Notice how Jesus cuts right across that with a sharp and penetrating sentence that must have gone like a sword thrust right into Nicodemus' heart. Taken in that sense, how absurd it must have seemed to him! No man knows where he comes from or where he will be sent. Jesus said, "The wind blows where it wills." But people found ingenious ways to get around that. The Christian understanding of this word includes all three of those meanings. Do not ever take truth on the basis of a single witness. The conclusion that “born of water and Spirit” refers to two different kinds of birth—physical and spiritual, rather than two means of the second birth—is best supported by all the evidence, whether contextual, syntactical, cultural, semantical, or parallel biblical teaching. You get a living spirit; your spirit is made alive. Being Born of the Spirit Is the New Birth Being “born of the Spirit” is also referred to as the “new birth.” The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit, who places the believer in a right relationship with the God of the Bible. Such is the nature of one, born of the Spirit. Nicodemus regarded Jesus as a successful teacher, because God put his seal of approval on him by doing miracles through him. When you get in touch with the life of God, things are going to be different. It may take awhile; there is growth involved. BORN OF WATER AND OF THE SPIRIT. If it was absolutely necessary to life, one could tie a knot on the Sabbath. The Law said that mortar could not be made on the Sabbath for that would be work. This memorable utterance has been the occasion of much controversy, arising from the contested sanction thus supposed to be given to the opus operatura of baptism, and to the identification of water baptism with Spirit baptism. Just as there are 2 parents for physical birth, so there are 2 “parents” for spiritual birth: the Spirit of God (John 3:5) and the Word of God (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23-25). That is what Jesus is saying. It is sovereign; no man directs it. John 3:16 KJV). These reasons are, it is thought, not an insufficient basis for the interpretation here adopted. Then the second historic manifestation: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up..." (John 3:14 RSV), That is a reference to the cross. How can I do that?" We call them interns now, largely because when I took some of those young men with me on trips and they were introduced as scribes, everybody immediately assumed that I was a Pharisee! In Book of John chapter 3: Nicodemus was a man of the Pharisees. One had to take a good aim at the target! There is no way you can even see the kingdom of God without this. From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. Nicodemus needed to know that; everyone needs to know that. (John 3:10-12 RSV), It is Jesus' turn to be astonished now. If a man needed to draw a bucket of water out of a deep well, he was not permitted to tie a rope onto the bucket because that would be violating the Sabbath; but if he tied the rope to a woman's girdle and then tied the girdle to the bucket, he could draw up water! You get a body, a living body. The scribes limited the distance one could journey from one's home on the Sabbath day to a thousand yards. Wesley's answer was, "Because -- you must be born again." They do not know what it means. What he is really asking is for Jesus to explain what he means. If people traveled around their city during the six days before the Sabbath, planting caches of food here and there so that they would have something to eat wherever they went, then they could call the whole city their home. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. I will be made sin (that is what a serpent always stands for, sin), lifted up to die. Many are born to this earthly plane. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. It is God that does it, not man; and it results in a new creation, a new beginning. Water does not change anybody that way. This is the greatest act of any life. All Versions. Then what do you get from a new birth, a spiritual birth? The reason they do not do what is right is because there is something wrong about who they are. John wrote. But to be born of the spirit is to be born of heaven. Some people think Jesus is referring to baptism (water) and spiritual transformation (spirit) as two necessary parts to salvation. Various aspects of Spirit and spirit are explored in one-hundred-five entries. This is where eternal life begins. The Promise Of A Baby Persecution Satanic Hatred. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. They thought he was talking about the building, but John tells us Jesus meant the temple of his body, of which the building was but a picture. Thus, Jesus was referring to a transfer of citizenship, a radical departure from what we once were. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, NT Gospels: John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh (Jhn Jo Jn). The new life will grow, and the young person will come to resemble his or her parents. You will not be able to predict the purposes of God in an individual life; God will direct that life. It is very important to understand who the Pharisees were. Have you ever said, or heard someone say, "Oh, if I could just do it over again! 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. References Matthew 3:7 John 7:50,51 Titus 3:5 Luke 24:49 For more on the Holy Spirit read; John 14:16-28 That is rank superstition. This is a rather amazing statement. The Pharisees took this very seriously. When God's life becomes your life, you can expect many changes. In Chapter 3 of John's gospel we see this phrase used for the first time in connection with a famous night visit to Jesus. That is what makes us do the things that are wrong. