What did Jesus mean by "unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"?

Question

John 3:3 reads:

unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (NASB)

What is meant by this?

Answer 1

I understand from that statement what Jesus meant the individual to whom it was first addressed was to understand. Unless today's Christians grasp that initial meaning, they will not be able to apply it correctly to themselves. The danger then would be that they suppose they can apply it to themselves when they cannot.

First point of significance - Nicodemus never asked Jesus any questions at all. He just made a flat statement of recognition about Jesus. This member of the ruling Jewish council approached Jesus at night to declare, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him" (vs.2).

Such an approach pleased Jesus, for it was sincere. He then responded to Nicodemus with that astounding sentence about being born again, which was incomprehensible to this well educated man. It would have been equally incomprehensible to an uneducated person, for this was a spiritual truth, requiring the Holy Spirit to apply it to the person. But this well educated man ought to have known from the Hebrew scriptures what Jesus was alluding to. This accounts for the next 6 verses of conversation, ending in Jesus exclaiming in wonder that this teacher of Israel did not know what he was talking about!

Psalm 87:4 should have popped into the memory of Nicodemus when Jesus spoke of men being born of water and of spirit in order to see the Kingdom of God. That Psalm spoke of the gates of Zion and the city of God then said:

"I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: this one was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, 'This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her'. The Lord shall count, when he writes up the people, that this one was born there." (vss. 4-6)

All those Gentiles - born in Zion, when they had been born in foreign lands? They would have to have been born again, in Zion, for such a count to be accurate!

Second point of significance - Before Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about seeing God's kingdom via a new birth, John the writer of that gospel account had mentioned it in chapter 1. This should prepare the reader for chapter 3. Here's what is said:

"[Jesus] came to his own, and his own received him not. But as many received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God...

"[John the Baptist said] 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. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." (John :11-13 & 32-34)

To all who receive Jesus in faith, who believe in his name, is given the right to be born again, of the Spirit, from above.

Conclusion - How does this apply to today's Christians? - Exactly the same as it applied way back then. All who would see the Kingdom of God, and who will be counted as its members, must be born again of the Spirit, from above. They cannot do this themselves, for it has nothing to do with human will (desire) or ability. But genuine, saving faith in Christ as the Son of God, leads to receiving Christ by faith, which is this miraculous new birth - spiritual newness of life - a spiritually dead person coming to newness of spiritual life. That is what it means to be born again.

Tragically, many people who profess to be Christians have never been born again the way Jesus said had to happen if they are to see the Kingdom of God. Why, there are even some groups that tell 99% of their members that the new birth is not for them - it's only for a tiny few who are to go to heaven, and as they only have an earthly hope, they will never be born again. There are other groups that think joining a religious denomination is the new birth. And I could go on, but you don't ask what it doesn't mean, just what it does mean. I hope this answer helps clarify.

Answer 2

1 Corinthians 15:22 And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

All of us are born under Adam, and recieve our patrimony from him as our head and father, including inheritence of a human nature devoid of the supernatural grace of God which first enlightened, guided, strengthened and comforted Adam, inasmuch as he lost it, along with Paradise, when he sinned. This lack of original grace is what causes us to lose access to heaven, since it was only a gift to Adam and Eve, which they forfeited by sin. Therefore, we are truly born and continue to be "dead in [our] offences, and sins" (Eph 2:1), being born "by nature children of wrath" (Eph 2:3).¹ This is where Christ comes in. Christ serves as a "[new] Adam" (1 Cor 15:45), as our new head and father, in whom we recieve "the adoption of children through Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:5; Gal 4:5).

Hebrews 2:1-15 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many children into glory, to perfect the author of their salvation, by his passion. For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the church will I praise thee. And again: I will put my trust in him. And again: Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me. Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil: and might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude.

Having a new father, therefore, our patrimony is from One born without sin, in order to pass this inheritance on to us spiritually, through rebirth.

2 Corinthians 5:17 If then any be a new creature in Christ, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new.

It is in this sense that we need to be "re-born" into a new reality, a "new creation." We are no longer considered children of Adam — that is, of the curse — but of Christ, our new head, the new Adam. Since we are made children of another father, we are in this sense, "re-born" — we are not, as Nicodemus initially asked, expected to be born through our mother's womb again, but born spiritually again² — since our first spiritual birth was into sin, hence the need for a transformation of nature. Inasmuch as this is effected by the Spirit, it is to be "born again of water and the Spirit." The water, as we shall see, refers to the water of baptism, wherien this new birth takes place — at least, according to all Christians for the first centuries of the Church (they were more unanimous on this matter than perhaps any other — including which books were part of the canon of Scripture!).

The early church understood this regeneration to occur in baptism, therefore linking this passage to to the baptism itself, as the very moment when we, as St. Paul says, "put on Christ."

