Two of the most familiar verses in the Bible are in John, chapter 3. But familiarity does not ensure clear understanding. That takes a little work on our part and paying attention to context. The Easter post (link) touched on John 3:16. Here, we look at verses 3 and 7.
Verse 7 is most often quoted as, “you [ye, i.e. plural] must be born again.”
The word translated as “again” (actually, a paraphase) is anothen [the ‘o’ is omega, the ‘e’ is epsilon]. In Greek, ano means “above” and anothen means “from above.”
F. F. Bruce translates it, “You all must be born from above.” Leon Morris in the NICNT uses “anew” as does the ASV. Merrill C. Tenney, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary notes: ‘“Anothen”…in the Johannine writings normally means “from above” and it should be rendered thus here.’
The NICNT* notes that anothen ‘means “from above” in every other place where it occurs in this Gospel.’ It also notes that ‘there is no Aramaic adverb with the meaning “again.”’
The focus of v.3 is on the Kingdom of God and the condition needed to see it (equals ‘enter it’). Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born from above to see it. Jesus then goes on and emphasizes that “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” [water and Spirit (water, NOT a reference to physical birth) most likely are an hendiadys– ‘one through two’– a figure of speech used for emphasis—”The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination” thus, something like “water of the Spirit.” There could be an allusion to the baptism of repentance of John which the Pharisees rejected.]
This pattern is strikingly similar to many Old Testament verses where the same thought is repeated in synonyms for emphasis.
And then Jesus repeats this pair all over again: v.7, “You all must be born from above,“ v.8, “…born of the Spirit.”
It is the theme with which John began the Gospel--the children of God, those of the Kingdom, are “born…of God.”
“ But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13). [The word order in Greek is “…who not of…but of God were born“]
Thus, at the start, John contrasts those born of the flesh (1:11–“his own people received him not”), with those born of God.
The familiar “again” has often been used in such a way as to have the effect of shifting the emphasis of the focus from God/Spirit/above (above = heaven) to man. This diminishes the powerful three-fold emphasis on the act of God.
[“Again” goes all the way back to the infancy of English translations with Wycliffe. John Wycliffe worked from the Latin Vulgate, which has “from above” (desuper) in verse 3, but “again” in verse 7. As noted above (Bruce, Tenney), “it should be rendered” as “above.” Even with the plethora of modern translations, the traditions of men have a strong hold and die hard. (Mark 7:8, 13)]
We are “born of God…born of the Spirit…born from above.”
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*NICNT The New International Commentary on the New Testament, F. F. Bruce, Gen. Editor
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