Doctrine
"...Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:3
One night a religious ruler named Nicodemus came quietly to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a teacher of Israel, a moral man, a devout man, a man of the Scriptures — the very best that religion could produce. And yet, before Nicodemus could say scarcely a word, the Lord Jesus Christ cut straight to his deepest need with three words that have echoed down the centuries: "Ye must be born again." If a man as good and religious as Nicodemus needed the new birth, then so does every one of us. Nothing matters more than to understand what it is.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not say the new birth would be helpful, or advisable, or a fine thing for the especially devout. He said it is a "must" — and that without it a man cannot even see the kingdom of God.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)
And He said it again, so that none could mistake it or excuse himself from it.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)
Ye must. Not the immoral only, but the moral; not the irreligious only, but the religious; not others, but you. There are no exceptions, and there is no other door into the kingdom of God.
There is an old and true saying: born once, you must die twice; born twice, you die but once. The man born only of the flesh faces not only the death of the body, but the second death — eternal separation from God. But the man born again — born once of the flesh and once of the Spirit — need never fear it.
"...He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." (Revelation 2:11)
It is vital to see what the new birth is not, for many rest their souls on a counterfeit. It is not turning over a new leaf, nor reforming your habits — that is only the old nature made a little tidier. It is not religion or morality; Nicodemus had those in full, and still needed to be born again. It is not being born into a Christian family or nation, for the new birth does not run in the blood.
"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13)
You are not a child of God because your parents were, any more than you become an animal by being born in a stable. The new birth is not inherited, not achieved, and not ceremonial. It is something else entirely — a new life, given by God.
Why must a man be born anew? Because by nature he is not merely sick, but spiritually dead, and dead men cannot improve themselves.
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1)
Our first birth gave us a fallen, sinful nature — and no amount of scrubbing can make that nature fit for heaven. Flesh can only ever produce flesh.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6)
You cannot patch the old nature into something holy; you need an entirely new life from a source outside yourself. A corpse cannot raise itself; it must be made alive. And that is exactly what the new birth is — God imparting new life to those who were dead.
The new birth is a birth "from above." No one gives birth to himself; a child does nothing to bring about his own birth. Just so, no sinner can birth himself into the family of God by his own will or effort. It is the work of God alone.
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5)
Regeneration — the new birth — is God's saving act, according to His mercy, and not according to our works. We receive it; we do not manufacture it.
The One who gives this new life is the Holy Ghost. As surely as the Spirit gave the first man his breath, so the Spirit breathes new life into the dead sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. And though we cannot trace exactly how He works, we see the effects plainly.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)
You cannot see the wind, yet you see the leaves move and hear its sound. So it is with the new birth: the inward work of the Spirit is unseen, but its fruit in a changed life is unmistakable.
Nicodemus was baffled — "How can these things be?" — and so are many to this day, for the new birth is a spiritual matter, and the unregenerate man cannot grasp spiritual things.
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Do not be surprised, then, if the message of the new birth seems strange or foolish to the unconverted. A blind man cannot judge of colours, nor a dead man of life. It is only when God gives new life that the eyes are opened to see.
The Holy Ghost does not work apart from the Word. The Bible is the incorruptible seed by which new life is planted in the heart. This is why the preaching and reading of the Word is so vital — it is the very seed of the new birth.
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1:23)
"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." (James 1:18)
Of His own will He begat us, by the word of truth. The new birth begins where the living Word of God meets the heart.
The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of being born "of water and of the Spirit," and some have wrongly taken the water to mean baptism, teaching that a man is born again by being baptized. But this cannot be, for salvation is never by any work of ours, and baptism is a work; and Nicodemus could not have been expected to understand Christian baptism, which did not yet exist. Rather, "water" here points either to natural birth — the water of the first, physical birth, set in contrast to the spiritual birth that must follow — or to the Word of God, which the Bible elsewhere calls the washing of water.
"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." (Ephesians 5:26)
Either way, the meaning is plain and the error is shut out: the new birth is by the Spirit and the Word, not by the waters of baptism. No ceremony can give life to a dead soul.
How, then, does a sinner receive this new birth? By the same faith that receives everything in the gospel — by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord pointed Nicodemus to the serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness, that all who looked might live.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)
As the dying Israelites looked to the lifted-up serpent and were healed, so the dying sinner looks by faith to the lifted-up Saviour and is made alive. To receive the Lord Jesus Christ is to be born of God.
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1:12)
Where there is new life, there are new signs of life. The one who is truly born again has new desires — a love for God, a hunger for His Word, a love for His people, and a hatred of the sin he once cherished. He is a new creature.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)
And the sure inward mark of it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for such faith is itself the fruit of God's work within.
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." (1 John 5:1)
This, then, is the searching question — not "Are you religious?" nor "Are you moral?" nor "Were you raised in the church?" but "Have you been born again?" If not, do not rest another day. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, look to Him by faith as the dying looked to the serpent lifted up, and God will give you a new heart and a new life that shall never die. Ye must be born again — and, blessed be God, ye may be, this very hour.
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."John 3:7