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' Unborn babies float in a sack of amniotic fluid for nine months. Thus one could journey a thousand yards outside the city, but no further. That council was almost entirely made up of Pharisees. Therefore Nicodemus came with a great deal of respect for Jesus, regarding him as a superior teacher, able to instruct in the meaning of the Law. You will only miss the point. You are not able to do so. In the Mishnah, the section on obeying the rule of not working on the Sabbath occupies twenty-four chapters. What the baptism stands for is what is important. The Spirit blows where he wills and, therefore, everyone born of the Spirit has been acted upon by the free Spirit and has been born anew, as John 1:13 says, "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." Jesus is forever using symbols when he talks to individuals and they take him literally. I do not think anything has been more destructive in the whole realm of theology than that idea. He says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Born Again of The Spirit. Jesus rebukes him further: "If I told you of earthly things (I have talked about wind, and birth, and water) and you do not understand what I mean, how can I reveal to you deep and marvelous truths, the heavenly things (the things which are under the invisible control of God)? 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." There is an analogous law of spiritual generation. SAWYER. We called the young men and women who were studying here, "scribes." That is a very important principle. This makes it clear that the ability to comprehend the Kingdom of God is included at the same time of conception . That is the incarnation. and be born?" You feel the wind, but you don't know where it is coming from or where it is going. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 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." Conclusion. The meaning of John's baptism was the central theological question of the day in which our Lord speaks. How can a man be born when he is old? But obviously that is not the way they use the term; rather they are referring to a kind of renewal. Let us remind ourselves of those words in the first chapter of John: "To all who received him [to all who did business with Jesus by faith, who asked him to enter their lives and save them, deliver them, lead them out, change their nature], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God: who were born [born again] not of blood [not something you inherited from your ancestors] nor of the will of the flesh [not by your own desire and determination] nor of the will of man [nobody else can do this for you, no bishop, no priest, no pope, no one], but of God." Someone said to him once, "Why do you preach so often on 'you must be born again'?" So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.". That was essential to women, therefore it was permitted. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. Spirit and Ghost in Greek are pneuma (pnyoo’-mah); Wind, Spirit, Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. That which hath been born of the Spirit, is spirit. Search Results by Versions. That was a gentle rebuke of Nicodemus that he ought to have known better; that when two witnesses say the same thing he ought to receive that testimony. So God sent His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, in the form of a man to remove the sin which separated mankind’s heart from the heart of God.By entering the world as a man, God was able to take the sins of the entire world upon His own shoulders and pay the penalty of this separation by allowing His Son, Jesus Christ, to be separated from Him for a moment of time. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If a football team has a bad season and the next year comes to life again and does much better, the sports writers say it has been born again. It is clear from the context that Jesus is talking about baptism. The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on John 3. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out. I heard a man say last week that his marriage, which had been threatened but was now recovered, had been "born again." I have come to understand that that term is a sign our Lord gives that what he is about to say is extremely important and should not be missed. 2 Corinthians 3:6). It is quite obvious that it does not make any difference how hard you try; if you do not have God's life you cannot live in a way that pleases him. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. In a most remarkable way they have transferred their lives to that child; they have imparted life. All rights reserved. (6) The sense suggested for the last clause, "In this manner is every one born who is of the Spirit," removes the necessity of finding something with which the work of the Spirit may be compared, and it is in this necessity that the received versions of the first clause really find their root. In 19th century, billboards and newspaper advertisements, a hand with the index finger pointing was frequently used to highlight the important words. BEING BORN OF THE SPIRIT “The Spirit breaths where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it goes. Born of The Spirit, You Must Be Born Again. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. That is the problem. It is who we are that is wrong, not so much what we do or do not do. Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Paul speaks of "babes in Christ," (1 Corinthians 3:1). It is my belief that being "born of the Spirit" refers to the rebirth of our spirit which occurs by the power of the Holy Spirit when we come into contact with the blood of Jesus, which occurs in the watery grave of baptism, according to the eternal purpose of GOD (Father, Word and Spirit). 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist. For its details it may be that no authority can be pleaded, but the rendering of ?????? "How can this be?" You desperately need a Savior. In order to be specific it was felt necessary to define those terms and to spell out how they applied to certain situations, so there had grown up in Israel a group of people called the scribes, who were members of the Pharisees. A ruler of the Jews. ", 3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Others' Notes . The scribes said that if one spat on the ground on the Sabbath it would be making mortar, therefore spitting was forbidden. Jesus makes clear that this is the only way to enter the kingdom of God. He introduces his words with this little phrase, "truly, truly." He said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Television weather reports filmed by satellite from 22,000 miles up in the sky show where the jet stream is, but no one knows how it got there. For the third time Jesus answers with a "truly, truly": Jesus answered him. More flesh! 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." Check out Born of the Spirit by Vindication on Amazon Music. It is a work of God, not of humans. 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