Context No. 3923 of 4322 · John
Context · Reflection
John 3:1-8: in context
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must all be born anew.’ 8The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus, a respected teacher, comes to Jesus by night, acknowledging him as a teacher from God. But Jesus cuts past the compliment to something radical: unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus is baffled, how can a grown man be born again? And Jesus explains: this is a birth of a different kind, a birth of water and the Spirit, a spiritual rebirth that God alone can work.
Here is a truth that unsettles all our religious effort. Entering God's kingdom is not a matter of improving ourselves, adding good deeds, or knowing the right things, as even a learned teacher like Nicodemus might assume. It requires being born anew, from above, by the Spirit of God. This is not something we achieve but something God does in us. And Jesus compares the Spirit's work to the wind: it blows where it wills, and you hear its sound but cannot trace it. The new birth is God's mysterious, sovereign work, not under our control, yet real and life-changing.
Do I recognize that entering God's kingdom requires not merely religion or self-improvement but the new birth that God's Spirit alone can work, and have I been born anew from above?