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

Romans 6:3 Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death?

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water with the word [or formula/phrase cf. Mt 28:19].

The early Church unanimously interpreted with passage as the rebirth that occur when we are baptized with Christian baptism.

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, 'Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' (Justin Martyr, First Apology, 61 ).

'And dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan.' It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: 'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' (Irenaeus, Fragment 34.).

No one can attain salvation without baptism, especially in view of the declaration of the Lord, who says, 'Unless a man shall be born of water, he shall not have life'” (Tertullian, Baptism 12:1 ).

But you will perhaps say, ‘What does the baptism of water contribute toward the worship of God?’ In the first place, because that which has pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because when you are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so . . . you shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For thus has the true prophet testified to us with an oath: 'Verily, I say to you, that unless a man is born again of water . . . he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' (Recognitions of Clement 6:9).

they receive also the baptism of the Church . . . then finally can they be fully sanctified and be the sons of God . . . since it is written, 'Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' (Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 71:1 ).

Since man is of a twofold nature, composed of body and soul, the purification also is twofold: the corporeal for the corporeal and the incorporeal for the incorporeal. The water cleanses the body, and the Spirit seals the soul. . . . When you go down into the water, then, regard not simply the water, but look for salvation through the power of the Spirit. For without both you cannot attain to perfection. It is not I who says this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power in this matter. And he says, 'Unless a man be born again,' and he adds the words ‘of water and of the Spirit,' 'he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' He that is baptized with water, but is not found worthy of the Spirit, does not receive the grace in perfection. Nor, if a man be virtuous in his deeds, but does not receive the seal by means of the water, shall he enter the kingdom of heaven. A bold saying, but not mine; for it is Jesus who has declared it. (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 3:4 ).

How Scriptural is this view espoused by the entire early Church? Very.

St. Peter plainly and explicitly teaches that in baptism we are saved. To do so, he uses the type of Noah and the ark. He says:

For Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in spirit, in which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison: which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noah, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now saveth you also: not by the removal of the filth of the flesh, but in the appeal for a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So just as God used water to both cleanse all sin and save Noah (i.e. bearing the ark above the carnage), so baptism cleanses all sin and saves us from the wrath that will come upon "the children of wrath." Its power is not in the water's physical effects, but in its spiritual effects; not in its natural effects, but in its supernatural effects, "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." His use of the term "soul" instead of "persons" or simply "eight" is deliberate in that the salvation of the soul is what is at issue, and the type is simply that: a foreshadowing.

The Spirit hovering over the first creation, and the dove hovering over the waters after the flood of Noah was finished with an olive branch signifying peace between God and man, and the dove hovering over the waters at Jesus' baptism, that is, the Spirit once again, takes on a new significance, therefore, in light of this Apostolically-identified type of baptism. As does the language of a "new creation," in that a "new creation" took place after Noah landed with the animals, harkening back to Adam and a new beginning.

Can being born again in order to be able to enter heaven refer to anything other than saving your soul?

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^{1 This is a Hebraism whose meaning is "doomed to judgement"}

^{2 While the word translated "again" can mean "[from] above," I find this only to be a happenstance (or maybe even providential) pun in Greek, rather than a feature of the original conversation — why, if this conversation was had in Greek would someone ignore the far more natural assumption, that it means "again," and somehow assume that Jesus must be talking about literal rebirth through our mother's womb — unless the conversation took place in a Semitic language (Hebrew or Aramaic), and not Greek, in which only coincidentally, or perhaps even providentially, there is a play on words.}

Answer 3

More correctly, Jesus said, "born from above" in v3. Then he went on to explain what that meant and, what it didn't.

5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless anyone be born of water and of the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. 6That having been born of the flesh is flesh, and that having been born of the Spirit is spirit v5-

All are born of the flesh. That is our default state and in this state we cannot enter the Kingdom.

If we are not spirit, then we have not been 'born from above'. In this age we have only a deposit, a down-payment of the spirit of God. This is not being 'born from above', it is but the first stage of becoming God's children.

...and that having been born of the Spirit is spirit

We simply have to ask ourselves if we are currently spirit as the text informs. Born of the spirit IS spirit. Nothing about a deposit or down-payment (2Cor 1:22 below) the newly born will BE spirit. Or, if we are flesh then we are still awaiting our new spiritual birth.

2 Cor 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave us the spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory. Eph 1:14

Jesus explained that we are by default, children of the devil, because we do the things of the devil. (John 8:44) Only God can call us out of this state and reveal Himself and His son Jesus through His spirit. (John 14:23)

Jesus, when he was raised from the dead, was given spirit life. 1Pet 3:18 Before that, he was flesh like us. (Heb 2:17, 1Pet 3:18) When believers are raised or changed at Jesus' return, they too will be given spirit life and imperishability. We follow Jesus (who is the firstborn of the spirit life) as the "many brethren" - (Jesus being also the firstborn from the dead Col 1:18)

For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. Rom 8:29

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. Rom 6:9

Once we receive this new spirit life, we will be 'born from above' and will be given full access to the Kingdom forever. No flesh can enter, only spirit life children of God. We do not have spirit life in this age, just flesh life with a spirit deposit - being only born from below, or of flesh only.

