John 3:2
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.
KJV
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
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Commentary
3 voicesVoices on this verse
loading…Hebraic traditional view
Nicodemus, and why “born again” baffled a teacher of Israel
Nicodemus is “a man of the Pharisees... a ruler of the Jews”: a member of the Sanhedrin, the seventy-one-member high council that governed Jewish religious life from Jerusalem. His night visit is respectful and searching, and he is the standing proof that the Pharisaic movement contained honest seekers; John follows his arc from this conversation to his protest on Jesus' behalf (John 7:50-52) and finally to the seventy-five pounds of burial spices (John 19:39).
Why does “ye must be born again” baffle “the teacher of Israel”? The tradition had rebirth language of its own, but for GENTILES: a convert to Judaism “has the legal status of a newborn child,” as the Talmud words the principle (Yevamot 22a). Rebirth was intelligible for an outsider entering Israel. Jesus applies it to a son of Abraham, a Pharisee, a member of the council: even Israel's teacher must be born of water and the Spirit, words that stand on Ezekiel 36:25-27's promise of clean water and a new spirit. The tradition's convert-rebirth is reception history; what Jesus claims from it is the verse's own Christian confession, new birth from above for everyone.
Sources: Yevamot 22a (Babylonian Talmud: the convert as a newborn)
Original language & word study
32 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| οὗτος | houtos | He | G3778 → |
| ἦλθεν | ēlthen | came | G2064 → |
| πρὸς | pros | to | G4314 → |
| αὐτὸν | auton | Him | G846 → |
| νυκτὸς | nuktos | by night | G3571 → |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → |
| εἶπεν | eipen | said | G2036 → |
| αὐτῷ· | autō | to Him; | G846 → |
| ῥαββί, | rhabbi | Rabbi, | G4461 → |
| οἴδαμεν | oidamen | we know | |
| ὅτι | hoti | that | G3754 → |
| ἀπὸ | apo | from | G575 → |
| θεοῦ | theou | God | G2316 → |
| ἐλήλυθας | elēluthas | You have come | G2064 → |
| διδάσκαλος· | didaskalos | a teacher; | G1320 → |
| οὐδεὶς | oudeis | no [one] | G3762 → |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → |
| δύναται | dunatai | is able | G1410 → |
| ταῦτα | tauta | these | G3778 → |
| τὰ | ta | <the> | G3588 → |
| σημεῖα | sēmeia | signs | G4592 → |
| ποιεῖν | poiein | to do | G4160 → |
| ἃ | ha | that | G3739 → |
| σὺ | su | You yourself | G4771 → |
| ποιεῖς, | poieis | do, | G4160 → |
| ἐὰν | ean | only | G1437 → |
| μὴ | mē | unless | G3361 → |
| ᾖ | ē | shall be | G1510 → |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → |
| θεὸς | theos | God | G2316 → |
| μετ᾽ | met᾽ | with | G3326 → |
| αὐτοῦ.¶ | autou | him. | G846 → |
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