Born Again/ Anew/From Above

John 3:1-21     Numbers 21:4-9                                          Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                      February 20, 2005

Question: When you read a book, how do you know when the words on the page are being spoken directly by one of the characters?  The obvious answer: The author puts that person’s words in quotation marks.

What about the Bible? The words of biblical characters, just like in any book, are also put in quotation marks so that you can distinguish them from the words of the narrator/author. If you have one of those Red Letter Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red ink to make them more obvious.

But guess what folks, quotation marks do not appear in the original Greek manuscripts of any of the gospels. That goes for commas and periods, as well. It was biblical editors and translators who (at a much later date) provided most all of the punctuation marks in the Bible, including the numbering of chapters and verses.

That brings up a crucial question when it comes to biblical interpretation. How can we be sure when the voice of the character in the story ends and the voice of the gospel writer begins? The fact is, often you can’t tell for sure. And today’s Gospel lesson from the book of John in a prime, and an extremely important, example.

If you followed along in your pew Bible as this passage was read, you noticed that verse 5 until the end, verse 21, are in red print – indicating a direct quote from Jesus himself. But based on the fact that the style and content of those words match so closely with those of the author of this gospel, many biblical scholars today believe that the majority of the words in this passage should NOT have quotation marks around them. If that were true, and there is indeed good evidence to believe it is, that would make the most famous passage in the Bible, John 3:16, the words of the author, written some 70 years after Jesus’ death, not words directly from Jesus.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (KJV)

Does it make a difference if these words were spoken by Jesus or are from the author? Yes and no. There’s truth to be found in these words, regardless. But if they are not words spoken directly by Jesus, then what they represent are the author’s theological perspective and understanding of whom Jesus was, and Jesus’ role in God’s plan of salvation.

I’m not going to tell you what you have to believe about where quotation marks should be placed in the Bible. But it is important for you to know that since the original writings from which we get the Bible don’t have any quotation marks, it adds to the fact that interpreting the Bible is not an exact science. “Because Jesus said so” is no longer the only valid interpretation in and of itself.

Before we look closer at that famous John 3:16 passage, lets start at the beginning of this story in order to put it into context. A Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader, named Nicodemus has come in the dark of night to speak with Jesus. The imagery of contrasting light and darkness runs throughout this gospel. Coming to Jesus “at night” carried a theological point for the author. Nicodemus was in the dark, spiritually.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, in another very familiar passage, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.” This passage has become the hallmark for evangelical and many conservative Christians. One’s status as a Christian, they believe, is based on having a “born again” experience. But the author of John intentionally uses an ambiguous word that has a double meaning in the Greek.

Born “again,” or “anew” can also be translated as born “from above,” which the author has already revealed in Chapter 1 is where Jesus comes from. Nicodemus interprets it, though, as born “again,” thus his argument about the impossibility of entering a mother’s womb and being born a second time. The author wants to make it clear that Nicodemus doesn’t understand Jesus’ true meaning.

I want to make special note of verses 14-15, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

As you may recall from this morning’s Old Testament lesson, the author of the gospel of John makes a reference to a strange and fairly obscure Old Testament story from Numbers 21. On their journey through the wilderness, the Israelites complained and regretted that they had ever left Egypt. The story says that God sent fiery serpents, as in poisonous snakes, among the people. After being bitten, they died. So the people repented of their sin, cried for mercy, and asked that the serpents be taken away.

Even though the snakes remained, and continued to bite people, their prayers were answered when God instructed Moses to make an image of a serpent, set it on a pole, and lift it up in the midst of the camp. Those who were bitten were told that if they looked at this large bronze statue of a snake on a pole they would be saved. (By the way, that’s where we get the emblem for the medical profession - a snake coiled around a staff.)

The author of the gospel of John took that old story and he used it as a kind of parable and analogy for Jesus. Listen again to John 3:14-15,  “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

In the Old Testament story, the serpent was lifted up, people looked at it and found life. Likewise, in the Gospel of John, Jesus must be lifted up (as on the cross, and also a reference to his ascension into heaven). And when people look to Jesus Christ in faith, and believe in him, then they will find life – eternal life.

I’ve read this passage from John many times before without realizing it referred to this obscure passage in the book of Numbers. It goes to show you that there’s always something new to learn when you read and study the Bible!

Both stories, as it turns out, are primarily accounts of God’s grace: God’s initiative for the life and salvation of the people. 

That brings us up to that famous verse, John 3:16. For many, it summarizes the entire gospel message; it is a theological reflection upon the meaning of Christ coming into the world.

When it comes to interpreting this verse, first and foremost it is about God’s action, not ours. By virtue of loving the world, loving us, loving you and me, God sent us One who would reveal how much we are loved by God. It is the recognition of that love that brings life. As one biblical commentator explains, “Belief in Jesus changes one’s life so that one can, indeed, speak of being ‘born again,’ not because of an intrinsic change in human nature, but because of the new beginning that comes with a recognition of the full character of God that is revealed in Jesus.”

The God that is revealed in Jesus is a God whose love knows no bounds and who asks only that we receive the gift of love. That, in my opinion, is what salvation means. That is what allows us to live life fully, for eternal life begins in the here and now! It’s not just about the hereafter.

Salvation, understood this way, is not an intellectual, or even emotional, acceptance of doctrinal statements that theologians (including the gospel writers) believed about God and Jesus. For we are told in verse 17 that God sent the One named Jesus not to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him.

And notice that it was the world that God so loved. “It was not a [particular] nation [or a certain people]; it was not [just] the good people; it was not only the people who loved God; it was the world. That includes the person who loves God and the person who never thinks of God, the person who finds rest in the love of God and the person who turns away from the love of God - all are included in this vast inclusive love, the love of God.”

God doesn't pick and choose who to love. Everyone is loved, and loved equally and unconditionally by God. This is what Jesus came to reveal. Realizing this has the power to transform lives – your life and my life! That’s what it means to be born again/anew/from above.

In this passage the message that cries out is one of acceptance: God’s acceptance of us. Proclaiming this message of God’s acceptance is the third bullet point of our congregation’s Mission Statement. Despite what we have done, despite what we have thought and currently think, God has included us, God has reached out to us, God has lifted us up.

There are many people in our society today, perhaps even yourself, for which self-acceptance may be one of life’s biggest struggles. At the heart of the gospel, though, is God’s acceptance of us - as individuals and as communities of faith. And since this all comes as a result of God’s grace, as a free gift, it is something that we cannot (and don’t have to even try to) achieve, or earn, or manufacture - we can only receive it, accept it, believe it.

The author’s appeal in this passage is that God’s acceptance of us should and must have an impact on how we view ourselves, how we act, how we relate to God and each other, and how we view the world.

Our world, our very selves, cannot remain the same when we realize that we are loved with a love that will not let us go.

“For God so loved the world…”

Amen.