When we are 'born from above', we will no longer sin, being Godly in every respect.

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1John 3:9

John continues to reinforce this reality with-

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit. John 3:8

Everyone 'born of the spirit' is like the wind! We are not like the wind in this age, we are bound to the earth and await our change. Paul understood this-

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMPET. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality 1Cor 15:50-53.

In different words Paul expresses this truth from John - that 'having been born of the flesh is flesh, and that having been born of the Spirit is spirit'. There is no middle ground except for the deposit believers now have. While we are flesh, the Kingdom is out of our reach, once made spirit at Jesus' return, the new 'birth from above' will make us spirit, immortal, imperishable - finally being "able to enter into the kingdom of God".

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There is much confusion over the texts that seem to state we are 'born again' in this age. This is a reading that eliminates the now but not yet paradigm that the NT expresses in many places. Similar to working through the many passages that speak in literal or allegorical form. One must pull all scripture together and not rely on solitary proof texts that support a certain theology.

2 Cor 5:17 The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

"has come', has become, is come to pass... The new has begun - this does not mean the new is completed and the new birth has taken place. Merely the beginning of the new life has started and the process of being transformed is not completed but will be at Jesus' return. We are told what happens when we are baptised -

Acts 2:38 Repent and be baptized ... and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are not born again (born from above), we are merely granted the gift, the deposit or down-payment of God's spirit to enable new understanding and purpose. This seals us for a future completion which God has promised to bring about Phil 1:6.

All scripture is inspired and good for understanding, but it must be read as a whole and not just the bits we think support a certain view.

Answer 4

The context of this verse is a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.

Here is Israel's King standing before him in the flesh. Nicodemus being teacher of Israel was not able to recognize Him as such. He knew only this person had to of come from God because of the work he did.

Nicodemus being a teacher should've thought of the sacred scriptures he had studied like some of the following:

A New Heart and Spirit …25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.…Ezekiel 36:25-27

Look again at who this prophesy is about.

For I will [a]take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.

This is then when they are cleansed (water)and they are given a new heart after their heart of stone has been removed. His Spirit will be put in them and only then will they be able to walk in the Lord's ways.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. 26Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My ordinances and do them. 28You will live in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29I will also save you from all your uncleanness, Ezekiel 36:24-29

It is after the Lord has done this that their eyes will be opened to all their past evil ways and they will see the truth about themselves and feel ashamed and humiliated.

Then you will remember [clearly] your [own] evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your sins and for your outrageous atrocities. 32I am not doing this for your sake,” says the Lord GOD. “Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your [wicked] ways, O house of Israel!” Ezekiel 36-31

They will then realize the Lord is the one who has cleansed them from all their sins.

Thus says the Lord GOD, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your sins. Ezekiel 36.33

It talks about the whole house of Israel being brought up out of their graves, And when a new spirit is put in them.

Truly this must be when they are born again.

He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ 12Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and make you come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you [back home] to the land of Israel. 13Then you will know [with confidence] that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and made you come up out of your graves, My people. 14I will put My [b]Spirit in you and you will come to life, and I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and fulfilled it,” says the LORD.’”

Later on Nicodemus came to realize who he was speaking to. This was Israel's Messiah who was going to save the nation.

I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one [d]king will be king over all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and will no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all their transgressions in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. So they will be My people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 37: 22:-23

This is the time for the future They will actually be a part of the Kingdom of God. They will then be made ready to be a light for the nations and rulers of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

They have been born again.

Answer 5

Some insight can be gained from 2 Cor. 5:17 where a person accepting Jesus as King of God's Kingdom becomes a "new creature or creation" the persons hopes and purpose would thus be changed in their focus as if born again to an all absorbing spiritual person. Vs 15 tells us they would no longer live for themselves but for Christ. 1 Peter 4:2 describes the driving force of those invited to be part of God's Kingdom. They would need to purify their motives and would in a sense "become a new creature" because their dominant mental attitude is now upon their desire to share with Christ in his Kingdom administration.

Answer 6

The new birth is essential for entering into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, this is not a second physical birth but rather a spiritual birth.

Our spiritual man became dead unto (separated from) God through sin (Romans 3:23, 6:23, 7:9, 11; Ephesians 2:1, and 5). Just as we didn’t accomplish our physical births, we cannot produce this spiritual rebirth. We are totally incapable of saving ourselves (Jeremiah 13:23; Romans 3:10-12, 8:7-8; and Ephesians 2:3); therefore, we need a Savior (Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:4, and 6).

