Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin? (Charles Wesley, 1738)
John 3 (interlinear Greek) John 3 (KJV – NRSV)
Key verse (3:16): For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Meditation (3:5): Except one be born of water and the Spirit
Born of the Spirit
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. 8 The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; 15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.
Nicodemus “chose the night season, perhaps less through the fear of man then through a desire to have Jesus alone, as he found Him all the day encompassed with the multitude, so that it was impossible for him to get an opportunity to speak fully on those weighty affairs concerning which he intended to consult Him.” (Clarke) He addresses Jesus respectfully, as Rabbi, which means an esteemed teacher and goes on to acknowledge that he is a teacher come from God. Nicodemus makes this conclusion because he had either witnessed or heard of the signs Jesus did. So far, those are turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana and overturning the tables in the Temple. Jesus did not answer the way we might expect, greeting the ruler of the Jews with a similar respectful address. Rather, He cut directly to what was most troubling Nicodemus. This recalls the end of chapter 2, where we discover that He himself knew what was in man.
Nicodemus was said to be a ruler of the Jews. This likely meant he was a member of the Sanhedrin, a ruling body. Many of the members of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and restricted their doctrine to the written Torah, the books of Moses. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a strict observer of and expert in the Law. How rich was he? Clarke tells us that “A person of the name of Nicodemus, the son of Gorion, is mentioned in the Jewish writings, who lived in the time of Vespasian, and was reputed to be so rich that he could support all the inhabitants of Jerusalem for ten years.” The Pharisees were a curious bunch, always looking out for new ideas to test against their established doctrine. Coming to Jesus at night would not be unusual as that is when the Rabbis ordinarily held their deepest discussions.
Barnes explains, that “we may learn that the most favorable opportunity for teaching such men the nature of personal religion is when they are alone. Scarcely any man, of any rank, will refuse to converse on this subject when addressed respectfully and tenderly in private. In the midst of their companions, or engaged in business, they may refuse to listen or may cavil. When alone, they will hear the voice of entreaty and persuasion, and be willing to converse on the great subjects of judgment and eternity.” I remember my dad being that way. He would open up to our pastor when he came to visit the house, but held his peace when he went to church (which was only at Christmas and Easter). He loved a good discussion, but unlike Nicodemus, never followed through to true bel ief in Christ.
Why were the miracles proof to Nicodemus that Jesus might be the Messiah? Surely, the Messiah was to come with signs from God. One explanation is that “If God gives a man power to work a miracle, it is proof that he approves the teaching of that man, and the miracle is the proof or the credential that he came from God.” (Barnes) With this I do not agree. In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warns, For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect. Nicodemus came to Jesus to discover whether the miracles he performed were of God, intending to question Him closely. “Since the false prophets deceive the ignorant by their impostures as fully as if they had proved by true signs that they are the ministers of God, what difference will there be between truth and falsehood, if faith depends on miracles?” (Calvin)
Nicodemus likely came to Jesus to ask whether he was the Messiah, but Jesus responded by telling him he needed to be born again, not what Nicodemus expected. “He doubts not but this Jesus, who works these miracles, is either the Messiah or his prophet, and therefore makes his court to him, compliments him, and so hopes to secure a share to himself of the advantages of that kingdom. But Christ tells him that he can have no benefit by that change of the state, unless there be a change of the spirit, of the principles and dispositions, equivalent to a new birth.” (Matthew Henry) Nicodemus certainly did not think himself in need of reformation. He was simply looking for the Messiah. “Could he be better bred and born than bred and born an Israelite, or by any other birth stand fairer for a place in the kingdom of the Messiah? Indeed they looked upon a proselyted Gentile to be as one born again or born anew, but could not imagine how a Jew, a Pharisee, could ever better himself by being born again; he therefore thinks, if he must be born again, it must be of her that bore him first. They that are proud of their first birth are hardly brought to a new birth.” (Matthew Henry)
This is what confused the teacher of Israel: “The work of blessing was not to be wrought by teaching the old man. Man needed to be renewed in the source of his nature, without which he could not see the kingdom.” (Darby) Addressing Jesus as Rabbi suggests that Nicodemus intended to be taught. “He does not begin to teach the Jews as a prophet under the law. He presents the kingdom itself; but to see it, according to His testimony, a man must be born again… Nicodemus sees no farther than the flesh.” (Darby) Circumcision does not make you born again, nor does infant baptism. Nicodemus was just as confused as the church attender who does not understand why he needs the new birth if he has been baptized and going to church all his life. Jesus teaching on the new birth is quite clear (it is a spiritual rebirth by the grace of God). The problem is the rites and rituals of the church which get us all confused about how this all works.
