What Does It Mean to Be "Born Again?"

The New Birth and the Kingdom of God

So Jesus says, unless one is born again, he can't see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus responds in a way that is understandable at a human level, because he doesn't have the categories, right? He's not thinking, like you said, he's thinking law-based or he's thinking about natural birth, right?

He says, well, how can a man be born when he's old? Obviously he can't, right? And can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Well, the answer to that is, of course, no. And in dead giveaway, he's not tracking with Jesus.

And then Jesus answers in verse five, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So real quick, I'll do this, John, and then you can riff however you would like on this.

Ezekiel 36 and the Promise of Cleansing and a New Heart

This is a clear, clear allusion to the prophet Ezekiel.

That's right.

So Ezekiel chapter 36 is a relatively well-known new covenant passage, right? It's a promise of what the Lord is gonna do for his people in this new covenant. And so in that chapter, Ezekiel 36, this is verse 24, I'll start there.

He says, the Lord does, I will take you, he's talking to his people, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. And then he says this, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols, I will cleanse you.

So that water piece there is pointing clearly to the cleansing work that God is gonna do.

On behalf of his people.

Then verse 26, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Regeneration as a Supernatural Work of God

So when Jesus says in John chapter three, that you must be born of water and of the spirit, this is what he's talking about. This is a work of God. This is something that the Lord is going to do for his people.

He is going to clean you and cleanse you from all of your sins. And he is going to regenerate you. He's gonna take out your heart of stone, he's gonna give you a new heart and he's gonna put his own spirit within you.

So this is what needs to happen for a person. If you're going to see the kingdom of God. And then he says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So again, a pointer to this is supernatural.

This is not something that is earthly. This is not something that human beings can achieve or do. This is something that God has to do for his people if they're ever gonna see the kingdom of God.

The Law-Gospel Contrast in Nicodemus's Question

Yeah, and the imagery, I think it's just beautiful how Christ uses the concept of a birth. Because it is. And Nicodemus fell right into the word trap. Of course he did. And it's beautiful and I'm thankful the Holy Spirit gave John this because it's so clarifying for us.

Because Nicodemus goes, one can't be born again.

It's like, you can't do that, man.

This is what we always do. We always immediately think physical. Physical application, right? So Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says, without even asking the question, Jesus knows why he's there. I wanna be in the kingdom with you.

Well, he sees him as a rabbi. I don't know if he sees him as Lord yet. I wanna be in the kingdom of the Lord. And Jesus says, you have to have a whole new life. In other words, you have to be reborn again.

And immediately, which is what always we do, we think about the obligations we need to meet. And that's exactly what Nicodemus says. So he's like, all right, Jesus, aren't you playing games with me? Because I can't go back into my mom's womb and start over again.

And Justin, this is a great example of law gospel, where Nicodemus tried to do what we call a relevantizing of the gospel. We'll do it with the law too. We'll try and make the law achievable. Because new birth is not necessarily a law.

New birth is the gospel. But what Jesus is trying to help Nicodemus understand is the absolute supernatural nature of the kingdom life.

Exactly.

And Nicodemus is thinking, entrance into the kingdom is based on the law. And Jesus says, entrance into the kingdom is based on supernatural powers by the means of the spirit.

Yep.