How Can A Man Be Born When He Is Old?

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Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV).

If not the most popular, John 3:3 is one of the popular teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ and of Christianity. What is taught by the Lord in that text is a sine qua non¹ of Christianity.  You have to experience John 3:3 to be called a Christian

Who was Jesus speaking to?

John 3 narrates a conversation Jesus Christ had with Nicodemus, described as a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. Meaning he was an influential person. Not only that. As a Pharisee, he held to a high religious moral code in society. If he was religious, isn’t it, therefore, true he was already a member of God’s kingdom? The conversation rather indicates a man outside the Kingdom of God; that spiritual realm where God reigns as King. God’s kingdom is manifested in our age in the lives and hearts of God’s people and in the age to come. The kingdom of God simply is God’s rule over his people.

Spiritual blindness

The words “cannot see the Kingdom of God” in the text indicates spiritual blindness. To see the kingdom of God is to have the ability in believing and receiving its teachings.  The conversation with Nicodemus revealed a spiritually blind man. Continuously in the conversation, his questions revealed his spiritual state. The title of this article is one of the questions Nicodemus asked: “Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (v.4, see also v.9)

Nicodemus was spiritually blind and needs the born again experience to believe the teachings of the kingdom of God. This is not only true of Nicodemus. It is true of everyone without a saving relationship with Jesus. A man without Christ is a natural man, dead in sin ( Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Ephesians. 2:1).

The New Birth— Born Again

Because of the unregenerate’s spiritual blindness, the only way to see the Kingdom of God and become members of it is to be Born Again. The question naturally will be that, what is Born Again? That precisely is Nicodemus’ question: “How Can A Man Be Born When He Is Old?”

Born From Above

The phrase born again in the original language means “Born from above.” As our natural birth brings us into the earthly natural world, there is a spiritual birth required to enter the spiritual world— Kingdom of God. To be born again is a spiritual rebirth which brings us into union with Christ. We are transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  (Colossians 1:13).

The new birth is a spiritual work of God (1 Peter 1:23, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18 ). As we have no hand in our natural birth, our spiritual birth is also solely a work of God. In the new birth, God removes our spiritual inability, opens our eyes to spiritual truth, changes our hearts and gives us a desire to love, have faith and obey him. The sign that a new birth has taken place in our heart is that we place our faith in Jesus Christ. Christ was sent into the world to reconcile sinners to God. He died and resurrected so that those who believe in him will have eternal life (vv. 4-16).

Note

1 Sine qua non: “something absolutely indispensable or essential”