The Eschatology of Being Born Again
Posted on Friday, May 09 @ 11:58:59 PDT by mazuur |
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“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you [sing.], unless one [sing.] is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
“Nicodemus said to Him, ‘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, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you [sing.], “You [pl.] must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
“Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you [sing.] the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you [sing.], We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you [pl.] do not receive Our witness. If I have told [aorist] you [pl.] earthly things and you [pl.] do not believe [present], how will you [pl.] believe [future] if I tell [aorist] you [pl.] heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’” (John 3:1-16)
In Protestant circles, the meaning of the first half of John 3 is well known. In this passage, Jesus taught Nicodemus about the necessity of personal regeneration. The subject is thought to be about how individuals are saved. They are “born again” – transformed in the inner man so that those who formerly rebelled against God are now faithful to him (principally by believing in Jesus). Without addressing the whole subject of “inner transformation,” I would like to present a different reading of what Jesus meant by being “born again.” (I think this phrase should really be translated “born from above,” but “re-birth” is hardly an unknown theme in the Bible and what follows will not require choosing between the two translations. It may well be that the double reference is quite intentional.)
I do not think the typical Protestant interpretation of the first half of John 3 does justice to what Jesus said because it contains two errors. The first error relates to whom the passage is addressed. The standard Evangelical view sees this need for regeneration being directed to individuals in general. Instead, I believe that the object of rebirth being spoken of here was the nation of Israel. The second error relates to the subject at hand. I do not think the subject in this passage is the kind of inner transformation that Protestants usually talk about. Jesus was not here giving a timeless description of how an individual is inwardly transformed from one who hates God to one who loves Him. Rather, He was describing the historical fulfillment of specific things promised under the old covenant. He was talking about a transformation from the old covenant order to the new covenant order.
To begin with, we should notice an unusual point of grammar in the text. An individual came to Jesus by night to talk to him, and the whole conversation was between Jesus and this one man. But in verse 7, Jesus shifted from the singular “you” to the plural “you.” “Do not marvel that I said to you [sing.], ‘You [pl.] must be born again.’” This change would have been noticeable to Nicodemus because either the pronouns are different words (unlike the English word ‘you’) or the verbs are conjugated differently...
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