Dr. Sproul explains that even though the third chapter of John seems clear, when studied closely it raises many questions about what Jesus is saying. This study centers around the phrase "born again" and Jesus' use of water and Spirit as well as the Spirit and the wind.

Our Scripture this morning is taken from John 3:1–17:

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 and said to him, “Most assuredly, 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, “Most assuredly, 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. 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.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who has ears to hear the Word of God, let him hear. Let us pray.

Father, as we ponder the significance of this meeting between Nicodemus and Jesus, and the meaning of our Lord’s teaching to him, surely we require Your help. We need the very Spirit of which He spoke to Nicodemus to grasp the depths and the riches of this declaration. So condescend, O Lord, to help us in this hour. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Difficult Text

I said to Vesta this morning, “I don’t know how many times I have preached on this chapter in John, and I hope, for the first time, I’ll do something right with this text.” I find it is one of the most difficult texts in the New Testament to deal with adequately.

I remember the first time I read it, in my maiden reading of the New Testament. I was a brand-new Christian, and as I read it, I was astonished that Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. I said: “I know exactly what Jesus is talking about here. That’s what has happened to me. I’ve had a new birth, a new life; I’ve come alive to the things of God. Why can’t this teacher of the Jews understand it?”

The next year, as a college student, I signed up for a course on the gospel of John. After the course started, the professor became ill, had surgery, and could not complete teaching the course. They brought in a man in his eighties, who had been an internationally famous theologian in the first twenty-five years of the twentieth century. He gave an examination that included a question on John 3. I thought, “I know what this means.” I got a C on that paper because I did not begin to understand what was contained in this discussion.

I still struggle with it; there is so much to be found in this chapter. But I think it is important for us to see that there is a carryover between the last verse of chapter 2 and the introduction of chapter 3. Chapter 2 ends with these words in verses 24 and 25: “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

What follows in John’s narrative of the life of Jesus is a series of encounters Jesus has with various people, like Nicodemus and the woman at the well. In each of these meetings, we see Jesus piercing the hearts of those with whom He speaks and indicating that He knows what is going on in their lives.

Jesus’ Encounter with Nicodemus

Chapter 3 begins with this introduction of Nicodemus: “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” Not all Pharisees were elevated to membership in the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jewish people. This would be akin to a senator in the United States Senate. This is a man of high authority in the government of the Jewish people, who is also skilled as a theologian—or at least he is supposed to be.

We are told that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. John does not tell us why he came at night. Maybe he was too busy during the day. Or maybe, as many guess, he was embarrassed about being seen publicly with this Jesus, who was gaining a negative reputation among the Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews. Maybe Nicodemus was seeking the cover of darkness and hoping for a clandestine meeting with Jesus so that he could interrogate Him in private. For whatever reason, Nicodemus comes at night and says to Jesus, “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.”

Notice the words “we know.” At this point, Nicodemus is not using the imperial plural or the editorial “we.” Rather, he is speaking not only for himself but for some other Pharisees or members of the ruling body of the Jews. He is speaking from a perspective of collegiality. He is saying, in effect: “Jesus, we know that You’re a bona fide, authentic teacher. You deserve the title Rabbi, and we are prepared to welcome You into our club.”

Authenticated by Miracles

Notice that in his opening statement, Nicodemus says, “We know something about You.” What is it that they know? “We know that you are a teacher sent from God, or You wouldn’t be able to do the signs that You have been doing.” This is a theological affirmation as well as a personal affirmation about the identity of Jesus.

This first statement of Nicodemus is right theologically. This is evidence that, at least on this point, he is sound in his thinking—that is, in terms of the first thing he says. It goes downhill after this. Everything he says later is not quite right. But at this point, he is sound.

Let me speak to this for just a second: “We know that You are a teacher sent from God. How do we know it? Because we know You wouldn’t be able to do these signs that You are doing.” Notice that it is plural signs, indicating that Jesus had done other miracles between the miracle at Cana, which we have already looked at, and this encounter with Nicodemus. “We know that You’re performing miracles, and we know You couldn’t do that unless You were a teacher sent from God.”

