(1) Born of the Spirit

Reading: John 2:23 - 3:1-12

Passover had just completed, and Jerusalem was aglow with the light from a full moon. Among its back alleys, a furtive figure, escaping notice from passersby, made his way amidst the darkness of the night. Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews, was on a mission to question the young teacher from Nazarene, Jesus. He, along with his colleagues in the Sanhedrin, had seen the miracles which he did. They had heard of many more wonders and how the common people believed¹ that he was the Messiah. The signs were undeniable, but his teaching was unexpected and suspect.

All the years among the Pharisees he had diligently studied the law and maneuvered his way through the politics, arguing and debating with his peers to become a teacher in Israel. He knew with certainty that the Messiah would come to establish God’s Kingdom, but this prophet from Nazareth didn’t live up to the mold that Nicodemus had created in his mind. He wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless, the miracles had caught his attention and Jesus’ teaching had started to make him question himself.

If Jesus truly was the Christ, then how come he had not come to them, the leaders of the nation, to start the process of restoring the kingdom again to Israel? Who else would help in this then the Sanhedrin, the educated rulers of Israel, who knew the law? How could this Galilean be the King of Israel?

Now he stood before the door. This was the place arranged to meet this man face to face. He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts. He knocked and the door swung open.² The appearance of Jesus was not something that immediately impressed. He was not an imposing figure. Average. Commonly dressed. His hair disheveled. Beard untrimmed. The eyes though looked right into his soul. For the few seconds they made eye contact it seemed as if Jesus read his memories and knew the intent of his heart.

Nicodemus broke the silence. “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 him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was shocked. All the way there he had been pondering in his mind the things of the kingdom of God. How did he know the very focus of his thoughts?³ Suddenly, he felt like it was check-mate before the game had even started. He was the ruler of the Jews, the one supposed to be in control, leading the questioning. Now all his doubts began to surface and overwhelm his thinking. He had to quickly get the upper hand in this conversation. What better way was there than to make light of it?

“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, without a hint of reaction, replied, “Truly, truly, 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.”

Nicodemus had never heard anything like this teaching before. His mind searched the Scriptures for any hint of similarity to what was familiar. They were of the seed of Abraham, children of the promise. It didn’t make sense that they had to be born again. Yet it rang true. The words of the prophet Ezekiel came to mind, “I will sprinkle clean water on you… and a new spirit I will put within you.”⁴ His mouth dropped open as the words sunk in.

Finally, a slight smile drew on Jesus’ face. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”⁵

Nicodemus could only muster a confused question. “How can these things be?”

Born of the Spirit

When you read passages like this, how do you read it? From the perspective of Jesus or from Nicodemus. I must admit that I usually read it as if I’m standing behind Jesus and looking at Nicodemus. You can have a good chuckle at him or maybe feel sorry that he doesn’t really understand.

It’s always helpful though to flip the scenario. Think of yourself in the sandals of Nicodemus with Jesus saying these words to you. You don’t even really have to have the background of a Pharisee to hesitate and grapple with what Jesus is truly saying here. To be born again, that is by water and Spirit. Ah yes, we say, he’s talking about baptism. This is true, no doubt, but we know it’s something much deeper than that. Can we ourselves fully grasp what this means? Do you understand what Jesus is saying in verse 8?

(ESV) “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

In the Greek, the word “wind” in the first part of the verse is the same word “spirit” at the end. It is the word “pneuma”. It’s a difficult word to translate because it can mean wind, breath, mind, word, or spirit. For Jews and Greeks, it stood for the things you cannot see yet have power to move or give life. Therefore, in its simplest definition spirit is power. The Hebrew “ruach” has the exact same meanings and nuances.

The wind is like that. You can see the leaves on the tree moving but you can’t see what is moving them. But why would Jesus, at this point, start talking about wind? Maybe it’s so, but pneuma also can be thought of as breath, that which we inhale through our nostrils, moves our lungs, and gives us life. Therefore, the breath of life is spirit. In fact, that word “blows” in the Greek is pneo and is a form of pneuma meaning to breath (Gk. το πνευμα οπου θελει πνει).

John Thomas liked this meaning⁶ and there are a few translations like the Diaglott (and Rotherham’s) that translate verse eight like this,

(Diaglott) “The Spirit breathes where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but thou knowest not whence it comes, or where it goes; thus it is with every one who has been born of the Spirit.”

