John 3

You Must Be Born Again

1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, one of the top religious leaders.

2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know You came from God as a teacher, because nobody can do these signs You doing unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus answered him straight up, “For real, unless somebody is born again, he cannot even see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said, “How is a grown man is going to be born again, He cannot go back into his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?”

5 Jesus said, “I am telling you the truth, unless somebody is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 What is born from flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not be shocked that I said you must be born again.

8 The wind blows wherever it wants, you hear the sound, but you do not know where it came from or where it is going. That is how it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said, “How can this even happen?”

10 Jesus answered, “You a teacher in Israel and you do not understand this,

11 I am telling you what we know and what we have seen, but you all still do not accept it.

12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how you are going to believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

The Son Came Down to Save

13 “Nobody has gone up into heaven except the One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man.

14 Just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15 so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.”

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life.

17 God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but so the world could be saved through Him.

18 Whoever believes in Him is not judged, but whoever does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

19 “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness instead of the Light, because their deeds were evil.

20 Everybody doing evil hates the Light and will not come to it, because they do not want their actions exposed.

21 But the one who lives by the truth comes to the Light, so it can be clearly seen that what he is doing is done through God.”

John the Baptist Keeps His Role Straight

22 After that, Jesus and His disciples went out into the countryside of Judea, and He was spending time there with them and baptizing.

23 John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there, and people kept coming to be baptized.

24 This was before John got locked up.

25 Some of John’s disciples got into an argument with a Jew about purification.

26 They came to John and said, “Rabbi, that guy who was with you across the Jordan, the one you testified about, He is baptizing now, and everybody going to Him.”

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

28 You all heard me say it, I am not the Christ, I was just sent ahead of Him.

29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom stands there and celebrates when he hears his voice. That joy right there is mine, and it is complete.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The One from Heaven Is Above All

31 “The One who comes from above is above all. The one from the earth is from the earth and speaks from an earthly perspective. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

32 What He has seen and heard, that is what He testifies, but people still do not accept His testimony.

33 Whoever does accept it confirms that God is true.

34 Because the One God sent speaks God’s words, and God gives the Spirit without limit to Him.”

35 “The Father loves the Son and has handed everything over to Him.

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, God’s wrath remains on him.”