If Nicodemus were alive today, this theological affirmation would place him in a minority of about 3 percent of Christians who would agree with him. Almost the whole Christian church believes that Satan can perform miracles because the Bible warns against lying signs and wonders that are performed through his power. We also know that not all of Nicodemus’ colleagues agreed with his assessment, because they later charged Jesus with performing His miracles through the power of Satan—an unsound judgment. Bad theology by the Pharisees, bad theology in the church today.

One of the chief functions of miracles in the New Testament, according to the Apostolic testimony, is that by miracles, agents of revelation such as prophets and Apostles are authenticated by God. That is the credential by which God attests that these people are speaking His Word. They are confirmed by the wonders and miracles they perform.

In fact, the New Testament appeals to miracles as proof of the authenticity of the Apostolic word. This proof—let me ask you to think carefully with me for a moment—would be completely invalid if non-agents of revelation could perform these works. If that were the case, all he could say is, “We know You are sent either from God or from the devil.”

But no, Nicodemus is sound, even as Jesus said elsewhere, “Believe Me for My works’ sake, if you can’t believe what I say.” God does not authenticate or attest to demons or false prophets. Satan can perform incredibly clever tricks. They are lying signs and wonders. It is not that they are true signs and wonders put to use for a lying cause but that they are phony signs and wonders because Satan is not God. Satan cannot bring something out of nothing. Satan cannot bring life out of death. Satan cannot do the things that only God can do.

The kind of miracles that Jesus is performing gets the attention of an astute man like Nicodemus, and he says: “I don’t know that you’re the Messiah, I don’t know that you’re the Son of God, I don’t know any of that. But I do know this: You’re sent from God, because you couldn’t do the things that You’re doing unless God were with You.” That was a sound judgment.

Truly, Truly

Notice Jesus’ response. What does He say? “I really appreciate that. I’m glad that you noticed and that you’re welcoming Me into your club and giving this affirmation to Me.” No, Jesus does not even say, “Thank you very much.” Remember, He knows what is in man, and He knew what was in Nicodemus.

In Jesus’ characteristic way, He goes straight to the heart of the issue. Jesus was sent by the Father, and He was not sent to the diplomatic corps. Jesus was not trained and skilled as a diplomat. He was not interested in diplomacy. He was interested in truth and redemption. He goes right to the center of the matter with Nicodemus and says, “Most assuredly”—I do not like “Most assuredly” as a translation of this text. What does it say? “Amen, Amen.” In other words, “Truly, truly I say unto you.”

The translator is trying to get the flavor of that when Jesus says, “Most assuredly, most certainly,” because that is what “amen, amen” means. But it means even more than that. It is more than most assuredly; it is multi-maximal most assuredly. It is as assuredly as it can ever be when Jesus introduces a declaration by the words, “Amen, amen, I say unto you.” He says: “Mark this carefully, Nicodemus. What I’m telling you is the unvarnished truth.”

Here is what Jesus says: “Unless one”—any one, any person—“is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Remember that when Jesus comes onto the scene in His earthly ministry, He comes announcing the radical breakthrough of what? Following after the same message of John the Baptist, He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

In Jewish literature, the kingdom of God refers ultimately to heaven, the abode where the reign of God is made manifest. Only those who are members of the family of God, members of the invisible church, those who are truly converted and truly in Christ will ever see the kingdom of God. Everyone else will miss it.

Jesus says, “Mark this: Truly, truly I say unto you, unless . . .” I have labored the point many times that the word unless ought to get your antennae up when you see it in the New Testament. It signals a necessary condition, a sine qua non, something that has to happen before the desired consequence will follow. In this case, the desired consequence is seeing the kingdom of God. Jesus is saying, “Nicodemus, unless something happens, no one is going to see the kingdom.”

