Born of water and the spirit
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” –John 3:5-8.
Jesus confronted Nicodemus with a difficult challenge: the need for God’s internal cleansing. Nicodemus, the Pharisees, and the religious leaders based their religion on external purity and performances. Jesus told Nicodemus that his external religion of good works would not save him. Jesus told Nicodemus he must be born again. He was not “clean on the inside” and fit to enter God’s kingdom.
Jesus addressed Nicodemus’ confusion and mystery of regeneration or being “born from above” by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was not referring to literal water when he said, “born of water.” Nicodemus knew that “water and spirit” often referred symbolically to spiritual renewal and cleansing in the Old Testament. “Reborn from above” is synonymous with being “born of water and spirit.” “Water” and “spirit” refer to one’s spiritual rebirth. For example, Isaiah 44:3 declares, “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants.”
A new heart and a new spirit
Ezekiel 36:24-27, states: “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will carefully observe My ordinances.”
Regeneration was not a new concept to Nicodemus. The Book of Ezekiel and other passages in the Hebrew Bible showed it was an Old Testament truth. Jesus referred to the spiritual washing or purification of the soul, carried out by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of salvation.
To be “born of water” means to be cleansed of all sin and impurity through God’s power and self-denial. To be “born of the Spirit” means to experience eternal life, a new spiritual life, and peace with God.
Baptism by the Holy Spirit
Some scholars believe the “water” of which Jesus spoke is also related to baptism. The Pharisees were concerned to know why John was baptizing Jews in the Jordan River. Both the ministries of John and Jesus emphasized water baptism. The Holy Spirit’s baptism is what John said distinguished Jesus Christ’s ministry from his own.
John’s baptism was one of repentance to prepare for the coming of the Lord. By being baptized by John, a person testified that he or she was repenting of sins and renouncing Judaism and the law as the means of salvation. John told the people that the Savior; the Messiah, was coming. They needed to believe in the “One” coming after him. It was Jesus.
In Acts 19:4, Paul wrote: “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
The unbelieving and unrepentant Pharisees refused baptism. “However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John” (Luke 7:30).
Jesus honored John’s ministry by being baptized by him. However, if a Pharisee or anyone else desired to enter God’s kingdom, they must do so through the means God had appointed—identification with Jesus.
Work of His Spirit
A person must be spiritually born of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus described the sovereign, saving work of God through His Spirit.
Jesus said spiritual cleansing is the work of God. John 3:6 states, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
God created man with a body, soul, and spirit. When Adam ate the forbidden apple and sinned against God, his spirit died (Eph 2:1-5). Later, his physical body died too.
He transferred sin’s curse to his children at their birth and all mankind. This sin nature, and death are woven into mankind’s character because of Adam’s and Eve’s fall from grace.
Just as human nature can only bring about human nature, only the Holy Spirit can effect spiritual transformation. Even if a physical rebirth were possible, it would still result in sinful flesh. Therefore, only the Holy Spirit can create the spiritual birth needed to enter God’s kingdom.
An Old Testament passage foretold the Lord would one day write the law on the hearts of His people, a new covenant. The Holy Spirit would internally work in man to bring salvation and access to God.
In Jeremiah 31:31–34, the prophet wrote, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart, I will write it, and will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Salvation is by grace
Although Jesus’ words were founded on Old Testament truth and revelation, His teachings contradicted what Nicodemus had learned and taught. Nicodemus believed salvation came through his external merit and works for his entire life. He found it difficult to change his whole belief system and admit he had been wrong and deceived.
He could not understand the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures without the Spirit of the Lord’s guidance.
In Ephesians 2:8, Paul wrote what Jesus was teaching Nicodemus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God — not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Jesus’ teachings on the flesh and Spirit silenced Nicodemus. Jesus continued, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7).
Nicodemus was speechless at being wrong about how God accepts a person into His kingdom. He could never enter based on his belief and teaching that a person is justified by the works of the law and his own righteousness.
Jesus had accused the Pharisees of being false teachers, and Nicodemus had to face the reality that Jesus was preaching the truth. In turn, the Pharisees were trying to discredit Jesus and have Him killed.
The Unpardonable Sin by the Pharisees
in Matthew 9:32-34, Jesus confronted a man who was demon-possessed, and as a result of this demon possession, he was mute. And Jesus cast the demon out of the man and he spoke and the multitudes were amazed and they said, “Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel.”