I don’t have a problem with splashing infants with a bit of water to dedicate them and their parents to the church. The problem is saying this is equivalent to the new birth. Wesley says baptismal vows need to be confirmed by the one baptized when they are of an age to understand. Even so, likely to appease nervous parents, Wesley also says baptism indicates the new birth, but you can walk away from that. To me, this makes no sense. If the new birth is an act of regeneration by God that makes you a child of God, how can you walk away from that? You cannot unmake yourself a child of God. You can certainly ignore God or run away from him, but you remain his child. So, too you can only be born again (spiritually) one time as that has truly made you a child of God. There is no going back on that. Being a Christian does not mean you belong to a particular political party or that you’re just an all-around nice person. We need a desire to change and then be willing to allow God to change our heart. It’s not something that we can do directly ourselves, but it is something we can allow God to do in us.
According to Clarke, Jews of the time “held that the Gentile who became a proselyte was like a newborn child.” It seems that the confusion was that Jesus was applying this to all men, not just Gentiles, but also Jews. This seemed to be a new teaching. “Every man must have two births: one from heaven, the other from earth – one of his body, the other of his soul… As there is an absolute necessity that a child should be born into the world, that he may see its light, contemplate its glories, and enjoy its good, so there is an absolute necessity that they should be brought out of its state of darkness and sin, through the light and power of the grace of Christ, that it may be able to see, or to ‘discern,’ the glories and excellencies of the kingdom of Christ here, and be prepared for the enjoyment of the Kingdom of glory hereafter… [The Jews] acknowledged that a man must be born again; but they made that new birth to consist in profession, confession, and external washing. The new birth which is here spoken of comprehends not only what is termed justification or pardon but also sanctification or holiness.” (Clarke) Just as we did nothing to earn our first birth, there is nothing we can do to earn a rebirth. The first was of our mother; the second was of God. But it is not us doing the work. It is our mother for one and our God for the other.
“The word translated here ‘again’ means also ‘from above,’ and is so rendered in the margin… To escape from sin, to be happy in the world to come, it is necessary that man should be changed in his principles, his feelings, and his manner of life. This change, or the beginning of this new life, is called the ‘new birth,’ or ‘regeneration.’ It is so called because in many respects it has a striking analogy to the natural birth. It is the beginning of spiritual life… The word with them meant a change from the state of a pagan to that of a Jew. But they never used it as applicable to a Jew, because they supposed that by his birth every Jew was entitled to all the privileges of the people of God.” (Barnes) “But they are mistaken who suppose that the kingdom of God means Heaven; for it rather means the spiritual life, which is begun by faith in this world, and gradually increases every day according to the continued progress of faith.” (Calvin)
Wesley explains, “unless thou be born again – Otherwise thou canst not see, that is, experience and enjoy, either the inward or the glorious kingdom of God. In this solemn discourse our Lord shows, that no external profession, no ceremonial ordinance or privileges of birth, could entitle any to the blessings of the Messiah’s kingdom: that an entire change of heart as well as of life was necessary for that purpose: that this could only be wrought in man by the almighty power of God: that every man born into the world was by nature in a state of sin, condemnation, and misery: that the free mercy of God had given his Son to deliver them from it, and to raise them to a blessed immortality: that all mankind, Gentiles as well as Jews, might share in these benefits, procured by his being lifted up on the cross, and to be received by faith in him: but that if they rejected him, their eternal, aggravated condemnation, would be the certain consequence… If our Lord by being born again means only reformation of life, instead of making any new discovery, he has only thrown a great deal of obscurity on what was before plain and obvious.”
