Understanding Born Again

John 3:3-8 says, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”


“Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The word verily comes from amen, which was commonly used to express approval of a statement or message. It meant that what was said could be depended on to be the truth. Ordinarily, verily was stated at the end of a statement. However, when Jesus taught, he reversed the order and used verily at the beginning of his statements. This meant that what followed was absolutely true and dependable. Nicodemus undoubtedly caught the significance of using amen at the beginning of his statements.

Jesus stated in advance that he spoke only truth. Quite a statement, is it not? Perhaps Jesus was “raising the ante” on his conversation with Nicodemus. Earlier, Nicodemus had said he knew that Jesus was a teacher sent from God (John 3:2). By using amen, Jesus was stating he was not only a teacher, but one who always spoke truth. He could say that of himself by placing the word amen at the beginning of his statement instead of waiting for someone else to confirm it after he spoke, which was the normal custom.

In the phrase, “I say unto thee,” the word say comes from legō, a present-indicative-active verb. The present usually means continuous action, but often when used with the indicative it comes closest to the English present tense, “I am now saying to you.” Of course, the present tense in the Greek always retains some sense of continuous action.

The word you, from soi, is singular. Jesus was speaking only to Nicodemus; there was no one else present. This could be interpreted in modern vernacular as telling Nicodemus to, “listen up…I am speaking to you.”

What exactly was it that Jesus wanted Nicodemus to accept as an important truth? It was this: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Except comes from ean, a Greek particle which is a composite of two words, ei and an.

An equals uncertainty, and is therefore used as a subjunctive, something which has not yet happened, or something of which there is uncertainty about whether it will happen. Ean, except, is often translated as unless, and determines the rest of this dependent clause.

The word man comes from tis, an indefinite pronoun meaning anyone. Man is too specific; anyone is more general, and would have been a better translation.

The word born comes from genethē a subjunctive-aorist-passive. The subjunctive matches it with the earlier word “except” or “unless,” which indicates uncertainty. This word born has the same meaning as in English, i.e., that of being physically born as a son, or progeny, of someone.

The word born is also modified by the word again, anōthen, which may also be translated as anew, or, from above. Both “again” and “from above” are legitimate translations of this word, which is why one may find it translated either way in different Bible translations.

This statement about being born again has been so mishandled that it has lost the original meaning which Jesus must have intended for Nicodemus. For example, many churches teach that “born again” is something which happens when a person accepts Jesus as their personal savior. Of course, this is completely wrong. The reason is that this has the subjunctive “can” in the dependent clause (protasis), and another type of verb in the independent clause (apodosis). This makes it a third-conditional sentence which refers to the future, not the present.

Let us examine the independent clause, the apodosis. If anyone has not been born again, or from above, then he “can not see.” Can comes from dunatai, and not comes from ou, the absolute negative, without qualifications. Dunatai could also be translated as able.

This brings us to the word see, idein, an aorist-infinitive. The infinitive is used to express either purpose or result: “he is absolutely not able to see the kingdom of God,” which would show result, not purpose. In other words, the result of not being born again would be the inability to see the kingdom of God.

Being a good Israelite, Nicodemus would have recognized the kingdom of God (or the kingdom of the God, as it is written in the Greek) as being the next age under the rule of the messiah, or the christ.

Nicodemus, supposedly a spiritual leader of Israel, asked a very carnal question. “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 answered him by saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This was a similar statement as verse 3:3, but this time Jesus added a clarifier. The new addition was the phrase, “born of water and of spirit.”

Again, the word for “be born” is passive, indicating that this is something that is done for someone, not something they can do for themselves. No baby is born by its own efforts. Its mother is the one who goes through the contractions of childbirth that the child may come into this world. The same is true of the spiritual birth. People cannot do this for themselves; it is something done for them.

Here, Jesus told Nicodemus about being born “of water and of spirit.” If water had been preceded by the definite article and spirit remained without it, then the two would be considered as being one birth with two aspects, or qualities. However, there is no definite article before either water or spirit, hence they are two separate entities.

The grammar here indicates two different births that are required in order to enter the kingdom of God. Some argue that the word water means that baptism is the means of receiving the spirit. However, Jesus was answering the question Nicodemus had asked. Jesus told him that one must be born once of water (udatos) and once of spirit (pneuma).

Jesus was not telling Nicodemus about two natural births from his mother’s womb. One natural birth was enough. Water refers to the water contained in the sack which carries the fetus until birth. That is the natural birth.

Being born of spirit is another matter. This refers to a spiritual birth, which will occur when Jesus returns with the shout of an archangel, and all those who are in the graves shall come forth, some to everlasting life and others to judgment.

The birth of spirit refers to the resurrection, indicated by crafting the sentence in the third condition which puts “see the kingdom of God” in the future. Jesus said that without both these births, he ou, absolutely cannot, enter into the kingdom of the God. Without both water birth and spirit birth, it is utterly impossible. [For more on this subject, see our book, What Scripture Says About Salvation, which is free at www.biblestudybooksfree.com.]

Jesus also explained to Nicodemus the condition, or characteristic, of someone who had been born again, or anew, or from above. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Jesus did not want Nicodemus to miss the meaning of the new birth. Yet, in spite of his words, multiple millions of so-called “born again believers” continue to miss his point.

Jesus explained the condition of being born again in explicit terms by comparing it to the wind. The wind could come and go, but no one could tell where it came from or where it went. In other words, we do not see the wind as it comes or goes. “Thus is everyone that is born of the spirit.” Thus comes from houtōs, which, “by virtue of its native demonstrative force it refers to what precedes; in the manner spoken of; in the way described” (Thayer, p. 468).

In other words, Jesus was telling Nicodemus anyone who has been born of the spirit can come and go like the wind, and no one can tell where they come from or where they go.

Jesus described a litmus test for determining whether or not people have been born again: Can they come and go as the wind? I have never seen anyone who fits this description, thus I have serious doubts about those who claim they have been "born again." When they can enter a closed, locked room, as Jesus did after his resurrection, then we can conclude that such people have been born again. So far, only Jesus has received a spiritual body enabling him to come and go like the wind. The rest of us will have to wait for the resurrection.

The contemporary “born again” syndrome is similar to the Gnostic teaching which Paul warned his followers about. There were some who were teaching that the resurrection was already past (II Timothy 2:18). Paul knew that such teaching destroyed any hope in the future resurrection which was still to come, and therefore he warned people about it.

If Paul were here today, he would warn people about the Gnostic-like teaching of the “born again” doctrine that is so common in many churches today. It destroys the hope of truly being born again at the coming of Jesus Christ and the resulting entrance into the kingdom of God.