That is more in line with the theme of a child being born from the womb of its mother. The place where life is given to a new soul. The time when a baby breathes its first breath and lives on its own. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. That makes more sense in the context.

Embedded in this verse though is something admittedly mysterious. We do not know how a baby is given life. It is one of the most amazing miracles to observe. In the same way, we marvel at how we are given spiritual life and so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. The birth of the flesh is after the will of man. Those who are begotten by the word of Truth are born after the will of God to become his sons and daughters.

There is an echo here to Ecclesiastes 11:5 where again the translators are split on how to translate the Hebrew word ruach as either wind or spirit. This is the way the ESV puts it,

“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”⁷

The way a child is born in the womb to this very day is something still so incredible. How could one witness it and still not believe in a Creator? We all know how natural conception occurs by the will of man, but after that everything “just” happens. For centuries, nobody knew what it even looked like inside a womb. Ultrasound, a technology that uses sound waves to great a picture of what is inside the body, was first used in 1956. But even to this day the images it creates are grainy and need a specialist to decipher. It wasn’t until 1965 that the world would first see an image of a fetus inside the womb when Life published the photos of Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson. On the cover, in full colour and crystal-clear detail, the picture showed an unborn child floating in its amniotic sac, with its umbilical cord winding off to the placenta. Its eyes are closed and its tiny, perfectly formed fists are clutched to its chest. It was the fastest selling copy in Life’s entire history,⁸ selling eight million copies in the first four days. The images are still stunning and moving yet they just highlight even more our ignorance of the basis of life.

This, of course, is a depiction of that which is born of flesh. As much as we marvel at it, we marvel even more at those who are born of the spirit. Along with the Preacher of Ecclesiastes we admit, “we do not know.” Now we feel sympathy for Nicodemus and his question, “How can these things be?”

The Seed and the Increase of God

You’ll notice here in Ecclesiastes that this development of a baby in the womb is paired with the equally perplexing growth of a plant. In Ecclesiastes 11:6 it says,

(ESV) “In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand [don’t be idle - NASB], for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”

Like a baby in the womb, there is something equally remarkable in a seed. A farmer knows all the right conditions that are needed for healthy growth. He prepares the soil. He plants the seed. He waters. But how does this seed sprout? Why at the scent of water does life come? Why does the stalk go upward, and the roots go downward into the earth? Nobody knows, really. You sow the seed and you do not know if it will grow or not. We do our part but it’s all in God’s ways what will prosper.

Jesus would use this same analogy in one of his parables found in Mark 4:26-29,

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The kingdom of God is like a farmer and his field. What was the subject of Jesus’ discourse to Nicodemus? The kingdom of God. Maybe we see in this parable the same lesson about the spirit of God. It’s all about growth and spiritual increase. We don’t really understand who will spring to life and grow spiritually. We know the conditions needed for healthy spiritual growth, but it is God who gives the increase.

Let me ask you this. Is a seed alive or dead?

Consider this. At Herod the Great’s palace in Masada in Israel they discovered a cache of date palm seeds preserved in an ancient jar. These seeds were preserved from New Testament times two thousand years ago. In 2005 they were planted, sprouted and are now 3.5 meters (11 feet) high. They fittingly called the first plant Methusaleh and they are still growing to this day.⁹

There’s also an interesting place in Norway called the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.¹⁰ It’s a 9-million-dollar facility deep in a frozen mountain storing 1,214,827 types of seeds from around the world. They are stored in conditions that will preserve the seeds for a long time just in case something should happen.

Maybe we would say a seed has potential for life. It’s dormant but within is a latent power for life.

Now some seeds are dead, they won’t germinate. If viable though, it is in an embryonic state holding all that is needed for a fully grown plant or tree. It even has that which will eventually make for other seeds (John 12:24).

Jesus says quite plainly in the parable of the Sower that, “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). Peter also picks up on this analogy in 1 Peter 1:22-25,

“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

Notice here how Peter mixes the two ideas of being born again with a seed. It’s essentially a commentary on the words of Jesus to Nicodemus.

While a seed can be dormant for a while, it cannot be forever in that state. Eventually it will die if it does not grow. This is what Peter calls a corruptible seed. The word of God, by which we are born again, is not like that. It is incorruptible. It lives and abides forever. It always has potential to spring to life. In it is the DNA for a spiritual life of obeying the truth. But just like any other seed it has to find fertile ground in an honest and good heart (Luke 8:15).

