Born Again of Water and the Spirit | The Meaning of John 3:1-8

Topic: Born Again of Water and the Spirit

Reading: John 3:1-8

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicode’mus, 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 anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicode’mus 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 anew.’ 8 The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

Introduction and Overview

There is a fundamental concept in Christianity that all believers come up against. It is the need to be born again. The concept of being born again is about renewal and regeneration. It is about starting a new life and a new way of life. And Jesus explains these things in John 3:1-8, and in the few verses that follow.

But in Christianity it is more than that. In these verses we are instructed that we need to be born again of water and of the Spirit. It is more than a simple change of mindset. The purpose of being born again, and why it both matters and is necessary, is shown in these words today in John 3:1-8.

This is a faith based teaching. Being born again is not about a physical rebirth, but is a spiritual rebirth. Jesus was speaking in this section to Nicodemus. He was a leader of the Pharisees and ruler of the Jews, and a covert believer in Christ. And he wanted to understand who Christ was and what he was teaching. And Christ began His explanation teaching Nicodemus that being born again was the starting point. So, let’s look at what Jesus had to say.

Key points from reading:

• To both see and enter the kingdom of God a person must be born again.
• Being born again is not a physical rebirth, but a spiritual rebirth.
• There are two parts to being born again, water baptism and receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Discussion:

1. Scripture: John 3:1-2 – Nicodemus recognises Jesus is from God
   • The discussion between Nicodemus and Jesus occurs in secret and at night. As a leader of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews, clearly Nicodemus was concerned about his reputation. The Pharisees especially had made it their mission to get rid of this carpenter, Jesus, and so for Nicodemus to admit Jesus was a man of God would be difficult.
   • It is evident that Nicodemus either was a believer or came to be a believer. He recognised, and also showed that the Pharisees in general recognised that Jesus was a teacher come from God. He saw the signs that Jesus did and understood that Jesus would be unable to do what He did unless God was with Him. Nicodemus also pointed out that the Pharisees knew these things too, but were not prepared to accept it, as Jesus was undermining their power base. It became clear however, that Nicodemus did accept Jesus was from God, and we see he eventually came out of secret to show he believed as he defended Jesus at one time, and provided for His burial. (See John 7:50-51 and John 19:38-40)
   • We see also that Nicodemus respected Jesus and the teachings He taught. Although Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee, he deferred to Jesus calling Him both Teacher and Rabbi. He recognised the spiritual nature of the teachings of Jesus and sought to understand more. And Jesus began teaching Nicodemus advising of the need to be born again.
2. Scripture: John 3:3 – You must be born again
   • When Jesus began teaching Nicodemus, He said that for a person to see the kingdom of God, they must be born anew or born again. There is a need for renewal and a new beginning if we are to see the kingdom of God. Without being born again, then we will be unable to progress in Christ.
   • And we need to look at these words carefully. Jesus is not talking about just becoming a Christian here. He is not talking about salvation, which is based upon faith.
   • Jesus is talking about seeing the kingdom of God. This is something different to salvation. To be saved all we need to do is to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, and that God raised Him from the dead. These are the words of Romans 10:9-10, and are the base requirements for salvation. And there are many people who will be saved just on these two points alone.
   • But to see the kingdom of God and then to enter the kingdom of God is a further step. It is a deeper connection to the Lord and to God the Father. And Jesus is about to explain this to Nicodemus. It is important to understand these words and the need to be born again. Without being born again, a person cannot enter and cannot even SEE the kingdom of God. And there are many Christians today who are in that place. They believe and they go to church and they pray and so on, but they have not been born again and have not seen or entered the kingdom of God. Don’t get me wrong here, they will receive salvation and be saved, and the Lord loves them all greatly. But they have not seen the full picture. They have not been born again into the kingdom of God, and without being born again, the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is to transform a person into the image of Jesus Christ, cannot commence.
3. Scripture: John 3:4 – Being born again is not a physical thing
   • Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. Jesus told him that a person must be born again if they were to see the kingdom of God. But Nicodemus, having never heard such a concept before, was thinking of this in human terms.
   • It was a puzzle to him, and thankfully he did ask questions. If Nicodemus had understood immediately what Jesus was talking about, then Jesus would not have explained it so that we could understand today. And being born again is essential to understand if we want to both see and enter the kingdom of God, and I am certain every Christian wants this.
   • So Nicodemus posed the same questions most of us would have asked if we heard this concept for the first time. He was looking at this from a human perspective and trying to work out in his mind how a person could be reborn. How can a full grown man or woman go back into the womb to be born again? Surely it is impossible? And of course it is impossible to be born again of the flesh. Jesus clears all of this up in the next verses.
4. Scripture: John 3:5-6 – Born again of water and born again of the Spirit
   • Now we see Jesus explain to Nicodemus what it means to be born again. Jesus explains that a person must be born again of water, and born again of the Spirit. But what does that mean? What is being born again of water and the Spirit all about?
   • We get some insights into this in a few other scriptures. Jesus made the point in John 12:24 that in order for a new birth to occur, something must first die. He uses the analogy of a grain of cereal.
     
     Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)
     
     In this reference Jesus is actually talking about Himself. He was showing that He would not bear “much fruit” until He had died, and then been raised again to a new life. The new life He was resurrected to was a life in the Spirit. And it is the same for us. We must die and be resurrected to enter the new life. We must be born again through the death and resurrection of Jesus to enter this new life to bear fruit.
   • In this next verse we see Paul also use the death of a grain of cereal as being necessary before it can grow into a new life.
     
     35 But some one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. (1 Corinthians 15:35-37)
     
     Again we see this analogy to a grain of wheat where the grain does not come to life until it first dies. Until the wheat grain dies and is buried in soil, it remains dormant. But when it is sown, it dies and a new life is grown from the grain. One solitary grain grows into a stalk of wheat with a head that bears much fruit. The key to both of these verses is that for the wheat to be “born again” it must first die. And it is the same with Christians. If we are to be born again, we must first die. But how does that occur without us actually physically going through the throes of death? The next verse explains how this occurs.
   • 
     
     3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5)
     
     To be born again, we must first die. But the death we die is not our own. We take on the death of Christ Jesus as if it were our own. And we enter into His death, believing in faith that it is our own death, through the waters of baptism. This is what it means to be “born again of water.” We have to die to be born again, so we die with Christ in baptism to be also resurrected with Christ as we come up out of the water. And when we are raised out of the waters of baptism, we are effectively “born again” as new creations in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, we gain entry into the kingdom of God because we have died to this world and been raised to serve God.
   • This is a spiritual rebirth, but it is not complete until we also go through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are baptised in water to enter the kingdom of God, and we are baptised into the Holy Spirit by receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit to do the work of transformation in our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who becomes the one to teach, guide, counsel, protect, and transform our lives. Just as we have our own human spirit that guided us in the life in the flesh and of the kingdom of this world, so too we receive the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us in the ways of the kingdom of God that we have entered through being born again.
5. Scripture: John 3:7-8 – How to know you are born again of the Spirit
   • Now that we have been baptised in water and the Holy Spirit to be born again and to be able to see and enter the kingdom of God, how do we know we have received the indwelling Holy Spirit? This is a question that many Christians have. There are many who believe they have received the Holy Spirit, but how do they know? Jesus tells us in these two verses.
   • First Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’” Jesus was telling Nicodemus not to think this is something to marvel about. It is truly a simple and logical process that the Lord has established so that we can enter the kingdom of God. And the key is faith.
   • Jesus then continues to explain how a person can know if they have received the indwelling Holy Spirit. He gives the analogy of the wind, saying, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.” If you are inside a room, how can you know if the wind is blowing, especially if you can’t see out of the window? You know because you can hear the sound of the wind. You can hear the wind blowing in the rafters of the house or the trees, and when you hear it, you know the wind is blowing.
     
     Well, Jesus tells us that when we have been born again of the Holy Spirit, we will know we have received the indwelling Spirit in the same way as we know the wind is blowing. We cannot see the Spirit, just as we can’t see the wind. But we will HEAR the sound of the Spirit, just as we hear the sound of the wind.
     
     You may wonder, “What is the sound of the Spirit?” Well when the disciples first received the indwelling Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (See Acts chapter 2), the sound of the Spirit when it came upon them was that they all spoke in tongues.
     
     And again, when the Gentiles first received the Holy Spirit in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10:44-48, they knew they had received the indwelling Holy Spirit because they heard them speaking in tongues.
     
     And finally, when Paul first met the disciples who would become the church at Ephesus, he baptised them and laid hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit, and they all spoke in tongues. (See Acts 19:1-6)
     
     Speaking in tongues is the sign and the sound of the indwelling Holy Spirit that is the proof that someone has been born again f the Spirit. I am aware that this will be controversial to some people, and some will disagree. But those are the words of Jesus in John 3:7-8, not my words.
   • There is much more I could say about this point, but time and space does not permit here. One final point I would add is that Jesus said to Nicodemus not to marvel at this. It is actually a simple process. If you want to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, there are a few ways to do so. But the simplest is to ask God to receive the Holy Spirit because He said to ask Him (See Luke 11:9-13). Just ask God in prayer to give you the Holy Spirit. Alternatively, if you know some people who have received the Holy Spirit, have them lay hands upon you to receive the Spirit, just as Paul laid hands upon the Ephesians in Acts 19:1-6. Should you want to know more, then feel free to email me and I will explain in more depth if required.

Prayer Points:

• Pray and ask God to open your mind to understand and receive all of these things. If you have not been baptised in water and the Holy Spirit, then ask God in prayer to help you receive these things.
• Pray also for the insight to receive these things and then learn what is needed to move to the next step. Being born again of water and the Holy Spirit is just like a baby being born. It is not an end, but a beginning, and there is much to learn and know.