THE KING’S BUSINESS
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not the thought that is most fully in view. The thought that stands out is that there are two very distinct orders of being, “flesh” and “spirit,” and that the “kingdom of God” belongs to the latter, and that if any map is to enter into it he must first have a birth of a corresponding character, “born of the Spirit,” that fits him for life and enjoyment in the kingdom which he has entered. By the Spirit of God quicken ing our human spirit, we are united to God and heaven, and thus,alone we are fitted to ‘ see” and “enter into” “the kingdom of God,” but by “the flesh” we are united to the earth and are not able to comprehend or enter “the kingdom of God.” Our Lord did not say that “that which is born of thé flesh is' "fleshly." No, He puts it much more' strongly than that, He says, “that which is born of the flesh, is flesh/’ i.e., the child does not merely partake of the qualities of the parent, he partakes of the very nature of the parent, he is what the parent is. But this is equally true on the other side, when he gets a new parent, i.e., when he gets God for his parent (when he is “born anew”) he then gets the nature of God (2 Peter 1:4), and therefore our Lord says “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (not merely spiritual),” v. 7. “ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be bom again (anew).” These words make it clear, if there had been any doubt about it before, that Nicodemus had been astonished that Jesus had said to him, a Jew and a Pharisee,, that he needed to be born anew. It was not so much that a new birth was necessary that had aston ished him, as it was that it was necessary for everybody, and especially that it was necessary for him and all men of his class. That it was this thought that had particu larly astonished him, Jesus makes very clear by the usé of the two personal pro nouns “thee” and “ye.” These personal pronouns are emphatic. Nicodemus would not have been a particle surprised if Jesus had said to some Gentile or to some Samar itan, “Thou must be born anew,” he would have expected that, and rather liked it, but
that Jesus should have said it to him, and emphasized the fact that he meant him not once, but twice, with the solemn and emphatic words, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee,” in which the “thee” is both definite and emphatic, that was what startled and amazed Nicodemus. He was not only amazed, but in a measure piqued, because he had come to Jesus wishing, to represent his class and to assure Him that they really endorsed Him (see v. 2). He had imagined that Jesus would be greatly pleased with this endorsement from so high and authori tative a1 source, as any other teacher but Jesus would have been. And this made him all the more_surprised and all the more sore, when Jesus had answered him as He had. Jesus would drive it home ¿o there would be no mistake and no escaping it that He meant him and all his class. “Ye ” says Jesus, ¡“must be born anew.” “All that even you possess, your being a child of Abraham, your being a Pharisee, your rigid observance of the law, your high morality, and your exemplary religiousness, your unquestioned orthodoxy, and the high esteem in which you are held, is not enough, you must be born again.” Jesus would not leave to Nicodemus a vestige of hope that he was in any sense an exception to the universal rule. In view of what Jesus says here, and to whom He says ¡t, how futile and foolish are the hopes that some in our day who call themselves Christians, enter tain that there are some who, because of their birth, their pious parents, or because^ of their Christian culture, will see and enter into the kingdom of God without being “born anew.” “Ye must be born anevtf’ sums up what Jesus had to say to. this earnest inquirer, and it sums up also the conditions of blessedness for time and eternity. Notice also the “must.” This, too, is very emphatic by its position in the Greek. The new birth is not merely a matter of privilege, it is a matter of duty, a matter of absolute and imperative neces sity, nothing else will take the place of the new birth. The issue is right here, be born anew and see and enter into the kingdom
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