How often have people been told, "You must be born again?" According to some Bible versions, this is what Jesus said to Nicodemus. There are a few versions that phrase it, "born anew." And other versions phrase it as "born from above." The question is, which phrase is correct? Tradition and the majority position hold that "born again" is accurate. But not all translators agree. Why is this?
"Born again" has a different meaning than "born from above." They both can't be true, which means one is wrong. Does it matter if one is wrong? Does it matter if those who choose the wrong meaning live their lives believing a lie? Does knowing the truth of what Scripture teaches matter? Far too many people don't care what Scripture teaches, basing everything they believe on how their favorite version reads, what their "pastor" says, and what they want to believe.
Deut 29:29 "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God. But the things that are revealed belong to our children and us forever so that we may do all of the words of this law." How has God revealed things to us? Through His written word, known as Scripture. We depend on English translations for those who cannot read the original languages. This means we depend upon the translation we read for our knowledge of Scripture. One would think that any English version of a bible would align with any other English version regarding theology and doctrine, especially with the words of Jesus. Alas, this is not so! There are over 50 versions of the English bible, and no two are alike. How can you know which version to trust? The one part of the study that brings the reader knowledge is finding and defining the original words. This is the only way to determine if your version is correctly translated.
In some cases, the Greek manuscript used for translating is the problem. In this case, the translators are the culprits. The phrase "born again" is found in John 3:3, 7, and 1Pet 1:23. We will look at John first.
In John 3:3, 7, we find two Greek words translated into "born again," gennao anothen. There is no problem with the word gennao. It is a verb that means "born." The word that has been incorrectly translated into "again" is anothen. Anothen means "from above." We also find the Greek word anothen in these verses, John 3:31, 8:23, 19:11, James 1:17, 3:15, 17. In each case, the word is always translated "from above." Anothen is also used in Mat 27:51, Mk 13:58, and John 19:23, translated as "from the top." Anothen has never meant "again!" The Greek word, translated 138 times into the word "again" is palin. If Jesus had said "born again" to Nicodemus, the Greek text would read gennao palin! There is no doubt about this.
In 1Pet 1:23, "born again" doesn't come from two separate Greek words but a single Greek word, anagennao. You can clearly see the word gennao. The Greek prefix ana comes from ano. Ano means "above" or "top." It does not mean again! I encourage everyone to check these things out for themselves! Is it strange that the phrase "born again" is translated from gennao anothen in John and anagennao in Peter?
I will cut the original translators of the KJV a little slack. The first KJV wasn't a new translation, as some believe, but rather a revision of the Bishop's Bible. They were limited on the number of Greek texts available and relied heavily on the Textus Receptus and Jerome's Latin Vulgate, both of which had errors. They translated it as "born again" because that is how the Vulgate read. There weren't oceans of information about the Greek language we have now. Still, when it became easier to define Greek words, every single version created since the information was available should read "born from above!" The NKJV and the KJV21 still use the phrase "born again!" They have no excuse.
You can understand John's specific emphasis on being born again, as inextricably linked to Israel's relationship with God.
Their father, Abraham, was barren. Naturally, at his ripe old age, he could no longer have children.
God had to supernaturally intervene in his life to enable him to give birth to Issac.
Thru Issac, thru Jacob, thru his 12 sons, the nation literally came into existence.
Exodus 4:22 had a very insightful verse about this
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
This was reinforced in Jeremiah 31:9
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
God considered Israel his first born son. They literally became a nation when God supernaturally rescued them from Egypt, separating the waters in the ocean until all of them literally cross over the water in dry land.
But as we all know, Israel broke their covenant of Law that was given at Mount Sinai. They killed or ignored all the prophets that God repeatedly sent to them when they were separated into 2 kingdoms and went into captivity under Babylon, and then under Persia.
Jesus used the parable of the tenants, one of my favorite parables to understand his first coming on Earth to Israel, in all 3 synoptic gospels. (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19) to illustrate this.
When Jesus and the 12 were preaching from Matt-John, they need to repent of rejecting God their Father in the OT, and believe in his Son is their promised King and Messiah, as foretold by their prophets.
God had mercy on them even when they killed his prophets (e.g. 2 Chronicles 24:20-22; Jeremiah 26:20-30; cf. Luke 13:34; Acts 7:52)., and is now sending his very own Son to Israel, to do a final persuasion to Israel to repent and believe in him.
If they do, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, Israel will be born again.
