St John 3: 1-17
The mission of Christ: saving the world
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”
3:3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’
3:8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
3:9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
3:10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
3:11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony.
3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
3:17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
1 Ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἄρχων τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.
2 Οὗτος ἦλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν νυκτὸς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ῥαββί, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἐλήλυθας διδάσκαλος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ταῦτα τὰ σημεῖα δύναται ποιεῖν ἃ σὺ ποιεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ὁ Θεὸς μετ’ αὐτοῦ.
3 Ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
4 Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Νικόδημος· πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; Μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι;
5 Ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.
6 Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστι, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστι.
7 Μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὅτι εἶπόν σοι, δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν.
8 Τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις, ἀλλ’ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει· οὕτως ἐστὶ πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος.
9 Ἀπεκρίθη Νικόδημος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι;
10 Ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· σὺ εἶ ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις;
11 Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι ὅτι ὃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν καὶ ὃ ἑωράκαμεν μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε.
12 Εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς ἐὰν εἴπω ὑμῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια πιστεύσετε;
13 Καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.
14 Καὶ καθὼς Μωυσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,
15 ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ’ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
16 Οὕτω γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ’ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.
17 Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ’ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι’ αὐτοῦ.
Comments
The pericope is a dialogue, pretty straightforward in terms of syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. One verb with its participles and infinitive stands out: γεννῶμαι (άομαι), the passive voice of γεννῶ (άω), ‘I beget’, usually referring to a father’s procreation. See vv. 3-8.
[3] Ἀπεκρίθη: ‘answered’, 3rd pers. sg. pass. aor. of the middle voice vb ἀποκρίνομαι. The implication of the middle voice is that the action presupposes mutuality or reaction to something. It is usually (and mechanically) translated as ‘I answer’, but freq. suggests someone giving a considered answer. (I have dealt with this vb in other comments.) Cf. vv. 3, 5, 10 (of Jesus replying), and 9 (of Nicodemos).
ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι: the emotive introductory phrase, used by Jesus, is repeated in vv. 5 and 11. The double repetition of ‘Amen’ is peculiar to John. Anadiplosis, ‘or redoubling’ also occurs in cl. Gk. Such repetition intensifies emotional effect and vividness, and can be connected to colloquial conversation. Herrington, Gospel of John, p. 98 says of this redoubling: ‘As always it carries the discussion further by introducing a new idea, closely related to what has gone before.’
ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν: γεννηθῇ, 3rd pers. sg., aor. passive subj. , ‘be born, begotten’. ἄνωθεν, an adv. of place, ‘from above’ (ἄνω) in cl. Greek. Already in LXX Greek it means ‘ fresh from the start, anew’ (Muraoka, s.v.). The adverb is repeated by Jesus in v. 7. Nicodemus’ reaction in v. 4 may suggest that he has construed ἄνωθεν in a temporal sense (= δεύτερον, ‘a second time’). Either sense is admissible in koine Greek. Jesus uses the adv. in the sense ‘from heaven, from God‘ here and in v. 7: according to EDNT s.v. ἄνωθεν, 2a, ‘this is cryptic language and is misunderstood by Nicodemus in the sense of anew’.
[4] γεννηθῆναι: aor. infinitive, γεννῶμαι. Τhe second instance of the infinitive in this verse occurs in the question Μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι; The expected answer is ‘No’ because the (rhetorical) question is introduced by μή (‘One can’t enter his mother’s belly a second time, can one?’). Here γεννῶμαι refers to birth from a mother.
[7] Μὴ θαυμάσῃς: μὴ + aor. subjunctive amounts to a prohibition. The forbidden action or state is assumed to be grammatically ‘one-off’, but with a nuance: ‘[t]his makes the imperative more vivid and absolute (cf.Bauer, Johannesevangelium 55; ZGB 80).’ See Herrington op. cit., p. 99 ad loc.
[8] Τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ: personification of ‘wind, breeze’ (cl. Gk πνεῦμα) and etymological word play. πνεῦμα is derived from the vb πνέω, ‘blow, breathe’ (Beekes, s.v. πνέω). It is difficult to convey Jesus’ polyvalent pun in English. Perhaps (lit.) ‘the respiration wherever it will respires’ (which sounds flat). Πνεῦμα can also mean ‘breath’ or ‘ghost’.
[12] Εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς ἐὰν εἴπω ὑμῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια πιστεύσετε;: πιστεύω, ‘to put trust in’, ‘believe’ (cl. Gk: LSJ, s.v.) is derived from πείθομαι, pass./mid. voice, ‘I am persuaded, have put trust in, obey’ (Chantraine, s.v. πείθομαι). In Nt Gk, ‘give credence to a message and/or its bearer’ (EDNT s.v., 2a). Here, w. acc. In the NT the vb is almost always religious. Cf. vv. 15 and 16, ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν.
[13] ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν: ἀναβέβηκεν, 3rd pers. sg. pf. < ἀναβαίνω, ‘go up’, freq. with preposition, as here. καταβάς, occurring in the same verse, means the opposite, ‘go or come down’.
[14] Καὶ καθὼς Μωυσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου: ὕψωσε < ὑψῶ (όω), ‘Ι lift high’ (late Greek); cf. ὕψος, ‘height’. ὑψωθῆναι, aor. pass. infinitive. In LXX & NT Greek, ὑψῶ and ὑψοῦμαι can be used figuratively (‘I exalt’, ‘I am exalted’).
[16] ἔδωκεν: 2nd pers. sg., aor. δίδωμι, ‘Ι give, give freely’ (LSJ, s.v.). In ancient Greek, a mortal gives in offering to the gods just as they give or grant something, e.g. victory or misfortune, to mortals.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 