“Born of the Spirit” – What Does It Mean?
By Eusebio Tanicala (July 2020)
To gain a proper understanding of this topic, one must thoroughly digest and connect the following passages. Readers are urged to avoid the fallacy of taking a partial view.
We begin by understanding that God implants a clean spirit into every conceived child. This spirit animates the physical body. This soul-spirit aspect of humanity is called the “inner man,” which dies or becomes corrupted through sin. Scripture sometimes refers to this inner man as the “spirit of man.” It is this human spirit that is the subject of our study—the part that must be renewed and born again.
Foundational Biblical Principles
God Imparts a Clean Spirit at Conception: God places a clean spirit into the human body of a fetus at conception (Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; Zechariah 12:1; Isaiah 42:5).
Man Has Two Components: Human nature consists of the outer man (the physical flesh made from dust) and the inner man (the soul/spirit component) (Matthew 10:28; Colossians 3:9–10; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The Inner Man Dies Through Sin: The human spirit experiences spiritual death because of sin (Isaiah 59:1–2 [cf. Isa. 57–58]; Ezekiel 18:18–32; Ephesians 2:1–3; Colossians 2:13; Titus 3:1–4).
The Revived Spirit Is a “Born-Again” Spirit: A spiritually renewed inner man is described as being born again (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 18:31; Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:4–7).
The Penalty of Sin Has Been Paid: The death penalty in hell was fully paid by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (Romans 5:8; Colossians 2:21–22; Ephesians 5:25–27).
The Holy Spirit Administers Spiritual Life: Acting on behalf of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit injects, as it were, a life-giving spiritual medicine into the spiritually dead inner man (John 1:4; 6:63; 11:25; 14:16; 16:13–14; Acts 2:38; Romans 8:2, 9; 1 John 5:11).
Key Text: John 3:3, 5–8
New King James Version (NKJV)
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ ... Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”
McCord’s New Testament Translation
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I assure you, unless one is born again, he cannot see God’s kingdom.’ ... Jesus replied, ‘Truly, truly, I assure you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter God’s kingdom. Flesh is born of flesh, and spirit is born of Spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, “It is necessary for you to be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you know neither where it comes from, nor where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’”
Two Interpretations in Our Fellowship
1. The Personal Indwelling & Cooperative View (Writer’s Position)
This view holds that the Holy Spirit knows those individuals who have used their free will to seek truth and obey God. The Holy Spirit encourages these truth-seekers through cooperation with citizens of the Kingdom (church members), as depicted in Revelation 22:17:
“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Under this view, the Holy Spirit subtly creates situations that prompt the sincere seeker to dive deeper into their spiritual thirst and gain a fuller understanding of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit may arrange for church members to cross paths with the seeker, or protect the seeker from dangerous detours through subtle life circumstances. Ultimately, upon obedience, the truth-seeker receives the person of the Holy Spirit as a gift, who indwells and assists the disciple in living the Christian life.
Main Proposition: “The Holy Spirit’s indwelling and influence on the disciple is personal, working in conjunction with the Word.”
2. The “Word Only” View
This view contends that the Holy Spirit operates exclusively through the written or spoken Word. A person is influenced solely by reading Scripture or hearing oral instruction, processing that information through their own mental efforts to make a personal decision (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16–17; 1 Peter 1:22–23). In short, the Word (the seed) is sown into the mind, germinating and resulting in obedience—which this view claims is the “new birth.”
Main Proposition: “The Holy Spirit’s indwelling and influence occurs through the Word only.”
Testing Consistency: I favor the first view because it is far more consistent when all related scriptures are systematically arranged. Consider these testing questions: How and when were the 12 apostles (including Matthias) born of the Spirit? How and when was Saul (Paul) born of the Spirit?