John 3 is probably the most famous passage in all of Scripture. Ask anyone about John 3, and they won’t be confused as to what you are asking. Why? Because of verse 16, which most will go on to quote pretty comfortably. However, John 3 is more than just this one verse, however indisputable that it is indeed the sum of the book.
The book is laden with precious truths that are foundational for our lives. It tells us that we need to be reborn for us to have any hope (John 3:4-8). It speaks of Christ’s exclusivity in our salvation. Jesus makes it abundantly clear, even in that single most famous verse, that salvation leading to eternal life comes only through him.
Hence, my aim is to bring you to appreciate, with the help of the first fifteen verses of John 3, that the only way we are born again to eternal life is by looking to the one who descended from heaven.
Jesus Knows What’s in Man
John 3 highlights a conversation that took place between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee, as John cares to point out in John 3:1. In 3:2, John also says, “This man,…” referring to Nicodemus (ESV; most other versions only use “he”), which is ‘anthropos’ in Greek. That could be significant, for the same term appears in the verses preceding John 3, particularly in John 2:23-25. There Jesus is said not to have entrusted himself to those who sought after him on account of the signs and wonders he performed, for he knew what “is in man (anthropos, if you like).”
The thought that there is no hiding our hearts from God is worth lingering on briefly. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Later in John 6, this becomes all too plain. Never for a moment suppose that you can hide your intentions from Jesus. He knows your heart, and despite all the filth in it, he still bids you come. Seek him, I beseech you, while he still can be found and call on him while he is still near (Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 55:8-9). And supposing you have found him already, dispel all anxiety you might have for this one reason: your Savior knows your heart! You can fearlessly bring your requests to him, for he will help guard your heart and mind against what’s unprofitable and guide you to what is profitable (Philippians 4:6-7).
Seek Christ By Altering Yourself
John’s conversation with Nicodemus is made particularly interesting by Jesus’s knowledge of what lies in the heart of man. He won’t entrust himself to man unless he has first altered everything about him. Whoever seeks, yet is inclined to remain as they are, seeks not the Son but merely the physical blessings the Son has to offer. Those who truly seek after the Son rejoice more that they are his than in any of his gifts (Luke 10:17-20).
And he that truly seeks seeks not of his own accord, but by the Spirit of God (John 3:5-6); because of Christ’s words which are “spirit and life” (John 6:63), for, as Peter confesses, “You [Christ] have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Let none suppose that they can will themselves to believing, minus the conviction of God’s Spirit. Our flesh can never bring new life.
What is Your Perception of Jesus?
The flesh could, at best, bring Nicodemus to rightly conclude that Jesus was a teacher from God (John 3:2). The miracles existed to prove it. Since 1st-century Jews didn’t have the canon of Scripture as we do now, miracles, signs, and wonders were necessary to prove one’s authenticity (John 20:30-31, Hebrews 2:3-4). They weren’t always a genuine guarantee that one is from God (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:24); they were only to be trusted if they pointed to God (Deuteronomy 13:1-3).
As much as the miracles of Jesus helped prove his authenticity, they went beyond that. Nicodemus is commended for seeing the link between Jesus’ miracles and God. This is especially so because his peers just couldn’t (Matthew 12:24). Even so, Nicodemus’s commendable conclusion still fell thoroughly short of who Jesus really was, and Jesus would respond appropriately.
It is fair to probe ourselves and determine whether we accept Jesus as one from God and nothing more. The reality is that all religions other than Christianity regard Jesus as merely a good teacher or prophet. But he is way more than that. He is the only means by which we will see God. It is only through believing in him and heeding his words that we’ll gain eternal life. He and the Father are one (John 14:1-11).
Be Born From Above
So we must be born again if we shall enter God’s kingdom. This accords with scriptures such as Ezekiel 36:26-27, which Jesus references in John 3:5-6. Another is the New Covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:31-34. The Greek rendering for “born again” also means to be “born from above,” implying a call to discard what is earthly in us for that which is heavenly. In short, there is a need for a complete altering of who we are if we are to see God.
How do we do that? The answer: we can’t do it by ourselves. Even the very idea of being born again or ‘born from above’ is unfathomable to our natural minds. Nicodemus found it so baffling, wondering if Jesus meant that one could go back to their mother’s womb and be born a second time.
Fellow Man, Look to The Son of Man
His thinking betrays not merely a lack of comprehension, but also an inability to be born again. Jesus says as much to him in John 3:7-8. In essence, Jesus told him that salvation comes only by God’s sovereign hand. And how does God sovereignly bring about salvation? John 3:14-15 answers that by looking up to the Son of Man who descended from heaven, in the same way that the Israelites looked up to the bronze snake so that they could be healed.
Our Saviour had to be separated from us in every way (Hebrews 7:26). He is the Son of Man who is the Son of God. Unlike man, he doesn’t seek his own will but the will of the One who sent him (John 6:36-40). Thus, he is the only way by which we can alter everything about us, for only he perfectly lived for his Father’s glory. Once we entrust ourselves to him, we can rest and look forward to the day when the Son of Man will have a glorious, eternal kingdom, for it has been given to him (Daniel 7:13-14).
There is much still to address which, Lord willing, will come up in future articles. Be that as it may, I hope you are persuaded of the exclusivity of Christ in our salvation: that he only entrusts himself to us when, through him (John 3:13-15), we entrust ourselves to him. If God hasn’t already, may he grant you faith to look to the one who descended from heaven and be born again.