The New Birth
“Ye must be born anew.” — John iii, 7 (Revised Version). ’
Probably the most remarkable conversation that ever took place between any two persons on this globe was that which occurred upon an evening in Easter week in the city of Jerusalem. It was made so remarkable both by the character of the conversers and the vital magnitude of the themes which were presented. Into a score of brief verses are condensed the core truths out of which have sprouted whole forests of discourses and commentaries. The great central truths of Christianity — human guilt, the atonement by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit, the doctrine of the Trinity, God’s love in redemption, the need and the nature of faith, and the promise of heaven — are all packed into this one short, simple, solemn talk. Just such an “inquiry meeting” was never held before or since. Two persons composed it: the one was the Teacher come from God; the other was a teacher who came from the Jewish Sanhedrim. The one person was Jesus Christsi the other was Nicodemus, the Pharisee — in fact, the only Pharisee that we ever read of as coming to Christ in the humble attitude of a seeker after truth. This Pharisee came to Jesus at night, by lamplight. Six years after-Avard another Pharisee was brought to Jesus at noonday in a flash of lightning.
St. John is the only one of the four evangelists who has recorded the conversation which we are now to study. As John had a ‘’home ’ in Jerusalem, it is very probable that Jesus was lodging with him during the season of the Passover. To the dwelling in wdiich Christ is stopping comes this Nicodemus, a member of the proud sect of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews, a councilor of the Sanhedrim. This is about all we are told of him. As he was an honest Jew, he expected the approach of the Messiah; as he was a thoughtful man, he may have been thinking: “Perhaps this extraordinary character who is working such miracles -may be the Messiah; who knows?” So he sallies off to hold an interview with the stranger. It would have been a very bold and hazardous step for him to visit Jesus in broad daylight; he was himself a member of the high court of the Sanhedrim, and this Jesus of Nazareth had aroused a violent commotion by scourging a herd of hucksters and money-changers out of the Temple Jbazaars, If Nicodemus had not been iii ded earnest, lie would not have come to Jesus at all. Do not stigmatize the ruler as a coward: there are scores in our congregations who have not acted yet as bravely and as sensibly as he. At night the streets of Jerusalem are not thronged; no city lamps illuminate the narrow thoroughfares. Here and there a few poor women may be grinding out their grain in the hand-mill, or a Roman sentinel may be pacing his rounds. A strong spring wind is sweeiing through the streets, for it suggests the illustration which Jesus would soon give of the mysterious influence of the Holy Spirit, like an unseen breeze, upon the soul. Through the silent streets Nicodemus hurries along, perhaps concealing his face with his mantle. He climbs the outside stairway and reaches the guest-chamber on the roof. A plain, coarsely clad personage is sitting there by his olive-oil lamp — perhaps all alone, perhaps conversing with his host, the disciple John. Mcodemus enters, extends his jeweled hand to the Nazarene, bows his turban in respectful reverence, and addresses him with the honorable appellation of “Rabbi,” which signifies a great teacher, a superior teacher. “Rabbi,” says the Pharisee, “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.” This sentence of Nicodemus is very incomplete, but it is respectful; it is honest; it admits that Christ is a divinely sent instructor; it ojens the way.
Jesus meets it with calm dignity, and does not begin to play sycoi)hant and assure his titled visitor what a distinguished honor he has done hhn by calling on him. Calmly and kindly looking the ruler not only in the eye, but in the heart, he startles him with the abrupt and solemn declaration, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be horn again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Such were the startling words as they are rendered in our Common Version. But Coverdale’s translation of the New Testament and some other versions make it read, “Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” The Greek word “anothen” has two significations: it sometimes means “from above,” and sometimes it means “from the beginning,” “over again” or “anew.” While it is true that every genuine Christian is “born of God,” and is thus regenerated from above, yet Christ intended to tell Nicodemus that he must have the second birth, the spiritual birth, if he would ever hope to enter God’s kingdom. The word “aam” is not a happy word to be used here, because “again” implies a repetition of the same old previous process. But the word “anew” signifies that Nicodenius should pass through a new birth that might be analogous to a physical birth, but by no means the same process.
The Jewish ruler evidently misunderstands Christ. He grasps hold of the poor, pitiful idea of a second bodily birth, and with unaffected wonder he asks, “How can a man be born when he is an old man? Can he enter the womb a second time and be born?”
Jesus does not either reproach or ridicule the ruler for his Avant of apx3rehension, as some unwise teachers get out of patience with a dull scholar who is not quick to catch an idea. He explains his meaning. He knew that Nicodemus considered himself as belonging to the kingdom of God, because he had a natural birth from the “seed” or stock of Abraham. Jesus explodes this delusion at once by giving Nicodemus to understand that the kingdom of God was for Gentiles as well as for Jews, and was not monopolized by Abraham’s descendants, but was open to everybody through one single door, and that was a new spiritual birth. A new life must begin, of which the Divine Spirit is the only author — a new heart, issuing in new conduct and new character. This is the tremendous truth which the Son of God (who sat beside him in human clothes) opens up to the astonished Pharisee.
“Verily, verily” — as if he wanted to drive the nail of conviction in strong — “verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit lie cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Water and Spirit are the two significant words which Christ eni^loys. The first word signifies cleansing, and the second word signifies quickening into life. Nicodemus required purification and a renewal of the whole man. His old filthy heart, defiled with sin, must be purified. Old sins must be repented of and abandoned. He must die unto sin before he could be born unto righteousness. The old evil life must die out, and a new life — a life produced by God himself — must begin to exist, just as truly as a baby begins to exist when it enters this world.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Jesus teaches his wondering pupil that the physical body and mental organism which the babe receives from its parents is just like that of the parents. The “flesh” is that part of our nature which unites us to this material world; the “spirit” is that which unites us to the unseen and eternal world. This spiritual part of us was to be so changed by God’s Spirit that we would enter into a new state of being. ]N“icodemus must not only begin to act differently, but he must he a different man in the very core and heart of him. Observe carefully here that Christ does not say to Mcodemus,” Now you must lop off your old praqtices, and you must lower your Pharisaical pride, and you must not behave like some of your brethren who eat up the property of poor widows and then varnish their sins with long prayers.” IS’othing of all this — nothing, in short, about acts and practices of any kind. Jesus cleaves right to the very root, and says to his auditor, “You must be a new man.” This new birth, or what we call regeneration, is vastly more than a change of mental acts or of external practices. Regeneration is the implanting of a new controlling principle in the human soul. No new faculty is introduced, but a new disposition and spiritual taste; things once loved are hated, things once hated are now loved. Over and over again the word of God recognizes tins truth, that a person may be so revolutionized in his affections, tastes, and disposition that it is nothing less than a new birth into a new life. In the old parchment copy of the Psalms, which Nicodemus had often heard read in his synagogue, was this fervent prayer of the Psalmist, “Create in me, O God, a clean heart.” David referred here to the very fountain head of thought, word, and deed — to that inner disposition or controlling principle which lies heliind all words and deeds. Christ referred to the same inner source of all conduct and character when he declared that ‘’ a good tree bringeth forth good fruits, and a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruits.” The heart is the tree; the words and the daily conduct are the fruits. Nicodemus had no doubt himself recognized the existence of this internal disposition, which is the basis of moral character. One of his own boys, perhays, was a joy and crown to him because he was in the habit of being trnthful, kind, and obedient. Another son may have constantly tormented him and the whole household by his spiteful retorts and malicious pranks. Therefore, the father spoke of one as a noble-hearted boy and the other as a l)ad-hearted boy. It was the habit of the one to do well, and the habit of the other to do badly. This habit or disposition is not a sei:>arate mental faculty; it is something that may be totally changed as to its character, so that a person may have one kind of moral disposition or habit of heart at one period of life, and the very opposite disposition at another period. A boy maybe so generous as to share his Christmas gifts with his 2)lay mates. In his old age he may become such a miser that he begrudges the lamplight to “see to die by.”
There is such a thing, then, as a controlling disposition, taste, and habit of mind that lies behind and beneath all conduct. It is the source of conduct, it shapes character. The Bible calls it “the lieart.’^^ Regeneration is the radical change of that heart. A new birth is the beginning of a new style of thinking, feeling, deciding, and acting. One morning Saul of Tarsus was a bitter persecutor, with his heart on fire with hatred of Jesus. Before sunset he was so utterly revolutionized, that he was down on his knees praying to that very crucified Christ for pardon and guidance. Saul was the same man in bodily form and mental faculties; he was a totally different man in his spiritual dispositions. Nautically syeaking, it was the same ship, but with another hand at the helm, another ensign at the peak, and the bow ‘* headed’’ in the very opposite course from which she had been sailing before. Saul had a new birth on that memorable day; it was his spiritual birthday. A new life came into his soul, and the Lord Jesus Christ toas that life. “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” Huxley and Herbert Spencer admit that in the natural world no life was ever self -generated, and that only life can produce life. In the spiritual world the same law holds true; and the Lord Jesus Christ declared that except a man be born anew — i. e.^ receives a new life into his soul — he can never enter the kingdom of God.
All this is now the central and the simple truth of gospel teaching — a truth that the boy and girl of the Sabbath school can grasp and understand. Dr. Leifchild tells us that he once met a lad twelve years old at a tollgate who had a Testament in his hand. “Can you read it?” inquired the doctor. “To be sure I can. I can read to you this: ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ ““What does that mean, my boy?” The lad quickly replied: “It means a great change. To be born again means something Jtere [layhis hand upon his breast], and the kingdom of God means something up yonder.^’’ That boy had got hold of the very core of Bible theology.
II. But what was so clearly revealed to that lad in his Bil)le was yet a mystery and a puzzle to the Jewish ruler who sat on that April evening beside the great Teacher from Nazareth. Nicodemus, startled and bewildered with this new gospel of regeneration, inquires, “Rabbi, how can these things be?” Jesus employs an illustration close at hand in order to explain this “how” which so perplexes the ruler. Listen to that night wind as it whistles through the silent streets. Its sound is distinctly audible; when it shakes and bends the trees over on Olivet its effects are distinctly visible. Yet no eye sees the wind. “Thou hearest the sound thereof,” says Jesus toNicodemus, “but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” The wind is invisible, so is the Spirit of God. The laws which govern the wind are not comprehended; neither are those by which the Holy
Spirit acts on the human soul. The presence of the night-wind and the influence of the wind are distinctly felt; there is no doubt of that fact. Even so the ijresence and influence of this loving and all-powerful Spirit are an actual experience, a deej) experience, an experience of old sinfulness rooted up and a new life imparted. Mysterious as is this new birth of a converted soul, yet it is as real, as palpable, and as visible in its results as is the effect of a wind in swaying the trees, or the effect of sunbeams in quickening plants from bulbs to stalks and from bare stalks to flowers and fruitage. The “^6>i«” of the Holy Spirit’s working on your soul and on my soul is beyond our comprehension. But the glorious fact remains in the experience of every converted man: “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Truthfully has our old friend Professor Hitchcock remarked that “the new birth is a stupendous mystery, which can be known only by being experienced; it is a mystery even after its accomplishment. Always will it be a matter of grateful wonder to the Christian how the Si)irit of all grace ever gently forced the fastenings of his heart and w-ought there so efficiently, and yet so sweetly, his saving work. On the one hand, it is plain that no new mental faculty is called into being. It is equally plain that there has been something more than moral suasion.” Precisely what it is that has happened to us we cannot say; nor can we say just how the Divine Spirit wrought that marvelous change which we call regeneration, and which Christ described as being “born anewy This we do know, however: that once we were blind and now we see. Once we were guilty, and now we have found pardon. Once we loved to do what we now abhor. Once we cared nothing for Jesus, the Son of God, and now we trust ourselves to him, and are glad to listen to his voice and to obey him. It don’t seem to us as if the old rotten timbers have been only whitewashed, but rather that they have been torn out and new solid timber from God’s tree of life put into their place. Beloved reader, have you ever ex[)erienced this radical* change, this new birth by the Holy Spirit? Then shout your praises to God for this ‘’gift of eternal life,” and life like a new man or a new woman. If you have not, then seek it at once; yield yourself to Jesus at once; for what he said to Nicodemus he rings in your ears to-day: “Ye must be born anew, or ye cannot see the kingdom of God.”
III. But one more vital and essential truth remained to be explained to Nicodemus and to be explained to you. Christ had told the Jewish ruler that he must be thoroughly changed in heart — that he must be “born anew” into a new and purer, stronger, holier life. Christ had told him that the Divine Spirit is the author of this new birth in such a way and degree that nobody can possibly be converted without the agency of the S2)irit. Now remains the all-important question: What shall a man do in order to secure this new life? The quick reply is, Believe on the Son of God; whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. This is the vital step for Nicodemus and for you to take. But why trust on the Son of God? What has the Son of God done for you to make your salvation possible? What has he done to make it possible for God to forgive your sins 1 What has he done to secure a new life for a sinner like you? Listen to Christ’s answer. It is Christ’s own description of his own wonderful atonement for the sins of guilty, dying men. Listen to him as he gives the final answer to the question of Nicodemus, “^ozo can these things be?” The answer is this: “As Moses lifted up the serlent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever trusteth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” No doubt Nicodemus had often heard of that thrilling scene in the camp of Lsrael where hundreds had been poisoned by the bite of venomous snakes, and a serpent of brass was lifted by Moses upon a pole, and whoever had the faith to fix his eyes oq that brazen object recovered from the bite. Even so was Jesus,
34 THE NEW BIRTlt.
the Son of God, to be “lifted up” — suspended upon the cross of Calvary in the sight of a guilty, sin-cursed world. Christ did not refer here to his Unal exaltation as the King of glory. The brazen serpent was not hung up in the same sense of being honored. Jesus referred most distinctly and undeniably to his own crucifixion: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, wall draw all men unto me.” This means nothing else but Christ’s death on the cross to atone for you and me. The design of elevating the brazen serpent was to secure recovery to the snake-bitten Israelites. The glorious design of Christ’s atoning death on the cross was to secure eternal [life to sin-bitten souls. What must the Israelite do in order to be healed? Simply, obey God and fix his eye on the brazen emblem. What must Nicodemus do, and what must you and I do, in order to secure this work of the Holy Spirit and to secure everlasting life? The reply flashes back as in a blaze of noonday sunlight: The way to secure the new birth and to produce the new life is to look to Jesus with the eye of the soul, and to lay hold of Jesus wdth the soul’s utmost trust, and to let Jesus hate you own you, and control you. Everyone who accepts Jesus Christ into his soul accepts eternal life. As all human life begins with birth, the acceptance of Jesus Christ marks and makes the new birth. As the Holy Spirit imparts this new life, no human soul can be born anew or converted without him.
Notice what a tremendous emphasis Christ gives to that word must — “Ye must be born anew.” Other things depend on the weaker word “may.” You and I may be rich or we may be poor, we may live long or die young, we may be cultured or we may be illiterate; none of these are vital matters. But we must be born into the life of Christ or perish forever.
True science declares that life never can spring up of itself. It must come from some other living organism. Jesus Christ is the only source of spiritual life in this world or another. Therefore, we must have Christ.
Science will tell you that all human life, bodily or spiritual, must have a beginning or a birth. Therefore, if the life of Christ ever be in us, it must have a start or a birth. Unless Christ comes in he cannot he in your heart. Therefore, ye must be born anew.
Experience declares that no one was ever regenerated without the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, you must be born anew by that Spirit’s agency. Quench not that Holy Spirit. You might as well try to hear without ears, or breathe without lungs, as to live a Christian life without the Si)irit of Christ in your heart. Therefore, you must be born anew.