In Matthew 12:22-37, Jesus accused several Pharisees of committing the unpardonable sin when they attributed the healing work of the Holy Spirit to Satan.
Matthew wrote, “Then they brought Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed Him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’ However, when the Pharisees heard this, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.’ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How, then, can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’
“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this age or the age to come.
“Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words, you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned.”
Jesus cautioned the Jewish people in Jerusalem not to follow the Pharisees and their work-based, false religion. It would lead them to hell.
Jesus said, “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So, you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23: 1-12).
Satan had deceived the Pharisees
Jesus revealed to Nicodemus that the Pharisees were the ones Satan misled. They were the blind guides who promoted false teachings on salvation and the entrance to God’s kingdom. Jesus publicly attacked them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15).
Born of the Spirit
Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Jesus explained to Nicodemus how to be “born from above” by the Holy Spirit’s efforts. Jesus gave Nicodemus an example from nature. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
God’s saving work through Jesus and the Holy Spirit is like the wind. Human beings cannot control the wind. It blows where God directs and wishes. Though its general direction is known, it cannot be figured out precisely where it comes from and where it is going. Nevertheless, men and women can observe the wind’s effects. The wind, however, is invisible, uncontrollable and unpredictable.
The Holy Spirit’s saving work is like the wind. No man controls the Spirit’s life-giving work. No man can manipulate or direct the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit brings about a new birth, the effects are evident in a person’s life. He or she will bear the fruit of the Spirit. That is how believers know it is the work of God’s Spirit.
Good works or self-righteousness cannot save anyone. Salvation is the supreme work of God, accomplished by the Holy Spirit.
No one can predict the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in the human heart. The Holy Spirit dispenses His influences where, when, on whom, and in what measure and degree He pleases. The Holy Spirit works mysteriously and in secretly hidden ways.
In John 5:21-23, Jesus said, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
God raises the dead and gives eternal life to whom He wishes. God decides who He saves. It is by the will of the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Galatians 5: 18-24, Paul wrote, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
God’s awakening
“The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him, he cannot understand them, they are spiritually appraised, they are spiritually examined, they are spiritually apprehended and he is spiritually dead” (I Cor. 2:14).
God awakens our spiritual life, bringing us from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is a new life by the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot have regeneration without saving faith (Eph 2:1-10). God’s work gives a person the spiritual ability to respond to God and faith. God already has decided to whom He will give life; He gives that life sovereignly. John 6:44 says, “No man comes unto Me unless the Father draws Him.”
Repentance and faith come by hearing the gospel of Christ. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” No one can call on the Lord and be saved if he or she has not heard the word of God.
1 Peter 1:23, Peter wrote, “You’ve been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable by the living and enduring word of God.”
God’s Word plays a distinct part in salvation. The Father places His imperishable seed, the “Word,” within a person, and he or she becomes a child of God. The Bible says in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Word of God changes a man’s and a woman’s heart. True repentance and salvation can occur only upon hearing the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 10:17, Paul wrote, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” God sovereignly draws His elect to Christ. God saves the elect, and the elect responds by faith and repentance to His call.
Spiritual bankruptcy
Jesus confronted Nicodemus with the most challenging self-examination. By telling him he must be born again, Jesus challenged Nicodemus to admit his spiritual bankruptcy and abandon everything he trusted for his salvation. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul wrote, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The solution to the spiritual deadness and inability to respond only comes when God gives a person new life within. “But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace, you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Paul also wrote, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ” (Colossians 2:13).
God first enables a person to believe through a new birth. The Scriptures describe God’s work of salvation as the “washing of the new birth and renewing of the Holy Spirit. “
Paul wrote in Titus 3:3-7, “For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior appeared and His love for mankind, He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but based on His mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since His grace has justified us, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”
Work-based religion leads to spiritual darkness and death
Like most men and women today, Nicodemus followed a religion and form of worship that led to spiritual darkness and death. Nicodemus was seeking light in that darkness.
That night, he found Jesus to be the pure light. Jesus’ divine teaching and insights about Nicodemus were challenging to understand and accept, but they would change his life for eternity.
(E-Book: Born from Above; Introduction; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Epilogue)