In the past, I have made clear my opinion that modern Christians love to read (or hear read to them) New Testament Scripture (from the Gospels) and imagine themselves as there with Jesus, especially when Jesus was telling the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes how wrong they were on religious matters, as if patting Jesus on the back, while saying, “You tell ‘em Jesus. They are not good like us!”
The danger in that self-confidence is found when Jesus is talking to modern Christians, as reflections of those who are equally wrong on religious matters. The commonality of being wrong about religious matters is how being right requires Jesus being within one’s soul and not some external character on the pages of a book. Each Christian (modern and ancient) must become Jesus (not pretend to side with him), so one knows right from wrong.
I say this now because I have become just like those who think they see the truth, while missing the deeper point that becomes the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
I realized this while watching my favorite local pastor on Sunday morning television, when he reviewed the lesson Jesus taught Nicodemus, about being born from above. I have laughed at the denseness of Nicodemus in the past, because he heard Jesus say to him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born from above,” and ole Nick replied, “How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (John 3:3-4, NIV)
That is where I have, in the past, begun to pat Jesus on the back and say, “Slap his dumb ass, Jesus!”
This past Sunday, as my favorite preacher was talking about this lesson, a deeper truth dawned on me. Nicodemus was not as dumb as I had thought. I was the one more ignorant than he.
The reason Nicodemus asked Jesus about a return to his mother’s womb is the Greek word attributed to Jesus having said – anōthen – means more than simply “from above.” It also means “(a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.” (Strong’s Concordance) This means Nicodemus heard “born again,” which prompted him to ask how that would be possible, after one has left the mother’s womb and grown too large to reenter a womb, to be “born again.”
This then led Jesus to explain, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’” (John 3:5-7, NIV)
In that, the Greek word hydatos is written, meaning “water.” That is then connected to sarkos, meaning “flesh.” This is a most important lesson being taught; and, it is one that I missed before. If I missed it, then I am sure most everybody else (modern Christians) did too. My favorite TV minister said nothing about it; so, I rest my case that it is something easily overlooked.
When Jesus linked “water and Pneumatos” ("Spirit" – capitalized) and then “flesh and Spirit” (Pneumatos again), this has a direct correlation to Baptism. One is first baptized (lower-case) by “water,” before one is Baptized again by Yahweh’s “Spirit.” As far as Jews are concerned (and both Jesus and Nicodemus were Jews), it is the mother who passes on this religious ‘baptism,’ simply by giving birth. A baby born to a Jewish woman is then born a Jew (baptized by "water"), even if the father is not Jewish. The “water” within the womb, in which the forming fetus is crafted by the Hand of Yahweh, is then “baptismal water” as Jewish “flesh” is born. However, that misses the point of the capitalized “Spirit” being the reason Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
The word “Pneumatos” (the first use) follows the Greek word kai, which is a marker word that means much more than “and.” It denotes importance that must be realized, relative to that following the word kai. The word signaling importance is then a capitalized word, which means “Spirit” and this is relative to rebirth (born again, born from above), with “water” relative to first birth (the “flesh” entering the world). Following another use of kai leading to Jesus saying, “That having been born of the Spirit,” this supports the prior use of kai and the capitalized Pneumatos (now seen written twice). However, when Jesus said (following a comma mark) “spirit exists” (“pneuma estin”), the lower-case pheuma is relative to the lower-case sarx (“sarx estin”), that says “flesh is” or “flesh exists.” The word "estin" is relative to "being," and "to be" means "to have life," with "life" being a statement of "soul" presence. Flesh that exists without a soul is lifeless, which is dead.
That is what I saw this past Sunday, loud and clear (for the first time). To be flesh coming out of a womb means a fully developed fetus has been produced by the biological processes within a mother’s womb; so, the mother’s womb can no longer share ‘water” with her baby. The birth is not assured to be live, because mother’s can give birth to dead infants (stillborns). To have life given to a newborn baby, Yahweh must breathe life “spirit” ("pneuma estin") into that “flesh” (sarx estin"").
This means the first birth is both “water-flesh,” followed by the ‘spirit” of a soul being placed into "flesh,” giving it life (sarx estin), because of the "spirit" that is a soul ("pneuma estin"). The importance of this realization says “born again” has nothing to do with the “flesh,” and everything to do with the “soul” (pneuma estin) being “born anew.” The first birth is the baptism of a mother's water bringing forth flesh, which Yahweh animates to life by placing a soul in it (from above). The second birth is then where a soul in its flesh is raised “from above” by Yahweh placing a divine soul alongside the soul given by Yahweh at birth (pneuma estin). That second soul is the Yahweh elohim called Adam – the only Son of Yahweh – who was made for the purpose of saving souls born into flesh. This joins the “Spirit” of Yahweh with the “soul” of life given by Yahweh first; so, a second "Spirit," another “born from above,” is so that “spirit exists” (the firstborn soul) can enter the kingdom of God. The “kingdom of God” is then the “flesh” born of “water” being enveloped in a new womb, which is the “Spirit born again (from above).”
