From God. These words stand first in the sentence as em- phatic. It is from God that thou hast come.
3. Answered and said. See on ii. 18.
Verily, verily. See oni. 51.
Be born again (yevvnd9 avwtev). See on Luke i. 3. Lit., Srom the top (Matt. xxvii. 51). Expositors are divided on the rendering of dvwJev, some translating, from above, and others, again or anew. The word is used in the following senses in the New Testament, where it occurs thirteen times :
1. From the top: Matt. xxvii. 51; Mark xv. 38; John xix. 23.
2. From above: John iii. 31; xix. 11; Jas. i.17; iii. 15, es
3. From the begenning : hen ipo": bya Xxvi. 5.
4, Again: Gal. iv. 9, but neencreahes by dru, again.
In favor of the rendering Srom above, it is urged that it cor- responds to John’s habitual method of describing the work of spiritual regeneration as a@ birth from God (i. 18; 1 John iii. 9; iv. 7; v.1,4,8); and further, that it is Paul, and not John, who describes it as a new birth.
In favor of the other rendering, again, it may be said: 1. that from above does not describe the fact but the nature of the new birth, which in the logical order would be stated after the fact, but which is jirs¢ announced if we render,from above. If we translate anew or again, the logical order is preserved, the nature of the birth being described in ver. 5. 2. That Nico- demus clearly understood the word as meaning agazn, since, in ver. 4, he translated it into a second time. 38. That it seems strange that Nicodemus should have been startled by the idea of a birth from heaven.
Canon Westcott calls attention to the traditional form of the saying in which the word dvayeryac9a, which can only mean reborn, is used as its equivalent. Again, however, does not give the exact force of the word, which is rather as Rev., anew, or afresh. Tender, therefore, as Rev., except a man be born anew. The phrase occurs only in John’s Gospel.