Now we often equate the word of God with the Spirit of God and rightly so. But there may be a subtle distinction between a seed and the growth that happens. If the seed is the word of God, then is the increase the Spirit of God? Is the word related to the spirit in the same way a seed is to a plant?

It seems as if the apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Cor. 3:6-7,

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

What was Paul planting but the seed, the word of God? What did Apollos water but the seed in the fertile ground? The part of a farmer is indispensable, yet it is simple. The hard part is all God. It somehow sprouts and grows, we know not how, increasing until it fully matures and bears fruit.

The Fruit of the Spirit

The Spirit of God within us is something more than just the words of Scripture on a page. God didn’t write a rule book. Laws and rule books are constantly being adapted and added to because of different scenarios. What about this or what about that?

But we are not to be of the letter but of the spirit. He gave us principles to live by. We all are going to meet various challenges and trials in which we have to take this seed, this word of God, and apply it spiritually. It’s those challenges that make us grow. We pull together the balance of the whole word of God and make a decision which we believe is in accordance with the spirit of what God has revealed unto us. That’s the developed mind of the Spirit versus the natural mind of the flesh.

Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 said,

“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

The farmer plants a seed in hopes of a harvest. The farmer doesn’t know how that growth occurs, yet he rejoices when the grain matures. All his labor only brings satisfaction when the fruit ripens on the vine. Is this why he calls it the fruit of the Spirit? You never hear about the fruit of the Word just as we never really talk about the fruit of a seed. There’s a period of growth between the seed and harvest. It’s the growth provided by the increase of God which bears the maturity which is ready for the harvest. These are the things of the Spirit. So it is with the spiritual growth of one who believes and applies the word of truth.

There is a corruptible seed which when sown bears thorns and thistles. Its end is to be burned. But, as we learned from Peter, there is an incorruptible seed, which should be sown to the Spirit as Paul says in Galatians 6:7-9,

(ESV) “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

The desired end is eternal life in the kingdom of God. The Spirit is all about creation and growth. Whether it be a baby in the womb or a plant in the ground. God is working in each to bring maturity.

The Process of Growth

Our minds might now be brought back full circle to the words of Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:5, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.

From the very beginning the water and Spirit were the components of creation. As it says, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said…” (Gen. 1:2). In the beginning water was all you could see; the wind was all you could feel, and then there was a voice heard. The word of God was pronounced, and creation sprung into being. By the power of God, land emerged from the seas, plants shot up from the ground, and animals breathed.

By the words of Jesus to Nicodemus our minds are brought to realize that he is talking about an even more powerful new creation in those who would believe. The Spirit is about life and growth. It is about the majestic work of God beyond the things that are earthly to that which is heavenly.

When Jesus said we must be “born of water and Spirit” our minds instantly equate this with baptism and rightly so. The scriptures are quite clear that baptism is a new creation. Some commentators say that Jesus is just referring to only water baptism seeing this is a Greek figure of speech called hendiadys where two words are used for one meaning. There is no article “the” in front of the word Spirit. Thus, in our vernacular it should be read as “spiritual water”.¹¹

This could be the case but there does seem to be more to the words of Jesus as he ties in the aspect of seeing and entering the Kingdom of God with being “born of water and Spirit”. This is the way the John Thomas saw it as he commented in Elpis Israel,

“The New Birth, like the old one of the flesh, is not an abstract principle, but a process. It begins with the begettal and ends with the having been born. A son of God is a character, which is developed out of the “incorruptible seed” of God, sown into the fleshy table of the heart. When this seed, or word of the Kingdom, is received, it begins to work in a man until he becomes a believer of the truth. When things have come to this pass, he is a changed man. He has acquired a new mode of thinking; for he thinks in harmony with the thoughts of God as revealed in His law and testimony. He sees himself, and the world around him, in a new light. He is convinced of sin; and experiences an aversion to the things in which he formerly delighted. His views, disposition, temper, and affections are transformed. He is humble, child-like, teachable, and obediently disposed; and his simple anxiety is to know what God would have him to do. Having ascertained this, he does it; and in doing it is “born out of the water”. Having been begotten by the Father by the word of truth, and born of water, the first stage of the process is completed. He is constitutionally “in Christ”.

