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NASB | John 3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." |
Bible Question: I can understand everything Jesus is talking about in John 3 except when it gets to verse 8. What does verse 8 mean about the wind? |
Bible Answer: Hello, King's child. Doc has given a sound answer on this thread to your question. What follows is offered to serve merely as a footnote to his answer. ....... To begin with, let's fix firmly in our minds what the whole context, including this verse, John 3:8, is all about: It's the New Birth -- Being Born Again -- Regeneration -- Being Saved -- Salvation. That's clearly the topic, so we don't need to drag anything else into the explanation. ...... As He did so often, the Lord Jesus used nature to illustrate spiritual truth (e. g., He told four parables about seed). He reminded Nicodemus that 'the wind blows where it wishes,' and a person can 'hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.' The new birth is very much like 'the wind.' ..... First of all, it takes place according to the will of God. It is not a power which man holds in his own control. ..... Secondly, the new birth is invisible. You cannot see it taking place, but you can see the results of it in a person's life. When a man has been saved, a change comes over him. The evil things which he formerly loved, he now hates. Conversely, the things of God which he formerly despised and thought foolish he now loves and embraces as precious and wise. So just as no one fully understands the wind, the new birth is a miraculous work of the Spirit of God which the natural man can't understand. The gospel message is foolishness to him, as Paul points out in 1 Cor. 1:18. In vs. 9 of John 3 Nicodemus again illustrates this inability of the natural man to enter divine things. --Hank |