John 3:1-12
We have heard a great deal about the new birth, yet it remains a classic, ever-relevant, truly vital theme. Without the new birth a person cannot so much as glimpse the kingdom of God, cannot understand the language of the Holy Spirit, and cannot grasp the things of God. No one who is not born again will be raised from the dead. To be saved, a person must be born again. The foundational New Testament passage that speaks of the new birth is John 3:1-12.
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member 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 surprised 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 believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? (John 3:1-12)
WHAT IS THE NEW BIRTH?
First of all, I want to point out that the new birth has nothing to do with “reincarnation.” According to the Eastern religions, a person is reborn countless times until reaching some kind of perfection. But such a teaching runs completely contrary to the Bible. According to the New Testament, a person is destined to die once, and after that comes judgment. There is no room whatsoever for any cycles of reincarnation. We are responsible for our lives, and we must not allow anything to deceive us on this question.
The new birth is a supernatural and instantaneous change, worked by the Holy Spirit in the nature of the person who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is a radical change, and since this change is an act of the Holy Spirit, it is a spiritual change. It does not happen gradually, but all at once.
Through the new birth a person becomes a “new person” or a “new creation.”
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:15)
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:9-11)
The new birth is not some improvement of things. It is the re-creation of something that had degenerated. In the New Testament the word for new birth, “palingenesia,” is used in only two places — once for the whole universe and once for the one who has believed in Christ.
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28)
Here the words of Jesus sound as though at His coming the whole universe will be born again.
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5)
Unlike the previous verse, here we read of a personal new birth of the one who has believed in Christ.
The new birth is not a New Testament idea. Already the prophet Ezekiel spoke of a “new heart” and a “new spirit” that are willing to carry out God’s will (Ezekiel 36:26-27):
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
WHO NEEDS THE NEW BIRTH?
Because sin and spiritual ruin are universal, the need for the new birth is universal. To describe the condition of sinful humanity, theologians use the term “total depravity.” The fall has affected every single part of the human being — spirit, soul, and body.
Spiritually — a person is dead. “Dead” does not mean that he has ceased to exist, but that he is “separated from God.” In Ephesians 2:1-3 the apostle Paul reminds the Ephesians what their condition was before the intervention of God’s grace:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Without God a person is “dead,” carried along by the current of the world, ruled by Satan (the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”), a slave to the cravings of the flesh, and condemned to eternal ruin. That is precisely why he must be “raised” (“made alive”), or born again.
Intellectually — without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit a person cannot understand the things of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 the apostle Paul says:
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
In Ephesians 4:18 the apostle Paul calls people of the flesh those who are “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them.” Was not Nicodemus the same? When the Lord began to explain the new birth to him, this “teacher of Israel” exclaimed, “How can this be?” He did not understand. And what did Jesus say to him?
You are Israel’s teacher, 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 believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? (John 3:10-12)
Physically — a person grows sick and dies. Sin brought death. In Romans 5:12-14 the apostle Paul says:
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14)
In the Bible we find the understanding that what happened to our first parents also happened to us, since we were “in them” when they did it. That is why, when Adam sinned, all sinned, even though they had not personally committed Adam’s sin, since they had not yet been born. Nevertheless, we are all reckoned sinners, and the fact that we all die proves it.
Since total depravity has laid hold of every part of human nature — the spirit, soul, and body of all people — all people need the new birth.
The new birth is not only for “terrible sinners.” It is for people such as:
- Nicodemus — a teacher of Israel and a man of fine reputation (John 3:1)
- Cornelius — a devout, God-fearing, and generous man (Acts 10:1-2)
- The Ethiopian — a man who was reading the Bible (Acts 8:26-39)
- Sergius Paulus — an intelligent man (Acts 13:7)
- Lydia — a God-fearing businesswoman (Acts 16:14)
- James 1:18
- 1 Peter 1:23
- 1 John 3:9
- 1 John 2:29
- 1 John 5:18
- Do you have the witness of the Spirit in your heart?
- What are your values, goals, and priorities? Do they line up with the teaching of Jesus and the apostles?
- Do you practice a holy life? Is there a difference between what you used to be and what you are now?
- Are you striving toward Christlikeness?
