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HELEN SANDERS
2-5-2024
TWO BIRTHS
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Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He was a secret follower of Jesus and came to Jesus secretly at night. He told Jesus that no one could do what he did unless God was with him (John 3:2).
Jesus came back with an unusual statement that had Nicodemus puzzled. In verse 3 Jesus said, “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus had no clue what he was talking about and even asked Jesus how he could get back into his mother’s womb. Nicodemus was speaking of a natural birth because he did not understand the significance of a spiritual birth.
Jesus then said, in verse 5, “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Many people use this verse about being born of water to mean that they need to be baptized in water to be born again. This is not the case. They are taking this out of context. How do I know? Jesus responds in verse 6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” There is a placenta, or bag of water that the baby lives in and breaks upon the natural birth.
Jesus is speaking of the natural birth of a human and the spiritual birth when someone becomes born again. Nicodemus had no understanding of this. Jesus even rebukes him for being a spiritual leader and not knowing this truth. (John 3:10.)
We can take verses out of context to build doctrine, but it is dangerous to do that. We cannot change the word of God to fit our “doctrine.” We must read the entire passage of scripture when we study to get the full meaning.
There are two births for every person that has received eternal life through salvation. The physical natural birth and a spiritual birth. Without the second birth their lives will end separated from God in hell. Baptism does not save a person. Yes, it is important to be water baptized, but this follows salvation. It represents what has already taken place in the born again “believer.”
An old saying helps us understand it better. “Born once, die twice. (This means you will experience physical death, and spiritual death which is separation from God in hell for eternity.) Born twice, die once. (This means you will only experience a physical death because you will never be separated from God spiritually because He lives in you.)
Make sure you have received salvation and have both births before you leave life. It will be too late later.
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