Born Again

There is a question about how exactly Jesus says something will happen because of the word used here. It could be translated “unless a person is born from above” rather than “born again.” But the significance and the meaning are the same either way. Jesus is referring to the fact that everyone is born from below.

We all have a natural biological birth, but Jesus is saying that there has to be something more than our natural birth before we will ever see the kingdom of God, and that is our supernatural birth. In this discussion, Jesus is saying that a necessary condition to participate in the kingdom of God is that a person be supernaturally born from above, born of the Holy Ghost.

During the Jimmy Carter administration, our president announced to the public that he was a “born-again Christian.” Then Chuck Colson became “born-again,” wrote a book by the title Born Again, and sold two or three million copies. All of a sudden, the phrase born again became part of the nomenclature of our culture. People call themselves born-again Christians—a kind of stuttering, because that phrase is a redundancy. That is like describing an unmarried bachelor or a three-sided triangle. All triangles are three-sided, and all bachelors are unmarried.

The simple reality is that everyone who is truly a Christian is born again. There are no other kinds. There is no such thing as a non-born-again Christian or an unregenerate Christian. There are plenty of unregenerate church members. There are plenty of unregenerate people who profess to be Christians, but you cannot be in Christ unless you are a regenerate person. If you are regenerate, by the same token, you are a Christian. That gives us a distinction without a difference.

Of course, the reason for that—and it is the same today—is seen in that when Francis Schaeffer used to talk about “true truths,” it sounded like he was stuttering. What he was getting at was that some people have a subjectivistic view of truth. When he talked about truth, he meant objective truth that corresponds to objective reality, what he called “true truth.”

Because of our weakness, people have to stutter to get their point across, and that is what happens in our culture when people say, “I’m a born-again Christian.” What they mean by that is: “I really am a converted person. I’m not just professing faith. I’m not just a member of a church, but I have experienced the supernatural transformation of my soul, and I have been brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.” That is what it means to be regenerate.

Water and Spirit

Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Unless you are born from above, you cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus says to Him: “What? How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Nicodemus is a doctor of the church. He is not stupid, unskilled, or uneducated, yet he asks a question that is as crass as can be. How much more insulting can he be to Jesus when he says: “What are you talking about? Are you suggesting that a man has to enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born? What a ridiculous idea that is.” Nicodemus’ response reeks of cynicism.

Jesus says again, “Amen, amen, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Here, Jesus changes His focus and speaks differently. Not only does He say you have to be reborn, born from above, but now He talks about entering the kingdom rather than seeing the kingdom. You cannot even see it, let alone enter it, but now He is talking about actually becoming a part of the kingdom of God. Jesus says, “You can’t do that unless you’re born of the water and of the Spirit.”

Dear friends, how I wish I knew what Jesus means when He says this, but I do not. I have struggled with this text for forty years and then some. What does He mean by the water and the Spirit? I know what He means by the reference to the Spirit; He is talking about being born from above, born by the power of the Spirit. What is the significance of the water?

Some people see in this text an oblique reference to baptism, that Jesus is saying, “You have to be baptized in water and regenerated by the Holy Ghost in order to come into My kingdom.” But there is no reason why Jesus would expect a teacher of Israel to understand that.

We have to look to the Old Testament use of water and to the combination of the terms water and Spirit to understand what Jesus is getting at. In the Old Testament—particularly in the valley of dry bones in the book of Ezekiel—for the dead souls of Israel to be renewed, two things had to happen: They had to be purified, and they had to be resurrected by the power of God.

The two things that I hear—and I think I am right, but I could be wrong here—that Jesus is saying is: “Nicodemus, everyone who is unregenerate is impure and spiritually dead, and as long as you’re impure and spiritually dead, you’ll never enter into the kingdom of God. So, to enter the kingdom of God, you have to be purified, and you have to be raised from spiritual death. You have to be quickened and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost.” Water and Spirit—that is the way those images were used in Jewish conversation. Jesus knows He is talking to a teacher of the Jews, and that is my assumption of what He is trying to communicate. Of course, I could be wrong. It is certainly true that if one has not been purified by God and raised from spiritual death, he will never enter into the kingdom of God.