“To the baptism of water a man was admitted when he became a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and, in this baptism, he promised in the most solemn manner to renounce idolatry, to take the God of Israel for his God, and to have his life conformed to the precepts of the divine law. But the water which was used on the occasion was only an emblem of the Holy Spirit. The soul was considered as in a state of defilement because of past sin. Now as by that water the body was washed, cleansed, and refreshed, so by the influences of the Holy Spirit, the soul was to be purified from its defilement and strengthened to walk in the way of truth and holiness.” (Clarke) “Except he experience that great inward change by the Spirit, and be baptized (whatever baptism can be had) as the outward sign and means of it… Mere flesh, void of the Spirit… that which is born of the Spirit is spirit – Is spiritual, heavenly, divine, like its Author… To be born again, is to be inwardly changed from all sinfulness to all holiness.” (Wesley)
Born of water refers to physical birth. Born of the Spirit refers to spiritual rebirth. It is not just a matter of carrying out a ceremony. “The new birth which is here spoken of comprehends, not only what is termed justification or pardon, but also sanctification or holiness. Sin must be pardoned, and the impurity of the heart washed away, before any soul can possibly enter into the kingdom of God… he who is born of God knows that he is thus born: the Spirit itself, the grand agent in this new birth, beareth witness with his spirit, that he is born of God” (Clarke) “Chrysostom, with whom the greater part of expounders agree, makes the word Water refer to baptism. The meaning would then be, that by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, because in baptism we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Hence arose the belief of the absolute necessity of baptism, in order to the hope of eternal life. But though we were to admit that Christ here speaks of baptism, yet we ought not to press his words so closely as to imagine that he confines salvation to the outward sign; but, on the contrary, he connects the Water with the Spirit, because under that visible symbol he attests and seals that newness of life which God alone produces in us by his Spirit.” (Calvin)
“Two things were necessary to be born of water, and of the Spirit. Water cleanses. And, spiritually, in his affections, heart, conscience, thoughts, actions, etc., man lives, and in practice is morally purified, through the application, by the power of the Spirit, of the word of God, which judges all things, and works in us livingly new thoughts and affections.” (Darby) John is pointing to the spiritual significance of water as a representation of renewal by the washing away of our sins while also referring Nicodemus back to the water of childbirth to make clear what he means by a new birth. A person is born of water, but to be born of the Spirit is something new. “To be born again is to be born of water and of the Spirit, that is, of the Spirit working like water, as (Mt. 3:11) with the Holy Ghost and with fire means with the Holy Ghost as with fire… the Spirit, in sanctifying a soul, (1.) Cleanses and purifies it as water, takes away its filth, by which it was unfit for the kingdom of God. It is the washing of regeneration,” (Matthew Henry)
“So far as relates to this passage, I cannot bring myself to believe that Christ speaks of baptism; for it would have been inappropriate… By water, therefore, is meant nothing more than the inward purification and invigoration which is produced by the Holy Spirit.” (Calvin) That water refers to the first birth is supported by the next verse which distinguishes flesh from spirit. Our first birth is one of the flesh, with its sinful nature. The second birth is spiritual. We get into all kinds of problems when we equate the rite of water baptism in the church with the new birth. In adults, it can be sign that we have been reborn but the doctrine of baptismal regeneration in infants makes many believe they have experienced the new birth when they evidently have not. “I have been baptized,” they say. “If I am good and go to church, I will be saved.” That is not what the Bible teaches.
Clarke is very clear in showing that Jesus means more than washing with water in baptism. In the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist explains that there is more than his water baptism, for when Jesus comes, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). “Our Lord asserts that a man must be born of water and the Spirit, i.e. of the Holy Ghost, which, represented under the similitude of water, cleanses, refreshes, and purifies the soul… He who receives not this baptism has neither right nor title to the kingdom of God; nor can he with any propriety be termed a Christian, because that which essentially distinguished the Christian dispensation from that of the Jews was, that its author baptized all his followers with the Holy Ghost.” (Clarke)
“Christ here shows that it is necessary in the nature of the thing, for we are not fit to enter into the kingdom of God till we are born again… We are flesh, not only corporeal but corrupt, Gen. 6:3. The soul is still a spiritual substance, but so wedded to the flesh, so captivated by the will of the flesh, so in love with the delights of the flesh, so employed in making provision for the flesh, that it is mostly called flesh; it is carnal. And what communion can there be between God, who is a spirit, and a soul in this condition? … The corrupt nature, which is flesh, takes rise from our first birth; and therefore the new nature, which is spirit, must take rise from a second birth… It is not enough to put on a new coat or a new face, but we must put on the new man, we must be new creatures.” (Matthew Henry) We must be made new, for our nature is fleshly, not spiritual. In this grace of God is our hope.
