Born again or from above?

Who is Jesus? part 41 – John 2:23 – 3:13

When I became a Christian in the mid-1970s, I was proud to identify myself as a born again believer in Jesus. Now I rarely use the term. Not because I no longer believe what I did, but because the meaning of born again in popular culture has changed. If I used it as I used to, I would be misunderstood.

²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵ and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ 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?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

John 2:23-3:13

There is a structure to these three chapters. They are one big chiasmus. Chiasm, meaning crossing over, is a poetic form used in nearly all Psalms and is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. Where there is a central section, here marked X, that is usually the focus of the poem.

A. John 2:1-11 Miracle at Cana – Water into wine.
B. 2:12-22 Temple cleansed – new Temple of his body.
C. 2:23-3:13 We must be born from above.
X. 3:14-21 God so loved the world that He gave His Son.
C’. 3:22-4:3 Christ comes from above.
B’. 4:4-46 Temple to be replaced by a new place of worship.
A’. 4:46-54 Miracle at Cana – healing of a nobleman’s son.

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The term “born again” was rarely used in Christianity until the 1960s Jesus Movement in the USA, when many Christians began to identify with it. At that time, saying you were born again was a revolutionary and counter-cultural statement. It suggested that you truly believed in the command, “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15).

When US President Jimmy Carter (1977-1980) referred to himself as born again, it was considered a revolutionary statement. However, by 1980, all three major presidential candidates were using the term.

Now, calling yourselves born-again (with a hyphen) implies you hold conservative, reactionary political views. The meaning has shifted so much that we’ve forgotten how revolutionary Jesus’s teachings to Nicodemus were.

Nicodemas asked a question in the plural, saying, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher from God.” (my bold) Jesus responds in the plural as well. Most times he uses “you” in this passage, it refers to the plural. This is not a private conversation; they are discussing theology together.

Nicodemus came by night, not because he was scared of being seen, as some have thought, but because that is when things were cooler and quieter, and he could have a chat. He was representing a group of Pharisees who were interested in what Jesus had to say, the “we” in the question, and he came because of the miracles Jesus was doing. Unlike other people who were interested in Jesus only for the miracles, Jesus knew their motives and had no time for them. Nicodemus was different; he was interested in who Jesus was. What he heard was mind-blowing.

Nicodemus was a teacher who didn’t grasp Jesus’ message. It’s understandable since the term ‘again’ used by John can mean either ‘again’ or ‘from above.’ It is deliberately ambiguous. Instead of Jesus focusing on how many times one can be born, it’s Nicodemus’s confusion that brings up the idea of multiple births. This ambiguity is why I believe we should be cautious of those who use ‘born again’ as if it has a simple definition.

Jesus isn’t talking about how many times we can be born, but about the source of our spiritual birth. He begins with what Nicodemus said, he recognises Jesus as being from God. That’ Jessus’ starting point, “from God.” The main point is that we need to be born from above, or from God into God’s Kingdom, which was new in Jewish belief. They vie wedEarthly and Heavenly kingdoms as separate, with the only overlap being the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple. Jesus teaches that we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven while still living, not just after death.

Jesus has come down from heaven, and he was misunderstood because what he was saying was so far outside people’s experience, even those like Nicodemus, born into God’s people and with a lifetime of study. Nicodemus could not understand being on earth, and also simultaneously in the kingdom of Heaven.

I’ll end with a lyric by Noel Richards. Copyright in the UK: Kingsway’s Thankyou Music 1991

To be in Your presence
To sit at Your feet,
Where Your love surrounds me,
And makes me complete.

This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.
This is my desire, O Lord,
This is my desire.

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