Only One Way to Experience Salvation

There is only one way to experience salvation and become a child of God and that is through God’s power (v. 12). There are three ways by which you cannot become a child of God (v. 13).

1. “Which were born not of blood.” This means you are not a child of God by regular birth. Even if your parents were the best Christians who ever lived, they can never give you eternal life.
2. “Nor of the will of the flesh.” This means that you cannot simply make yourself a Christian. You must come to God as a sinner and receive Christ as your Savior.
3. “Nor of the will of man.” This means that no one on vv. 10-11) can make you a Christian.  Some people imagine that a minister can make them Christians by baptism or sacraments.

John states that though Jesus created the world, the world did not recognize Him. Though He came to His own, His own did not receive Him (vv. 10-11). God came to the world for acceptance and relationship. Those who accept the Light, who believe in the message Christ proclaimed about Himself, are given the “right to become the children of God” (v. 12). To be born into the kingdom of God is not something achieved by human energy (v. 13) but by the grace of the living God through Christ Jesus (Eph 2:8-9). This is to be balanced by the emphasis on the need to “receive” Christ. Though we bring nothing to God and contribute nothing to our salvation, the gift itself is dependent on our willingness to receive it from the one who offers it.