Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a “ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1). He came to the Savior at night to ask important questions about salvation. This lesson can help you understand and feel the importance of being born again “of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:5) to enter the kingdom of God.
Student preparation: Invite students to come prepared to discuss changes they or others they know have made to become more like Jesus Christ.
Possible Learning Activities
A desire to change
Think of ways to begin this lesson that can help students explore the blessings as well as the challenges of changing to become more like the Savior. One way to do this is to invite students to complete the following activity, which asks them to imagine a related situation. Help them fill in enough details so the scenario feels realistic and engages their interest.
Think of a scenario about a teenager who wants to change, come closer to the Savior, and experience more peace but who is not sure how. Think of specific things that this person may want to change and of some difficulties they would probably face in changing. You may also want to think about experiences you or others have had with making positive changes that could give this teenager hope that they can change.
Why do you think Heavenly Father requires change in those who desire to enter His kingdom?
In your study journal, write down some ways you feel prompted to change and become more like Jesus Christ. Throughout this lesson, invite the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as you learn how to seek the Savior’s help in making the changes He desires of you.
Jesus taught Nicodemus about being born again
A man named Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He later defended Christ in front of the Pharisees (see John 7:50–53) and joined the believers at Jesus’s burial (see John 19:39–40). Nicodemus had come to the Savior on this night acknowledging that Jesus was “a teacher come from God” (John 3:2).
John 3:5 is a doctrinal mastery passage. Consider marking doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so you can locate them easily. You will learn more about this doctrinal mastery passage in the next lesson.
Read John 3:1–5, looking for what the Savior taught Nicodemus that he needed to do to enter the kingdom of God.
What do you think it means to be “born again”? (John 3:3).
If necessary, help students understand that to be born again means to change and become a new person. It may be helpful to have students read Mosiah 27:25, looking for what the Lord taught Alma about being born again.
Why do you think we need to be born again to see the kingdom of God?
When Nicodemus didn’t understand how to be born again, what did the Savior teach (as recorded in verse 5)?
One of the principles we learn from the Savior’s teachings to Nicodemus is that we must be born of water and of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God.
As students discuss the following questions, make sure they understand that we must be baptized and confirmed to be born again of water and of the Spirit.
What do you think it means to be born of water and of the Spirit?
In what ways do you think being baptized and confirmed can help us be born again and enter the kingdom of God?
What did the Savior teach Nicodemus that you would want the person in the scenario you created to understand?
Baptism and confirmation are two of the necessary ordinances of salvation and exaltation that each person must receive to inherit the celestial kingdom. These ordinances are the gate that we enter to get on the covenant path that leads to eternal life (see 2 Nephi 31:17–20). As we walk this path and keep our covenants, we experience change and a spiritual rebirth. The prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon explained the Savior’s role in enabling us to be born again. Read Alma 7:14, looking for how the Savior can help us be born again.
What is the Savior’s role in helping us be born again?
From 2 Nephi 31:17 we also learn the role of the Holy Ghost in helping us be born again: “And then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.”
What is the role of the Holy Ghost in helping us be born again?
Consider using the following video, or another example of being born again, to help students see how receiving the ordinances of baptism and confirmation can help us change and be born again with the Savior’s help.
Watch the video “A Change of Heart” (4:39), from time code 0:40 to 4:09, to see the experience of a young man named Ever. Look for specific things that he did that allowed the Savior to help him change. (This video is available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.)
What impressed you about the changes the young man made?
Students could reflect on their preparation for class as they answer the following questions.
What are some changes you or someone you know has made to become more like Jesus Christ?
What role have the ordinances of baptism and confirmation had in these changes?
If students struggle to answer the previous question, help them see how these ordinances have allowed them to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Consider also discussing how taking the sacrament helps us continue to change by helping us remember Jesus Christ and the covenants we made at baptism.
Sometimes we wonder how we are doing in our own spiritual rebirth. The Savior taught in John 3:8 that we can see the effects of the wind but not where it comes from or where it goes. Similarly, we cannot always understand when being born again starts, nor how the changes within us are being made. However, we can see its effects as our desires and actions change (see Mosiah 5:1–2).Write in your study journal about evidence you see of the Savior helping you change. Pay attention to any promptings, thoughts, and impressions you may receive from the Spirit.
Helping others
Think about the scenario you created at the beginning of the lesson. Reflect on what you have learned and felt today. Write a brief letter to the teenager from your scenario, explaining how the Savior can help them change. The following questions may help you as you do this:
What do you think this person could do to seek the Savior’s help in changing? Why do you think those actions will help?
How can the ordinances of baptism, confirmation, and partaking of the emblems of the sacrament help this person change and be born again?
What have you learned about Jesus Christ as you have experienced the process of being born again or have seen this process in others?
Invite students to share in pairs or small groups what they wrote to the teenager in the scenario. Consider bearing testimony and sharing personal experiences that might be helpful.
Commentary and Background Information
What does it mean to be born again?
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained:
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Elder David A. Bednar
The Lord’s authorized servants repeatedly teach that one of the principal purposes of our mortal existence is to be spiritually changed and transformed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. …
We are instructed to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny [ourselves] of all ungodliness” (Moroni 10:32), to become “new creature[s]” in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), to put off “the natural man” (Mosiah 3:19), and to experience “a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2). Please note that the conversion described in these verses is mighty, not minor—a spiritual rebirth and fundamental change of what we feel and desire, what we think and do, and what we are. Indeed, the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through our reliance upon “the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8). As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed—to be spiritually reborn.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave a talk entitled “Always Retain a Remission of Your Sins” (Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 59–62) that contains insights on this question.
Why can it be hard to recognize if I have been born again?
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:
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Elder D. Todd Christofferson
You may ask, Why doesn’t this mighty change happen more quickly with me? … For most of us, the changes are more gradual and occur over time. Being born again … is more a process than an event. And engaging in that process is the central purpose of mortality.
At the same time, let us not justify ourselves in a casual effort. Let us not be content to retain some disposition to do evil. Let us worthily partake of the sacrament each week and continue to draw upon the Holy Spirit to root out the last vestiges of impurity within us. I testify that as you continue in the path of spiritual rebirth, the atoning grace of Jesus Christ will take away your sins and the stain of those sins in you, temptations will lose their appeal, and through Christ you will become holy, as He and our Father are holy.
(D. Todd Christofferson, “Born Again,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2008, 78)
What is the distinction between “seeing” and “entering” the kingdom of God?
The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–44) taught about the Savior’s words in [ John 3:3, 5 ], which speak of “seeing” and “entering” the kingdom of God: “It is one thing to see the kingdom of God, and another thing to enter into it. We must have a change of heart to see the kingdom of God, and subscribe the articles of adoption to enter therein” (in Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844, 130, josephsmithpapers.org]. When a person “sees” the kingdom of God, the Holy Ghost has caused the person to have a mighty “change of heart” (see Alma 5:14). Then the person must participate in the ordinances of the gospel in order to “enter” the kingdom of God.
(“John 2–4,” in New Testament Student Manual [2018], ChurchofJesusChrist.org)
Supplemental Learning Activity
The covenant path
The prophet Nephi taught that repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost are the “gate by which [we] should enter” (2 Nephi 31:17). The path Nephi refers to in the following verses is what Church leaders often refer to as “the covenant path.”Read 2 Nephi 31:19–20, and discuss how walking the covenant path can help us access the Savior’s power to help us change.