Jesus and New BirthJesus and New Birth
Andrew Crawford / General Adult The Gospel of John / John 3:1–21 Introduction: Overview where we’ve come so far in the gospel. Reference John’s purpose of writing the gospel in John 20:30-31 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Who is Jesus? ESV Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 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?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John the apostle crafts his gospel in such a way that Jesus alludes back to the Prologue in John 1:12-13 ESV But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Already, John the Apostle has a theme that salvation is not just for one ethnicity, but it’s for the whole world. First, Nicodemus asks Jesus a question, by way of a statement. He’s saying the Pharisees at least are confused about who he is. Is he the Messiah? He’s doing signs that the Messiah should do, but he’s also not a military leader/king who is overthrowing the Roman occupation. Nicodemus says “we”, not a royal “we”, not an editorial “we”, likely either a group within the Sanhedrin who were at least open to Jesus being a legitimate prophet/rabbi, or a group of Nicodemus-like people who were more moderate in their views of Jesus’ claims and ministry Nicodemus may not be upset that Jesus drove out a lot of the riff-raff from the temple courts, the temple was the domain of the Sadducees, and as a Pharisee, Nicodemus probably was ok with a little cage-rattling. The words unless he is born again could be understood in the sense of being born from above, or of drawing attention to the birth’s spiritual character. Nicodemus clearly understood them in the first sense and rejected the possibility of a second birth. But Jesus meant them in the second sense, i.e. a totally different kind of birth. Many of the early fathers understood the statement to refer to baptism in the light of v 5, but the most natural understanding is of spiritual regeneration. Guthrie, Donald. 1994. “John.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1031. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. How does one enter the kingdom of God? ESV 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?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.” Nicodemus assumes that entering the kingdom involves him being and doing something. He gets hung up on what he has to do to be born again. According to the Mishnah Sanhedrin 10.1, the common belief of the days was that all Israelites would take part in future glory except for the apostate and overtly sinful. (Kostenberger, 122) Some versions put a note that the pronoun “you” here and in several places in this passage is plural. That could be that Jesus and Nicodemus are not alone, they have brought some followers and it’s a nighttime theology party. Or, is Jesus speaking to Nicodemus as a representative of the Jewish leaders as a whole? Or Jesus is talking to Nicodemus as a representative of each of us as we come to Jesus? I would say it’s some of each. Jesus does call each of us to be born again. How? By faith in the work of God the Holy Spirit, not because of something that we have done, are, or are doing. What is New Birth? ESV Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 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. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 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. 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. 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. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” Ultimately, Nicodemus assumes that because he’s ethnically pure and a keeper of the law, he’s going to make it into the kingdom of God. Jesus turns that assumption on its head. True life comes via new birth, and new birth comes not because a person wants it, works really hard to get it, is tied to physical birth, but because the Spirit moves in their heart. ESV I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 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. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Nicodemus is contrasted with the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 in just about every category. Leon Morris writes, “It is part of John’s aim to show that Jesus showed forth His glory not in spite of His earthly humiliations, but precisely by means of those humiliations. Supremely, this is the case with the cross. To the outward eye this was the uttermost in degradation, the death of a felon. To the eye of faith is was (and is) the supreme glory.” (Morris, 226) Belief in the name of Jesus. v. 18 contra 2:23 - Jesus is talking about something different from the belief in the name of the Son from belief in the Son along with the signs (i.e. wine at Cana and cleansing the temple) There is some debate, but because Nicodemus doesn’t make a faith statement and John just lets him fall off the narrative until after Christ’s crucifixion, it doesn’t appear that Nicodemus believed in Jesus, ergo he didn’t have regeneration or the new birth. Like the story of the rich young ruler when Jesus exposes his idol of power and possessions, Nicodemus doesn’t turn and follow Jesus. Great comfort in witnessing, in that Jesus himself is preaching the gospel to Nicodemus, and Nicodemus’s heart isn’t changed.
