Joh 3:3-8 | RWP | e4.org | Except a man be born anew ( εαν μη τις γεννηθη ανωθεν ). Another condition of the third class, undetermined but with prospect of determination. First aorist passive subjunctive of γενναω . Ανωθεν . Originally "from above" ( ), then "from heaven" ( ), then "from the first" ( ), and then "again" ( παλιν ανωθεν , ). Which is the meaning here? The puzzle of Nicodemus shows ( δευτερον , verse ) that he took it as "again," a second birth from the womb. The Vulgate translates it by renatus fuerit denuo . But the misapprehension of Nicodemus does not prove the meaning of Jesus. In the other passages in John ( ; , ) the meaning is "from above" ( δεσυπερ ) and usually so in the Synoptics. It is a second birth, to be sure, regeneration, but a birth from above by the Spirit. He cannot see the kingdom of God ( ου δυνατα ιδειν την βασιλειαν του θεου ). To participate in it as in . For this use of ιδειν (second aorist active infinitive of οραω ) see ; .

‏ John 3:3-8

Except a man be born anew ( εαν μη τις γεννηθη ανωθεν ). Another condition of the third class, undetermined but with prospect of determination. First aorist passive subjunctive of γενναω. Ανωθεν. Originally "from above" (Mr 15:38), then "from heaven" (Joh 3:31), then "from the first" (Lu 1:3), and then "again" ( παλιν ανωθεν, Ga 4:9). Which is the meaning here? The puzzle of Nicodemus shows ( δευτερον, verse 4) that he took it as "again," a second birth from the womb. The Vulgate translates it by renatus fuerit denuo. But the misapprehension of Nicodemus does not prove the meaning of Jesus. In the other passages in John (3:31; 19:11, 23) the meaning is "from above" ( δεσυπερ ) and usually so in the Synoptics. It is a second birth, to be sure, regeneration, but a birth from above by the Spirit.

He cannot see the kingdom of God ( ου δυνατα ιδειν την βασιλειαν του θεου ). To participate in it as in Lu 9:27. For this use of ιδειν (second aorist active infinitive of οραω ) see Joh 8:51; Re 18:7.

Being old ( γερων ων ). Nicodemus was probably familiar with the notion of re-birth for proselytes to Judaism for the Gentiles, but not with the idea that a Jew had to be reborn. But "this stupid misunderstanding" (Bernard) of the meaning of Jesus is precisely what John represents Nicodemus as making. How "old" Nicodemus was we do not know, but surely too old to be the young ruler of Lu 18:18 as Bacon holds. The blunder of Nicodemus is emphasized by the second question with the μη expecting the negative answer. The use of δευτερον adds to the grotesqueness of his blunder. The learned Pharisee is as jejune in spiritual insight as the veriest tyro. This is not an unheard of phenomenon.

Of water and the Spirit ( εξ υδατος κα πνευματος ). Nicodemus had failed utterly to grasp the idea of the spiritual birth as essential to entrance into the Kingdom of God. He knew only Jews as members of that kingdom, the political kingdom of Pharisaic hope which was to make all the world Jewish (Pharisaic) under the King Messiah. Why does Jesus add εξ υδατος here? In verse 3 we have " ανωθεν " (from above) which is repeated in verse 7, while in verse 8 we have only εκ του πνευματος (of the Spirit) in the best manuscripts. Many theories exist. One view makes baptism, referred to by εξ υδατος (coming up out of water), essential to the birth of the Spirit, as the means of obtaining the new birth of the Spirit. If so, why is water mentioned only once in the three demands of Jesus (3, 5, 7)? Calvin makes water and Spirit refer to the one act (the cleansing work of the Spirit). Some insist on the language in verse 6 as meaning the birth of the flesh coming in a sac of water in contrast to the birth of the Spirit. One wonders after all what was the precise purpose of Jesus with Nicodemus, the Pharisaic ceremonialist, who had failed to grasp the idea of spiritual birth which is a commonplace to us. By using water (the symbol before the thing signified) first and adding Spirit, he may have hoped to turn the mind of Nicodemus away from mere physical birth and, by pointing to the baptism of John on confession of sin which the Pharisees had rejected, to turn his attention to the birth from above by the Spirit. That is to say the mention of "water" here may have been for the purpose of helping Nicodemus without laying down a fundamental principle of salvation as being by means of baptism. Bernard holds that the words υδατος κα (water and) do not belong to the words of Jesus, but "are a gloss, added to bring the saying of Jesus into harmony with the belief and practice of a later generation." Here Jesus uses εισελθειν (enter) instead of ιδειν (see) of verse 3, but with the same essential idea (participation in the kingdom).

That which is born ( το γεγεννημενον ). Perfect passive articular participle. The sharp contrast between flesh ( σαρξ ) and Spirit ( πνευμα ), drawn already in 1:13, serves to remind Nicodemus of the crudity of his question in 3:4 about a second physical birth.

Marvel not ( μη θαυμασηις ). "Do not begin to wonder" (ingressive first aorist active subjunctive with μη ), as clearly Nicodemus had done. In John the word θαυμαζω usually means "unintelligent wonder" (Bernard).

Ye must be born anew ( δε υμας γεννηθηνα ανωθεν ). Jesus repeats the point in verse 3 ( δε and the infinitive instead of εαν μη and the subjunctive) with ανωθεν (from above) only and not εξ υδατος.

The wind ( το πνευμα ). In Greek πνευμα means either wind or spirit as spiritus does in Latin (so also in Hebrew and Syriac). Wycliff follows the Latin and keeps spirit here and Marcus Dods argues for it. The word πνευμα occurs 370 times in the N.T. and never means wind elsewhere except in a quotation from the O.T. (Heb 1:7 from Ps 104:4), though common in the LXX. On the other hand πνεω (bloweth, πνε ) occurs five times elsewhere in the N.T. and always of the wind (like Joh 6:18). So φωνη can be either sound (as of wind) or voice (as of the Spirit). In simple truth either sense of πνευμα can be taken here as one wills. Tholuck thinks that the night-wind swept through the narrow street as Jesus spoke. In either case the etymology of πνευμα is "wind" from πνεω, to blow. The Spirit is the use of πνευμα as metaphor. Certainly the conclusion "of the Spirit" is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit who works his own way beyond our comprehension even as men even yet do not know the law of the wind.