Except a man be born again

Salvation Pictures in John: Ye must be born again

Chapters 2 & 3

Chapter 2

1-11 Jesus goes to a wedding and turns water into wine.
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

12-24 Jesus in Jerusalem for Passoveer
13-17 Jesus cleanses the temple and the Jews question him:
18  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21  But he spake of the temple of his body.

Destroy this temple and I will rebuild in three days. What a visual for the resurrection! No one understood this until he was raised from the dead. This shows that when Jesus used pictures to say something, it wasn’t because it wasn’t real. Every visual we encounter in these two chapters speaks of something very real, in this case, his resurrection from the dead.

The only part where Jesus deals with people concerning salvation is 23-24:
many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men.
What’s so interesting about this is believed and commit are translations of the same word: many believed in him...but Jesus did not believe in them. Wow.


Chapter 3

1-15 Jesus and Nicodemus
This is of course the very passage that started this whole thing.

3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus explains what he means by adding in v 5, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Then he repeats this thought in v 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

1 There was a man of the Pharisees . . .a ruler of the Jews. How shocking this must have sounded to Nicodemus! Born again is what the Jews said happened to Gentile converts to Judaism when they were baptized, and Jesus says he must be born again? He was already a Jew, the most religious Jew, a ruler of the Jews - and he must be born again??

This is the second time this visual is used. Remember 1:12-13:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Born again, born of the Spirit, born of God. What a powerful image of what we need God to do for us. We receive him, we believe on his name, but only he can give us new birth.

19-21 light is come into the world
This is the second time light is used for Jesus. It also occurs in chapter 1.

14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

This is actually a type, an event in the Old Testament that was a picture of Christ. What a great picture of the cross and believing on Jesus!

The chapter concludes with, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.


Temple, light, new birth, serpent in the wilderness. Jesus' teaching was rich in imagery!