John 3:3-8
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): The only way to get into the Kingdom of God is to be born into it.
JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): The manner in which the Holy Spirit operates in those who are born of God is very often exceedingly mysterious; the effects only of those operations are discernible. It is to be feared that some have gone too far in attempting to direct the Spirit of the Lord, and to mark out His footsteps for Him. Experience clearly shows that we cannot trace the operations of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of some who afterward prove the best of Christians. He does not proceed discernibly in the steps of any particular established scheme so often as is imagined. Those who have had much to do with souls and are not blinded by prejudice must know that the Holy Spirit is so exceedingly various in the manner of His operations, that in many cases, it is impossible to trace Him.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): All this is most important to understand. To require all persons to be squared down to one kind of experience is a most grievous mistake.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL (1635-1711): No one ought to be concerned about the manner of conversion because the manner of his conversion has not been what he himself would prescribe it to be, nor agrees with the manner in which others are converted. lf your conversion is a reality, all is well. The ways of God are mysterious and even in the common way of conversion the one experiences something with which another is not acquainted.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Many of God’s children cannot trace the particular footsteps of their conversion, and mark out all the stages of Christ’s approach to their souls.
ROBERT CANDLISH (1806-1873): It is not easy to imagine a more cautious record than the entry in a manuscript written by Lord Eldon: “I was born, I believe, on the 4th of June 1751.” We suppose that this hesitating statement refers to the date, and not to the fact of his birth. Many, however, are just as uncertain about their spiritual birth. It is a grand thing to be able to say, “We know that we have passed from death unto life,” even though we may not be able to put an exact date to it.
WILHELMUS à BRAKEL: Some are converted in a very gradual fashion, with much vacillation between sorrow and joy, faith and unbelief, strife and victory, and falling and rising again…When I use the word “gradually,” I am referring to conversion in a comprehensive broad sense; that is, from the first conviction until one consciously receives Christ. For it is otherwise a certainty that conversion—that is, regeneration—transpires in one moment, for the soul in one moment passes “from death unto life.” There is no intermediate state between being dead and alive…Some are converted in a very sudden manner, as in one moment. Such was the case with Zacchaeus, the thief on the cross, many on the day of Pentecost, and the jailer in Philippi.
J. C. RYLE: With some the change is immediate—as it was with Saul when he journeyed to Damascus: with others it is gradual and slow, as it was with Nicodemus.
THOMAS MANTON: Some are brought to God by the horrors of despair, and are convinced with a higher and more smart degree of sorrow, before they come to settle; but all are serious and anxious. There is certainly a difference; some men’s conversion is more gentle, others more violent. To some, Christ comes like an armed man, and doth powerfully vanquish Satan in their hearts; to others, there is a great deal of difficulty and conflict, which must needs impress a notice of itself. Some are sweetly drawn, others are snatched out of the fire. To some, the Spirit comes with a mighty rushing wind; to others, a gentle blast, sweetly and softly blows upon the door, as God “opened the heart of Lydia,” more gently, Acts 16:14.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): On such “it droppeth like the gentle dew from heaven upon the place beneath.”
THOMAS MANTON: The jailer, he had more horror of conscience, and more sorrow and desperation, and was ready to kill himself, saying, “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:27-30.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): God is a sovereign agent, and works upon His children in their effectual calling, according to the counsel of His eternal will.
JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): The power that works in believers is God’s omnipotent power, which works effectually and mightily.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): But the precise manner how it is done, how the Holy Spirit works this in the soul, neither thou nor the wisest of the children of men is able to explain.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD: The Author of this conversion is the Holy Ghost: it is not their own free will; it is not moral suasion; nothing short of the influence of the Spirit of the living God can effect this change in our hearts—My dear friends, I am now talking of heart religion, of an inward work of God, an inward kingdom in your hearts, which you must have, or you shall never sit with Jesus Christ in His kingdom.
RICHARD BAXTER (1615-1691): Heart-work must be God’s work.
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): What else can be the meaning of these various phrases: “the circumcision of the heart,” Romans 2:29; “a new heart…a heart of stone exchanged for a heart of flesh,” Ezekiel 36:26; “a new creature,” Galatians 6:15; a divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4; a spiritual mind, a new birth, a putting on the Lord Jesus, abiding in Him, and dwelling in Him, a being one with Him? What can be the meaning of all these various phrases, unless they are interpreted as God’s gracious design of putting His own pure and Holy Spirit into the sinner’s heart, as a glorious living principle.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Nothing short of the regenerating work of the Spirit can make any man a new creature in Christ Jesus.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): We do not look for the Spirit to convert souls without the truth; it is by the presentation of this to the judgment, and by the co-working of Divine grace upon the heart, that the great change of regeneration is effected.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Saving faith is the gift of God, and wherever it is, it is wrought by Him. The Word of God is the great means of regeneration, James 1:18. The grace of regeneration is conveyed by the gospel.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): In general, it is accomplished by the preaching of the Word; but sometimes it is effected by reading the Scriptures, by a good book, by pious conversation, by affliction: “Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living,” Job 33:29,30.
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): There is such a thing as the new birth; believest thou this? It is necessary to be had; believest thou this? God only can work it; believest thou this?
C. H. SPURGEON: We cannot explain conversion, and regeneration, and the new birth, and all that; but we do know this, that Jesus Christ says, “Believe,”—and we believe. By our own power? No.