Jesus Calling His Disciples Jesus calling his disciples
Andrew Crawford / General Adult The Gospel of John / John 1:37–51 Disciples follow Jesus Following the Lamb of God Two Disciples Follow ESV The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). Day schedule. John the Apostle is setting up a week of Jesus’ early ministry. If Day 0 is the day Jesus is declared to be the “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist in 1:29, John says the same thing the next day in 1:36. Keep that in mind, as we move forward in the text, John is specific about what day he’s on. John the Baptist points out Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God! Two of John’s Disciples leave him to follow Jesus Andrew and an unnamed disciple leave John and follow Jesus. One is unnamed, likely the Apostle John. John is cagey when referring to himself. If the unnamed disciple is John, then he’s an eyewitness from the very beginning. Matthew’s calling was a bit later Mark’s likely writing his gospel based on the memories and preaching of Peter Luke tells us he’s not an eyewitness, but wrote his gospel using eyewitness testimony John is the one gospel writer that was with Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry Read 1 John 1:1-4 ESV That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. Remember if you will, the purpose behind the Gospel of John. John wants you to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the Son of God, and that you may have eternal life by believing in him. Read purpose statement of the Gospel of John, John 20:30-31 ESV Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Jesus turns around and sees Andrew and the other disciple following. A bit of an odd question, “What are you seeking?” Rabbi = Teacher. This is the first of three Hebrew or Aramaic terms that John translates for his readers. Indicating that his audience is not in Judea. Where are you staying? - A bit of an odd question to our ears. In that day, disciples of a teacher of many kinds would live with their teacher. The on-campus life that is the modern university grows out of concepts like these. Discipleship implies community with the one making disciples. They ask where Jesus is staying. Greek, meno. Same word is used in John 15:4 ESV Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. in the NT, and specifically the gospel of John, meno has theological connotations. Are you abiding in Christ? How can you make disciples unless you’re abiding in Christ? For the disciples, abiding looked like literally living with Jesus. How does that look for us today? <<If Jesus and the disciples lived like this, self-denial, generosity, love for one another, how much more should we live like that?>> Jesus invites them into his life. “Come and you will see” Map of Galilee Andrew finds Peter Andrew went and “found” Peter. Andrew’s first reaction is to go find his brother Peter and declare the gospel to him. Looking at the map, assuming Bethany beyond the Jordan is where it’s marked out, Peter and Andrew are likely together. Andrew wouldn’t have time to run to Bethsaida and back to drag Peter there at 4PM. Andrew declares that Jesus is the Messiah Messiah = Christ. Both the Hebrew and the Greek mean the same thing - anointed one. This transliteration only appears in the NT here and the Samaritan woman in John 4 . Jesus Renames Simon Jesus meets and renames Simon - Renaming happens sometimes in the Bible when God is going to use the person to advance his purposes. Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel. Not always of course, there are plenty of times that God uses people in special ways and doesn’t change their name. Jesus looks at Peter and then speaks Cephas = Peter. Both Cephas and Peter mean rock in Aramaic and Greek, respectively, see ESV note on v. 42. Jesus goes to Galilee ESV The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus found Philip - Now the tables are turned. In the previous passage, disciples were seeking Jesus, now Jesus is hunting Philip down. Philip “found” Nathanael. Where Andrew uses the shorthand “we have found the Messiah”, and Philip expounds upon that. John 1:45 ESV Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael scoffs, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip doesn’t even engage him on that level, his only response is “Come and see.” Jesus “saw” Nathanael before he was physically in front of him when he was hanging out under a fig tree. Jesus calls Nathanael Are you impressed by my skills of supernatural sight? Just wait, there’s so much more Jesus is declaring that he is a “New Bethel” Bethel as was where Jacob had a dream when he was fleeing Esau in Genesis 28 . He has a dream of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. He sets up an altar and declares the place “Bethel” or “House of God.” Jesus is a better “House of God” The Questions
True Light and New Birth True Light and New Birth
Andrew Crawford / General Adult The Gospel of John / John 1:6–13 The True Light has come into the world Background For the last two weeks, we’ve been studying the Gospel of John. John is writing to all people as evidenced by John 20:31 “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John the Apostle starts out by describing the Word of God who is somehow also with God, and also is God at the same time. Jesus is this Word, he created everything, He gives both life and new life, and as we’ll see in the coming weeks, he became flesh and came to earth. John the Baptist (vv 6-8) John the Baptist’s Mission (vv 6-7) John was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus. John 1:19-23 “And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”” Mark 1:1-3 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ”” One commonality of all 4 Gospels is the ministry of John the Baptist. He’s integral to the rest of the NT because he is a tie between the OT and the NT. He’s like an OT prophet in that he calls people to repentance and reminds them of God’s judgment, but he’s also a bit different in that he points to the Messiah right there! The OT prophets also pointed to the Messiah, but never a complete picture. It’s not that John the Baptist woke up one morning and decided to proclaim the Messiah’s advent, he was commissioned specifically by God to go before Jesus as a herald. John the Apostle often uses foreshadowing in his writing. Foreshadowing in literature is when an author gives a hint of something that they pick up on later and explain more fully. In this section John the Apostle introduces John the Baptist and hints at his mission and message and then jumps back to Jesus being the Light. We can see even in this section, how John introduces the light, jumps over to John the Baptist, and then returns to light, expounding more fully that the light is Jesus. Why was John the Apostle being so clear about who John the Baptist was not? It may be that some of the original readers of this gospel were putting too much emphasis on the importance of John the Baptist (cf. Acts 19:3–4 ) and that John was aiming to rectify any misunderstandings at the outset (cf. also vs 15, 26–27). Guthrie, Donald. 1994. “John.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1026. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. John the Baptist came to bear witness so that all might referred to Jesus as the Messiah and went to believe through him. As we’ll see in the next section, not everyone believed, so was John’s mission a failure? No! John the Baptist faithfully pointed to Jesus as the Messiah and he went great lengths to differentiate himself from “the one greater than he” — Jesus. John the Baptist’s Message (vv 7-8) John’s message was calling people to repent from their sin and prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah. Matthew 3:7-12 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”” John the Baptist pointed to the Messiah (vv 8) As we will see in the coming weeks, John was very careful to not claim to be the Messiah or even claim to be anything close to the Messiah. He’s a signpost, that’s it. If I’m driving on the road, and the sign says, Dallas to the left, I don’t stop at the signpost and think I’m in Dallas. I may have quite a distance to go still. The Light has come (vv 9-13) Jesus is the Light (vv 9-10) John uses many metaphors for Jesus. An example of metaphor is a line from Shakespeare, “my love is a red, red rose.” He’s not in love with a literal rose, Shakespeare is making a comparison of his love and a rose and how they’re similar. Then, we as readers get to explore all the nuances of a metaphor. In the preceding section, Jesus is the Word of God. In some sense Jesus is the embodiment of God’s self revelation. Later in this chapter John is going to call Jesus the Lamb of God. Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life ( John 6 ), a good shepherd ( John 10 ), the door that protects the sheep ( John 10 ), the true vine. Not only will Jesus be resurrected, but he IS the resurrection and the life. ( John 11 ) Calvin Page 37 The true light was. The Evangelist did not intend to contrast the true light with the false, but to distinguish Christ from all others, that none might imagine that what is called light belongs to him in common with angels or men. The distinction is, that whatever is luminous in heaven and in earth borrows its splendor from some other object; but Christ is the light, shining from itself and by itself, and enlightening the whole world by its radiance; so that no other source or cause of splendor is anywhere to be found. He gave the name of the true light, therefore, to that which has by nature the power of giving light Light illumines, shows the things in the dark. When you’re a kid and you KNOW there’s something lurking in your dark closet, a good parent can turn on the light and let you look inside and see there’s nothing there. Jesus was Rejected (v 11) Jesus refers to himself as the Light of the World John 8:12-20 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.” This rejection of Jesus by “his own [people]” doesn’t mean that Jews can’t trust Christ — all of the disciples, and the first 120 believers in Acts were Jewish. What the Apostle John is teasing out for us is that Jesus came to bring people from all nations and languages into the Kingdom. Jesus brings new life (vv 12-13) Jesus is the fulfillment of everything in the OT. Ezekiel 11:19-20 “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Jesus came to bring us abundant life John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” The Pharisees thought that life came from obedience to the minutia of the law, and searching the scriptures as an end to itself. John 5:39-40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” That Jesus brings new life is the point of John writing his gospel: John 20:31 “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” What is this life that Jesus talks about? Nirvana? An eternity of your favorite hobbies? Reunion with dead friends and family? John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. New Birth (vv 12-13) Through Christ we are made new The theological concept here, is regeneration. where GOd the Holy Spirit makes a spiritually dead human heart alive. Without regeneration, we cannot know God; we cannot be made new. What we need is a new heart that can love God. Our hearts by themselves cannot love God as we were created to do. The new birth doesn’t depend on anything except God’s grace Just as a baby cannot create itself and be born, so we cannot recreate ourselves and make ourselves reborn. Verse 13 explicitly describes the new birth — it’s not from normal parentage lines, it’s not from the will of the flesh, it’s not from the will of man, it’s according to God’s will. The new birth brings us into a new family. As physical birth or adoption brings us into a new family, so spiritual birth brings us into a new adopted family. Even if you didn’t have loving parents, even if you only have one parent for whatever reason, by faith you can be born into a much greater family than anything the world can offer. John the Apostle will pick up on the theme of new birth in John 3 . Application Questions
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