Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered and said unto him; Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This blunt and curt reply was plainly meant to shake the whole edifice of the man's religion, in order to lay a deeper and more enduring foundation. Nicodemus probably thought he had gone a long way, and expected, perhaps, to be complimented on his candour. Instead of this, he is virtually told that he has raised a question which he is not in a capacity to solve, and that before approaching it, his spiritual vision required to be rectified by an entire revolution on his inner man. Had the man been less sincere, this would certainly have repelled him; but with persons in his mixed state of mind-to which Jesus was no stranger (John 2:25) - such methods speed better than more honeyed words and gradual approaches. Let us analyze this great brief saying. "Except a man" х tis (G5100)] - 'a person,' or 'one' "be born again," the most universal form of expression. The Jews were accustomed to say of a pagan proselyte, on his public admission into the Jewish faith by baptism, that he was a newborn child. But our Lord here extends the necessity of the new birth to Jew and Gentile alike-to every one!
Be born again, х anoothen (G509)] - or, as the word admits of being rendered, 'from above.' Since both are undoubted truths, the question is, Which is the sense here intended? Origen and others of the fathers take the latter view, though Chrysostom leaves it undecided; and with them agree Erasmus, Lightfoot, Bengel, Meyer, DeWette, Lucke, Lange, and others. But as it is evident that Nicodemus understood our Lord in the sense of a second birth, so the scope of our Lord's way of dealing with him was to drive home the conviction of the nature rather than the source of the change. And accordingly, as the word employed is stronger than "again" х palin (G3825)] it should be rendered by some such word as 'anew,' 'of new,' 'afresh.' In this sense it is understood, with our translators, by the Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Maldonat, Lampe, Olshausen, Neander, Tholuck, Stier, Luthardt, Campbell, Alford, Webster, and Wilkinson. Considering this to be the undoubted sense of the term, we understand our Lord to say that unless one begin life anew, in relation to God-his manner of thinking, and feeling, and acting, in reference to spiritual things, undergoing a fundamental and permanent revolution.
He cannot see - that is, 'can have no part in'-just as one is said to "see life," "see death," etc.
The kingdom of God - whether in its beginnings here or its consummation hereafter. (See the note at Matthew 5:3; and compare Luke 16:16; Matthew 25:34; Ephesians 5:5.)