The Flesh Will Avail Nothing

Then Jesus says to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” I do not know how many people believe that they were born a Christian. No one was born a Christian. The flesh does not produce redemption.

This was a common error that the Jewish people made. They said, “We’re the descendants of Abraham.” They thought that just because they were Jews and biologically descended from Abraham, they were numbered among the people of God and were going to enter heaven. The New Testament teachers, as well as the Old Testament prophets, had to teach the people that was an error. You may have been born and raised in a Christian home, you may have gone to a Christian school, you may have gone to a Christian college. None of those things make you a Christian.

That which is born of the flesh, your natural birth, only gives you flesh. Flesh of that sort is powerless to enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and unless you are born of the Spirit of the living God, whatever you do in your flesh will avail nothing toward entering into the kingdom of God.

Jesus essentially says to Nicodemus: “Do not marvel. Don’t be surprised or astonished that I said to you that no one can enter the kingdom unless they’re born of the water and of the Spirit. Unless you’re born from above, you’re not going to make it into heaven. Why are you surprised, Nicodemus?” He says: “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 this text, Jesus makes a play on the Greek word pneuma. It means the same thing as the word ruach in Hebrew. It can mean “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” Jesus plays with the word here. He says: “You have to be born of the Spirit, and it’s like the wind. The pneuma is like the pneuma. It blows wherever it wants. The wind is powerful, but you can’t see it. You can see the consequences of it, the manifestation of its power, but you don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit, because spiritual rebirth is the work of God.”

When Paul speaks in Ephesians 2 about being quickened by the Holy Ghost while we are dead in sins and trespasses, he is talking about regeneration. It is a supernatural work. It is done from above by the immediate power of God, and it is something that only God can do. You cannot make yourself reborn any more than Lazarus could have brought himself out of the tomb. Just as you did not do anything for your natural birth except be born, so your rebirth is a matter of the mercy and grace of God.

God Must Change You

Nicodemus, still puzzled, says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” Jesus says to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” It is as if Jesus says: “How did you pass your oral exams? How did you make it through graduate school? Don’t you know this? This is foundational to biblical truth. This is not some mystery religion that I’m just now giving you, some esoteric truth that only the Gnostics know, or the Essenes in Qumran. I’m telling you something that any knowledgeable teacher of the Old Testament should’ve grasped a long time ago. You’re the teacher of Israel, and you don’t understand these things?”

Jesus continues: “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

What Jesus goes on to say in the rest of this discourse, about lifting up the serpent in the wilderness and God so loving the world, I am going to leave for next time. It is enough for us to contemplate this incredible shock that Jesus gives to Nicodemus, which, I am afraid, is just as shocking to today’s church as it was to Nicodemus in the first century.

There is an absolute requirement to enter into God’s kingdom: You must be changed by God. God the Holy Spirit must let you out of prison and change the disposition of your soul. By nature, you do not want God in your thinking. It is your normal, fleshly makeup to flee from the presence of God and to have no affection for the biblical Christ.

The affection that you have in your heart today for Christ, if you have any at all, is there because God the Holy Spirit, in His sweetness, power, mercy, and grace, has been to your funeral, to the cemetery of your soul, and has raised you from the dead. Now you are alive to the things of Christ and rejoice in the kingdom that He brought to bear. We will explore that more deeply, God willing, next time. Let us pray.

Oh Father, we thank You for giving us life from above, for removing the scales from our eyes where we were blind to Your kingdom and see it now. Where we had no desire to enter into that kingdom, now we rush to it as those who would take it by force if necessary, because now we want nothing greater. We want to be in Your house, in Your family, and in Your kingdom. We thank You for the water and the Spirit that You have poured out upon us, and that through Your Spirit we can now say, “Abba, Father.” We thank You for that, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.