Born of the Spirit

Pause & Reflect

Nicodemus was religious, educated and respected. Yet Jesus told him: “You must be born anew.” Religion alone cannot produce spiritual life. Family background cannot. Church attendance cannot. Knowledge cannot. Moral effort cannot. We need new birth. Jesus describes this new life as being born of the Spirit. Christianity therefore begins not merely with behavioural modification but with God's transforming work. This protects us from two mistakes. First, believing we can make ourselves acceptable to God through religious performance. Second, reducing salvation to saying certain words while remaining completely uninterested in transformed life. New birth is God's gracious work, and new life begins to produce new direction. The Christian life is not: “Try harder to become alive.” It is: “God has given life—now walk in it.”