What Does It Mean to Be Born Again of Water and Spirit

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The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Attestation Commentary on John 3.

Nicodemus said to Him, "How tin a man be born when he is sometime? He cannot enter a 2d fourth dimension into his female parent's womb and be born, tin he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to y'all, unless 1 is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is built-in of the mankind is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Practise not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be built-in again.' The wind blows where information technology wishes and you hear the sound of it, but exercise not know where it comes from and where it is going; then is everyone who is built-in of the Spirit." (iii:iv–8)

Jesus' shocking argument was far more than Nicodemus had expected. Incredulous, Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be built-in when he is old? He cannot enter a second fourth dimension into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Certainly, this highly educated Pharisee was not and then obtuse as to take misinterpreted Jesus' words in a simplistically literal sense. He knew our Lord was not talking most being physically reborn, but he replied in the context of the Lord'south analogy. How could he showtime all over, go back to the beginning? Jesus was telling him that entrance to God'due south conservancy was not a affair of calculation something to all his efforts, not topping off his religious devotion, but rather canceling everything and starting all once more. At the aforementioned time, he clearly could not grasp the total significant of what that meant. His questions convey his defoliation, as he openly wondered at the impossibility of Christ's statement. Jesus was asking for something that was not humanly possible (to be born again); He was making entrance into the kingdom contingent on something that could not be obtained through human being effort. Just if that was true, what did it mean for Nicodemus's works-based organization? If spiritual rebirth, like concrete rebirth, was impossible from a man standpoint, so where did that exit this self-righteous Pharisee?

Far from minimizing the demands of the gospel, Jesus confronted Nicodemus with the almost difficult challenge He could make. No wonder Christ would later say to His disciples, "Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24). By calling him to be born again, Jesus challenged this nigh religious Jew to admit his spiritual bankruptcy and abandon everything he was trusting in for salvation. That is precisely what Paul did, as he alleged in Philippians 3:8–9:

More that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may proceeds Christ, and may exist found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Police, only that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

Jesus answered Nicodemus's defoliation by elaborating on the truth He introduced in verse 3: "Truly, truly, I say to you lot, unless i is built-in of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." A number of interpretations have been offered to explicate the phrase built-in of water. Some see two births hither, one natural, and the other spiritual. Proponents of this view interpret the water as the amniotic fluid that flows from the womb merely earlier childbirth. But it is non clear that the ancients described natural birth in that way. Farther, the phrase born of water and the Spirit parallels the phrase "born again" in poetry iii; thus, only one nativity is in view. Others run across in the phrase born of h2o a reference to baptism, either that of John the Baptist, or Christian baptism. Simply Nicodemus would not have understood Christian baptism (which did not nevertheless be) nor misunderstood John the Baptist's baptism. Nor would Jesus have refrained from baptizing people (4:2) if baptism were necessary for salvation. Nonetheless others see the phrase as a reference to Jewish ceremonial washings, which being born of the Spirit transcends. However the two terms are non in contrast with each other, simply combine to grade a parallel with the phrase "born again" in poesy three. (For a careful examination of the various interpretations of born of water, see D. A. Carson, The Gospel Co-ordinate to John, The Colonnade New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 191–96.)

Since Jesus expected Nicodemus to understand this truth (v. 10), information technology must have been something with which he was familiar. H2o and Spirit often refer symbolically in the Old Attestation to spiritual renewal and cleansing (cf. Num. 19:17–19; Isa. 4:iv; 32:15; 44:3; 55:ane; Joel 2:28–29; Zech. 13:1). In one of the most glorious passages in all of Scripture describing State of israel'southward restoration to the Lord by the new covenant, God said through Ezekiel,

For I will take you from the nations, gather yous from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will requite you a new middle and put a new spirit within you lot; and I will remove the eye of rock from your flesh and give you lot a heart of flesh. I volition put My Spirit inside you lot and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezek. 36:24–27)

It was surely this passage that Jesus had in mind, showing regeneration to exist an Quondam Testament truth (cf. Deut. thirty:6; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 11:18–20) with which Nicodemus would have been acquainted. Against this Quondam Testament properties, Christ's point was unmistakable: Without the spiritual washing of the soul, a cleansing accomplished only by the Holy Spirit (Titus iii:5) through the Give-and-take of God (Eph. 5:26), no i can enter God'due south kingdom.

Jesus continued by further emphasizing that this spiritual cleansing is wholly a piece of work of God, and not the outcome of homo effort: "That which is born of the mankind is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Simply every bit only homo nature can beget homo nature, and then also only the Holy Spirit tin event spiritual transformation. The term flesh (sarx) here refers but to human nature (equally information technology does in one:13–14); in this context, it does not take the negative moral connotation that information technology frequently does in Paul'due south writings (eastward.thou., Rom. 8:1–8, 12–xiii). Even if a physical rebirth were possible, information technology would produce just flesh. Thus, simply the Spirit can produce the spiritual birth required for archway into God's kingdom. Regeneration is entirely His work, unaided by whatsoever human endeavour (cf. Rom. three:25).

Although Jesus' words were based on Onetime Testament revelation, they ran completely contrary to everything Nicodemus had been taught. For his entire life he had believed that salvation came through his own external merit. Now he found it exceedingly difficult to retrieve otherwise. Aware of his astonishment, Jesus continued, "Do non be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' " The verb translated must is a strong term; John used it elsewhere in his gospel to refer to the necessity of the crucifixion (iii:14; 12:34), of John the Baptist'southward inferiority to Christ (three:30), of the proper method of worshiping God (4:24), of Jesus carrying out His ministry building (4:4; ix:iv; 10:16), and of the necessity of the resurrection (20:9). It was absolutely necessary for Nicodemus to get over his astonishment at beingness so wrong about how one is accepted into God's kingdom and seek to exist built-in once more if he was to enter. And he could never do then based on his own righteous works.

And so the Lord illustrated His point with a familiar example from nature: "The current of air blows where it wishes and you hear the audio of information technology, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; and then is everyone who is born of the Spirit." The wind cannot be controlled; it blows where it wishes. And though its general direction can be known, where it comes from and where information technology is going cannot be precisely determined. Nevertheless, the wind's furnishings can be observed. The aforementioned is truthful of the work of the Spirit. His sovereign work of regeneration in the human heart can neither be controlled nor predicted. Yet its effects can be seen in the transformed lives of those who are built-in of the Spirit.

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Source: https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0302/what-does-it-mean-to-be-born-of-water-and-spirit

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