8神怎么能作到〔重生〕这一步?乃是借着祂的灵。当你我悔改,信主,罪得赦免,与神和好之后,这一位爱我们的神,就是那赐生命的灵,便进到我们里面,在我们的灵中把我们的灵重生了。约翰三章说到尼哥底母,他是犹太人的官,尊称主耶稣是从神那里来作以色列人教师的,所以来请教主耶稣。但主耶稣对他说,“人若不重生,就不能见神的国。”(3)尼哥底母不明白重生的意思,他以为重生是进到母腹里再生一次,所以对主耶稣说,“人已经老了,如何能重生?岂能再进母腹生出来么?”(4)但主耶稣所说的重生,乃是从水(就是死)和灵(就是生命)而生(5)。接着主又说,“从肉体生的,就是肉体;从那灵生的,就是灵。”(6)第一个灵是神圣的灵,指神说的。神是灵,我们从祂生,就是从灵生,结果我们就是灵,就是六节里的第二个灵。这就是得重生。
8How does God achieve [regeneration]? It is through His Spirit. After we repented and believed in the Lord, our sins were forgiven and we were reconciled to God. Then this God who loves us and who is the life-giving Spirit comes into us to regenerate our spirit. John 3 refers to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He respectfully addressed the Lord Jesus as One who had come from God as a teacher to Israel, and he therefore came to get some advice from Him. However, the Lord Jesus said to him, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). Nicodemus did not understand the meaning of regeneration. He thought that regeneration was for a man to enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born. So he said to the Lord Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (v. 4). However, the regeneration that the Lord Jesus referred to was for one to be born of water (that is, death) and the Spirit (that is, life) (v. 5). Then the Lord went on to say, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). The first Spirit is the divine Spirit, referring to God. God is Spirit. When we are born of Him, we are born of the Spirit, and eventually, we are spirit, the second spirit referred to in John 3:6. This is to be regenerated.