The Carson Center Podcast

The God Who Grants New Birth (John 3:1–15)

Episode Summary

Don Carson explains the concept of spiritual birth as both Old Testament fulfillment and a transformative experience granted by God through Jesus, showing how faith in Christ results in true moral and spiritual change.

Episode Notes

In this lecture, Don Carson exposites John 3, explaining how spiritual birth is a transformative power from God that brings moral and spiritual change. Carson emphasizes the connection between this imagery, Jesus's death, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Carson also explores the need for reconciliation to God, moral transformation, and the reversal of sin’s effects. New birth is not a result of human effort but a life-changing process enabled by the Holy Spirit.

He teaches the following:

• How the desire to challenge God and usurp his authority leads to social evils and strife
• Rebellion against God results in death, but God's mercy leads to a new humanity through Abraham
• God showed the need for sacrifice under the Old Covenant, promising a Redeemer from the Davidic line
• Jesus's revelation is grounded in his identity as God's own self-expression
• The new birth is grounded in Jesus's death, which provides the means for eternal life