Born Again by Water and Spirit

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The following 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 one-time? He cannot enter a second time into his mother'due south 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 mankind, and that which is built-in of the Spirit is spirit. Do not exist amazed that I said to y'all, 'You must be born once more.' The air current blows where it wishes and you hear the audio of information technology, merely do non know where information technology comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (3:iv–eight)

Jesus' shocking statement was far more than Nicodemus had expected. Incredulous, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and exist born, tin can he?" Certainly, this highly educated Pharisee was non and then obtuse as to accept misinterpreted Jesus' words in a simplistically literal sense. He knew our Lord was non talking about existence physically reborn, simply he replied in the context of the Lord's analogy. How could he beginning all over, get back to the start? Jesus was telling him that entrance to God's salvation 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 aforementioned fourth dimension, he clearly could not grasp the total meaning of what that meant. His questions convey his confusion, equally he openly wondered at the impossibility of Christ'due south argument. Jesus was request for something that was non humanly possible (to exist born once again); He was making entrance into the kingdom contingent on something that could non be obtained through human being endeavor. Simply if that was true, what did it hateful for Nicodemus'due south works-based arrangement? If spiritual rebirth, like concrete rebirth, was impossible from a man standpoint, and then where did that go out this cocky-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 later say to His disciples, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark x:24). By calling him to exist built-in again, Jesus challenged this most religious Jew to admit his spiritual defalcation and abandon everything he was trusting in for conservancy. That is precisely what Paul did, every bit he declared in Philippians 3:8–9:

More 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 then that I may proceeds Christ, and may be found in Him, non having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, simply that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Jesus answered Nicodemus'due south 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 have been offered to explicate the phrase born of h2o. Some run into two births here, 1 natural, and the other spiritual. Proponents of this view translate the h2o every bit the amniotic fluid that flows from the womb simply before childbirth. Just it is not clear that the ancients described natural nascence in that fashion. Further, the phrase born of h2o and the Spirit parallels the phrase "born again" in verse 3; thus, but one birth is in view. Others come across in the phrase born of water a reference to baptism, either that of John the Baptist, or Christian baptism. Simply Nicodemus would non have understood Christian baptism (which did not yet be) nor misunderstood John the Baptist'southward baptism. Nor would Jesus have refrained from baptizing people (iv:2) if baptism were necessary for conservancy. Still others see the phrase as a reference to Jewish ceremonial washings, which being born of the Spirit transcends. However the two terms are not in contrast with each other, just combine to form a parallel with the phrase "built-in again" in poesy 3. (For a careful examination of the various interpretations of born of water, run into 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 (v. x), it must have been something with which he was familiar. Water and Spirit ofttimes refer symbolically in the Old Testament to spiritual renewal and cleansing (cf. Num. xix:17–19; Isa. 4:4; 32:15; 44:three; 55:ane; Joel 2:28–29; Zech. 13:one). In one of the virtually glorious passages in all of Scripture describing State of israel'due south restoration to the Lord by the new covenant, God said through Ezekiel,

For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you lot into your own country. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you volition be clean; I will cleanse y'all from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I volition remove the heart of stone from your flesh and requite you a heart of mankind. I will put My Spirit within you and crusade you to walk in My statutes, and you volition exist careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek. 36:24–27)

Information technology was surely this passage that Jesus had in mind, showing regeneration to exist an Old Attestation truth (cf. Deut. 30:6; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. eleven:18–20) with which Nicodemus would have been acquainted. Against this Sometime Testament properties, Christ'due south point was unmistakable: Without the spiritual washing of the soul, a cleansing accomplished only by the Holy Spirit (Titus three:five) through the Word of God (Eph. 5:26), no one can enter God'south kingdom.

Jesus continued by further emphasizing that this spiritual cleansing is wholly a piece of work of God, and not the result of man effort: "That which is born of the mankind is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Only as but human being nature can beget human nature, then also only the Holy Spirit can effect spiritual transformation. The term flesh (sarx) here refers merely to human nature (as it does in 1:thirteen–14); in this context, information technology does not have the negative moral connotation that information technology frequently does in Paul's writings (e.thou., Rom. 8:ane–viii, 12–13). Even if a physical rebirth were possible, information technology would produce only flesh. Thus, only the Spirit can produce the spiritual birth required for entrance into God'southward kingdom. Regeneration is entirely His piece of work, unaided by any human being attempt (cf. Rom. 3:25).

Although Jesus' words were based on Old Attestation 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 difficult to call back otherwise. Enlightened of his astonishment, Jesus connected, "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' " The verb translated must is a potent term; John used information technology elsewhere in his gospel to refer to the necessity of the crucifixion (three:14; 12:34), of John the Baptist'due south inferiority to Christ (iii:xxx), of the proper method of worshiping God (4:24), of Jesus carrying out His ministry building (4:4; 9:four; x:16), and of the necessity of the resurrection (20:9). It was absolutely necessary for Nicodemus to get over his astonishment at being and then wrong about how 1 is accustomed into God's kingdom and seek to be born again if he was to enter. And he could never do so based on his ain righteous works.

And then the Lord illustrated His point with a familiar example from nature: "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is anybody who is born of the Spirit." The wind cannot exist controlled; it blows where it wishes. And though its full general management can exist known, where information technology comes from and where it is going cannot be precisely determined. Nevertheless, the wind's furnishings can be observed. The same is true of the work of the Spirit. His sovereign work of regeneration in the human centre can neither exist controlled nor predicted. Still its effects can exist seen in the transformed lives of those who are born of the Spirit.

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Source: https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0302/what-does-it-mean-to-be-born-of-water-and-spirit