The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 251

Obrist sets the pra.ctloe.l truth and Divine is very remarkable. A man must be b0rn 110ssibility of any mcm seeing the kingdom anew, must unrlergo a radical change, even of Goel. 'fo the suspicion of Jesus being to see the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. xviii. 3). the Messenger nnd Minister of God, he The true kingdom is not a. Divine govern- opposos the supposition of being born from ment of outward, viijible magnificence, sus- henvcn, ore.new. From ancient times com- tained by miraculous a.id-a. physical sove- menlntors hnve been divided ns to the mean- reignty which shall rival e.nd eclipse the ing of the word 1£vc.,9•v-whether it should be majesty of Cresar. When the kingdom shall rendered "from nbove" or "anew," "again." come in its genuine power, the carnal eyo The first was favoured by Origcn nnd many will not discover its presencP. The man others down to Bengel, Lilcke, Meyer, Baur, born anew will alone be able to appreciate Wordsworth, Lange, based on the local it. 'fbe Jews boasted that they were born meaning of the word in numerous places; of God ( eh. viii. 41 ), but could not under- e.g. "from the top'' (11:fott.''lCxvii. 51), "from stand that they needed vita.I, fundamental, heaven above" (Jas. iii. 15, 17; eh. iii. 31; moral renewal-a. second birth, a new begin- xix. 11). Moreover, John uses the idea of ning. Let the opening of Christ's Galilrean birth from God, or by his will supervening ministry be compared with this bold utter- on the life of me.n, e.nd the consequent con- ance. There in public discourse he called ference upon it of e. new beginning (eh. i. upon all men everywhere to "repent," to 13; 1 John iii. 9; iv. 7; v. 1, 4, 18). The undergo a. radical change of mind, and that great point on which our Lord insists is the because the kingdom of heaven was at band. Divine spiritual origin of the life of which M...-&vo,a portrays the same change as he has so much to say. Several of the English ,raJ1.1neve<rla; but one term denotes that versions, Coverde.le's-and second edition of change a.a a. human experience and effort, the Bishops' Bible-have adopted this ren- the other as a Divine operation. Neither deling, with the Armenian e.nd Gothio Ver- repentance nor regeneration commended sions. The Revised Version has placed itself to the rabbinic minrl as a necessity for it in the margin. Age.inst it is to be one who was exalted by prinlege and brought the use of tho verb ava-yevva<r6a, ennobled by obedience. The phrase, "king- (1 Pet. i. 3, 33, nnd in Justin,' Apol.,' i. 61) dom of God," is not e. mode of representing -e. word which corresponds with this clause, truth to which this Gospel ea.Us frequent. 1£vc.,8ev -y•v11116ijva1, e.nd yet could scarcely be attention. Still oar Lord to Pile.te ( eh. xviii. translated "to be born from above," but, 36) admits that he is himself the Heo.d of a "to be born age.in." The second rendering, kingdom which is "not frorn hence "-not giving e. temporal value to 1£vc.,6ev, we.a resting on this world a.a its foundation or adopted by Augustine, Chrysostom (who uses source. In Matthew the whole of the mis- both views), the Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, sion of Christ among men is repeatedly Tholuck, Godet, Westcott, Moulton, Weiss, portrayed e.s " the kingdom of heaven." and Luthardt, and is sustained by the fact Ano. from the time when the Lord ascended that Nicodemus was led by it to au inquiry until now, various efforts have been made about (lie6TEpov -yevv7l8ijvcu) e. second birth. to realize, to discover, to embody, to em- If the expression had had no ambiguity blazon, to crush, to ignore, that kingdom about it, aud merely conveyed the idea. of e. and its King. This great utterance is B kay heavenly birth, his mistake would have been to much of the history of the Church, and greeter than it was. There a.re, moreover, an explanation of its numberless mistakes. numerous passages confirming the temporal Moreover, it supplies on inve.lua.ble hint of sense of 1£vc.,8,v (Wettstein and Grimm both the true nature of the kingdom of God. quote from Josephus, • Ant.,' i. 18. 3; e.nd Thome. insists on the other rendering of Arlemidorus, • Oneiroc.,' i. 13); and the ,ra• /ivc.,tJ,v, and compares it with the Philonio l\•n•ve,rla of Titus iii. 5 points in the same doctrine, "that the substanco of tho vovs is direction. The Jewish rabbi ought to have not attributod to that which ls created, been familiar with the idea of the "new heart" but is breathed into the flesh from above and " right spirit," and the morvellous and (1£vc.,9ev) by God. . . . Aim, 0 soul, at the mighty change wrought in men by the bodiless essence of the spirit-world as tliy Holy Spirit: but the spiritual idea. had inherite.nco." These idea,i, he thinks, John been overlaid by rabbinic ritualism, and all has placed intn the lips of J esns. The two the hopeless entanglements of ceremonial classes of ideas are fundamentally distinct. purity which had been made to do duty for Philo contrasts the sensuous e.nd tho intel- epiritunl conformity with the Divine will. lectual; Christ is contrallting nature and Archdeacon Watkins reminds us the.t the grace. Syrino Version here gives the rendering Ver. 4.-Nioodemus saith to him, How can "from the beginning," or "nnew," and lays a man be bom when he is old 1 oan he enter grcnt stress on this solution of the umbiguity a seoond time into his mother's womb, and be in the Greek word. The etatoment of Christ bom 1 The numerous endeavoun io inter- ,JO~. ¥  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. [oH. lll, 1-36.