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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Ye must be born again.’
Joh_3:7
I. The new birth is the commencement of a new life, and it involves of necessity two new and most precious gifts—
(a) A new relationship.
(b) A new life.
II. The new birth is followed by results.
(a) There is a change in the whole character of the life.
(b) Those who are born again cease from the practice of sin.
(c) A third result is victory over sin (1Jn_5:4-5).
III. The Author of the change.
(a) It is not hereditary.
(b) It is not the result of nature.
(c) It is not given according to the will of man.
(d) It is distinctly stated to be ‘of God.’
IV. The means employed.
(a) Baptism.
(b) ‘The Word.’
(c) The Resurrection (1Pe_1:3).
V. The sovereignty of God in the bestowal of this most sacred gift.—You cannot bind the wind by rules, or determine how and when it shall blow in a particular direction. Still less can you bind the Spirit of the living God. When He gives life, He gives it according to His own purpose of grace; and He does not put into the hand of any man to determine in what particular time or place He will in His own rich mercy bestow His gifts.
Rev. Canon Edward Hoare.
Illustration‘When our Lord was bringing this poor soul to Himself, He dealt at once with two great dogmatic truths: of Holy Baptism and redemption through the blood of Christ. These things are mysteries. Men do not like mysteries. Nicodemus did not like mysteries, or he would not have asked that perverse question, “Can a man enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Religious truth requires that we should be told something, but on the other hand, our own nature and our own understanding have their limits and prevent us understanding all. Should we say if we cannot understand it all that we will not accept it? That is not the way God deals with man. We are to be content to accept what He offers to us, and to seek to understand it as far as we possibly may. When Nicodemus wanted to understand all about it, our Lord turned to one of the commonest things and said, “You do not understand that. The wind bloweth where it listeth; you cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. And so it is with this great mystery of Holy Baptism; so is it with every one who is born of the Spirit.” The fact is that God does not satisfy curiosity; He just gives us practical knowledge; He just tells us what to do, and when we have done it, we begin to understand a little more about it.’