The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 255

hnd no ooneciolleneee of persona.I need of clause, Bo is every one that hath been born 1 rogenemiion, nor wus he in the first case of the Spirit-meaning•, So doth it happen to born ne flesh from flesh. His flesh we.s every one who is born of the Spirit-suggests itself the work of the Spirit. the analogy between 1rv,vµa. in its mr1terial Ver. 8.-The wind bloweth (lhe Spirit sense, and 1rv,iiµ.a. in its customary and breathes, Roviaotl Version, in margin) where deeper sense. Now, on the other hand, it it willeth, and thou heareet (his voice) the a.ppears to me that this latter clause is com- BOlllld thereof, but thou knoweet not whenoe pa.tible with the older translation and appli- it oometh o.nd whither it goeth. Vulga.te co.tion. There is a comparison, but it may (followed by Wickliffe emu the Rheims be between the mysterious working, breath- Versions) ia, Spirit'U8 ubi vult spirat et ing of the Divine Spirit, whose ''voice" or vocem ~ius audis, sed neecie unde veniat, aut "word" may he heard, whose eil'ects a.re q110 vadat: sic est omnis qui natue est ez present to our senses and consciousness, but Spiritu. Augustine, though acquainted with the beginning.~ and endings of which are the other rendering, approves of this ; ao always lost in Gocl,-and the special opera- Origen, Bengel, The great majority of tions of Divine grace in the birth of tho commentators and versions have held that Spirit. There are numberless operations of the former of the two tro.nsla.tions is correct; the Spirit referred to in the Old Testament, from the first brooding of the Spirit on the that the first time the word Ilvevµa. is uaecl, it refers to the wind, "the unseen simili- formless abyss, to a.II the special and mighty tude of God the Spirit-hie most meet and effects wrought in creation, all the heighten- mightiest sign;" and thet, since the same ing e.nd quickening of hllman faculty, all word is used for the two things, Spirit and the conference of special strength upon men wind, the Lord, after tho parabolic manner -their intellectual energies and Divine in- which he adopted (in the synoptic Gospels), spirations. Over and above all these, thero took advantage of some gusts of roaring is all the superna.ture.l change wrought in wind then audible, to ea.II attention to the souls by the Holy Spirit. Christ calls this mystery e.nd incomprehensibility of its origine. "birth of the Spirit," and declares that, or end, nnd to aee a. parallel between the according to all the mysteriolls comings and unknown wa.ya of the wind and the un- departings of the Spirit, leaving only mani- known points of e.pplice.tion to the humo.n fold effects, so is the special Divine work spirit of the mighty energy of the living which morally and spiritually recreates God. The passage, Eccles. xi. 5, may have humanity. Pneuma is llsed three hundred been in hie mind (though there" Spirit" is e.nd fifty times in. the New Testament, and twenty times in this Gospel for "the o.s likely to be the reference as is the motion of the "wind," and our ignorance of the way Spirit;" o.nd if the usage is reversed here, this is the solitary occasio □. The word of the Spil'it is a.kin to our ignorance of the formation of bones in the womb of her who 9e>,e, ia, moreover, more appropriate to 11 is with child), and the adoption of the living Being than. to the wind. There is unusual word 1rvei' ( cf. eh. vi. 18; Rev. vii. another we.y which suggests itself by which 1 ; Matt. vii. 25; Acts xxvii. 40) is in sup- the word Ilvovµ.a. may meo.n the same in port of the comparison between "wind " both clri.uses: The breath of God bloweth where and the "Spirit;" while the ,p.,vf,, the it listeth, etc., so is every one born of the '' voice" or sound of the wind in trees or breath of God. If this be possible, the form nge.inst e.ny barriers, a.nd the other effects of the expression supplies a co-operating the.t the rapid motion of the a.ir produces, similitude drawn from the unknown origin gives a. lively illustration of the method in a.nd mighty effects of the unseen brea.th of which the Spirit of God works in human. heaven; and on this translation t.lte com- parison is drawn between all the 'l\"O. ys of minds, revealing, not itself, but its 1,tl'ects. The parallel is not peculiar to Scripture the Spirit and the special work of the Spirit (see the remarkable passage in Xenophon, in regeneration. An inference is deducible 'Memor.,' iv. 3-14; 1 also 'Rig Veda,' x. from either interpreta.tion of this verse, in- 168 2). It is further urged the.t the following compatible with the theory the.t "birth from we.ter" is equivalent to "regeneration in 1 "And the winds, indeed, a.re not seen, baptism." If the rite of baptism provided but the things whioh thl'y do are manifest, the moment e.ntl occasion of the spiritual o.nd we perceive their going or coming, but result, we should know whence it came and so also indeed the flOUl of mo.u . . . is not itself pe1·ceived." a.re heard, but he is not to be seen'" (l\Ia:s: • "Spee.king of the wind, e. poet of the Miiller, 'What can. Iudia teach us?' sect. vi. 'Rig Ved11.' x. 168. 3, 4, suys, 'Whore was p. 180). he born? Whence ,lid he spring? the life 1 The Sinaitio (~) a.nd other nrn.n 11- of the gocls, the germ of the world I The.t scripts rend, "a.nd of water;" but this i~ God moves 11bout where he listeth, his voices not accepted by nny modern editors.  113 nm GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S1'. JOHN. [en. III, 1--30,