This is an attempt to do a verse by verse Bible Study of John 3:1-21. These verses are the foundation of Christians in believing in “born again” as mentioned by Jesus. But what exactly is the meaning of born again has been debated for centuries and the interpretation has been many. Please pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit before you read below. If you are searching for the truth, please remove any preconceived ideas before you study. Let the Holy Spirit reveal the truth to you.

John 3:1-21

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This 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.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 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?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

The above verses not only tell us about being born again but also the whole scenario of salvation according to Jesus.  We will analyze this verse by verse to make sure we don’t miss anything.

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Pharisees and Sadducees were the spiritual leaders and were the political leaders at the time of Jesus. They were the elite in the society having been through rigorous training. They were the political leaders and they impose the law at the same time. It was from these groups that the chief priest was selected. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, was a Pharisee.

2 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.”

Nicodemus came by night.  Obviously, he came by night so as not to create a scene among the people that he led and among the colleague he was with.  This was the time of the beginning of Jesus ministry and He was not known yet to most leaders.  Nicodemus was showing a maturity of being a leader.  He was always seeking for the truth and new ideas how to improve his knowledge and leadership in his own time without sacrificing his time for his duties. He was also protecting the people by investigating and making sure that Jesus was from God not just from what he heard from others but to hear it from Jesus himself.

What was missing in this verse was the question of Nicodemus.  Jesus gave a good answer in verse three but please observe that Nicodemus question was not written.  We can formulate the question based on the answers of Jesus. It is interesting to note that in contrast with the Sadducees, the Pharisees as a group believed in the resurrection.  Putting these two information together, the answers of Jesus and Nicodemus being a Pharisee, the question could be, “What must I do to see and enter the Kingdom of God and thereby be worthy of the resurrection to the eternal life with the Father?”

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

This was the first mention of born again by Jesus.  Born again was the combination of the two Greek words, first was “gennao” which meant to be conceived or born, and the second word “anothen” which meant “from above”, or “again”. Jesus answer to Nicodemus could be born again or born from above.  We will know from the answer of Nicodemus which of the two meaning is used by Jesus as understood by Nicodemus.  (.As a Jew, Nicodemus believed that the blessing of God will come to him and to the nation of Israel because he was born a Jew, a descendant of Abraham. Abraham was the first Jew who because of his faith, all nations will be blessed through his descendant.) Nicodemus was expecting Jesus answer to be some work to be done, some laws to be observed, in order to enter the Kingdom of God. His intellect cannot comprehend the words, born again. As if his mind was saying I was already born into God’s blessing being a Jew, what is this born again that you are talking about. He asked a very practical question to Jesus on verse 4:

4 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?”

The question clarified the real meaning of the two Greek words “gennao anothen” as used by Jesus. It had to be born again, and born from above.  Nicodemus question showed his limited knowledge.  He only knew the birth into this world, but he did not know the birth from above. Birth from above is the born again in the Spirit.

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus mentioned the two births right here, one was born of water and the other was born of the Spirit.  Then He added that this was a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God. This was also a preparation for verse 6 on telling us what was born of water and what is born of the Spirit.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

This was very clear. The one born of water in verse 5 was born of flesh in verse 6. The one born of Spirit in verse 5 is spirit in verse 6. For many centuries, Christian churches in different denominations believed that born of water was water baptism. There were conflicts on the kind of baptism whether immersed or sprinkled, but Jesus never mentioned water baptism or else He would have said so. John the Baptist testified that Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. This was John the Baptist speaking:

Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:”
Luke 3:16, “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire:”

Is it amazing that Jesus knew the amniotic fluid (water) that goes with the birth of a baby? This was born in flesh. When the birth of the Spirit comes to a man or a woman, this was considered born again. This meant that born again experience are only for human beings.  Why? Because one of the accomplishments of Jesus on the cross was to bring back the fellowship of the Holy Spirit lost by Adam when he sinned.

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

8 “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.”

Verse 8 gave us a formula of how to be born again.  This will be known only by the people who were born again.  The wind represented the Holy Spirit; you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and when it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The first group that received the Holy Spirit was the apostles of Jesus after the resurrection.  (John 20:19-22).  They were behind locked doors for fear of the Jews when Jesus came and stood among them.  They were filled with joy.  He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!”

The second group that received the Holy Spirit were the disciples on the day of the Pentecost (Acts 2). Peter gave a sermon and three thousand souls were added to those who were saved.

The key to being “Born Again” is the receipt of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the deposit God has given to us these days.