The confusion arises because of the belief in baptismal regeneration in Catholic doctrine that has pervaded many of the traditional denominations. Parents fear for their unbaptized children, that they may go to hell when they die because they have not passed through the rite of water baptism. But water baptism is not some magical event that causes the new birth. “No. Jesus tells you, a man must be born of water and the Spirit; and the water, and its effects upon the body, differ as much from this Spirit, which it is intended to represent, and the effects produced in the soul, as real fire does from painted flame.” (Clarke)
A sacrament has two parts, “The outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace,” as Clarke points out in the baptismal covenant of the Anglican church, The inward and spiritual grace is “A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness; for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.” What Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus, that the teacher did not understand, is that it is not the water and the ceremony that make this change. “Whereby are such persons made the children of grace? Not by the water, but by the death unto sin, and the new birth unto righteousness: i.e. through the agency of the Holy Ghost, sin is destroyed, and the soul filled with holiness.” (Clarke)
The Bible here does not really explain how we are to be born again, just that we must be. It does not say we are born again by baptism. However, John 1:12-13 tells us how to become a child of God, which is the same as being born again. The requirement? all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name. “Let us not doubt that by the Spirit of God we are formed again and made new men, though his manner of doing this be concealed from us.” (Calvin) We can also look to verse 13, where Jesus “again exhorts Nicodemus not to trust to himself and his own sagacity, because no mortal man can, by his own unaided powers, enter into heaven, but only he who goes thither under the guidance of the Son of God.” (Calvin)
I would like to see a paragraph break at verse 8, as it introduces the effects of this spiritual birth, while the first seven verses focus on the fact of rebirth. Clarke tells us that “the effects are as discernible and as sensible as those of the wind, but itself we cannot see… And so does this Spirit work in and by him that others, though they see not the principle, can easily discern the change produced.” Nicodemus would have been familiar the story in Ezekiel 36:22-38 where God promised to give the people a new heart and a new spirit. “Everyone that is born of the Spirit is, in some respects, like the effects of the wind. You see it not, you cannot discern its laws, but you see its effects, and you know therefore that it does exist and operate.” (Barnes)
The story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness comes from Numbers 21:4-9. God released venomous snakes among the people because of their injustice and grumbling against Him. Those bitten by the snake can gaze upon a bronze serpent lifted high on a pole [representing the cross of Christ], and they will be healed. Nicodemus, as a teacher of Israel, would have been familiar with both stories but he had failed to see the connection of these with Jesus. “As the serpent was raised up, so shall Christ be lifted up: as they who were stung by the fiery serpents were restored by looking up to the brazen serpent, so those who are infected with and dying through sin are healed and saved, by looking up to and believing in Christ crucified.” (Clarke) Thus, one might argue that the Catholic who looks upon his crucifix is reminding himself of this work of our Lord.
“He must be lifted up, that hereby he may purchase salvation for all believers: all those who look to him by faith recover spiritual health, even as all that looked at that serpent recovered bodily health.” (Wesley) “The Son of man must be lifted up, even as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, that the curse, under which the people were dying, might be removed… It was necessary that the Son of man should be lifted up, rejected from the earth by man, accomplishing the atonement before the God of righteousness.” (Darby)
“There is no cure by human means for the maladies of the soul; and as the people who were bitten might look on the image of the serpent and be healed, so may sinners look to the Saviour and be cured of the moral maladies of our nature.” (Barnes) When we enter the church, our eyes should be upon Jesus. For many, the empty cross helps remind us of that. Others may need more to remind them of the story. But whether the meeting room is plain or elaborate, people worshipping together can be assured that the Holy Spirit is there amongst them and that they may experience the presence of Christ and look upon him, if only they open their spiritual eyes to do so. “All may come and be saved.” (Barnes) “To be lifted up means to be placed in a lofty and elevated situation, so as to be exhibited to the view of all. This was done by the preaching of the Gospel; for the explanation of it which some give, as referring to the cross, neither agrees with the context nor is applicable to the present subject. The simple meaning of the words therefore is, that, by the preaching of the Gospel, Christ was to be raised on high, like a standard to which the eyes of all would be directed, as Isaiah had foretold,” (Calvin)
Salvation for the World
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. 18 He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
What does it mean that God so loved the world? “This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was ‘earnestly desirous’ of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the Happiness of those who are sinful. ‘He hates the sin, but loves the sinner.’ A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child.” (Barnes) Jesus is God, who is always compassionate and welcoming to all people. No one is excluded from His love. “While life is promised universally to all who believe in Christ, still faith is not common to all. For Christ is made known and held out to the view of all, but the elect alone are they whose eyes God opens, that they may seek him by faith.” (Calvin)
“It was the opinion of the Jews that the Gentiles, whom they often term the world… were to be destroyed in the days of the Messiah. Christ corrects this false opinion; and teaches here a contrary doctrine. God, by giving his Son, and publishing his design in giving him, shows that he purposes the salvation, not the destruction, of the world.” (Clarke) What matters is the belief and not the heredity. The condemnation was not “that they lived many years in the practice of sin, which is true; but because they refused to receive the salvation which God sent to them.” (Clarke) It is our choice. “They chose to walk in the darkness, that they might do the works of darkness – they broke the Divine law, refused the mercy offered to them, are arrested by Divine justice, convicted, condemned, and punished. Whence, then, does their damnation proceed? From Themselves.” (Clarke)
“To believe on him is to feel and act according to truth that is, to go as lost sinners, and act toward him as a Saviour from sins; relying on him, and looking to him ‘only’ for salvation [and to no other]… When a stoner, therefore, believes on Jesus, he trusts in him as having died in his place, and God having accepted the offering which Christ made in our stead, as being an equivalent for our sufferings in hell, there is now no further condemnation.” (Barnes) Note that in the nineteenth century, a stoner was a drunk (intoxicated with alcohol, not cannabis), as in stone drunk. The widespread use of cannabis at the time did not have the pejorative connotations it gained in the 1930s.
