John 3 Verses 1-8 

John 3:1 “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 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. 3 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. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 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 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 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.” 

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:” We are told a lot about Nicodemus in this verse.  Nicodemus was a Pharisee.  The Pharisees were self-righteous, legalistic, and the Lord called them hypocrites.  They viewed themselves as being the keepers and teachers of the law.  Nicodemus was also a ruler of the Jews.  This indicates that he was a man of authority and a politician.   

“The same came to Jesus by night…”  There has been much speculation as to why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.  Some have thought that he did not want to be seen with Jesus because the Pharisees generally disdained the Lord.  Others have thought that he was no doubt a busy man and therefore he went to see the Lord at a convenient time which just happened to be at night.  I really don’t know why he came to Jesus by night, but from what is written we can ascertain that Nicodemus at this point was in spiritual darkness.   

“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.”  Nicodemus called Jesus Rabbi which means teacher.  Thus Nicodemus viewed Jesus as a teacher and a miracle worker that came from God.  Nicodemus was right about Jesus being a teacher and a miracle worker, but he was more than come from God, he was God manifest in the flesh.  It is not hard to see why Nicodemus thought Jesus to be a teacher and a miracle worker, because he had no doubt heard about the miracles Jesus had performed and that Jesus had disciples.  The conclusion that he came from God also was easy to make as all previous workers of miracles such as Elijah and Elisha were prophets whom God had sent and Nicodemus would have had knowledge of them.   

“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.”  Nicodemus view of Christ was only based on what he could see and hear from his fleshly being.  At this point Nicodemus had no knowledge of the spiritual birth.  Jesus spoke the great principle of the need for a man to be born again in order to have the ability to see the kingdom of God.  A man who possesses only a fleshly nature does not have the ability or desire to see the kingdom of God.  It is only after he has been born again that he can see the spiritual kingdom of God.   

“Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”  Obviously Nicodemus had no knowledge or understanding about the spiritual birth.  He had no understanding of the principal of an outer man and an inner man in the child of God.  Thus, Nicodemus ignorance only allowed him to consider the idea of being born again as another natural birth.  He thought the Lord statement to be incredulous.   

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  Again, the Lord puts forth the principal of a spiritual birth and says that a person must be born of water and of Spirit in order to be able to enter into the kingdom of God.  Generally there are two errors that many people make with regard to this scripture.  Some think that to be born of water is natural birth and to be born of the Spirit is the spiritual birth.  Others think that the being born of water is water baptism.  First being born of water and of Spirit is not two births but only one.  Each birth is a singular event.  The grammar of the above verse allows only one birth.  If this were two births, then the sentence would read, Except a man be born of water and be born of the Spirit.  However, this is not the case and the grammar only allows for one birth and that is a spiritual birth.  However, this begs the question, what does it mean to be born of water and of the Spirit.  We find the answer to this in Tit. 3:4 “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 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;” Thus, the new or spiritual birth involves both a washing and an adding of a spiritual nature to the one born of the Spirit.   

The idea that the water in the verse is water baptism does not agree with what the Lord said in verses 3 and 5.  If water baptism was the cause of the spiritual birth, then you would have someone hearing and believing something that he could not see or enter before he is born again.  That makes no sense.   

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  The flesh can only bring forth a fleshly birth.  Likewise, it is the Spirit that is the only agent that can bring about a spiritual birth.  When a person is born of the flesh, he did not ask to be born of the flesh.  It was not his decision.  He had no say in the matter.  Likewise, when someone is born of the Spirit, he did not ask to be born of the Spirit.  It was not his decision.  He had no say in the matter.   

“Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”  Nicodemus had marveled at the necessity of being born again.  To see or enter the kingdom of God the spiritual birth is a necessity.   

“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.”  The actions of the wind are sovereign.  Man has no say as to where or when the wind blows and he knows not from where the wind originates and to where the wind goes.  Moreover, man has never seen the wind.  We know there is a wind because of the evidences of the wind, such as feeling the wind on our skin, hearing the sound of the wind, seeing the rustling of the leaves and grace, etc.  In like fashion, the Holy Spirit is sovereign in bringing about the spiritual birth.  The spiritual birth takes place when God pleases, not when we choose.  We don’t control the work of the Holy Spirit in causing someone to be born again.