Born Again (10)
John 3:3 (C)
Let us read what Jesus says again: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." The word translated "again" can convey three meanings. Commentators usually say that there can be two meanings because it is commonly agreed that one of these three does not apply in our context.
One of the meanings is "from the first." For example, the word appears in Luke 1:3, and there it is translated as "from the beginning" (NIV) or "from the very first" (KJV). In Acts 26:5, where the KJV gives the literal translation, "Which knew me from the beginning," the NIV translates according to the meaning demanded by the context, and reads, "They have known me for a long time." It is this meaning that appears to commentators as inapplicable in our context, although William Barclay suggests that it can refer to the radical nature of the new birth.
The second meaning is "again," and this is the translation usually selected. For example, Paul writes in Galatians 4:9, "Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" Then, the third meaning is "from above." Considering the context of this passage and other portions of the New Testament, it seems that both of these meanings are intended.
The response from Nicodemus in verse 4 indicates that he took the word as meaning only "again," although he fails to understand the term even from this perspective. Since, as we will see, there is a deficiency in his understanding about spiritual things and in what Jesus says in this verse, we cannot depend on his interpretation alone as an indication of what Jesus intended to convey by the word.
But we may know that "again" is at least part of his meaning here, since this would be consistent with his own teaching elsewhere, as well as the teaching of the New Testament writers. For example, he says on another occasion, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Peter writes that "he has caused us to be born again" (1 Peter 1:3, ESV), and here he definitely refers to being born anew.
Then, there is perhaps even stronger evidence that Jesus includes "from above" as part of his meaning. First, we must note that just as the kingdom of heaven is the same as the kingdom of God, and just as to say that something has come from heaven is the same as to say that something has come from God, to be born "from above" is just another way of saying to be born "of God." Once we are reminded of this, we realize that what Jesus teaches here has already been mentioned in the introduction of this Gospel, where John refers to those who are "born of God" (John 1:13).
Second, the word translated "again" here in verse 3 clearly means "from above" everywhere else in John's Gospel. In the same chapter of this Gospel that we are studying, verse 31 says, "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all." The other instances are John 19:11 and 23. The word is translated "from above" in the former, whereas the latter verse has no direct relevance to our text, but the translation there is "in one piece from top to bottom."
(to be continued)
January 19 2006 | Expositions