7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus repeated for the third time that a person must be born again or born from above.
7 Do not marvel
Jesus challenged Nicodemus’ tendency to doubt. He might have had a proclivity to question what he was about to hear.
that I said to you [singular],
“You” here is singular. Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus personally. He told this Pharisee not to be amazed at this truth. It was necessary for Nicodemus to comprehend this shocking truth so new to him.
‘You [plural] must [a necessity] be born again.’
The second “you” is plural. Jesus said that all people need to be born again. Spiritual birth is indispensable. Note that Jesus did not say “we” need to be born again.
The word “must” indicates that spiritual birth is a divine necessity to live with God. It is not inevitable but is what God determined in order for a person to possess eternal life. There is no other way to enter the kingdom except through a spiritual birth. This principle is absolute and universally binding.
PRINCIPLE:
Spiritual birth is absolute and universally binding for anyone to go to heaven.
APPLICATION:
Being born again is not a possibility or a suggestion. It is no clever invention, but rather it is the eternal plan of God. All of the human work in the world will not compensate for the need to be born again. Spiritual birth and only spiritual birth by God will allow us into His heaven. We all have vested interests and opinions about how to get to heaven, but none of them amounts to anything if it does not align with God’s plan.
