The Gospel of John | You Must Be Born Again – John 3:1-21
Christ comes to save us from our flesh and establish our eternity out of His great and profound love for us.
Nicodemus carries an impressive resume of skill and leadership. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he would rule over the Pharisees as one of the main teachers and leaders of the people. At any time, there would only be seventy who proved themselves worthy by their understanding of scripture and adherence to the law beyond that of the Pharisees. As Jesus cleared out the temple, He would have turned the heads of the Sanhedrin. Quickly, they perceived Jesus to be a threat to their system and to the well being of the Jewish people. At this point, even being associated with Jesus would have identified you as a threat to the system. The disciples became targets merely because of their association with the troublemaker Jesus. Yet, the signs Jesus perform spoke to the something different than what the Pharisees and teachers had been able to teach. Jesus, even from a young age, taught with a different authority than the others.
Thus, Nicodemus had plenty of questions and also the training to defend the institution that the Pharisees had in place for the people of Israel. Yet, approaching Jesus in broad daylight would not have been safe for Nicodemus’ image, especially when he sought to engage in a discussion to understand, rather than dig in his heels and discuss. Throughout the course of their discussion, Nicodemus stands firm with his convictions while simultaneously seeks to understand the message of Jesus Christ. Something within Nicodemus’ soul reverberated during this conversation with the God incarnate that would alter the course of his life. For all of the teachings of the Pharisees, they would miss the obvious standing in front of them. Nicodemus’ skepticism of his own beliefs would set him apart. He understood that Jesus could not do the things He is reported to have done without the power of God behind Him. The old system was coming to an end, the flesh would not produce the salvation that mankind separately needed. Jesus had come as the God made man.
Jesus taught Nicodemus the meaning of the law and prophets but more importantly why Jesus came. The path to salvation comes in turning from our sin and turning to the regeneration that comes from salvation through Christ alone. The flesh and the Spirit stand in contradiction to one another (a common theme in Johannine literature). Life in the flesh will only lead to eternal death. Yet, out of the profound and deep love that God has for His beloved creation, Jesus Christ would pave the way for a sinful and broken people to return to eternity through Him.
Born of Water and The Spirit
As Nicodemus is seeking to understand His message, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that the means of salvation can only come from baptism of water and of Spirit. While some would read this as the importance of two separate actions to achieve salvation, a closer examination would show us something different. The baptism with water alludes to the same baptism of John the Baptist and the message he preached; repentance. The idea of fully submerging someone in water represents the means of purification. With the idea of water, though, one might get the idea that the cleansing is an outward one, however, Jesus always reiterates the condition of the heart. Repentance, then, becomes an issue of the heart rather than on external obedience. Our heart and our flesh crave the sins of the world. Repentance turns from the desires of our flesh, understanding that these only bring death to those who pursue them. Repentance is a change in direction away from where we were once going.
The baptism of the Spirit, though, is the other side of the same coin. The role of the Spirit in the lives of believers becomes to create and restore life. Since the dawn of creation, God spoke the word, Jesus, to bring about creation through the Spirit. The fullness of the Trinity had been involved in creation. Now, with Jesus as God made man, sends the Holy Spirit to reside within us and form life inside of us. We are brought from death to life. This baptism is not nearly a baptism of cleaning ourselves up but of God bringing the dead to life. This is precisely why the baptism of the Spirit is essential for the salvation of mankind. This baptism is the turning to God to sustain, fill, and restore life in the believer.
Repentance turns us away from where we were heading and the Spirit shapes our trajectory to our eternal home. Repentance means turning our back on our sins and leaving our past life for a greater life that God sets before people. We cannot repent or turn from one thing without turning to something else. When we repent from the death of sin, the only other option becomes to turn to the life of the Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is rebirth that confused Nicodemus so deeply. Jesus told Nicodemus that mankind would need to be reborn in order to see salvation. This is no physical birth but a deeper, more meaningful spiritual rebirth that deals with the heart and soul. Where the Pharisees sought to control the outward actions of a man, Jesus sought to bring the darkness of the heart fully into the light and redeem the flesh through the renewal and rebirth of the heart.
- What do the baptisms of water and baptisms of the Spirit represent?
The Flesh and The Spirit
Jesus used an illustration from Numbers 21 that Nicodemus would have immediately understood, having memorized the Torah and being a high ranking teacher himself. The Israelites, having understood first hand the provision of God and His might saving hand, grumbled against God and God’s chosen servant Jesus. Thus, God sent venomous snakes that bit the people. It was only when Moses made a bronze snake, the embodiment of the sins, and place it on a bronze pole, that the people who looked upon it would be saved. No other form of medical treatment would work. Our sin is similar and this action by Moses paved a path towards our understanding of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus would become our sin, bearing the full weight of it upon the cross. Only when we look to Him can we be healed.
Yet, if we are being realistic, we crave our flesh. In our own stubbornness, we strive for our own righteousness that comes from our own works. We want to redeem ourselves and do good enough but are entirely unable to meet the standards of perfection. Much like the Israelites leaving Egypt, though, we can only find healing when we look to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our flesh and the spirit are oppositional to one another. Self-determination and striving will always be unable to produce the works of salvation by the Holy Spirit. We are born into the flesh and our flesh rebels against God completely and fully. Our actions reveal the condition of our heart and whether we have submitted to the Spirit. Where we continue to sin, we see the clearest places where we have not submitted to the Lord. Hence why we must be reborn. The flesh can only produce the flesh and the Spirit can only produce the Spirit. Our salvation and our life will only come when we look to Jesus Christ as our hope and our salvation.
- What does following the flesh look like? What does following the Spirit look like?
The Reason of Christ’s Coming
Probably the most famous verse of the bible is John 3:16 and comes from this interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus. It encapsulates the entirety of the Gospel in one succinct message and reveals the nature of Christ’s coming into the world. Many criticize the notion of God not being loving because He sends people to hell. This is a vast mischaracterization of what occurred through the span of human history. God could fling the doors of heaven open to all irrespective of sin and righteousness but then we would find an eternity much like the life we live now. Furthermore, God would not be just, righteous, or perfect. Sin is so egregious and antithetical to the very nature of God that it must be dealt with. Nor should we view it as God kicking people out of eternity and sending them to hell. Our choice to rebel against God and stand in opposition to the created order and intention God established. Mankind rebelled against God and chose sin over the perfection God gives. We stand condemned by our own sin.
Yet Christ did not come to leave us in condemnation but instead to release us from the tyranny of our sin and set our feet on the foundation of everlasting life. Jesus did not come to condemn creation but out of a deep sincere love for creation. Since the beginning of time, God knew how the events of humanity would play out and established Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross as the means of atonement for the people. No other way existed that would not cost us our very lives. God could have very well left us to our devices but, instead, out of love became incarnate as man to live among the people and send the Holy Spirit to dwell within the hearts of mankind. The Father loves humanity, created in His image, so dearly that He would pour out the fullness of His wrath on His own Son, paving a path from death to life, so that you and I might not die but live eternally with Him. Furthermore, this offer extends to all who believe that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross counted for us and repent of our sin to come alive in the Lord. We reject the flesh to become born again in the Spirit to receive the new life that awaits us.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between following the flesh and following the Spirit? What is the result of following each one of these?
- Why do we continue to pursue the desires of our flesh knowing the consequences? How should we approach pursuit of the Spirit?
- How come we must turn to Jesus Christ to be saved? Are there any alternative means to eternal life other than Jesus Christ?
- Making Jesus Lord of our life and putting to death our flesh involves submission to Jesus Christ. How do you respond to needing to submit to Jesus Christ? Why do people tend to push back on this?
- What can we do to better posture and position ourselves to submit to the Lord? What do we think the effect of doing this will be?
