Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Born Again & Born from Above

Born Again & Born from Above

Last updated on: October 2, 2018 at 9:55 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Born Again & Born from Above 2018-10-02T09:55:06-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the course of our excellent Bible study of Job–I never realized how evangelical, how focused on justification, that book is–we went down a side road on Bible translation. Pastor Moerbe had us look at John 3:3, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God without being “born again.” The word in Greek is ánōthen (ἄνωθεν.)

The word derives from ánō (ἄνω), meaning “above.” It literally and most usually means “from above,” as in describing the view from a mountain. But it can also mean “again.” (See this discussion from Strong’s and other Biblical Greek lexicons.)

So which is it? You must be “born again,” or you must be “born from above”? Many evangelicals stress the necessity of a “born again experience,” whereas Lutherans, Calvinists, and others stress that God’s action brings us into faith. How should the passage be translated?

I was aware of the controversy, but I didn’t notice how the context shows both meanings. Consider how the passage in John 3 unfolds:

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [ἄνωθεν] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus interprets the word in the sense of “again”:

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus responds, using the word in the sense of “from above”:

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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.”

This is not an ambiguity. The word in Greek carries both meanings. Nicodemus picks up on one of the meanings, then Jesus draws out the other.

An English translation, though, since it lacks a word that includes both senses, chooses one or the other. I would think that the meaning intended by Jesus should win out, though then we would miss Nicodemus’s puzzlement.

Go here for how the various English translations handle the verse. The most accurate renditions are probably the ones that combine both senses: “born again from above” (Contemporary Jewish Bible, Jubilee Bible); “reborn from above” (Amplified Bible). Luther, interestingly, renders it “jemand von neuem geboren werde,” which means “again,” but not so much in the sense of another time (“nochmal,” or “wieder”) but in the sense of “newly.”)

This also shows the importance of pastors, who are charged with explaining and preaching the text, knowing the original languages.

Does this same double meaning apply in Aramaic, which Jesus is assumed to have spoken, or did Jesus also speak Greek? Mark Ward gives quite a bit of evidence that Jesus, along with other first century Jews–including the common folk–did speak Greek, at least sometimes. For example, 68% of inscriptions, from tombs to synagogues, are in Greek. Galilee, where Jesus was from, had a strong presence of Hellenistic, Greek-speaking Jews. Even its normal Aramaic dialect was quite different from that of Jerusalem, so a conversation between Jesus and a member of the Sanhedrin may well have been in Greek.

At any rate, the inspired text that we have is in Greek, so this is what we must go by.

We must be born again, but the way this happens is to be born from above, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, one must be “born of water and the Spirit,” which gets us into the theology of Baptism.

Illustration: “Christus und Nikodemus” (ca.1886), by Fritz von Uhde – 1. Hans Rosenhagen; Uhde: des Meisters Gemälde Stuttgart, 1908. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, p. 1812./3. Unknown4. Christie’s, LotFinder: entry 5168602, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33841831

For more works by the 19th century Lutheran artist Fritz von Uhde and discussions of how he expresses his theology in his art, see this, this, and this.

HT: Rev. Ned Moerbe

Previous Post

October 2, 2018

Trump's New NAFTA Deal Should Please Liberals--But Will It?

Next Post

October 3, 2018 Making "Humanized Mice" with Aborted Fetal Tissue--Cancelled!

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"I am not sure the items you mentioned, though disused, discontinued, discarded, could be considered ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"“Friend, use me in your relations with your neighbor just as you would want your ..."

DakotaLutheran

Luther on Tools

"Archaeology: It's the case that we don't have to go back very far to discover ..."

DakotaLutheran

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Where did the Pentecostal movement begin in the early 1900s?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Berlin Rome London Azusa Street, Los Angeles

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »