Articles
“Born Again”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5
Today, especially in America after the evangelistic crusades of Billy Graham, it is common to think of “born-again Christians” as different than other Christians. Born-again Christians, it is thought, come from a more broken or wayward background. They have a checkered moral past. They are those who have hit rock bottom and have “seen the light” or have survived some traumatic experience and “got saved.” While these kinds of dramatic spiritual turn-arounds can and do happen, we may be left thinking that being “born again” is only for certain people. But the way Jesus uses this phrase in John 3:1-15 will not allow such a narrow interpretation.
Who must be born again? (1-3) Everyone! Consider who Jesus was speaking to. Nicodemus was no immoral, downtrodden social outcast. He was a well-to-do, morally upright, highly educated teacher of the Law and influential member of society. He belonged to the strictest sect of his religion (Pharisees) and even held a seat on their ruling council (Sanhedrin). Yet, for all his achievements, Jesus said he had to be “born again” before seeing, let alone entering, the kingdom of heaven. Just because someone’s life looks in order on the outside doesn’t mean they are right with God.
No one’s achievements can save them from spiritual death; no amount of earthly power or prestige can gain a person access into God’s kingdom. Access comes only through the new birth.
How is one born again? (4-8) The word “again” is purposefully ambiguous. It means both “a second time” (as Nicodemus interpreted it) and “from above.” Jesus probably meant both. It is a re-birth but a rebirth “of water and the Spirit.” In the Old Testament, God promised to pour out his Spirit like water into the hearts of people to renew their inner life (Isa. 32:15; 44:3; Ezek. 36:25-27; 39:29; Joel 2:28-29). It is in water baptism that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the washing away of our sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Thus this double-sided rebirth (“of water and the Spirit”) is the entry point of God’s kingdom. And just as the effects of the wind are evident, even though the wind itself is invisible, so the effects of God’s Spirit will be evident in the lives of all those who are born again (8).
Where is one born again? (9-15) Though Jesus rebukes Nicodemus’ confusion (after all, he was supposed to be a teacher, 9), the issue was not intellectual. His failure to believe (“receive our testimony”) was much worse than his failure to “understand.” Jesus reminded Nicodemus of the story when God sent a plague of poisonous snakes as punishment for Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness (Num. 21). Moses was instructed to make a bronze serpent and attach it to a pole. Whenever an Israelite looked at the serpent he was healed. Therefore, the serpent was God’s means of physical healing. Jesus drew a parallel to himself: the “Son of Man” will also be “lifted up” with a similar outcome. Humanity as a whole has been smitten with the deadly disease of sin. The only remedy is to look upon the “Son of Man” when he is “lifted up” on the cross for all to see. The evil serpent that infected us with sin injected his death-dealing venom into Jesus on the cross. But he carried that poison into death to provide us with life! Therefore, to be “born again,” to “enter” God’s kingdom and receive “eternal life,” we must come to the cross and embrace our Savior by faith.
Some are baptized only to emerge from the water as themselves; the Spirit is absent. Even dead people have birth certificates. It’s being alive that counts, the evidence of the new birth. Being born again requires the Spirit. On the other hand, some think baptism isn’t necessary and that they can be born again without it; the water is absent. Jesus speaks the truth when he says “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
