Above? Again?

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John 3:1-8

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to 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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 
 

In chapters 2–4, Jesus keeps interacting with an important Jewish institution or theme, and through each interaction, Jesus further reveals who He is and that what He is able to do far exceeds what the Old Covenant could offer. He then offers His hearers a choice to either turn toward Him in faith and believe, or turn away from Him in unbelief. Here, Jesus interacts with a “teacher of Israel” (3:10), that is, the Jewish leadership and authority structure. Once again, the interaction will show that Jesus is superior to what has come before.

You will not understand this interchange between Nicodemus and Jesus if you don’t understand that in Greek the same word means “again” and “from above.”

Jesus tells Nicodemus that the only way to take part in what God is doing and live in the eternal life of God (“see the kingdom of God”) is to totally reorient one’s life to live it according to God’s perspective and God’s values, that is, to be “born from above” through the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus is saying that for a person to live in God’s life it will require a radical reorientation of a person’s life, a reorientation—as He will explain to Nicodemus later on—that is only possible through the Holy Spirit. This is how it works:

  • The Old Testament Law offered life to those who obeyed it but death to those who disobeyed it;

  • The Father Himself fulfilled the Law’s demands by sending His own Son.

  • Jesus, as the faithful Israelite, perfectly followed the Law, thereby bringing life and blessing to all who trust Him;

  • While at the same time God condemned sin once and for all by nailing it to the cross and thereby defeating it;

  • The Son of God died in place of unfaithful Israel, and He brought sin down with Him;

  • Sin and death stayed dead, but Jesus was raised to new life in the power of the Spirit;

  • And now those who trust Jesus live by the Spirit, who enables them to actually fulfill the Law and live righteous lives;

  • Living in the Spirit is eternal life, which the Son came to bring.

And how does one receive this Spirit-life? Through a radical reordering of one’s life that begins with repentance or turning back from destruction, asking for mercy, and trusting that Jesus offers life. Jesus’s shorthand way of explaining all of this to Nicodemus is summed up this way: “You have to be born from above.” And the beautiful thing is that this life is available to anyone, anywhere—“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (v.8).

Nicodemus is a member of the Jewish religious establishment, but he totally missed the point; rather, he thick-headedly thinks Jesus is talking about literally being born through childbirth a second time!

Jesus is talking about how the Holy Spirit changes a person, but Nicodemus totally misses it.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
The same blindness is constantly present around us. If people decide to turn aside from God, they are more and more lost, more and more blind. But, if people turn toward God in faith, then they see more and more clearly through the power of the Holy Spirit. This explains how something can be so obvious to us in the church and yet the world can totally miss it.

 

What Does It Mean to Be "Born Again"?

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Today’s Reading: John 3:1-21

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a mem- ber of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be sur- prised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and
we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not be- lieve; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Every- one who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

 
 

Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. He’s a member of the religious establishment, and the conversation he has with Jesus shows just how little the establishment understands about what Jesus is doing.

In Greek, the same word means both “again” and “from above.” Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born from above, and Nicode- mus thinks he means born again—he doesn’t get it. Jesus goes on to explain that the new thing that God is doing will require a complete change in a person, a change as drastic as being born all over again. And, Jesus explains, this new way of living is a gift from God—the Spirit of God makes it possible.

To be “born from above” or “born again” is to commit to the Jesus way, and to relearn how to live life in his image. What does that look like? It looks like the kind of life Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount.