The Gospel of John: John 3.1-10

Read and meditate on John 3.7, 8.
The Spirit of God was neither well nor widely known during the period of the Old Testament. And even during Jesus’ earthly sojourn, His coming was foretold. So for Jesus to be answering Nicodemus’ questions in terms of the work of the Spirit had to be even more confusing – and more wondrous.               

                ⁷Do not be confounded when
I say to you, ‘You must be born again.’
⁸The wind blows where it will; you hear the sound
of it, but know not where it may be found.
And so is everyone begotten by
the Spirit.”

- John 3.7, 8

Reflect
1.  A significant part of Jesus’ ministry was to prepare the world for the coming of the Spirit. Here, Jesus explains that everything new which He came to bring begins with the Spirit. How does the movement of the wind help us in thinking about the Spirit? Complete this prayer: Lord, Your Spirit is the power we need to live and to serve You. Today, Lord, let Your Spirit…

2.  Nicodemus was confounded about the idea of being born again because he was trying to process this Good News from a temporal and rational perspective. Jesus said, to understand Him, one needs to think in terms of the Spirit, not of the flesh. What are some ways that being “born of the Spirit” causes us to see life and the world differently? I want to see with the eyes of Your Spirit, Lord, so today…

3.  Previously, Jesus linked being born again with entering and seeing the Kingdom. Here He links being born again with the Spirit of God. In a single sentence, how would you tie those four concepts together: Spirit, born again, enter the Kingdom, see the Kingdom? In Your Spirit, Lord, and in Your Kingdom…

4.  John has told us that all who receive Jesus, all who believe in Him, are born by God as children of God (Jn. 1.12). Jesus here says “everyone who is born of the Spirit” can “enter the Kingdom of God.” Being born again involves a work of the Spirit and receiving Jesus, or believing in Him. How would you explain the work of the Spirit and the work of a human being in being born again? I recall, Lord, when I was born again, and I knew then that…

5.  When the wind blows, it has effects. What effects should we expect when the Spirit of God causes someone to be born again and enter the Kingdom of God? Bring together your prayers from questions 1-4 into one prayer.

Summary
“We know too that the flesh is subject to death because of sin, but the Spirit of God is both incorruptible and life-giving and beyond death. As at our physical birth there comes into the world with us a potentiality of being again turned to dust, plainly the Spirit also imparts a life-giving potentiality to the children begotten by himself. What lesson, then, do we learn from this? We learn that we should wean ourselves from this life in the flesh, which has an inevitable follower, death; and that we should search for a way of life that does not bring death along with it.” Gregory of Nyssa (335-394 AD)

There is no salvation and no life in the Kingdom of God apart from the work of the Spirit. We cannot will ourselves to newness of life, and we cannot work our way into or around in the Kingdom. Jesus came to create a mindset of anticipation for the coming of the Spirit. How should we look forward to the Spirit’s work in our lives each day?

Closing Prayer
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

Psalm 51.10-13

Psalm 51.10-13 (Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
Create in me a clean heart, renew me from within!
Take not Your Spirit from me because of all my sin.
Salvation’s joy restore, Lord, and keep me in Your hand;
Thus shall I tell Your strong Word to sinners in the land.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.