Born of the Spirit (John 3:1-36)

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: ²the 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. ³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴Nicodemus 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? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. ⁸The 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. ⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? ¹¹Verily, 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. ¹²If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. ¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; ¹⁵that 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.

Nicodemus was confused by the answer Jesus gave. We are not sure why. 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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

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)

Salvation for the World

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. ¹⁸He 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. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. ²¹But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

“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)

John the Baptist

²²After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. ²³And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. ²⁴For John was not yet cast into prison. ²⁵There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purifying. ²⁶And they came unto John, and same baptizeth, and all men come to him. ²⁷John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. ²⁸Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. ²⁹He 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. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

Clarke 3:23 “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.”

God is True

³¹He 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. ³²What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness. ³³He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure. ³⁵The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. ³⁶He 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.