Today’s passage: John 3:1-15
Helpful thoughts:
- Nicodemus the Pharisee affirmed Jesus’ teaching and that God was with Jesus. After this affirmation, Jesus went straight to the heart of the matter.
- There is only one way to see the kingdom of God, to be born again.
- The only way to become a child of God is to be born of God.
- I believe being born “of water” represents physical birth and being born “of the Spirit” is the spiritual birth, being born again (or “from above”). This makes sense in the context of verse 6. It is always best to interpret Scripture with Scripture.
- At the beginning of the conversation, Nicodemus was ready to affirm/believe that Jesus had been sent by God. Not long after, Jesus challenges him to believe more, that He is the Son of Man (A name for the Messiah.) and that believing on Him was the way to eternal life.
Questions to consider:
- Do we choose God or does God choose us (Or…yes!)? How does verse 8 and Jesus’ overall call to Nicodemus to be born again show that both are necessary (Regardless of the order of events)?
- When the wind blows, we don’t see the wind but we do see the effects of the wind. What are the effects of the moving of the Spirit of God in our lives? (You could check out Galatians 5:16-26 for an example) What happens when a sinner is saved? How do they begin to change?
- What is the picture Jesus is using in verse 14 (Numbers 21:4-9)? In what way do believers “look and live?” What is the disease we are rescued from when we “look” to Jesus? What does it mean then for us to “look” to Jesus?