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| δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν “ βασιλείαν τοῦ Οεοῦ. 4. Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ 6 Only here
Νικόδημος, “Mas δύναται ἄνθρωπος
δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ > i 2 as 6. Inoods, “'᾽Αμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν h Mii 8.
γεννηθῆναι; 5. ᾿Απεκρίθη ὁ
µή τις γεννηθῇ “ef ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς
such expressions as ἰδεῖν θάνατον (Lk. ii. 26, Heb. xi. 5), διαφθοράν (Acts ii. 27), ἡμέρας ἀγαθάς (1 Pet. iii. 10), under- stand that ‘‘ participation ” is meant. So Calvin, “' videre regnum Dei idem valet ac ingredi in regnum Dei,’’ and Grotius, “participem fieri’”. Confirmation of this view is at first sight given by the εἰσελθεῖν of ver. 5. But it is of “signs” Nicodemus has been speaking, of ob- serving the kingdom coming; and Christ says: To see the kingdom you must be spiritual, born anew, for the signs are spiritual. In this language there should have been nothing to stumble Nicodemus. All Jerusalem was ringing with the echoes of the Baptist’s preach- ing, the essence of which was “‘ ye must be born again”. To be children of Abraham is nothing. There is nothing moral, nothing spiritual, nothing of the will, nothing related to the Kingdom of God in being children of Abraham. As regards your fleshly birth you are as passive as stones and as truly outside the kingdom. In fact John had excom- municated the whole nation, and ex- pressly told them that they must submit to baptism, like Gentile proselytes, if they were to be prepared for the Messiah’s reign. The language may not have puzzled Nicodemus. Had our Lord said: “Every Gentile must be born again,” he would have understood. It is the idea that staggers him. His bewilderment he utters in the words:—Ver. 4. πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων av; py δύναται, etc. In this reply there is no attempt to fence with Jesus, but merely an expression of the bewilder- ment created by His statement. The emphasis is on πῶς, which asks for further explanation. The μὴ of the second clause shows that Nicodemus understood that Jesus could not mean a second physical birth (see Lucke). On γέρων ὤν Grotius remarks: '' Exemplum in se ponit, qui senex jam erat”. That our Lord understood Nicodemus’ words as a request for further explanation appears from His at once proceeding to giveit.—Ver. 5. ᾽Αμὴν, ἀἁμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν py τις γεννηθῆ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν
and ver. 5 in John. y ο παω in xviii.
γεννηθῆναι γέρων av; μὴ
Ezek. ΧΧΧΝΙ. 24
B. To remove as far as possible the difficulty of Nicodemus as to the πῶς of the second birth our Lord declares that the two great factors in it are ‘‘ water” and ‘‘ spirit’’.. Calvin thinks this is a ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, and that the two names cover one reality. ‘*Spiritum et aquam pro eodem posuit.’’ ‘‘ Aqua nihil aliud est quam interior Spiritus sancti purgatio et vegetatio.”” And he defends this by a reference to the Baptist’s announcement that the Messiah would baptise with the spirit and fire. Grotius takes the same line, but cautiously adds: ‘Si quis tamen malit Ίδια decernere, ut aqua significet mali fugam, spiritus vero impetum ad optima quaeque agenda, inveniet quo hanc sententiam fulciet ”. Lk. (vii. 30) tells us that the Pharisees, to whom belonged Nicodemus, were not baptised of John; their reason being that to submit to the same rite as Gentiles and acknowledge the insufficiency of their Jewish birth wasa humiliation they could not suffer. To receive the Spirit from the Messiah was no humiliation; on the contrary, it was a glorious privilege. But to go down into Jordan before a wondering crowd and own their need of cleansing and new birth was too much. Therefore to this Pharisee our Lord declares that an honest dying to the past is as neediul as new life for the future. To be born of the Spirit involves a dying to the past, and therefore it is only the Spirit that is spoken of in the subsequent verses; but it is essential that our past be recognised as needing cleansing and forgiveness. These two factors, water and spirit, are not strictly co-ordinate. Water is not an actual spiritual agency in the second birth; it is only a symbol. But in every true second birth there is a negative as well as a positive side, a renunciation of the past as well as a new life created. The same idea is found in Titus iii. 3-5, ‘* We were [of the flesh] but He saved us by the bath of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Ghost”. The same combination is found in Ezek. xxxvi. 25- 27, ‘‘ Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness and from all your idols