Thoughts on John 1:13

A term often used for someone who has become a Christian is “born again.” It’s a confusing term. Nicodemus struggled with this idea two chapters later when he asked Jesus how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus goes on to answer him: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Jesus is making a clear distinction here between physical birth which is, as verse 13 puts it of blood, of the will of the flesh and of the will of man or husband (NIV), and spiritual birth which is of God. Verse 13 tells us that this spiritual birth is unlike physical birth because it is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. “Those three negative statements stress the fact that salvation is not obtainable through any racial or ethnic heritage (blood), personal desire (flesh), or man-made system (man)” (MacArthur).

There is a line clearly drawn in the sand here and it is a distinction we all need to see. Physical birth is the result of the free will of man and the desires of his flesh. Spiritual birth, on the other hand is not the result of the will of man, it is not due to any action of man or the choices that he makes. Those who are born again are not born by their own will but they are born of God. “Our being reckoned the sons of God does not belong to our nature, and does not proceed from us, but because God begat us willingly, (James 1:18,) that is, from undeserved love” (Calvin).