John 3:3-16

3Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

4“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

5Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

7So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’

8The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

9“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

10Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?

11I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.

12But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

13No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.

14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

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

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