"THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS SPIRIT"
“THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS SPIRIT”
JT The exercise I had in suggesting this chapter was that we might look at the purely spiritual side of the truth, which John especially presents. Luke gives us what comes under the eye of God and man, in perfection in the humanity of Christ; then, afterwards in the Acts, that perfection is seen in the saints. It is more what is external in Luke. The Lord says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”; then in Acts 2 we have it stated that the Holy Spirit “sat upon each of them”. I thought it would be helpful if we could see how God works in us from the beginning in order to bring about a spiritual superstructure.
RSS Is your thought that we have to go to John to find what is underneath?
JT That is what I thought, and the theme of the gospel in this respect begins in chapter 3. In the second chapter we have, in the marriage of Cana of Galilee, the natural at its best. God is a Spirit, and it is evident that the order of things that He has in His mind must be spiritual. At the marriage feast the natural side of things is seen at its best; but the Lord manifested forth His glory there, and His disciples believed on Him. In this way their minds would be diverted from the most attractive side of the natural to the spiritual. We can understand that He who manifested forth His glory in such a remarkable way at the marriage feast, would become the object of interest to those who believed on Him, rather than the bride and bridegroom.
EJMcB Then, speaking practically, what is required essentially is a spiritual beginning. The [p. 226] close of the second chapter indicates this; the Lord could not commit Himself to the natural man, although many believed on account of the miracles.
JT There was no one amongst them whom He could trust.
EJMcB He knew not only the outward conditions of man, but He knew exactly what was in man.
JT Yes. At the wedding He manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him; it seems as if the Lord intended to divert their minds and hearts entirely to Himself. We can understand how the principals at the wedding would be entirely eclipsed in the minds of the disciples; then in chapter 3 we see how He is apprehended as the spiritual Bridegroom; John the Baptist refers to Him as such. What intervenes in this gospel between the account of the marriage in Galilee, and the Baptist’s reference to the Lord in chapter 3, shows how the spiritual man is formed.
TR The believer, as seen in John’s gospel, has a progressive character.
JT And it begins in chapter 2, where His disciples believed on Christ.
Ques Did the Lord introduce the spiritual order of things so that there might be that which would answer to God?
JT Yes. One leading thought of the gospel is, that God is a Spirit, and, that they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. He seeks persons who are formed spiritually and according to the truth; hence the necessity for what is taught in chapter 3.
Ques Would you say that the end of chapter 2 is to instruct us as to what man is naturally?
JT Yes, to show that he is utterly untrustworthy. However he might have been affected externally by the Lord’s works, he had to be born again.
[p. 227] Ques Would you say that this had taken place already in the disciples?
JT It surely had taken place in those who really believed on Him.
RSS I suppose it was true from the outset in those who had faith.
AFM What about Nicodemus himself? Had the work begun in him?
JT The beginning of the chapter establishes that fact; the others were utterly untrustworthy, whereas Nicodemus was distinguished from them. “But there was a man ... he came to him by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God”. The fact that Nicodemus is so marked off from the others, as recognising that Jesus came from God, is evidence that a work of God had begun in him; his subsequent history would confirm this.
FL Undoubtedly Nicodemus saw something of that moral glory shining in the darkness; he came to Him by night, indicating a divine work in his soul. This ends in full identification with Christ afterwards.
EJMcB The Lord takes up the thought of being born anew to bring in the spiritual side from the outset. It is important to note that in this scripture the work in the individual is made specially prominent. The whole being is affected. Look at a child; the possibilities of the man are there.
JT The man is there in embryo.
AFM You are speaking of the whole being being born again; we are born of the Spirit.
JT It would be a great help if all believers were to see that in taking them up, God intends them to be wholly spiritual. God has taken us up for that, as we see in 2 Corinthians 5, “he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God”. The foundation of the spiritual structure is taught in the chapter before us; the Lord says, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”.
EJMcB I think we must all confess that we have been in the habit of emphasising, that “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”, but I doubt that we have emphasised the fact, that “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”.
JT The question arises in the mind as to what is spiritual. Now the spiritual will show itself according to the circumstances in which it is found. Among the first evidences of spirituality is the judgment of sin; there is a respect for God and the things of God, and coupled with this is self-judgment. The evidences of spirituality begin to show themselves in this way.
EJMcB The Lord’s explanation to Nicodemus helps us.
FL That is, we first have to perceive the kingdom, and then, following, there is the entrance into it.
EJMcB If there is a movement Godward there is ability to perceive, and what we perceive is spiritual. The kingdom is spiritual.
BTF Would you say that John 3 refers to the sovereign side of God’s work? If there is a single longing in the soul for God He meets that longing.
