"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 3:14-17
With these verses we come to the second movement of the chapter, emphasising the centrality of the cross. There is a deep significance in this new emphasis. The first part of the chapter speaks of impartation of life, but what is this new life, and what relation does it bear, if any, to Christ and His saving work? Well, what is the connection between Christ's work and that of the Holy Spirit? Is regeneration by the Spirit a separate work, a parallel work to that of Christ, or has it an integral connection? This is an important consideration today in view of some of the things that are taught about the Spirit. It is surely made clear in 16 that the gift of everlasting life (which is the new birth and life in the Spirit) is associated with the giving of Christ to the death. That is the first thing we must notice here. What, then, is the nature of the new life? It is life in Christ, never something separate or distinct from Him. The new life that is imparted by the Spirit in regeneration is the Christ-life coming to indwell us (cf. Colossians 1:27, 'Christ in you, the hope of glory'). This is the only new life there is in the New Testament, and we must never think of regeneration by the Spirit as something distinct from the gift of Christ; it is when Christ indwells our hearts that we are regenerate by the Spirit. The angel Gabriel's words to Mary in Luke 1:35, which give a perfect illustration of the meaning of regeneration, make this point well: the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit results in 'that holy thing....which is called the Son of God' being born in us. This is the new life of which Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. Furthermore, we can go on to say that this new life in Christ is associated supremely with His death and resurrection, in the sense that it is our association with - our being grafted or incorporated into - that death and resurrection that brings life to us.