John 3:1-17

1There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

2This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

3Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

5Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

8The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

10“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

11“Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

12If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.

14“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

16For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.