Reading for June 26: John 3:4-8

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, "Most assuredly, 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 the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
John 3:4-8 (NKJV)

Comments:

Nicodemus responds to Jesus with basically the same question we left with yesterday: "How can one be born again?" You can see by the way Nicodemus ask the question that he is way off in thinking; he is stuck using physical laws and circumstances to try and understand what Jesus had said. When he heard born, he immediately reflected back on the first birth, the birth of the flesh. Jesus redirects to the spiritual realm with His next statements.

Jesus again gives him a condition that must be met before he can enter the kingdom of God. This time Jesus puts it like this, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Before it was "must be born again," now it is "born of water and the Spirit;" so to be born again must mean to be born of water and the Spirit. But what does that mean to be born of water and Spirit?

The water part is the most difficult to answer, there lots of ideas about what is meant here, but I think (supported by a lot of people much smarter than me) that the water represents an act of cleansing. In the Old Testament, water was used on many occasions to represent spiritual renewal and cleansing. A good example of this is Ezekiel 36:24-27. In that passage, God tells the nation of Israel that He will sprinkle clean water on them and they will be clean, that they will have a new heart, a new Spirit within that will cause them to walk in His statutes (read the passage, it's amazing). So, when Jesus says we must be born of water, He is saying we need to be cleansed by God's clean water. Then once that cleansing takes place, our desires change so we are then, and only then, able to fully summit to God in repentance. But, like I said, what is meant by "born of water" is a bit of a controversy so dig into that yourself and see what you come up with.

The second half of Jesus statement is more clear; to be "born of the Spirit" most definitely means that an interaction with the Holy Spirit is required prior to anyone entering into the kingdom. If you go back to the passage in Ezekiel (and many others), you can see that it is the Spirit that is ultimately responsible for changing a person's heart. With this in mind reflect back to what we read at the end of chapter 2, remember how Jesus does not "commit" Himself to those that "believed in His name." Now we can speculate why that was; they had not been cleansed. Their heart was still full of sin and unsuitable for Jesus and the kingdom of God. The same is true for Nicodemus, he thought that the externals of his life were good enough, but Jesus explains to him that much more is required; it has to be something internal.

This internal/external thing is what Jesus is talking about when He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Flesh can only affect flesh, it takes God, as The Spirit, to change one's spirit, that is one's inner being.

This stuff is hard, I know, but Jesus knew that it would be hard for us to understand. That is why He gives us verses 7 and 8. Just like the wind, the Holy Spirit cannot be controlled or completely understood, but also just like the wind, when the Spirit works there is undeniable and unmistakable evidence.

These things that Jesus is teaching Nicodemus, and us, are just the beginning of the story. This is telling us what has to happen before we can enter into the kingdom. It shows us that it is our own sin that is keeping us separated from God. It leaves us in a state of need, the need for salvation, the need for a savior.