Is the language used in the Bible hard to follow at times? This week, I’m going using The Message translation to help us navigate the text better. Starting off, we’re diving into the spiritual gem of being “born again,” using Nicodemus’ journey as a starting point. Here we go!
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Transcription:
What’s closest to your heart is what you talk about, and if God is close to your heart, you’ll talk about him. We’re going to talk about God today on the Bible for Busy People. Welcome. I’m Erica, your host, and I just quoted a very famous theologian and author. His name was A.W. Tozer, and it’s very simple, isn’t it? You are going to think about the things that matter most to you. You’re going to spend time with the people who mean the most to you, and congratulations to you because today you have chosen the Lord. You have chosen to spend time with the God of the universe who loves you so much that he counts the hairs on your head and he wants you to know him better. So good for you.
We’ve been talking about how the language of the Bible, quite candidly, can seem complicated at times, and it’s why this week you and I are exploring passages in the Bible, in The Message translation, the most modern translation of all of them. We’ve covered the death of Jesus, his resurrection, and today you and I are going to talk about what it means to be born again. Maybe that phrase has puzzled you over the years. You’ve done little dog head tilt and gone. What does that really mean? Well, today, let’s discover what it means. We’re going to meet a friend of Jesus and I put that friend word in quotes. Nicodemus was one of the religious leaders of the day and his peers, let’s just say they weren’t necessarily fans of Jesus. Most of them, I believe they were threatened by our Lord. Some were afraid of him, some were jealous of him because the crowds would come and listen to his teaching. So, Nicodemus decides, I’ve got to get to know this guy. Just like you’re doing today, you’re saying, Lord, I want to know you better, so I’m coming to you. I’m going to study your Word with Erica. Good for you! You’re doing exactly what Nicodemus did in this passage, so join me now in John chapter three, beginning in verse one.
1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.” 3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
Now, quick note here in the other translations of the Bible, you’ll hear Jesus say, “You must be born again.” The message translation is saying, born from above. Okay, verse four now.
“How can anyone,” said Nicodemus, “be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above’ talk?” 5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation,
By the way that’s described in Genesis chapter one.
…the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit. 7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.” 9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?” 10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God? 13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. 16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. 19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
Being born again means you become a new person in Christ. Your spirit is reborn. I like to think of it this way; you’re like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly when you become born again. You’re the same creature and yet you’re entirely different. You are a new creation. Until next time, you are so loved.
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