JT Yes; and that longing after God is the proof that the person is born again. It is true that we should not rest in what we are subjectively, but in what God is as revealed in Christ; but at the same time, it is confirmatory and comforting to be conscious of the evidences of God’s work in us.
Ques Would you say that an evidence of the spiritual is that we love one another? I remember hearing a sister say that God had worked in her soul because she knew that she loved the brethren.
JT The elements of help are in the Lord’s remarks here, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”. That is negative;
but then He says, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”; that is positive.
FL In answering Nicodemus the Lord checks the suggestions of the natural mind.
JT The trend of the teaching here is to set the soul on spiritual lines.
BTF New birth relates to what is effected in the soul before it is indwelt by the Spirit.
JT God will not recognise man as born after the flesh. He did in Old Testament times, but now if man is to have to say to God, or the things of God, he must be born again.
EJMcB It involves absolute sovereignty.
Ques In the latter part of the chapter John says of Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. Is there not in that a contrast with the system with which he had to do?
JT In John the baptist we have an illustration of the spiritual man. When some great truth, or principle, is unfolded in Scripture sometimes an illustration of it is given. In Exodus 21, in the “Hebrew servant”, we have the Man who answers to the covenant in chapter 20. So here in the Baptist we have the spiritual man represented; in chapter 2 there is the, bridegroom of the natural order; but in chapter 3 John recognises the spiritual Bridegroom. John was the greatest of the natural order, but he disappears joyfully before the heavenly Man.
FL So that it is not a system that he represents, but individual exercise in the presence of Christ.
JT He disappears not regretfully, but joyfully. John shines here as spiritual; he was evidently the subject of the work of God.
BTF What is the distinction between again “born” and “born of water”?
JT Born of water is an enlargement of the thought, introducing the cleansing element. You judge what [p. 230] is unclean.
EJMcB When spiritual ideas are appreciated there is an evidence that God has wrought. “Born of water” is to hate what is evil; “born of the Spirit” is to love what is good.
FL “Born of water” is cleansing, and makes way for the gift of the Spirit; “born of the Spirit” prepares us for the whole spiritual range of things opened up to us. All is the sovereign work of God.
JT “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”; but it does not say that that which is born of water is water. In the former there is something positive; there is that which is capable of answering to what God is.
FL Nothing precedes being born anew; it is the sovereign work of God. “Born of water” would lead to self-judgment.
JT God effects something in man which answers to Himself in the principle of it; but the person who is the subject of this work is sure to go through a serious experience. What is said of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4 may serve to illustrate it; he was born in sorrow, and hence the name given him by his mother, but he was more honourable than his brethren. This kind of honour is the fruit of God’s work in us. He prayed to God, and God granted him his request and blessed him. Jabez is a remarkable illustration of spiritual progression.
EJMcB We see the principle of this in the word, “he that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin”. We must have sorrow here if we are set to go on.
JT New birth really occasions sorrow at the outset.
BTF The soul need not be disheartened on account of this sorrowful exercise.
JT It is a good sign at the beginning, but we progress beyond it. Jabez asked for enlargement;
[p. 231] enlargement is really after we receive the Spirit, consequent on known redemption.
EJMcB There are many who have the Spirit, but are not spiritual.
JT The Corinthians were not spiritual, although they had the Spirit.
Ques What brings about a spiritual state?
JT The first evidence of it is that a man judges himself. God sovereignly acts in a man’s soul, and in connection with this there is light from God which leads to self-judgment. Water undoubtedly refers to the testimony of the death of Christ, which is the only means of cleansing. As cleansed the man is “born of water”. Spirit is seen more in affection and intelligence, answering directly to God.
EJMcB The first effect of the light is self-judgment: God came out in His beloved Son and this leads to self-judgment.
JT In understanding the Son of man lifted up we see that God has judged, according to His own glory in the cross, what we judge in ourselves. In the allusion to the brazen serpent in verse 14 we see that sin has been disposed of, so that the believer’s conscience is thoroughly at ease in this connection; then in verse 16 you come to the full light of what is in God’s heart for man.
EJMcB In the presence of such light there is sure to be a movement in the believer’s soul.
JT John 3: 16 presents the great thought of God’s love for man, eternal life. It is like the land of Canaan, which was the great end for Israel.
EJMcB John the baptist is a picture of how the spiritual man makes way for Christ, and what is of Christ. Generally we are very natural, affected by everything around us but what is spiritual. God is a Spirit, and His thought is to affect us by what is spiritual. The great man here is he who gives way to Him who is heavenly.
JT The result of God’s dealing is that we become spiritual; the principle gives character to the whole man. In the house of God only what is spiritual is of value.
EJMcB In the first epistle to Corinthians we have proof of this.