Hidden in this is the use of the word “You,” which I left footnoted above (“[c]”). The footnote says “You” is written in the plural (second person), meaning Jesus was not simply referring to Nicodemus, but to every individual live birth born of the “flesh.” The Greek word written is hymas, which can be translated as saying “yourselves.” I have often made a point that such words have a deeper impact when realized to include the word “self,” because a “self” equates to a “soul.” There would be no "You" without a soul giving "You" life in the flesh. As such, what Jesus can be translated as saying is this: “It is necessary (a capitalized Dei) your souls to be born again (from above).” This then importantly has Jesus correcting Nicodemus to stop thinking in terms of living flesh (a temporal state of being or “flesh existence”) and start thinking in terms of an eternal soul needing to be led to the “kingdom of God” by an inner Lord “Spirit” – a “second soul born in one body of flesh.”
That is called Divine Possession. It is the opposite of demonic possession; but the same principle applies, with one example being the man in Gerasenes who was possessed by so many demons the lead demon went by the name Legion (meaning a multitude of demons possessed that man).
From this realization, Jesus then spoke symbolically of an unseen, yet known to exist parallel in nature, which was the “wind.” What is absolutely missed in this comparison is the word translated as “wind” is the exact same word translated just prior as “spirit” (a lower-case pneuma). This comparison then is Jesus explaining that one does not know where the soul comes from or where it goes after death, but because one has life one knows a soul is present within. The same is then said to be of the “Spirit” (upper-case Pnematos). Being “born anew,” “born again,” and “born from above” is just like being “born of the water and flesh,” as far as being able to prove it to anyone else but oneself (or one’s soul). That "Spirit" cannot be seen when it come into one's soul, making the body of flesh go where it blows, which can go in any direction, unknown.
This is where Nicodemus really acted dumb, asking Jesus how being born of the “Spirit” is possible. In reality, Nicodemus was speaking to Jesus just like any pastor, minister, priest or rabbi would today, who loves to pat Jesus on the back and thank him for saving their souls, by being crucified and dying, so sinners can keep on sinning, only to be saved by believing in the character they read on pages in a book. The dumbass Nicodemus is a reflection of every priest I have ever met in the Episcopal Church (my wife excluded), because they all call themselves “teachers of this of Israel,” when they cannot even explain what the word “Israel” means. That word means “He Retains God” or “God Is Upright” (Abraim Publications), where the “god” part of Israel is reference to one having been “born again (from above).” In Genesis 2, that el is specifically called “Yahweh elohim;” and, that is the “Spirit” added to one’s birth soul (Jacob – the Supplanter – became Israel – He Retains God).
Jesus then went on to explain to Nicodemus how personal experience of this “Spirit rebirth” is the only way to grasp what Jesus is talking about. Jesus was “a witness” (martyrian) to this inner Spirit, just as were others before him [Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, David, Ruth, Naomi, all the Prophets, et al]. As "witnesses," those filled with "Spirit" could truthfully "testify" to that divine presence. However, just as Jesus spoke of this he personally knew, dumb stumps like Nicodemus (and the other Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, et al) could not understand; so, to pretend to teach the Word with just a brain and a breath of Yahweh-given life was stupidity. All Nicodemus could teach was nothingness, which the seekers of truth could see right through, leaving them anguished over not having a clue how to enter the kingdom of God. Nobody (up to that point in Herod’s Jerusalem) could teach the truth of the Word.
Now, my favorite TV preacher did not want to make a point beyond the necessity of being “born again,” so he did not go into the length of Jesus’ telling Nicodemus that he had no interest in joining their clique. It was Nicodemus and his gang of know-nothings who should want to join with Jesus. So, the pastor said nothing about Jesus referring to how the lesson being taught Nicodemus (and all Christians since the Gospel of John was written and made available for readers) was the same as that one in Numbers 21, “in the same manner Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.”
In that Old Testament story, the Israelites (those who earned the name, as “Who Retained God”) had begun backsliding into ‘ignoramus mode,’ meaning they were tuning out the “Spirit” within their souls, trying to rebel against being told "from above” what to do. That waywardness led many to find poisonous snakes that bit them and they died [death symbolizing losing their souls, no longer able to see the kingdom of God]. This, of course, led the fearful Israelites to run to Moses, begging him to save them from their waywardness and get rid of the snakes.
Moses talked to Yahweh (because his soul was possessed by a second Spirit) and Yahweh told him to raise up one of the poisonous snakes on a staff, so any of the people who looked at it would be reminded: This snake is you if you sin – dead. To avoid death and gain eternal life, one has to be bitten by the Spirit and die of the flesh that wants to go it alone. To ignore the companions soul of Yahweh's Son (Adam or Jesus) is to commit suicide, where the snake of preference is to sin against Yahweh (break the marriage vows - the Commandments). That means the only way to be “born again” is to die of the “flesh,” so the soul (lower-case pneuma) enters the kingdom of God, led by the “Spirit” (Pneumatos). Death in the flesh means ministry in the name of Jesus, as a true Israelite, divinely possessed by a Yahweh elohim.
That was then Jesus telling Nicodemus (et al), “Your souls have to be raised up by death of a soul in a body of flesh that worships worldly things, so eternal life will come from being reborn from above.” Only then will your souls be in flesh that is capable of teaching seekers the truth of the Word, so they can be led to be raised up via self-sacrifice to Yahweh.