When a child is born, the next thing is to train him up in the way he should go, that when he is old he may not depart from it. This is also the arrangement of God in relation to those who are born out of water into His family on earth. He disciplines and tries them, that He may “exalt them in due time”. Having believed the gospel and been baptized, such a person is required to “walk worthy of the vocation”, or calling, “wherewith he has been called”, that by so doing he may be “accounted worthy” of being “born of spirit”, that he may become “spirit”, or a spiritual body; and so enter the kingdom of God, crowned with “glory, honour, incorruptibility, and life”. When, therefore, such a believer comes out of the ground by a resurrection from among the dead, the spirit of God, worked by the Lord Jesus, first opens the grave, and forms him in the image, and after the likeness of Christ; and then gives him life. He is then an incorruptible and living man, “equal to the angels”; and like them capable of reflecting the glory of Him that made him. This is the end of the process. He is like Jesus himself, the great exemplar of God’s family, born out of water by the moral power of the truth; and out of the grave by the physical power of spirit; but all things of God through Jesus Christ the Lord.”¹²

I believe that Bro. Thomas has captured the essence of what Jesus meant be being “born of water and Spirit.” It is a process and one that we must believe is working in us right now. We may not know how but we know it does.

Conclusion

It’s hard to talk about the Spirit and what it means for our lives. It’s a touchy subject. How are we born of the Spirt. Are we led of the Spirit? Do we walk in the Spirit? Are we filled with the Spirit? Is the Spirit shed abroad in our hearts? Do we receive the Spirit? The Biblical language is clear that the Spirit is a very necessary part of our discipleship. In fact, it’s the very starting point on which so much rests.

We are so careful though because we don’t want to be misunderstood and be associated with those who claim to have the Holy Spirit and act in ways that are contrary. There’s a tendency to go the opposite of those who claim to have the Spirit, who think they have powers to do this or that but, in the end, they are just charlatans. It is obvious that there are many false teachings about the Spirit which have even from time to time influenced certain Christadelphians who have gone astray from sound doctrine.

On another level it’s hard to talk about because it is about emotions and feelings. It’s how the word of God touches our hearts, our beliefs and our hopes. We like to be logical, analytical, and certain; to the detriment of being robotic.

But to be born of the Spirit is something we are all trying to feel, as we would feel the breeze against our face. Like love or faith, it is something hard to grasp or explain but we know it when we feel it. And like love we feel it, but we wonder is this all of it? Can it grow even more? I believe it can and the only thing holding it back is us. So then, let’s dig deep in the word of God, challenge ourselves, understand it and own the language of the Spirit that God has given us. Thus, we will continue next week to study the pouring out of the Spirit and how we can all find drink for our thirsty souls.

Footnotes

John 2:23-24
Matthew 7:7-8
Consider how Jesus also knew the thoughts of Nathanael (John 1:47-49) and the history of the woman at the well (John 4:18,29) for he knew what was in man (John 2:25)
Ezekiel 36:25-6
Translation is a mix of the ESV and Diaglott
John Thomas, “The Faith in the Last Days”, pg. 199; “Phanerosis”, pg. 88-89.
As translations split up the phrase like the NET, “Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman…”
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/nov/18/foetus-images-lenn…;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judean_date_palm#Oldest_seed 
https://www.seedvault.no/ 
E.W. Bullinger, “Figures of Speech Used in the Bible”, pg. 664
John Thomas, “Elpis Israel”, 14th Edition, pg. 135-136. He starts off the section with these words, “Now, because the unconstituted, or unrighteous, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the law is revealed which says, “Ye must be born again”; for says the King, “Except a man be born again he cannot behold the kingdom of God”. This saying is unintelligible to men whose thinking is guided by the flesh. They cannot comprehend “how these things can be”: and, though they profess to be “teachers of Israel”, “Masters of Arts”, and “Bachelors”, and “Doctors of Divinity”, and of “Canon and Civil Law”, they are as mystified upon the subject of “the new birth” as Nicodemus himself. But to those who understand “the word of the kingdom” these “heavenly things” are distinguished by the obviousness and simplicity of truth. To be born again, as the Lord Jesus expounds it, is to be “born of the water and the spirit”; as it is written, “Except a man be born out of water (ἐξ ὕδατος) and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. This is surely very explicit and very intelligible; who can misunderstand it unless it be against his will to receive it?”