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

¹⁷ This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

⁵ Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.^{[a] 6} Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.^[b]

²³ For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. ²⁴ As the Scriptures say,

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

⁹ Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life^[a] is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.

Faith in the Son of God

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^[a] has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

²⁹ Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

The Hope of Eternal Life

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,