“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
My Notes
What Does John 1:13 Mean?
John describes the new birth with three negatives and one positive: the children of God are born not of blood (natural generation), not of the will of the flesh (human desire), not of the will of man (human decision) — but of God. Three human sources eliminated. One divine source established.
The three negatives systematically close every human path to spiritual birth: blood (genetics — you can't inherit it), flesh (desire — you can't want it into existence), man (decision — no human can decide to produce it in another person). The new birth isn't available through any human mechanism. It's exclusively divine.
"But of God" — the positive is singular and comprehensive: God. The birth that blood can't produce, flesh can't generate, and human will can't decide — God produces. The new creation originates in a single source. Everything human is disqualified. Everything divine is sufficient.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Which of the three disqualified sources (blood, flesh-desire, human will) have you been relying on for spiritual life?
- 2.Does 'but of God' (the single divine source) feel liberating or discouraging — and why?
- 3.How does eliminating every human mechanism for the new birth change your approach to evangelism?
- 4.If the new birth is exclusively God's work, what's your role — production or reception?
Devotional
Not blood. Not flesh. Not human will. But God. That's where the new birth comes from.
John eliminates every human path to spiritual birth with three negatives — and replaces them with one positive that outweighs all three.
Not of blood — you can't inherit it. Your parents' faith doesn't become your faith genetically. Being born into a Christian family doesn't make you born again. The spiritual birth doesn't travel through DNA. Blood produces physical life. It can't produce spiritual life.
Not of the will of the flesh — you can't desire it into existence. The flesh's wanting — however intense, however sincere — can't generate the new birth. The strongest human desire for God can't produce what only God can produce. Your wanting is real. It's just insufficient.
Not of the will of man — no human can decide to produce it in another. No pastor, no evangelist, no parent can will the new birth into someone else. You can preach, pray, and plead. But the new birth isn't produced by human decision. Not yours for someone else. Not someone else's for you.
"But of God" — three negatives collapse into one positive. The source is God. Exclusively. The birth that genetics can't transmit, desire can't generate, and human will can't decide — God produces. From His initiative. By His power. Through His decision. The new birth is as divine as the first birth was physical.
This is either the most discouraging or the most liberating truth about salvation. Discouraging if you thought you could produce it through family, desire, or decision. Liberating if you've tried all three and failed — because the failure only proves what John already told you: it doesn't come from those sources. It comes from God.
The birth is God's work. Your job isn't to produce it. It's to receive it. And the receiving is from the one source that actually generates it: God.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Which were born not of blood,.... Or bloods, in the plural number. The birth, here spoken of, is regeneration, expressed…
Which were born - This doubtless refers to the “new birth,” or to the great change in the sinner’s mind called…
Which were born, not of blood - Who were regenerated, ουκ εξ αἱματων, not of bloods - the union of father and mother,…
The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses,…
S. John denies thrice most emphatically that human generation has anything to do with Divine regeneration. Man cannot…
Cross References
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