What does it mean to be born of God?

The Lord explains Himself. Two things were necessary — to be born of water, and of the Spirit. Water cleanses. And, spiritually, in his affections, heart, conscience, thoughts, actions, etc., man lives, and in practice is morally purified, through the application, by the power of the Spirit, of the word of God, which judges all things, and works in us livingly new thoughts and affections. This is the water; it is withal the death of the flesh. The true water which cleanses in a christian way came forth from the side of a dead Christ. He came by water and blood, in the power of cleansing and of expiation. He sanctifies the assembly by cleansing it through the washing of water by the word. "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." It is therefore the mighty word of God which, since man must be born again in the principle and source of his moral being, judges, as being death, all that is of the flesh. But there is in fact the communication of a new life; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, is not flesh, has its nature from the Spirit. It is not the Spirit — that would be an incarnation; but this new life is spirit. It partakes of the nature of its origin. Without this, man cannot enter into the kingdom. But this is not all. If it was a necessity for the Jew, who already was nominally a child of the kingdom, for here we deal with what is essential and true, it was also a sovereign act of God, and consequently it is accomplished wherever the Spirit acts in this power. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." This in principle opens the door to the Gentiles.

The Lord speaks of being born of water and of the Spirit; then He adds, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit". "That which" — that is the nature which — is born of the Spirit is spirit; it partakes of the nature of the One by Whom it is born; it is therefore an entirely new nature. The water is a figure of the Word applied by the Spirit, effecting the practical purification of our thoughts and hearts from the old nature and its desires.

Hence too, when the Lord speaks of what livingly subsists as born, He says only "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and speaks no longer of water. Water cleanses what is, life begins when one is born. And if we give heed to the Lord's words, who tells Nicodemus that as a master in Israel he should have known these things, we cannot doubt that the Lord alludes especially to Ezekiel 36:24-27: "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you," etc. That is to say, there is a moral practical cleansing, typified by the word 'water,' and a new life given by the operation of the Spirit of God. No one could say that which is born of water is water; it has no sense. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit; it is the communication of life, like in its nature to its source; but that we are born of the Spirit by the means of the water, there is not the slightest hint of. And even "our church" has sense enough to see this when it has its eyes open: "Sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin." Hence the scripture speaks of baptism as being for death, not life; as in Romans 6, Colossians 2, where at the utmost you make speak of resurrection being involved in it, after the death, unto the likeness of which we have been planted, through the faith of the operation of God who raised Him from the dead. Hence, if we take baptism as a figure, it is as, to the water, a figure of death - Christ's death; being born of the Spirit, a communication of new life.

Let us see what Scripture teaches. John 3:5, says, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” Here we find the Holy Spirit is the Divine Agent in the New Birth, and water (the word of God) the instrument used. It is clear that life whether natural or divine can only come from God. The Spirit uses the word. The Word of God in some ways lays hold of the soul, and in that lies the New Birth. It may be the sense that God is—not a mere surface acceptance of a fact, usually believed, but a belief that grips the soul with a sense of responsibility. Or it might be the thought of eternity, that would give a desire to be prepared for it. It might be the conviction of sin, and in many other ways.

But how is this brought about? Nicodemus could not tell, nor can many in this day, but the Lord Jesus explains. "Verily, verily, I say to thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit," etc. Here we have it in a few words. It is the direct work of the Spirit of God, acting by means of the word of God upon the soul. Perhaps I need hardly say that "water" here is the figure of the word of God. Some have imported the idea of baptism into this chapter and the Lord's Supper into John 6. But Christian baptism was not instituted until after the Lord's resurrection, and the Lord's Supper not until the night of His betrayal. Consequently neither can possibly be found in the early chapters of John's Gospel.

There are four statements in this verse (John 1:13), one is positive and three are negative. The one positive statement is "Which were born … of God." The three negative are, "not of blood"; "nor of the will of the flesh"; "nor of the will of man." These three things are the component parts of our human birth into this world. "Blood" would refer to the nature of that birth; "flesh" to the agent, and "man" as the source. This is what our Lord refers to in chapter 3, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh." We learn that new birth is not the product of nature, nor brought about by the flesh, nor does it spring from man, but is altogether of God, "Which were born … of God." More details are given in John 3, as to the agents God does use to bring this about. In chapter 1, stress is laid upon what the new birth is not, while in chapter 3, stress is laid upon what it is and how it is brought about by God.

But this new life given of God is not merely a moral change, — a ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. It is a real new element of being in the believer, though it may be impossible to define; and no wonder, for natural life is impossible to define. By it we are actually, not putatively, the children of God, — really born of Him: "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13.)

The doctrine of the new birth is therefore taught by our Lord in connection with the cross. A new birth is inseparable from new life; that new life is here defined to be not temporal, but eternal, and as flowing only to us from God, through the death of Christ, and that to every one that believeth. Therefore our Lord told Nicodemus, that to be born again of water and of the Spirit, he must take the place of a ruined, perishing sinner before the Son of God, who was crucified, and thus he would receive eternal life, and stand no longer as one condemned, but as having pardon and acceptance with God. This, indeed, is being born of God. The Holy Spirit always directs the soul to the person and work of Christ. The Holy Ghost does not say, Look at me for salvation, look to my operations for peace, look to my gifts for assurance. Oh, no! He is the Glorifier of Christ, therefore He saith, Look to Jesus lifted up, look to the Lamb slain, the Saviour of sinners; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved; and if we be led of the Spirit, we shall surely testify of Christ. Were I merely to preach, Ye must be born again, it would be no message of glad tidings, no balm for the weary and heavy laden, no comfort for the anxious enquirer; but when we connect with the doctrine of the new birth the blessed truth, that Christ crucified is an ocean of boundless love, an overflowing fountain of living water, a well of everlasting life to every sinner that believes, we announce good tidings of great joy.

The Holy Ghost, then, is the mighty agent, and the Word of God is the instrument, which being received as the result of this divine action by faith in the soul, there is the imparting of this new nature. To again quote Peter's words, we are "made partakers of the divine nature." I quite admit that the possession of this new nature does not carry with it power. That will come in its due place in John 4, in connection with the Holy Ghost as a spring within the believer. But the point here is that there is imparted, by the Word and Spirit, a new life, a new nature, a new existence before God. "Born of God" is elsewhere the way John speaks of it. Thus, in chapter 1 of his gospel we read, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons (children) of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12) Then in his first epistle we read, "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). Again, "Whosoever is born of God sins not" (ver. 18); and "whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world" (ver. 4). This I call the New Testament term, in its highest development, for this blessed truth — of which the primary elements have been before us — "born of God," which carries with it the thought of relationship.

The Lord accordingly stops him at once with the declaration that man, any one, needs to be born from the outset and origin. Not teaching is wanted but a new nature, a new source of being spiritually, in order to see the kingdom of God. No inference, however logical, is faith. It is not even a conviction of conscience. It may be a conclusion fairly drawn from sound premisses, from sensible facts of the weightiest kind before the mind; but neither God is known nor itself yet judged. The new character of life which suits the kingdom of God does not yet exist for the soul. In such a state teaching would but aggravate the danger or expose to fresh evil. The Word of God has never penetrated the heart of Nicodemus. He knew not himself utterly defiled, spiritually dead in sins. What he wanted was to be quickened, not to have fresh aliment for the exercise of his mind. And Jesus, instead of commenting on his words, answered his true need, which he too would have sought himself, had he but known it.