‘Except a man be born from above,1 he cannot see the Kingdom of God.’ It has been thought by commentators, that there is here an allusion to a Jewish mode of expression in regard to proselytes, who were viewed as ‘new-born.’ But in that case Nicodemus would have understood it, and answered differently — or, rather, not expressed his utter inability to understand it.
It is indeed, true that a Gentile on becoming a proselyte — though not, as has been suggested, an ordinary penitent2 — was likened to a child just born.3 It is also true, that persons in certain circumstances — the bridegroom on his marriage, the Chief of the Academy on his promotion, the king on his enthronement — were likened to those newly born.4 The expression, therefore, was not only common, but, so to speak, fluid; only, both it and what it implied must be rightly understood.
In the first place, it was only a simile, and never meant to convey a real regeneration (’as a child’). So far as proselytes were concerned, it meant that, having entered into a new relation to God, they also entered into new relationship to man, just as if they had at that moment been newly born. All the old relations had ceased — a man’s father, brother, mother, sister were no longer his nearest of kin: he was a new and another man.
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Author: Alfred Edersheim
Keywords: Proselyte, Nicodemus, You must be born again, Born again, Born anew, Born of spirit, Born from above, Little children, Like children, Like a child, Childlike, New birth, New creation, New creature
Bible reference(s): Ezekiel 36:25-27, Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17, John 3:3-10
Source: The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book 3, pp. 384-385.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.