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NASB | John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:3 Jesus answered him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God." |
Subject: "Born-again Christian" redundant? |
Bible Note: CDBJ, to see "water" in John 3 as a metaphor for the word of God that leads to salvation through the regenerative work of the Spirit of God is probably as close as we'll ever come to a meaningful understanding of this passage which is consistent with the rest of Scripture. To exegete that water baptism is meant is inconsistent with the rest of Scripture. To view water in this context as having reference to natural birth strikes me as being strained and without any real didactic value. We know that Jesus never used idle words, that virtually everything He said was in some way didactic; and it would be characteristic of Him in his discourse with Nicodemus to saying something far more profound in meaning than merely to iterate what Nicodemus already knew, that he was born of woman. CDBJ, I think, whether we're right or wrong, we're very close in our viewpoints of this verse. Pssst...(we're probably right :-) --Hank |