21 - John 3:5

’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.’ -John 3:5. The Gospel of John differs in many obvious particulars from the other Gospels. One distinguishing feature is its unity. There are indeed a number of distinct tableaux and conversations; but these are related to one another; they are chosen with reference to a design in the mind of the inspired writer; they successively unfold and illustrate some special aspects of the great truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. In the biography which Matthew gives us we are taken from one scene to another, from one set of circumstances, one sort of engagements, one exposition of truth, to others that are widely different, and the only unity is that which belongs to Christ’s own character. But John’s Gospel is more like a document, written to set forth certain great truths of Christianity, with constant references to statements made and works wrought by Christ, illustrative of those truths. There is a law of continuity easily traceable throughout this wonderful Gospel. In the other Gospels the context lies close to the text; but here all is contextual; the evangelist is constantly illustrating what has gone before. Just as in the Epistle to the Hebrews the apostle puts under contribution the whole of the Old Testament, gathering here, there, and everywhere the testimony which it yields, and working all up into an essay conspicuous for unity, so the beloved disciple, out of the boundless repertory of our Lord’s words, gathers, by the aid of God’s Spirit, all that serves to illustrate the end he has in view. To be born of water and of the Spirit: in considering the meaning of these words, let us begin by looking back into the first chapter. "And John bare record, saying, He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." The Baptist here indicates a remarkable contrast between himself and the Messiah: he baptized with water, but the Messiah should baptize with the Spirit. The point here indicated is of sovereign importance, and is placed by itself; but it does not follow that this whole question of Christian baptism is disposed of by it. Some may leap to the conclusion that it is so disposed of; that all we need to be disciples of Christ is to be wrought upon by the Spirit; that we do not need, as the disciples of John did, to be set apart by some public and conspicuous rite. They who are known as the Friends are content with the first grand announcement; they give its due place to the grand truth that we must be born of the Spirit, and insisting on the contrast between John’s baptism and that of Christ, set aside the necessity of water baptism. But here, in the conversation with Nicodemus, our Lord supplements the statement of the Baptist, and teaches that his disciples, while they are made so only by the power of the Spirit, cannot become so without the outward rite, which sets them visibly apart from the world. Nicodemus needed that his attention should be specially drawn to this characteristic of the new birth, the necessity of openly identifying himself with Christ if he really wished to belong to him; but the reference having been once made, it suffices, and this particular point passes out of sight, in the next statement, That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Men are born of water only as they are justified by works, in the apprehension of James; the faith that does not reveal itself in obedience is dead; living faith, the faith that fructifies in works, is the faith which saves. The faith that does not lead to confession is vain; he is not born of the Spirit who does not acknowledge Christ. In the Greek there is at the beginning of this chapter a connecting particle, requiring us to connect the words with those just before spoken: "For he himself knew what was in man. There was (for instance) a man named Nicodemus." The conversation shows Christ’s knowledge of what is in man. To know what it is to be born of the Spirit we must know the Spirit, what are his offices, what he comes to do.

1. He comes to influence the spirit of man. His sphere of operation is the soul, the thinking, willing, emotional part of man’s nature.

2. He influences it according to its own laws, not in violation or disregard of them. He does not directly, arbitrarily make it to be what he would now have it to be; but he has regard to the inalienable endowments which God has bestowed upon it.

3. He is the Spirit of truth, and it is only by the truth that he influences the mind and the heart of man. The truth of itself cannot change the heart; but neither does the Spirit of himself by a mere fiat change it. The great law of our nature demands that we should be influenced by motives; and in conformity with this law the Spirit moves the heart by means of the truth. He does not constitute himself sovereign by overcoming and binding the will; the will is never freer than when it gives him entrance. He does not forbid the mind to reason; he teaches it to reason rightly.

4. It is, especially, by the truth relating to Christ that he influences and changes the mind. By that truth he condemns it, convinces it of sin, takes away its imagined righteousness; and by it he so reveals the love of God as to make the heart acquiesce in the offers and demands of the Gospel.

5. The Spirit is God. God the Spirit is the all-wise and almighty God working in the realm of spirit, influencing and moulding the hearts of his intelligent creatures. To be born of the Spirit is to be born of God.

If, in order to be a child of God, it is necessary that men be born of water and of the Spirit, it is evident that men are not naturally the children of God. If, as some tell us in these days, all men are children of God, only they have lost the sense of their relationship, and need simply to have this restored, Christ would not have used such language as is here reported. The Gospel, we are told, is that which God in his abounding goodness has given to convince us of that which sin would hide from us. Christ came and died upon the cross for us, that we might discover how much injustice we had done to God in mistrusting him, might ascertain that love which he has towards all his fallen creatures, his erring children. We are as it were children that have been stolen in infancy, when we were too young to know, and have been nursed and fostered by a stranger; and now, by virtue of the cross, we discover what we are, children of the King. What the doctrine of election is supposed to teach, "once a child always a child," this doctrine teaches concerning all men; their birthright is inalienable. This doctrine is very insidious. It makes great use of the Gospel, that is, of a portion of it. It harps much upon the love of God; the fatherhood of God, from which even sin cannot separate us; the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which makes us acquainted with the loving heart of our Father. But it is only a part of the Gospel that it uses. It speaks of the love of God, but not of his holiness, which cast down the angels from heaven because of their sin, and said to Adam, In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die, and keeps saying to his descendants, The soul that sinneth it shall die, and Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. This subtle doctrine speaks of the sacrifice of Christ as required not by the holiness of God, but by the unbelief of man. They single out the parable of the Prodigal Son, valuing it for what it omits (abundantly stated in other words of Christ) as much as for what it contains. But prodigals can only reach the Father through Christ, who begins by teaching them not that they are the children of God, but, Except they be born of water and of the Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God.