I gotta have my orange juice.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (John 3)

Let’s see how Nicodemus ought to have derived this from Genesis. We know that God intended to give every gift to mankind, but he held one gift in temporary reserve until they matured:

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. . . .”

And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 1-2)

The serpent accused God of withholding a good gift, reserving it for himself:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3)

Let God be true but every man a liar. In order to receive God’s good gifts, there is now no other possible pathway except for mankind to pass through the the death that God prescribed.

One man passed through this death and was reborn from the grave: “even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” (John 3) This is the birth that Jesus tells “you” (Nicodemus, singular) that “you” (mankind, plural) can now participate in by means of union with him. We are reborn by believing in him (John 3:16)—that is, by entrusting ourselves to him, allying ourselves to him.