New Birth, Living Water, and the Turn to the “I Am” Sayings (John 3–4; 6:1–15, 25–58)

This session brings together two key narratives—Nicodemus (John 3:1–21) and the Samaritan woman (John 4:1–42)—to clarify how John teaches about spiritual birth and living water. It then traces major theological threads that reappear across the Gospel and opens the next unit on the “I am” sayings and signs, with a focus on John 6.

Parallel Portraits: Nicodemus and the Samaritan Woman

  • Initial spark via metaphor: Jesus engages each person through a spiritual image: “new birth” for Nicodemus and “living water” for the Samaritan woman.
  • Literal misunderstanding: Nicodemus asks how one can re-enter the mother’s womb; the woman thinks of running water and practical matters (“you have no bucket, and the well is deep”).
  • Clarification by Jesus:
    • To Nicodemus: “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” Jesus distinguishes earthly and heavenly things and urges him toward spiritual realities.
    • To the woman: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never thirst.” Worship will be “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem,” but “in Spirit and truth.”
  • Self-identification: In the Nicodemus discourse Jesus speaks as the Son of Man/Son of God and the Light; to the Samaritan woman he identifies himself as the Messiah.
  • Responses contrasted: Nicodemus’s stance in John 3 remains unresolved (he reappears later in 7:50–52; 19:39). The woman immediately bears witness; many Samaritans believe through her testimony and then through their own encounter.

“Born of Water and Spirit”: Interpreting the Image

Several readings have been proposed (e.g., Christian baptism with the gift of the Spirit; John’s baptism of repentance; the waters of natural birth). A widely held approach hears the phrase as a unified image echoing Ezekiel: cleansing with water together with the gift of God’s Spirit, resulting in a new heart and obedience. In the flow of the passage, Jesus quickly centers the Spirit’s work: what is born of the Spirit is spirit; the wind (pneuma) blows where it wills—an image that also names the Spirit’s sovereign, unseen activity. The stress falls on God-given renewal rather than on ritual alone.

Lifted Up, Descended/Ascended, and Other Johannine Motifs

  • Descent and ascent: Jesus is the One who has descended from heaven and will ascend to where he was before (themes echoed later in ch. 6).
  • “Lifting up” as one saving event: Cross, resurrection, and ascension are viewed together as Jesus’ glorifying “lifting up” (reiterated in 8 and 12).
  • Dualities that press for decision: believing vs. rejecting the Son; walking in light vs. darkness; doing the truth vs. loving the lie; possessing eternal life now vs. remaining under wrath; the One from above vs. those “from the earth.”
  • Witness cluster: John the witness; Jesus’ works; the Scriptures; the Spirit; the disciples; and the Gospel’s own written testimony.
  • Only Son, love for the world, and the world’s refusal: God loves the world and gives the Son, yet “the world” also names humanity’s rebellion; reception produces new birth and a new identity as God’s children.

Living Water and Worship “in Spirit and Truth” (John 4)

  • Gift promised: “Living water” symbolizes the Spirit’s life within the believer, becoming an inner spring welling up to eternal life.
  • Truthful exposure that heals: Jesus reveals the woman’s story not to shame but to restore and invite.
  • New covenant worship: True worship is not tied to place but to the Father, “in Spirit and truth,” centered in the Messiah.
  • Witness born: The woman’s immediate testimony draws many; their confession—“Savior of the world”—links back to the Gospel’s global horizon.

Reflection and Practice

  • Is my life actively directed by the Spirit’s renewing work, or merely by natural capacities?
  • Do I step into the light so that my deeds may be seen as “worked in God”?
  • Am I drinking continually from the living water, and how is that practiced habitually?

Transition: Signs and “I Am” Sayings

The next unit pairs selected signs with the “I am” sayings. John 6 provides a prime example: the feeding of the five thousand (the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels) followed by an extended discourse unique in John. The narrative sign and the self-revelatory “I am” belong together.

Reading Focus for Group Study (John 6:25–58)

  • Who does Jesus say he is? Trace his repeated claims and images.
  • What response does he call for? Note the verbs of believing, coming, seeing, eating/drinking.
  • “Eat my flesh and drink my blood”: Consider how this language functions in the discourse. How does it relate to abiding in Christ, to life through the Son’s “lifting up,” and to the sign that precedes it?

Summary

  • John sets Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman side by side to show that spiritual rebirth and living water are gifts of the Spirit, cutting across status, history, and location.
  • Key Johannine themes—witness, light vs. darkness, the Son’s descent and “lifting up,” God’s love for the world alongside the world’s resistance—frame the call to believe.
  • John 6 advances these themes by binding a public sign to an “I am” claim, inviting a decisive, life-giving response to the One who is the bread of life.