Oct 11, 2020
Scripture Reading: John 3:1-10
This is one of the clearest passages in the Bible regarding conversion. Nicodemus is a Jewish Pharisee and is sincerely seeking to know what God requires of a person. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been taught to view religion as mainly behavioral. Jesus' statements to Nicodemus (and to us) indicate that what God requires is more profound and foundational than simply engaging in certain behaviors.
What is required to "see the kingdom of God," Jesus says, is a new
birth. This new birth is not basically external. It is an internal
cleansing. This is the meaning of being born "of water" (Jn 3:5).
In mentioning 'water' Jesus may very well have had Ezekiel 36:25,26
in mind. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be
clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will
cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I
will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
What is needed to have a relationship with God is to be changed in
our soul. It is a change of heart. It is much deeper than simply an
adjustment in behavior. It is a radical change of who we actually
are at the deepest level.
Second, this change is not something we have the capability of
producing. It is something only the Spirit of God can do. This is
the meaning of being born "of the Spirit" (Jn 3:5). Again, in
Ezekiel 36, we read, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules"
(Ezek 36:27).
In 1 John 3:14, the way this new birth is depicted is to pass "from
death to life." Conversion to Christ is not the healing of a sick
person. It is the raising of the dead.