The Spiritual Birth
For the Lord’s Day:  the 11^th of July  2004

John 3: 1-6

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man 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.’  Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’  Nicodemus 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?’  Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Introduction:  The striking thing about this text is the presumption of Jesus, that the concept of the New Birth is not something new, beginning only in the time of Christ – but an idea which should have been understood by any leader worthy of the name in the Old Covenant Church.  William Barclay, himself as very much a stranger to orthodoxy as was Nicodemus:  recites the Jewish history in this matter:  “Now this was not an idea which was in the least strange to the people who heard it in New Testament times.  …  When a proselyte came into Judaism, when a man from another faith became a Jew, when he had been accepted into Judaism, by prayer and sacrifice and baptism, he was regarded as being reborn.”

We should also remember that while John was writing in the Greek, this conversation between the priestly ruler Nicodemus and Jesus would probably have been spoken in either scholarly Hebrew or in the common tongue of Aramaic.  In neither case would the ambiguities of the Greek text have been misunderstood.  Some commentators, both ancient and modern would make much of a possible Greek phrasing “being born from above.”  However, the immediate reaction of Nicodemus indicates that he clearly understood Jesus to affirm a necessity to be “born again.”  We can of course, enjoy the luxury of knowing that of which John writes in both contexts.

Calvin observes that this new birth “means the spiritual life, which is begun by faith in this world, and gradually increases every day according to the continued progress of faith.  So the meaning is, that no man can be truly united to the Church, so as to be reckoned among the children of God, until he has been previously renewed.  This expression shows briefly what is the beginning of Christianity, and at the same time teaches us, that we are born exiles and utterly alienated from the kingdom of God, and that there is a perpetual state of variance between God and us, until he makes us altogether different by our being born again; for the statement is general, and comprehends the whole human race.”

And so, we must learn an essential point in this scene taken from the glorious Gospel of John.  Not all of the church, in either Covenantal perspective really and truly understands what God has been doing from time immemorial.  Calvin continues:  “though the form of expression which Christ employed was not contained in the Law and the prophets, yet as renewal is frequently mentioned in Scripture, and is one of the first principles of faith, it is evident how imperfectly skilled the Scribes at that time were in the reading of the Scriptures.”

At the very least, Nicodemus does not question the declaration of Christ, but simply asks how it is possible.  Nicodemus in this scene is everyman up against the eternal problem of the ages, he wants to be changed, but well does he realize he cannot change himself!

Development:  Let us be kindly towards Nicodemus, after all it was probably he who later took the body of our Lord and prepared it for what he thought would be a final burial.  And like even the disciples themselves, Nicodemus was limited initially in what he would and could believe.  The first miracle at Cana had convinced some that Jesus was the Messiah – Nicodemus having seen or heard of numerous miracles does indeed take the trouble to come to Jesus in person to satisfy his spiritual hunger.  The night time visit could be either to avoid being seen or even because that was when the Jewish teachers studied out of habit.  We do not need to make any more of the timing than that.

Given an audience, Nicodemus gets quickly to the point – he confesses his limited understanding of Jesus’ person and purpose.  ‘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.’    Just as the prophets before Him, were often empowered to prove their calling, Jesus clearly has been anointed with God’s power.  And this Nicodemus does not doubt.  Who are you? we may understand his polite inquiry.

Jesus quickly sets the stage for discussing conversion, which is reported by John years later.  Jesus clearly tells Nicodemus that Nicodemus cannot even “see the kingdom of God” unless he is born again.  This is the worldlings problem day in and day out.  So many religious professors and leaders presume that any knowledgeable person can interpret the scriptures.  So widespread is this fallacious opinion that it is almost impossible for a real believer to be allowed to teach Christianity on any secular college campus.  This is simply because, once we see and understand the faith – no longer can we give the precious concepts the ordinary worldly spin, which anticipates that all religions are equal.

Only the experience of the New Birth allows a full and complete understanding of what God is doing in and through that experiential birthing.  There is a media advertisement about cellular customers “who are in” while everyone else must be considered “out.”  There are benefits for being in and those who are only calling in from the outside must spend a little more of their hard earned treasure.  “The City of God” as Augustine measures the Covenant Church, is very much like that advertising ploy!  Those who are in, enjoy all the special benefits, while those who are out do not even comprehend that they have been left behind! Indeed, as we understand the total depravity of the fallen human nature they don’t even want in!

Evidentially the theological training of the Jewish church had fallen on hard times, because Nicodemus misses the point of Jesus’ admonishment completely, because he retorts:  “How can a man be born when he is old”  He goes on to explain his complete ignorance in the matter, by supposing that Jesus was speaking in riddles.  Calvin notes that “though this discourse appears to be far-fetched and almost inappropriate, yet it was with the utmost propriety that Christ opened his discourse in this manner.  For as it is useless to sow seed in a field which has not been prepared by the labors of the husbandman, so it is to no purpose to scatter the doctrine of the Gospel, if the mind has not been previously subdued and duly prepared.”

This is why, so many of you slipped into Christ’s church with so minimal an understanding.  I can well relate to the several testimonies that I have heard in the last two years from our newer and younger members.  “Once I was lost, and now I am found” runs the experiential refrain.  Suddenly, something was different and you weren’t quite certain what had changed, but within God’s providence – He sent someone to lead you to your first church and when you had outgrown it, even to this congregation at His appointed time.

‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’  This is ever and always the experience of believers who are called from the common crowd.  Certainly, we allow that children who have grown up in the church might have an easier process – but Nicodemus had grown up and had completed the whole gambit of educational opportunities.  He had even ascended to the highest level of success in the Old Covenant Church.  And yet – no matter the many and manifold opportunities he remained completely ignorant of the spiritual aspect of true Christianity.  So I would encourage our young people who have grown up in the church to consider your calling and know that membership in the kingdom is not automatic because you were born here.  Still and always – the spiritual birth and awakening is necessary, as we see in the situation before us.

Now let me make it clear here that the term “kingdom of God” means “the spiritual life,” which Calvin describes in this manner:  it “is begun by faith in this world, and gradually increases every day according to the continued progress of faith.  So the meaning is, that no man can be truly united to the Church, so as to be reckoned among the children of God, until he has been previously renewed.”

Application:  Nicodemus makes his objection.  And R.V.G. Tasker notes his mental condition:  “But Nicodemus, for all his theological learning, lacks spiritual insight.  He fails to see that it is a supernatural birth of which Jesus is speaking.  He understands His words about a second birth in a strictly literal sense, and does not hesitate to suggest that they are absurd. 

But Jesus returns to the essential spiritual theme:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”   Tasker continues:  “Nicodemus, the distinguished ‘master of Israel,’ ought not to be ignorant of the power of God to change human lives.  His study of Scripture ought to have taught him that God not only can give men a new heart and put a right spirit within them, but that He has promised to do so.”

We should note that the “water” and “the Spirit” here are explained in several ways.  One thought is that by water, the old man is renounced and through the Spirit the new life is made viable.  Calvin tells us that some teach an implied allegorical contrast.  However, to his mind follows the church fathers:  “Chrysostom, with whom the greater part of expounders agree, makes the word ‘water’ refer to baptism.  The meaning would then be, that by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, because in baptism we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.”  Even as he admonishes, let us be careful in not making the case for efficient baptism too literal here – as too many suppose.  Instead Calvin “connects the ‘Water’ with the ‘Spirit’, because under that visible symbol he attests and seals that newness of life which God alone produces in us by his Spirit.”

And once again, Jesus reiterates the mandatory understanding that not just everyone can waltz their way into the “Kingdom of the Spirit.”  Calvin again observes:  Jesus “takes it for granted, that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless we are spiritual.”  And further He argues, that which “is born of the flesh is flesh” and it remains so!  Paul too, in a later letter argues the same case and points us to the necessary gospel teaching that it is only the purity of God in Christ’s spiritual nature that enables us by and through His great spiritual power alone.

“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”   And only God is truly the only Spiritual power in the universe capable of transforming our minds and hearts so that they become tender to the gospel invitation.  One last word from Calvin:  “The word ‘Spirit’ is used here in two senses, namely, for grace, and the effect of grace.  For in the first place, Christ informs us that ‘the Spirit’ of God is the only Author of a pure and upright nature, and afterwards he states, that we are ‘spiritual’, because we have been renewed by his power.”

And so, as we close this study of these few precious verses, let us reflect upon what God in Christ has done in each of us – causing us to come to Him and to appreciate the fact of the New Birth.  I can still remember the old Sunday school classroom where, when I was two years of age, the recitation of the verse “God is light” had so much meaning.  We were to stand on a chair and repeat that verse while we turned on the light switch.  Something more happened to me than the lighting of a dark room.  And that was a beginning of a life in Christ for me.  Everyone’s experience is different, some beginning later in life and by many and various means – all of a sudden we wake up in a spiritual world that will last forever and ever.  May such be yours today – if you have not already known the joyous event?  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Barclay, William.  The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John. (History only)
Barrett, C.K.  The Gospel According to St John.
Brown, Raymond E.  The Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John.
Tasker, R.V.G.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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