Wicked men “choose to practice their deeds of wickedness in darkness. They are afraid of the light, because they could be easily detected. Hence, most crimes are committed in the night. So with the sinner against God. He hates the gospel, for it condemns his conduct, and his conscience would trouble him if it were enlightened.” This explains why many who may go to church out of duty stay away from small groups or Bible studies where they may become convicted of their sins. They just want to go through the motions and not face up to their failings. But in avoiding confrontation with Christ they also lose out on the new life He alone can give them.
John the Baptist
22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
According to Clarke, “The Jewish custom required the persons to stand in the water, and having been instructed, and entered into a covenant to renounce all idolatry, and take the God of Israel for their God, then plunge themselves under the water.” But Barnes points out, “As all the facts in the case are fully met by the supposition that John might have baptized in some other way besides immersion, and as it is easy to conceive another reason that is sufficient to account for the fact that such a place was selected, this passage certainly should not be adduced to prove that he performed baptism only in that manner.” I suppose this is to justify sprinkling, as Barnes was a Presbyterian.
The jealousy of John the Baptist’s disciples is not different from our modern denominational jealousies, which were just as heated in the nineteenth century as they are today. “Many love their sect more than they do Christ, and would be more rejoiced that a man became a Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Baptist, than that he became a sincere and humble Christian. This is not the spirit of the gospel. True piety teaches us to rejoice that sinners turn to Christ and become holy, whether they follow us or not.” (Barnes) “They who draw the Church to themselves rather than to Christ are guilty of basely violating the marriage which they ought to have honored.” (Calvin)
Water is for washing, as fire is for purifying what is in the old man. The Spirit is what empowers the new man. The apostle John appears to be less concerned about the ordinances that are found taught in the synoptic Gospels. Rather, he focuses on their spiritual meaning. The excursus on the Baptist is to clarify that we are to look to Christ, not to the rite of baptism. The teaching on the bridegroom emphasizes this point.
God is True
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness. 33 He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Wesley tells us that these words were not spoken by John the Baptist, but were commentary added by the author of the Gospel. They summarize the teaching that Jesus conveyed to Nicodemus. Calvin summarizes it this way, “all are not agreed as to the way in which the life of Christ comes to us. Some understand it thus: ‘as by believing we receive the Spirit, who regenerates us in order to justification, by that very regeneration we obtain salvation.’ For my own part, though I acknowledge it to be true, that we are renewed by faith, so that the Spirit of Christ governs us, yet I say that we ought first to take into consideration the free forgiveness of sins, through which we are accepted by God. Again, I say that on this all our confidence of salvation is founded, and in this it consists; because justification before God cannot be reckoned to us in any other way than when he does not impute to us our sins.”
We have the Holy Spirit in us as a gift of God, which renews us and brings us new life. It is something we carry inside us. Jesus was one with the Spirit. “The Spirit was not in Christ as in a vessel, but as in a fountain, as in a bottomless ocean. ‘The prophets that had the Spirit in a limited manner, only with respect to some particular revelation, sometimes spoke of themselves; but he that had the Spirit always residing in him, without stint, always spoke the words of God.’ So Dr. Whitby…It is the character of every true Christian that he believes on the Son of God; not only believes him, that what he saith is true, but believes on him, consents to him, and confides in him… True believers, even now, have everlasting life; not only they shall have it hereafter, but they have it now… An unbeliever is one that gives not credit to the doctrine of Christ, nor is in subjection to the government of Christ.” (Matthew Henry)
Videos
You Must be Born Again: John 3:1-21 (Tim Keller)
When Religion Misses the Point: John 3:2 (Colin Smith)
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ: John 3:9-16 (Colin Smith)
He Brings Joy: John 3:21-30 (Colin Smith)
Making a Difference in the World 