In John chapter 3, we read about Jesus's conversation with Nicodemus.
In this blog post, we'll see a brief explanation of John 3: 1 to 21.
Who is Nicodemus?
The verse 1 of John 3 says it. Nicodemus was a Pharisee.
The Jews treated Pharisees with great respect in Jesus's days.
They held a high place in the Jewish society and were treated as important people in God's temple.
The Pharisees came up with oral laws for the Jews from time to time.
Most of these laws were created to benefit the Pharisees themselves. However, they implemented them in the Jewish tradition using God's name.
The Jewish people were expected to follow these oral traditions, apart from the laws given to them in Torah by Moses.
We don't have enough information in Bible to know if Nicodemus, as a Pharisee, was supportive of these oral traditions.
The verse 2 helps us understand that Nicodemus genuinely sought to understand God, unlike the rest of the Pharisees.
This fact probably led him to meet Jesus, and acknowledge to Him that nobody can do what Jesus did if God isn't with him.
This reflects that Nicodemus must have witnessed a miracle (there isn't enough info to confirm which one) of Jesus, and tried to understand Him further, while the rest of the Pharisees simply dismissed and rejected Jesus as a blasphemer.
The good thing about Nicodemus is - he wanted to understand the truth, and arranged a secret meeting (probably without the knowledge of his Pharisee colleagues, and the public) with Jesus to understand Him.
The Born Again Condition
Here we come to the crux of this post.
In verse 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus -
“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
For a carnal reader, the above statement is easily understandable until the words "born again". But what exactly is born again?
In verse 4, Nicodemus asked the question right away to Jesus, that if he should get into his mother's womb and be born again.
In verses 5 to 8, Jesus explained Nicodemus that He referred to the "born again" in spirit, and not in flesh.
Just like we feel the air, but don't see it, the spirit is also felt but hidden to our naked eyes.
Also, we can't exactly say where air comes from and where it goes to.
In the same way, we don't know from where our spirit came from, and where it goes back.
The things we see with our naked eyes are of the flesh, and the naked eye can't see the spirit.
In verse 9, Nicodemus further questioned Jesus how can one be born again in spirit.
In fact, Jesus gave him an example moments ago about how spirit is hidden (in verses 5 to 8), similar to air (which is felt in the world).
In verses 10 to 12, Jesus wondered that Nicodemus as a teacher in Israel, didn't understand these things.
Then from 13 to 21, Jesus answered the question Nicodemus raised in verse 9.
Here's a short inference of that answer.
The "born again" is a change of heart (that chooses to turn away from sins). But we can't be born again without the help of Jesus Christ.
Wondering why?
Because when we sin, we're to pay the price for it with an appropriate sacrifice according to the law given through Moses.
The sins that we already committed, the sins that we may commit with/without knowledge in the future are all included for paying the price.
And here's another thing to remember. What we call or think as sin is far different from what God counts as sin.
For example, in human standards, rape is a sin.
But for God, the act of looking at another person with a lustful thought itself is a sin.
And we'll be judged in God's standards, and not our own standards.
So, that confirms all humans are sinners, and practically we can't pay the price for all our sins to enter the kingdom of heaven.
So God Himself made a way for our redemption.
Wondering how?
Well, it's only through Jesus. Read John 3:16 -
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Jesus lived a spotless life in this world that qualified Him to pay for all our sins. He took God's wrath on each on us upon Himself by dying on the cross despite committing no sin.
In other words, He stood at our place and accepted God's wrath, while being spotless. And He became the only way for our redemption, which is a just a true repentance away.
Here, the meaning of "true repentance" is important.
In the Christian world, there's a general misunderstanding of this verse.
One must understand that Christ's sacrifice is not a license for us to keep sinning over and over again, but it's His gracious gift for us to get another chance through Him, for defeating those sins.
Therefore, if someone is teaching that you can sin all you want, and all you have to do is to seek the forgiveness of Christ for entering the kingdom of heaven, that's wrong.
You can't just say a word of prayer asking Jesus to forgive you, and then get back to the same sin willfully.
Repentance means a true pleading for God's forgiveness for the sin, with a strong desire to give up that sin.
Certain addictions are not to easy to give up, even if we have a strong desire to give them up.
But with the help of Christ, one can overcome such addictions too. And, as a person gets closer and closer to Christ, they will eventually develop a strong resistance to the temptations leading to such addictions.
In other words, the addiction wouldn't feel attractive anymore, we'll have a strong realization of the addictions' ugliness making us wonder how did we even get attracted to some of those dirty things once.
Of course, it might not be a one-time process for some people. One may fall down and get back up multiple times. But each time, the repentance must be a true one in front of God.
And it's not just about addictions.
It's also about becoming more and more like Christ by following His commands, and keeping His ways in everything we do and say.
That also includes defeating our own anger, pride and ego for the sake of Christ, as a true return of love for the sacrifice He made for each of us on the cross.
So, ultimately, being born again is a tremendous change in our spirit towards God.
There's no end to the process of becoming more and more like Christ, as long as we live in this world.
As we read in Revelation 22:11
"and let the holy person continue to be holy."
The born again process is not just a one-time thing.
It's a daily spiritual battle, a continual process to become more and more like Christ, as He is the only spotless man we could follow.