MISTAKEN NOTIONS ABOUT THE NEW BIRTH
The new birth does not come about because of a person’s good life. Morality is the evidence and fruit of the new birth, but it is not its root. Some people think that if our good deeds outweigh our bad ones, then God will take that into account and will not destroy us. But such thoughts are utterly immoral in light of the sacrifice God made to save people from sin and to give them eternal life. In Galatians 2:21 the apostle Paul says:
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21)
If we could be saved by our deeds alone, without the sacrifice of the cross, God would not have sent His Son to die for us and to pour out His blood.
The new birth cannot come about through the keeping of religious customs, nor through church membership, baptism, or participation in the Lord’s Supper. To replace personal faith in Christ with formalism means to reject the need for a sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath against us sinners. All these false means bypass living faith and sincere repentance, a holy life and intimate fellowship with God.
Without prior repentance, receiving Christ, and confessing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, baptism is merely a pointless dunking — a dry sinner goes in and a wet sinner comes out. In 1 Peter 3:21 the apostle speaks of the “water” that “symbolizes baptism that now saves you also — not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God — by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” For the unrepentant, baptism is only “the removal of dirt from the body.” For the one who has repented, it is an act of obedience. Through his baptism a person declares before God, before the church, and before the world that he identifies and is joined with Christ in His death and resurrection, that he has submitted to the gospel and become a humble follower of Christ. In Romans 6:3-4 the apostle Paul says:
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)
Without such participation in Christ and identification with Him, baptism is meaningless. It should not take place before the new birth.
THE HUMAN ROLE IN THE NEW BIRTH
The new birth is absolutely divine and comes from above. Only God can bring about the new birth. Yet people, too, have their responsibilities in it. Believers have the responsibility to preach the gospel and to pray, while unbelievers have the responsibility to respond to God’s invitation to salvation.
Our duty as believers is to preach Christ (Romans 10:13-14).
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (Romans 10:13-14)
Even if the gospel seems foolish, it is the way by which God saves people (1 Corinthians 1:21).
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21)
Our responsibility is not only to preach, but also to pray for the unbelievers. In Romans 10:1 the apostle Paul shares:
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1)
Our prayer should be both for a greater openness among the unsaved to God’s message and for the workers who carry it to them (Matthew 9:37-38).
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)
THE CONDITIONS FOR THE NEW BIRTH
To be born again, a person must humble himself. One of the greatest obstacles to salvation is pride. It keeps a person from accepting God’s gracious offers. Many people take pride in their goodness and in the fact that they keep the Ten Commandments. That is why, when we preach, it is important not to hold up the keeping of God’s law as a way to reach salvation. Instead, we must help people, in the light of the perfection of God’s Law, to see their sin and so to realize that they cannot save themselves but need a Savior. This will humble them and prepare them for the new birth. Only those who are willing to humble themselves can enter the kingdom of God. In Luke 18:17 Jesus said:
17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. (Luke 18:17)
What are little children like? Humble, pure-hearted, trusting, sincere, and simple. Such we, too, must become if we want to be born again.
The other condition for the new birth is faith. In John 3:14-15 we read:
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. (John 3:14-15)
In 1 John 5:11-13 the apostle adds:
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13)
Whoever believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has eternal life. But this faith must be not merely some intellectual agreement, but a willing reception of Christ with our whole heart — will, emotions, and intellect. Christ does not enter our hearts “with thunder and lightning.” The door opens from the inside, and for Him to enter He waits for our invitation. In Revelation 3:20 He says:
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelation 3:20)
GOD’S ROLE IN THE NEW BIRTH
When a person fulfills the conditions of humility, faith, and repentance, it is God who brings about the new birth. In John 1:12-13 we read:
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)
“God” in these verses is God the Father. He is our heavenly Father. But in the process of the new birth not only God the Father takes part, but also the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. Recall that in Titus 3:5 we read of “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” And Jesus Himself said in John 3:5-8:
5 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 surprised 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. (John 3:5-8)
The new creation is born of the Spirit. To be born “from above” means to be born of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the Holy Spirit works together with the Word of God. It is His instrument or means in the work of the new birth. The verses that reveal this mystery to us are these:
18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:18)
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)
After all that has been said so far, we can say that the new birth is a secret, a mystery, and yet it is a reality. We cannot watch the process unfold or explain the mechanism by which it happens, but we can see its effects and experience it (John 3:8).
