- Pastor Curtis Mohler
- September 8, 2026
- Jesus told Nicodemus, you must have two births in your life; Physical and the Spiritual-Born from Above (Anothen-Greek)
- (John 3:1-12); Numbers 11:16,17; Mark 7:8; Matthew 15:3; Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13; I Corinthians 2:14; Revelation 20:11-15; John 6:44; Romans 3:11, 2 Corinthians 11:3; I John 5:11,12; John 19:38-42
In the passage, Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin council, having read the prophecies in the Law (Pentateuch) and the Prophets (Nevi’im) and witnessed the miracles of Jesus (Yeshua), began to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to Him. Wanting to learn more about salvation, he arranged to meet Jesus at night, fearing the judgment of his peers. During their meeting, Nicodemus told Jesus he believed He had come from God and that God was with Him, based on the miracles he had seen. Jesus responded by sharing the Gospel and telling Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” a phrase better translated as “born from above” from the Greek word *anothen*. Today, this term is often misused by secular groups to describe a personal “awakening” or “rebirth” unrelated to its spiritual and biblical meaning. Like Nicodemus, people may know facts about Jesus but miss that He was speaking of being born through both water (physical birth) and the Spirit (Holy Spirit) at salvation.
Nicodemus, despite all his knowledge, couldn’t understand how a person could be born twice, as he was blinded by earthly wisdom, experience religion, and knowledge. Jesus explained that what is born of the flesh (sarx) is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit (pneuma) is spirit, emphasizing that one must be born again through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He repeated key phrases like “Verily, verily,” “Most assuredly,” and “Truly, truly,” not as mere repetition, but to show He spoke from firsthand knowledge, not secondhand. This personal testimony is reflected in His Word, as in 1 John 5:11–12, where it says that if we receive human testimony, God’s testimony—His Word—is greater.
The story concludes with the salvation of Nicodemus, whose heart was transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ testimony as the Messiah. In John 19:38–39, Nicodemus, together with Joseph of Arimathea, took Jesus’ body from Herod to anoint it with myrrh—personally purchased by Nicodemus, valued at about $150,000 today. In the end, it’s the Word of God we share, the Holy Spirit’s work in a sinner’s life, and the Father’s love that draw them, leading to salvation when they accept Christ as Savior and are “born from above” (John 3:3). As the saying goes, “born once, die twice; born twice, die once” (Revelation 20:11–14).
