Everyone is born selfish, soon crying for milk, and by nature would stay selfish all of his life. Happy and useful is he who, learning from the example and teaching of Jesus, is born a second time, becoming unselfish, living for others!

Nicodemus, "a teacher in Israel" and "a ruler of the Jews," asked Jesus: "How can a man when he is old be born again? Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born again?" (John 3:1, 4, 10). What he mentioned is of course impossible, but it is possible and necessary in God’s plan, even when a man "is old," to be "born again," "born of water and Spirit" (John 3:3, 5).

I. Born of the Holy Spirit

A birth of "Spirit" is required to enter the "kingdom," the "church" (John 3:5; Colossians 1:13, 18). As "flesh [the ‘outward man’] is born of flesh, " so "spirit [the ‘inward man’] is born of Spirit" (John 3:6; 2 Corinthians 4:16).

A person’s "spirit" is a non-physical reality created by God (Zechariah 12:1) and sent from heaven (Ecclesiastes 12:7) at the moment a new life begins in a mother’s womb, at the moment two gametes (gameo, to marry), spermatozoon and an egg, unite to form a new living being, a zygote (zugotos, yoke). We know that the human spirit comes from heaven at the moment that a new life begins because "the body [the zygote] without the spirit is dead" (James 2:26).

Then in time the new living being dies, but not its spirit, for the spirit "returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Thus the human spirit, after being created by God (Zechariah 12:1) is immortal (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Likewise, the soul is immortal (Matthew 10:28; Revelation 6:9-10). Unless there are two immortal realities in every human being, one has to say that the word "soul" is just another name for the "spirit," as is the phrase the "inner man" (2 Corinthians 4:16).

The spirit within every human body is controlled by a person’s "mind" (Philippians 2:5), his "heart": "as he thinks in his heart so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). To enter the kingdom a person’s spirit must be "born again" (John 3:3, 6) of the Holy Spirit, that is, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit: "‘Everyone shall be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and has learned from the Father comes to me," said Jesus (John 6:45).

The teaching about Jesus changes a person’s "mind" (1 Peter 1:13), causing him mentally to be "born again." His spirit becomes re-orientated. The selfishness with which he was born must now be mentally "crucified" (Galations 5:24), even as Jesus in self-denial allowed himself to be crucified physically.

The revolutionary and radical change in a person’s mind is altogether invisible. His spirit, in being reborn, is like the invisibility of wind: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you know neither where it comes from nor where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). No one sees a spirit’s being reborn, but everyone sees the effect of a new birth in a person’s life, as one sees the effect of a blowing wind.

II. Born of Water

In one sermon, when Philip preached "Jesus" (Acts 8:35) to an Ethiopian officer, as they were riding along in a chariot, immediately the man’s "spirit" was "born of the Spirit" (John 3:6). But Philip did not tell the officer, "being born of the Spirit is the full plan of salvation. Go on your way rejoicing, and if you decide to be baptized in water, get it done, but it is not essential."

On the contrary, Philip’s sermon about "Jesus" included Jesus’ teaching that one "cannot enter the kingdom of God" without being "born of water and of the Spirit" (John 3:5), a double rebirth. The Ethiopian officer heard that part of the sermon also, and, seeing a pool of water, he exclaimed, "Look! Water! What hinders my being baptized?" (Acts 8:36). He wanted to enter the kingdom (the church, Colossians 1:13, 18), and, since a double rebirth is necessary, one of the Spirit, and one of the water, he wanted no delay.

After the invisible rebirth of his spirit, and after the visible birth of water, then he could relax and go "on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8:39). Why God put water into the plan of salvation we do not know, but he did (Acts 10:47; Hebrews 12:22), not for "the removal of dirt from the body" (1 Peter 3:21), but to "wash" sins "away" (Acts 22:16).

Over at Corinth, "many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized" (Acts 18:8). There, by the teaching of the Spirit through Paul, sinners were "baptized into one body," "the church" (1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 12:18).

III. Born of Water and Spirit

Sadly, it appears that some people have not learned that a double rebirth is God’s plan. Some, after being born of water, show no change in their lives. Getting wet in baptism is foolish and a display if one has not been born of the Spirit preceding the birth of water.

On the other hand, every doubly reborn person is "renewed in the spirit" of "his thinking," as he puts "on the new man" (Ephesians 2:23-24). He has been "transformed by the renewing of" his "mind" to live according to the "good and acceptable and complete will of God" (Romans 12:2). "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away! Behold! Everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). He says with Paul, "it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me" (Galations 2:20).

From the time of a person’s double rebirth, a Christian lives for others. No longer does he "seek what is his own, but what is another’s" (1 Corinthians 10:24). "With neither selfishness nor conceit, humbly" he considers "others to be better than himself" (Philippians 2:3).

Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), and "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). An anonymous prayer in poetry entitled "Let Me Give" was published by Frank Starling in the November - December issue of BIBLE LIGHT, 6465 Old Mayfiled Road, Paducah, KY 42003: