Jesus' teaching "Born Again"

(John 3:21) Jesus teaches Nicodemus

1.Now there was a man of the Pharisee named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2.He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher that comes from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with them."
3.In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
4."How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he can not enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5.Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. 6.Flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit. 7.You should not be surprised at my saying 'you must be born again.' 8.The wind blows whenever it pleases. You hear its sounds, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit."
9."How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10."You are Israel's teacher, said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11.I tell you the truth, when we speak of what we know, and we testify to things we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12.I have spoken to you about earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things? 13.No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. 14.Just Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15.that everyone who believes him shall have eternal life.
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. 17.For God did not send His Son into the world to condem the world, but to save the world through Him. 18.Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in Him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19.This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20.Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21.But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

I will take a few of the verses in this teaching of Jesus and give some study background on them:

Vs. 3 A question is always asked, "What does it mean to be born again?"
To enter the kingdom of God requires something that is impossible by human standards-to be re-born. By this, Jesus refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in breathing life into our sinful and dead spiritual nature. When we are born again, we become a new person, forgiven for our sins and granted an intimate relationship with God.

Vs 5 A question often asked, "What does it mean to be born of water and the Spirit?"
This could refer to physical birth (accompanied by "Water breaking") and spiritual birth (the dawning of the spiritual awareness) or to baptism (repentance symbolized by water) and the life in the Spirit (awakening to the reality of God's Spirit working in a persons life).

Vs 14 A question often asked, "How is the Son like a snake?"
Moses made a bronze serpent, attached it to a pole and lifted it up. Those who looked to it with faith were healed. In a similar way, Jesus says that He would be lifted up on a cross, and those who turn in faith to Him will be saved from their sins.

Vs 16-18 A question asked, "What does it mean to believe?"
To believe in Christ involves a lot more than agreeing that Jesus' words are true. In fact, John's writings characterize this exercising of faith as believing into Christ. It means to trust in Christ alone for your salvation. It is deciding to place your fate in the hands of Jesus, trusting Him to be you Lord and His word to be your command.


When I decided to follow Jesus and completely surrendered my whole life to Him, He poured His Spirit into me and I immediately began to change. I today have a new way of life. This chapter in John never made sense to me until I surrendered. When we stop trying to control everything ourselves and let God take the wheel, He will never steer us in the wrong direction. We will always have struggles in our lives. God only allows those struggles for a reason. He is building us into the person we need to be for His purpose and His plan. Everyone of us has a a distinct role in God's awesome plan. If you haven't already, surrender, throw the white flag and let God begin in your life. I love you all! God Bless you and your families.