Daily Bread - Nov 14 2006

John 3:8 - "The Spirit breathes out where He wills and His voice you hear but you do not know where He comes from and where He is going; so is everyone who has been begotten of the Spirit."

The Greek word 'pneuma' is found both at the beginning and at the end of this verse. One of the important issues to consider is that as the Spirit is so are those begotten by the Spirit.

Now it would make no sense at all if, for the sake of consistency, 'pneuma' was translated wind; for then as the wind is so are those begotten of the wind. The issue is not the inability of man to understand the mysterious nature of the wind but the fact that man cannot understand the realm of the Kingdom of God unless they are born of the Spirit. Although 'pneuma' can be translated wind, of the 360 times that it occurs in the New Testament it never means wind (A.T. Robertson, Word Picture New Testament). Thus, there is no reason to translate 'pneuma' wind even though it may be translated both wind and spirit.

The Latin version also translates 'pneuma' as 'Spirit' in this verse. The Holy Spirit is not only the subject of this passage He is the one by whom we are begotten. The mystery surrounding the Spirit's activity also surrounds those begotten of Him; for as the world cannot know Him neither can the world know those begotten of Him (John 14:17; 17:14; 1 John 4:17).

Green's Literal Translation by JP Green Sr. also supports a similar translation of this passage: "The Spirit breathes where He desires and you hear His voice, but you do not know from where He comes and where he goes - so is everyone who has received birth from the Spirit."

Nicodemus was drawn to Jesus because of the sound of the Holy Spirit that he heard in the voice of Jesus and because of the miracles which He had done. Although many things about the life and ministry of Jesus seemed to be out of sync with the Pharisees' doctrine, the heart of Nicodemus was drawn by the voice of the Holy Spirit. If Nicodemus was ever to understand the ways of the Spirit of God he would first have to be born of the Spirit.

The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they make no sense to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). The world cannot receive the Spirit because it cannot see Him nor know Him (John 14:17). However, once we have been begotten of God our senses are awakened to the reality of the ways and nature of God, and we are allowed of God to see what eyes have not seen and ears have not heard nor the hearts of man ever pondered (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org