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1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus was a leader and teacher in Israel, and he was drawn to Jesus. He met with Jesus at night some believe secretly for fear of the Pharisees. The Lord Jesus gives Nicodemus one of the greatest messages, man needs to be born again. All of us have been born into the sin of Adam.[1] All of us need to be born anew in order to enter His Kingdom.
Although a teacher, Nicodemus, was confused. A man cannot be born again from his mother, can he? Then the Lord tells him how it will happen, a man must be born of water and the Spirit. The Lord Jesus is making reference to Ezekiel.
19 And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
The promise of the New Covenant is to be given a new heart and His Spirit to put in us. This is being born again. God says through Ezekiel, I will sprinkle you with water. This is a direct reference to baptism.
What are we born into?
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”
12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
We are born into the family of God. We are adopted into His family.
1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
What an awesome privilege it is to be a child of God.
When we are baptized, we are made alive!
8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
As in Noah’s flood when the earth was cleansed, so in baptism we are cleansed because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We rise to new life with Him.
St. Paul continues this thought in 2 Corinthians.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is probably the best description of being born again. We are made new creations in Christ Jesus. The old has passed away. We are born anew. The old refers to our sin. The new is our life in Christ. He became sin that we might become righteous. Our destiny is to be conformed into His image.[2] We are being transformed into His image.[3] We share in His divine nature.[4] This is what it means to be born again, our old life of sin is washed away, and we are being made righteous in Him. We are not only covered in His righteousness, but we are being made His righteousness.
He says we are new creations. This comes from Isaiah 65.
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
When God created the first creation, He built this earth perfect for us and then made us and placed us in the Garden of Eden. In the New Creation, He creates us first and our new home is coming! This is our hope. In the New Heavens and the New Earth, there will be no sin, no pain, no suffering, no war, no deception. This what we are re-created in Christ Jesus for!
Being born again is being buried with Him in baptism and being raised up with Him.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
St. Paul ties baptism in with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the resurrection, He defeated death and now we rise with Him in newness of life. This is being born again.
We were all born into sin and we must all be born again in His Spirit. This has been prophesied by the prophets of old, but the Lord Jesus opened the way for us through His crucifixion and resurrection. By being born again, we are born into His family!
Live repentance. Be zealous. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
July 12, 2025, Saturday Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time.
[1] Romans 5:12
[2] Romans 8:29
[3] 2 Corinthians 3:18
[4] 2 Peter 1:4
Be Zealous 
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