BORN AGAIN?

Thursday 19 June

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be BORN AGAIN.’

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is BORN OF THE SPIRIT.”

In John chapter 3 we see the famous discourse that took place between Jesus and Nicodemus under the cover of darkness, literally and figuratively. Selah. When we examine this passage carefully we come to a conclusion that may surprise you.

Think about this for a moment. Who was Nicodemus? He was a Pharisee, a Jew. There is something far beyond these facts however that we will address.

He was spiritually dead; an old creation; a product of an Old Testament. This means he was not able to understand spiritual things which is why Jesus gave him natural analogies that he could understand.

In this case, it was a parallel between physical and spiritual birth. This is why Jesus only spoke to the crowd in parables but even in a one on one encounter, we see that Nicodemus needed a physical comparison to try to grasp the spiritual concept Jesus was conveying here.

In fact, he wasn’t capable of doing so because only the Holy Spirit can open someone’s eyes and He was ‘not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified’ Peter’s ‘You are the Christ’ revelation being the temporary exception. We know this because straight after his statement he was trying to then correct Jesus.

If we study this chapter we will observe Jesus spoke of ‘one being born of water and of the Spirit’ in verse 9. The proper rendering of this brings even more clarity. It should read in English: born of water WHICH IS the Spirit. That’s why every time Jesus mentioned the Spirit, Nicodemus seemed puzzled.

Jesus shifted ‘testamental gears’ so to speak as the passage ensued to a more comprehensive and detailed definition of what He told Nicodemus about being ‘born again’ in verse 5 and 8. He rebrands it ‘born of the Spirit’. Why?

For the sake of future saints in the New Testament so they would know the spiritual reality of their new birth. It also is recorded in the gospels to show consistency with the epistles, which is the actual ministry of Jesus through the Apostles by the Holy Spirit. Lastly, because it is the revealed truth without using any shadow or veil of the Old Testament.

Another thing to realise here is the fact that there is NO second birth. Due to this, the term ‘born again’ can give believers the wrong impression that they were alive or had life before receiving eternal life in Christ. Unlike what the famous Christmas carol says, Jesus not ‘born to give us second birth.’ That’s why the epistles called it the ‘NEW birth’ and a NEW and living way.

According to the Bible, Before Christ, we were all dead in trespasses and sins. ‘When the law of commandment came, sin revived and we died’. We were not automatically sinners but were biased toward sin by nature. When we intentionally broke the law, it is at this point that we died. We will look at this in depth at another time.

Because of the impending spiritual death we were still not alive even when we were delivered from our mother’s womb. We simply existed and eventually died in our sins because of the presence of the law. This death caused separation from God and so we needed to be ‘born of the Spirit’ to have LIFE. If we were not born of the Spirit or receive the new birth before our body ceases to function, we would then have to experience the second death which is destruction.

Know this. Existence is not life. God who IS life determines what constitutes life; nobody else.

‘He that has the Son has LIFE. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life’

In other words, every human being without Christ needs to be born ONCE, not again. Rather than trying to reason this out with human logic we must take God at His word about our state before Christ and after Christ.

You may find this challenging at first but let the word interpret the word. Unbelievers have no capacity to KNOW this because they don’t have the Spirit. They are the natural man that 1 Corinthians 2:14 describes.

‘But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he KNOW them, because they are spiritually discerned.’

This is spiritual talk beyond the realm of the natural man. Look at verse 15.

‘But the spiritual man [the spiritually mature Christian] judges all things [questions, examines and applies what the Holy Spirit reveals], yet is himself judged by no one [the unbeliever cannot judge and understand the believer’s spiritual nature].’

We are born ONCE so we will never die TWICE.

If Jesus would have spoken to those in Christ and not a Jew that night, He would have spoken plainly as the apostles did in the New Testament and told us that we are BORN OF THE SPIRIT. No more cover of darkness, only light.

This miracle of grace happens ONCE in salvation and the best news is it can never be lost or reversed. In Christ we are eternally saved!

APPLICATION

Read John 3:1-21 if you want to have a greater comprehension of what it means to be ‘born of the Spirit’ and live in this Christ consciousness every day.