In the Life of Christ
When Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, he brought an impressive spiritual résumé. He was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and a respected teacher of Scripture. If anyone appeared qualified for the kingdom of God, Nicodemus did. Yet Jesus did not congratulate him on his accomplishments. He looked beyond the religious exterior and declared, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
I imagine how unsettling those words must have sounded. Nicodemus had spent his life building knowledge, discipline, and public respectability. Jesus told him that none of it could produce the life he needed. D. A. Carson captures his bewilderment: “You can’t be born again. That’s what Nicodemus is saying.” Nicodemus understood physical birth, but Jesus was describing a birth that only God could accomplish. The Greek expression gennēthē anōthen can mean “born again” or “born from above.” Nicodemus heard “again,” while Jesus emphasized “from above.”
Jesus was not offering Nicodemus a religious improvement plan. He was announcing the necessity of spiritual resurrection. Our problem is not that the outside needs polishing. Sin has reached the heart, leaving us unable to create spiritual life within ourselves. We can change certain behaviors, join a church, memorize Scripture, or become more disciplined, but none of those actions can cause a new birth. A Ligonier Ministries commentary describes regeneration as “no minor change but a complete transformation.”
Jesus expected Nicodemus to recognize this promise from Ezekiel 36:25–27. God had promised to cleanse His people, remove the heart of stone, give them a heart of flesh, and place His Spirit within them. When Jesus spoke of being born “of water and the Spirit,” He was not inventing an entirely new doctrine. He was announcing that God’s promised cleansing and inward renewal were arriving through Him. The Pharisees concentrated on external conformity, but God had always intended to create inward transformation.
Jesus then pointed Nicodemus toward the wind: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes” (John 3:8). The Greek word pneuma, like the Hebrew ruach, can mean wind, breath, or spirit. We cannot see the wind itself, but we recognize its presence when branches bend, leaves scatter, and clouds move across the sky. In the same way, we cannot command or manufacture the new birth, but we can recognize the Spirit’s work by its effects.
R. C. Sproul expressed this powerfully: “If you have in your heart today any affection for Christ at all, it is because God the Holy Spirit…has been to the cemetery of your soul and has raised you from the dead.” New birth does not merely make an undisciplined person behave better. The Holy Spirit enters what was spiritually lifeless and awakens faith in Jesus Christ.
The unmistakable evidence of this new life is not sinless perfection, emotional excitement, or religious busyness. It is genuine faith in Jesus that begins reshaping the whole person. The Spirit topples our confidence in ourselves and turns our attention toward Christ. He gives us a growing desire to obey, a sensitivity to sin, love for others, and hunger for God’s Word. These are not the roots that create salvation; they are the fruit showing that God has created life.
Nicodemus’s story also reminds me that Jesus is patient with sincere questions. Nicodemus did not understand immediately, yet Jesus continued teaching him. Later, Nicodemus defended fair treatment for Jesus (John 7:50–52), and after the crucifixion he helped Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus’ body for burial (John 19:38–42). John does not narrate every step of his spiritual journey, but he allows us to see movement—from nighttime curiosity toward costly public identification with Christ.
Perhaps you have been trying to remodel what only God can recreate. Jesus does not say, “Make yourself more presentable.” He says, “You must be born again.” Come to Him honestly, relinquish confidence in your credentials, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken and renew your heart. Christianity begins not with what we accomplish for God, but with the life God creates within us through Christ.
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