Jesus said, “It is important that I go to the Father so that I can send you the Holy Spirit.”

Every born again believer can testify the exact time when Jesus came into their heart.  This was the time their life was turned around. For me, I was in my office late one evening when someone prayed for me to receive Jesus. That was more than 30 years ago and the memory was very vivid in my mind. You can read thousands of stories from people coming from all walks of life whose life was changed when they were born again. Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch (pronounced Doik), was a former communist, former chief executioner, former prison chief of the feared Khmre Rogue of Cambodia.  He committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as homicide and torture. He was born again; he traded his leftist ideology for Jesus.  He became pious, which means Godly, contrite, which means remorseful and repentant. He became a lay pastor and an evangelist converting his family, his friends, neighbors, and whoever he talked to into believing in Jesus. He reminded me of Paul of Tarsus who was a Christian persecutor and executioner. After he met Jesus, he became the apostles to the Gentiles and wrote almost 50% of the books of the New Testament. Paul converted the whole Gentile nation in his time.

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

We know that at this point, Nicodemus was using his intellect, drawing from his knowledge of the Bible, recollecting from his experiences, and yet, he cannot understand.  Born again of the Spirit cannot be understood by just studying the Bible.  It has to be experienced.

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?

Nicodemus did not just study the Bible.  He was teaching it.  And yet he did not understand the meaning of born again of the Spirit.

11 “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.”

Jesus at this point was starting to give His testimony.  It was important that Nicodemus accepted His testimony.  He will be talking later of eternal life and salvation and Nicodemus needed to receive His testimony. Once he is changed, he will have his own testimony.

12 “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

Verse 12 clearly says that being born again was an earthly thing because so far Jesus had not talked about heavenly things yet.  This is important because the Jehovah Witness article that I read on born again claimed that the born again people were the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 14. We know this was not so because those people in the first place were “blameless, and no lie was found in their mouth”.  To be born again, we needed to accept that we were sinners and not blameless.  A video in the Internet by a “Christian” pastor explained that born again is when we have our resurrected bodies which will happen at the second coming of Christ.

13 “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

Now Jesus was talking about heavenly things.  Jesus was talking about a topic familiar to Nicodemus, the Son of Man.  The Son of Man was another term for God coming down from heaven to earth to establish His Kingdom.  They call Him also as the Messiah.  The next verse will be familiar to Nicodemus but now Jesus was making a connection from the familiar to an unfamiliar, from familiar to something new.

14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” was new to Nicodemus because his belief of earning eternal life was through works, through adherence to the law, through constant prayer and Bible study and worship.

16 “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.”

The very famous verse memorized by many Christians because of the truth in it.  This was an eye opener for Nicodemus.  There will be no more questions from Nicodemus at this point onward.  Jesus will be explaining the salvation that was to come.

17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

A person who does not believe is condemned already.  Then in the next verse he explained why there were men who will not believe.

19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

These men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil.  Light represents God, darkness represents evil.

20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

Evil men would not want their deeds exposed or changed.  They love their life.

21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

The conclusion of their conversation is about the truth, and the light.

Jesus said later on that, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).  He also said that,…”I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12). In plain language, Jesus is saying that he who does what I say (the truth) is in the light and his deeds is clearly seen. “They have been done in God” are the work in the Holy Spirit. These are the work that God assigns us to do.  This is the God given talent in us that we exercise in God to help others.

What Jesus did not say to Nicodemus was the truth that he was the Son of God.  Nicodemus might not be ready at that time and Jesus will allow time and the events to follow to reveal and witness to Nicodemus. Jesus could have said he was the Son of Man but it was not written. When Jesus died, Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes; these were embalming materials, a hundred pound in weight, to help bury Jesus. (John 19:39)

How does a man then be born again?  My book on Salvation will clarify this.

Salvation is the result of the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and not because of our work, it is the gift of God:

Apostle Paul again in (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast”.

Prayer of Salvation: Please pray this prayer out loud to assure yourself of eternal life promised by God through Jesus.

Dear God in heaven, I admit I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin. I believe that He rose again after three days to be with You in heaven sitting at Your right hand. I thank You for forgiving my sins. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I now invite Him to be in my heart and in my life. I thank you for the Holy Spirit who will be in me to guide me, protect me, and to lead me to the path of righteousness where You want me to be now and forever. Amen.

Congratulations
If you prayed this prayer out loud by yourself or with others, and you believe in your
heart that Jesus died and rose again, you are assured of your salvation.  Continue your journey here on earth enjoying the fellowship of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

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