3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born
again, you cannot see the Kingdom of
God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of
God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the
Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but
can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how
people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand
these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know
and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how
can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone to heaven and
returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness,
so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have
eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no
judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in
him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only
Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact:
God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the
light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do
evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be
exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come
to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Holy Bible. New Living Translation
copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol
Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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