Jn.1:11-13 – He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

The first eighteen verses of the gospel of John are some of the most profound and important verses in the Word of God. John is preparing to write his version of the ministry of Christ focusing on a revelation of Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. In this part of his prologue John describes the irony of Christ coming to His own people and they rejected Him. John continues by saying that anyone who does receive Him receives the right to become a child of God. This gives a glimpse into the whole purpose of John’s gospel. John said that Jesus performed so many miracles that all the libraries in the world couldn’t contain them but the ones he wrote about were intended to lead us into faith in God through Jesus Christ. That’s what today’s verse is all about, believing on and receiving Jesus Christ into our lives. Here is what the Expositor’s Commentary says about this passage.

“‘Become’ indicates clearly that people are not the spiritual children of God by natural birth, for we cannot become what we already are. This verb implies a change of nature. “Not of natural descent” excludes a purely physical process; “nor of human decision” rules out the result of any biological urge; “or a husband’s will” shows that this kind of birth is not merely the outcome of a legal marriage. The relation is spiritual, not biological. There is a connection with the concept of the new birth as elaborated in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.”

This is what so many people misunderstand, we are not born as children of God. We are part of a fallen race headed toward destruction, that’s why Jesus became a man. Only when someone believes on Christ and receives Him do they receive the right to become a child of God. Like Jesus told Nicodemus, “unless a man is born again he will never see the kingdom of God”. That’s why John’s book starts with this, life and light are only in Christ, nowhere else. So here is the question John is posing to all of us, “Have you been born again?”