What does it mean that the wind blows where it wishes (John 3:8)?

In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (ESV). The statement that the wind blows where is wishes or “wherever it pleases” (NIV) is part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus about being born again.

Jesus’ illustration, comparing the blowing of the wind to the work of the Holy Spirit, is brilliant. The Greek word for “wind” (pneuma) is the same as the word for “spirit.” Nicodemus was a scholar who knew biblical Hebrew, and the same linguistic connection between wind and spirit existed in that language with the word ruach. It was the ruach of God who was “was hovering over the waters” at creation (Genesis 1:2). The same Spirit who brought life at the world’s creation also brings rebirth to human souls.

We know little about Nicodemus, except that he was a Pharisee, a “a member of the Jewish ruling council” (John 3:1), and “Israel’s teacher” (verse 10). Nicodemus came to Jesus by night (John 3:2), probably because Nicodemus did not want other members of the Sanhedrin to see him with Jesus. We may surmise certain truths about him: 1) he was legalistic, 2) he was self-righteous, and 3) he was likely an old man. And he needed to be born again.

The expression born again can also mean “born from above.” The idea is that everyone, including Nicodemus, needs to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit (see Titus 3:5). Notice that the imperative to be born again is spoken to Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel (John 3:10). If he needs to be born again, how much greater is our need?

In John 3:6, Jesus says, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Jesus’ point is that like produces like. In other words, a human birth can only produce people who belong to an earthly family, but not to the family of God (cf. John 1:12). It is the Holy Spirit who must produce the new birth that makes us children of God (John 6:63; Romans 8:16).

In John 3:8, Jesus compares the work of the Holy Spirit to the way the wind blows: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (ESV). The point of this comparison is to emphasize the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. We cannot control the movement of the Holy Spirit any more than we can control the wind.

Jesus reminds Nicodemus that we can hear the wind’s sound, but we cannot tell from whence it came or what its next destination is (John 3:8). We can see the wind’s effects—the swaying of trees, the filling of sails, the movement of clouds—but we cannot see the wind itself. The wind remains a mystery. So much about it is unexplained. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit brings new life to a human heart, causing someone to be born again, the process is unseen and mysterious. But we can see the effects of the Spirit’s presence in the fruit He produces and the life that is changed.

There is nothing we can do to bring about the new birth. We might as well try to create waves in the ocean. The wind must bring the waves, and the Holy Spirit must move within the human heart to bring spiritual life. Through it all, the Spirit remains sovereign: He moves wherever He wishes, just as the wind.

Significantly, on the day of Pentecost, when the disciples in Jerusalem were awaiting power from on high, the Spirit showed up with the sound of a wind: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. . . . All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2, 4). After that, the world was changed forever.