Salvation Words — Born Again
“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).
The best way to explain the term “born again” is to observe the context in which Jesus used it here in John 3. The other person in this chapter was “a ruler of the Jews, named Nicodemus.” He was also a religious leader and teacher, or as it says in verse 10, “a master of Israel.” It may surprise some to learn that even this man needed to be born again. To be religious is not the same as being a part of God’s Kingdom. Everybody needs God’s gift of eternal life. Nicodemus was already convinced that Jesus was doing a real work of God. “The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2) He was like many people believing certain things about Jesus Christ, but stopping short of the faith that brings about a new birth. Nicodemus’ answer showed that what Jesus spoke of was unknown to him. “How can a man be born when he is old?” He could not understand what he had never experienced. Jesus showed him that the natural life of the body is “born of the flesh,” but a spiritual life is possible only by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Without this spiritual birth a person “cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
To explain how this regenerative power of God’s Spirit could be brought to work in his own heart, Jesus referred Nicodemus back to an event in Israel’s history. The sin of the people had subjected them to the deathly bite of fiery serpents. Consequently, God instructed Moses to lift up upon a pole a brazen serpent and when those dying looked upon it they were given life. Nicodemus was like them — bitten by the fiery serpent of sin and death. All of us are. The way of eternal life is to look up in faith unto the One who paid for our sins when He was lifted up upon the cross to die for our sins. We need to believe that way. Read John 3:14-16.