Born of Water and Spirit

Lesson #34

Our lesson today will cover the text from John 3:5 – 8. We ended the last lesson with Nicodemus saying to Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he” (John 3:4 NET)? Of course he and we know that is not possible, but it was his way of telling Jesus that he didn’t understand. Jesus then answers, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5 NET). Being born of water is our physical birth that we all experience, but now we are being told that the second birth is a spiritual birth which is required if we are to enter the kingdom of God. It is this spiritual birth that produces the “new creature in Christ” that Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It is a time when the old things that our lives have been made up of begin to pass away and are replaced by new things.

Jesus continues by saying, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above’” (John 3:6 – 7 NET). We are not sure what Nicodemus was expecting to learn from Jesus, but in just a few words a totally new concept was opened up to him and it is one of eternal consequences. It is one that applies to each one of us. The concept of a spiritual birth is so different from a faithful obedience to the Law that by now Nicodemus probably feels overwhelmed and may have expressed some doubt about this new concept because Jesus continues by saying, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8 ESV).

It seems that the wind blows where it wishes and we see its effects on the things it moves around. Jesus is implying here that one who is born of the Spirit will demonstrate that by a kind of behavior. Under the law one painfully tries to be obedient to every point, which is impossible. Jesus is now introducing the idea that when one is born from above there is a new source within us that greatly helps us live the way we should. We are to learn to replace the work we do with allowing Jesus to work through us. This is just the beginning of new concepts Jesus will introduce to us in our future studies.

Prayer

Father, the concept of being born from above is not very widely accepted today because it requires one to humbly confess that we are broken, sinful people in need of a savior that can transform us. Lord, this concept of being born spiritually has opened up such an amazing life adventure for me. I find that the more I study the more treasures I find and the more meaningful and exciting life becomes. Without your presence in my life there would be death instead of life within and darkness instead of light. Thank you for the kindness of your grace.