Salvation is not a reformation but rather a regeneration, a new birth, a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), that can only be accomplished by a creative miracle of the Holy Spirit (John 1:13 and 3:5).

Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Jews kept looking for Him to establish a physical kingdom here on the earth and deliver them from the oppression of the Romans (Daniel 7:13-14, 27; Luke 17:20; and Acts 1:6). This kingdom is the kingdom of heaven.

At Jesus’ Second Coming, the kingdom of Heaven will physically rule over the nations of the earth (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 11:15, and 20:4), Jesus’ kingdom is established by His Word and not carnal weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

But, *kingdom of God cometh not with observation...behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Paul said we are already in the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13). The kingdom of God is therefore Christ’s “invisible kingdom - To be a part of this kingdom, His church (Romans 12:5 and Ephesians 1:22-23) …. you must be born again.

Answer 7

For some background on how to interpret John 3:3 see What does John 3:8 mean? Also see What does "born again" from John 3:3 mean? and What does ανωθεν mean in John 3:3? as well as Duplicate meaning of anothen in John 3 when speaking Aramaic

From those answers, there is good indication that Jesus intended the double meaning again/above as a contrast. The last link above will explain why this is valid whether Jesus spoke Hebrew Aramaic or Greek to Nicodemus. The above links gives specifics about interpreting this verse. Since you're asking about application today, I will go to the more general context. Some important passages are:

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13, ESV)

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.” (John 3:5-8, ESV)

Related to salvation:

 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. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:11–18, ESV)

Worship in spirit:

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ... Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ... 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ... 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:10,13–14,21,23–24, ESV)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63, ESV)

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37–39, ESV)

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:15–17, ESV)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26, ESV)

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26–27, ESV)

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Rom. 8:3–10, ESV)

This is not exhaustive, but hopefully gives you an idea of how John 3:3 applies today.

Answer 8

Matthew 1:20

ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐνθυμηθέντος ἰδοὺ ἄγγελος κυρίου κατ᾽ ὄναρ ἐφάνη αὐτῷ λέγων· Ἰωσὴφ υἱὸς Δαυίδ, μὴ φοβηθῇς παραλαβεῖν Μαρίαν τὴν γυναῖκά σου· τὸ γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός ἐστιν ἁγίου.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.'

John 3:6

τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Philo, De opificio mundi 1:144

οὗτοι δὲ τίνες ἂν εἶεν ὅτι μὴ λογικαὶ καὶ θεῖαι φύσεις, αἱ μὲν ἀσώματοι καὶ νοηταί, αἱ δὲ οὐκ ἄνευ σωμάτων... πρὸς τὸν γεννήσαντα θεὸν ἐξομοίωσιν.

And who would these be if not rational and divine natures, some incorporeal and intellectual, others not without bodies... aiming for assimilation to the God who gave birth to them."

In the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase "γεννηθὲν ἐκ πνεύματός" (born of the Spirit) refers to the divine origin of Jesus, emphasizing that His conception is through the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, "γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος" (born of the Spirit) is used to highlight the spiritual birth or rebirth, contrasting it with being born of the flesh, underscoring the spiritual transformation necessary for understanding and entering the kingdom of God.

In Philo's text, the concept of being born anew or born of the spirit is not directly discussed. However, his emphasis on rational and divine natures and the idea of aiming for assimilation to the God who gave birth to them aligns with the notion of spiritual transformation and growth towards a higher, divine state.

In summary, being "born of the spirit" involves a spiritual transformation or rebirth, transcending the limitations of the flesh and aligning oneself with divine or higher principles, as exemplified in the cases of Jesus in the New Testament and the philosophical ideas presented by Philo.

Galatians 6:8

ὅτι ὁ σπείρων εἰς τὴν σάρκα ἑαυτοῦ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς θερίσει φθοράν, ὁ δὲ σπείρων εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος θερίσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

In this verse, the contrast between sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit is emphasized. Sowing to the flesh leads to corruption, representing a life lived in accordance with worldly desires and materialistic pursuits. On the other hand, sowing to the Spirit leads to reaping eternal life, signifying a life guided by spiritual principles, alignment with the divine, and the pursuit of higher, eternal values.

This aligns with the earlier discussions on being "born of the Spirit" (γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος) and the transformation towards a divine or higher state. Just as being born of the Spirit is associated with a spiritual rebirth and a life led by spiritual principles, sowing to the Spirit signifies a deliberate choice to live in harmony with those principles, ultimately leading to the promise of eternal life. Conversely, being born or sowing to the flesh represents a life focused on materialistic desires and temporal gains, ultimately resulting in corruption and decay.