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. (John 3:8)
We cannot pinpoint the exact moment at which the new birth takes place. We can mark the moment of our turning to God, of our believing and repenting; we can mark the moment of our baptism in water and our baptism with the Holy Spirit; but we cannot say exactly when the new birth occurs. While we do our part, God does His.
The question is not to say exactly when we were born again; the question is to have the effects of the new birth in our lives and to live a true and victorious Christian life.
HOW CAN WE TELL THAT A PERSON IS BORN AGAIN?
First, the born-again person is aware of the change God has worked in him. From the moment of his new birth he has in his heart the witness of the Holy Spirit, who tells him that he is a child of God. In Galatians 4:6 the apostle Paul says:
6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
In Romans 8:14-16 he confirms:
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:14-16)
Second, the born-again person no longer wishes to live in sin. His old, sinful habits are replaced by new habits of righteousness. Sin ceases to be his practice. The verses that confirm this are:
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. (1 John 3:9)
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29)
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. (1 John 5:18)
The born-again person begins to love God in a special way — not only emotionally, but the center of his personal interest shifts onto God. In 1 John 4:19 we read:
19 We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Love for God is automatically redirected toward the brothers as well. In 1 John 4:20 the apostle John is emphatic:
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1 John 4:20)
In 1 John 3:14 the apostle John adds:
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14)
If there is no love in us for other believers, we can hardly be born again. It is precisely love for other people that assures us we are born again (1 John 4:7-8):
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
A person can be known to be born again by the fruits of the new birth — a striving toward a holy life and love for the brothers.
The new birth does not make a person perfect. It is a mistaken notion that immediately after the new birth a person must have all the fruit of the Spirit in fullness (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). No. The new birth is only the beginning of a long process of growth. This spiritual growth, however, could not happen without the “genes of God” that the Holy Spirit places in us at the new birth. When a baby is born, it does not immediately become a mature adult. Does anyone know of a baby that was born with the mind of an adult? Years pass during which its thinking and character are formed. But within it the process of growth and change is set. It is the same with the one who is spiritually born.
WHAT DOES GOD BRING US TO NEW BIRTH FOR?
God brings us to new birth so that in our development we may follow a certain model, and this model is Christ. The goal of every born-again child of God is to attain Christlikeness. In 1 John 3:2 the apostle says:
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
The goal of the new birth is that we become like Christ — spiritually, in character, and at last in nature.
This does not mean that our transformation according to the model of Christ will be postponed until His appearing. We must not wait a single moment. Our change must begin even now. In Ephesians 4:20-24 we read:
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
In Romans 13:14 the apostle Paul commands us, even now:
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. (Romans 13:14)
When we fail in our attempt to show the influence of the new birth in our lives, God will forgive us. But everyone who makes little or no effort to display the evidences of the new birth in his life should examine himself, whether he is in the faith. The fruit of the Spirit and the qualities of Jesus in us bear witness to us and to others that we are born again. The new birth does not come about through good works; God brings us to new birth for “good works” (Ephesians 2:10).
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
If the hope for Christ’s appearing is real in us, we will prepare ourselves for it (1 John 3:3).
3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)
The way to be transformed is to worship God continually and to look to Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
The culmination of the new birth is final glorification. In Romans 8:29-30 the apostle Paul explains it this way:
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)
The new birth is divine from beginning to end. It is a work that God performs “from above.”
THE GREAT “MUST” OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The new birth is the great “must” of the New Testament. The need for it is universal. It cannot be replaced by anything else. Therefore, humble yourself, believe in God’s plan of salvation, receive with meekness the word planted in your heart, and invite Jesus Christ to dwell in your life.
And if you think you are already born again, check whether the evidences of the new birth are present in your life.
Let us examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith, and if we have gone astray, let us repent.
And finally, if we are born again, let us not be selfish. Let us not keep the oil of eternal life only for ourselves. Let us take up our responsibility for the new birth of others as well — to pray for them and to share the gospel with them. If we do our part, then God will surely do His. Let us bow before Him and give thanks and glory to His Name. For He is worthy!