New Birth

Excerpt from What Happens in the New Birth? Part 2. by John Piper

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I think this [Ezekiel 36:24-28] is the passage that gives rise to Jesus words, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” To whom does he say, “You shall be my people, and I will be your God” (v. 28)? Verse 25: To the ones to whom he says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.” And verse 26: To the ones to whom he says, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” In other words, the ones who will enter the kingdom are those who have a newness that involves a cleansing of the old and a creation of the new.

So I conclude that “water and Spirit” refer to two aspects of our newness when we are born again. And the reason both are important is this: When we say that a new spirit, or a new heart, is given to us, we don’t mean that we cease to be the human being—the morally accountable self—that we have always been. I was the individual human being John Piper before I was born again, and I am the individual human being John Piper after I was born again. There is a continuity. That’s why there has to be cleansing. If the old human being, John Piper, were completely obliterated, the whole concept of forgiveness and cleansing would be irrelevant. There would be nothing leftover from the past to forgive or cleanse.
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So the way to think about your new heart, new spirit, new nature is that it is still you and so needs to be forgiven and cleansed—that’s the point of the referring to water. My guilt must be washed away. Cleansing with water is a picture of that. Jeremiah 33:8 puts it like this: “I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.” So the person that we are—that continues to exist—must be forgiven, and the guilt washed away.

But forgiveness and cleansing is not enough. I need to be new. I need to be transformed. I need life. I need a new way of seeing and thinking and valuing. That’s why Ezekiel speaks of a new heart and a new spirit in verse 26 and 27: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
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