which did not all the same exist) nor misunderstood John the Baptist's baptism. Nor would Jesus accept refrained from baptizing people (iv:two) if baptism were necessary for salvation. Still others see the phrase as a reference to Jewish ceremonial washings, which being built-in of the Spirit transcends. However the ii terms are not in contrast with each other, simply combine to form a parallel with the phrase "born once more" in verse iii. (For a careful examination of the various interpretations of born of water, meet D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 191–96.)
Since Jesus expected Nicodemus to empathise this truth (5. 10), it must accept been something with which he was familiar. Water and Spirit often refer symbolically in the Old Testament to spiritual renewal and cleansing (cf. Num. 19:17–19; Isa. iv:iv; 32:15; 44:iii; 55:1; Joel two:28–29; Zech. thirteen:1). In one of the almost glorious passages in all of Scripture describing Israel'south restoration to the Lord by the new covenant, God said through Ezekiel,
For I will take you from the nations, get together you from all the lands and bring you lot into your own land. And so I will sprinkle clean water on you lot, and you will be clean; I volition cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will requite y'all a new heart and put a new spirit within yous; and I will remove the heart of stone from your mankind and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit inside you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will exist careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek. 36:24–27)
It was surely this passage that Jesus had in mind, showing regeneration to exist an Old Testament truth (cf. Deut. thirty:vi; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 11:18–20) with which Nicodemus would have been acquainted. Against this Old Testament backdrop, Christ's point was unmistakable: Without the spiritual washing of the soul, a cleansing accomplished merely by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:v) through the Give-and-take of God (Eph. v:26), no one tin enter God's kingdom.
Jesus connected by farther emphasizing that this spiritual cleansing is wholly a work of God, and not the result of human endeavour: "That which is built-in of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Just as just human nature can beget human nature, so also only the Holy Spirit tin can effect spiritual transformation. The term flesh (sarx) here refers merely to homo nature (every bit it does in 1:13–14); in this context, it does not have the negative moral connotation that it oftentimes does in Paul's writings (eastward.g., Rom. 8:one–8, 12–xiii). Even if a physical rebirth were possible, it would produce only flesh. Thus, but the Spirit tin produce the spiritual birth required for entrance into God's kingdom. Regeneration is entirely His work, unaided past any human being effort (cf. Rom. 3:25).
Although Jesus' words were based on Quondam Testament revelation, they ran completely contrary to everything Nicodemus had been taught. For his entire life he had believed that conservancy came through his own external merit. Now he found it exceedingly hard to think otherwise. Aware of his astonishment, Jesus connected, "Do not be amazed that I said to yous, 'You must be built-in over again.' " The verb translated must is a strong term; John used it elsewhere in his gospel to refer to the necessity of the crucifixion (iii:xiv; 12:34), of John the Baptist's inferiority to Christ (3:30), of the proper method of worshiping God (4:24), of Jesus carrying out His ministry (4:4; 9:4; x:16), and of the necessity of the resurrection (20:nine). It was absolutely necessary for Nicodemus to get over his astonishment at being so wrong about how one is accepted into God's kingdom and seek to exist born once again if he was to enter. And he could never practise so based on his own righteous works.
Then the Lord illustrated His indicate with a familiar example from nature: "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where information technology comes from and where information technology is going; and then is anybody who is born of the Spirit." The air current cannot exist controlled; it blows where information technology wishes. And though its general direction tin exist known, where it comes from and where it is going cannot be precisely adamant. Nevertheless, the wind's effects can be observed. The same is true of the work of the Spirit. His sovereign work of regeneration in the human heart can neither exist controlled nor predicted. Yet its effects tin can exist seen in the transformed lives of those who are born of the Spirit.
Source: https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0302/what-does-it-mean-to-be-born-of-water-and-spirit
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