Jesus is performing signs at the Passover that offend the Pharisees and scribes. They are becoming uneasy because they realize that, if Jesus really is sent from God and they reject him, God could punish them with great judgment, as he has done in the past with their disobedience and disunity from him.
Going undercover, a Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to Jesus late at night, saying:
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (Jn 3:2).
Nicodemus acknowledges that Jesus is sent from God, but he is tongue-tied regarding what to ask Jesus, who goes straight to what separates Nicodemus from God. Here is Jesus’ second “truly, truly” teaching:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3).
Is this a command or something else? The grammar is “subjunctive” not “imperative”; indicating that the kingdom of God is a choice, not a command.
This is a major point of departure, or arrival, for anyone seeking perfect unity with God. I submit that all the “Truly, truly, I say to you…” statements by Jesus constitute summary of points of arrival or departure at the gate of perfect unity with God. Later he will teach that the gate is narrow and that few enter.
Born again?
Nicodemus is aghast:
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born” (Jn 3:4)?
For emphasis, Jesus repeats himself to Nicodemus, changing only one word. Not only can one not see the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit, neither can he enter the kingdom of God. This repetition underscores the entry point into unity with God. Jesus nails it down with a second “Truly, truly…”:
“…unless one is born of water and the Spirit…” (Jn 3:5).
“Water” may mean the water of physical birth by a mother, contrasted with the in-flow of the Holy Spirit as a second birth. But to a highly educated Nicodemus and to all Pharisees and scribes, this should have rung a very powerful bell from hundreds of years earlier:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you…And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you…And I will put my Spirit within you…” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
The prophets of long ago knew that this would be the water and Spirit of Messiah, as introduced by John the Baptist. They are without excuse.
Nicodemus simply cannot comprehend the grace being offered him. Jesus responds with a third “Truly, truly…”:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony” (Jn 3:11).
Jesus is pointing to all of Jewish history as the precursor for this moment. And who is the “we” to whom Jesus refers? “We” are God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity with each other.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
But this most famous of sayings by Jesus leads us straight to a point of diversion, warning and judgment, following the same Cycle as Adam and Eve, as communicated personally by the Son of God:
“…but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment…people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (Jn 3:18-19).
Perfect unity with God starts with belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who is the pathway to forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We either choose to arrive and enter or turn away along the path of diversion – that is, disunity.
If we pass into the kingdom at the point of arrival, instead of warnings and judgment, our repentance leads to the never-ending love of God and restoration from certain death to an eternity in perfect unity with him, the more desired of our two option for completing the Cycle!
And this is ground zero for perfect unity among all believers.