@A_Thinker.
The word "spirit" or "Spirit" is an exegetically unsupportable translation for reasons already stated.
No He didn't make a distinction between flesh and "spirit". He made a distinction between flesh and pneuma (body versus soul). There is no basis here for conjuring up Plato's "magical immaterial substance". Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That burden of proof hasn't been met. The passage is discussing the new birth. Are you aware that theologians have literally throw up their hands in frustration trying to define how the new birth occurs? They call it "inscrutable" - impossible to understand - because you cannot explain it on immaterial terms!
The new birth is a cinch to explain once you remove Plato from the equation. It is easily explained in material terms. How does God, for example, foster saving faith in Jesus Christ? Simple. Your thoughts proceed directionally as electrochemical impulses in your brain. All God needs to do is physically redirect those impulses toward saving faith in Christ! That's how the Third Person "convicted" (convinced) us. That's how we all got saved!
So tell me, why do I need to postulate magical immaterial substance to comprehend John 3? Or John 4? All that does is muddy the waters!
Exegetically unsupportable translation of verse 6. Here's what Jesus said at verse 6.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Pneuma is pneuma" ()
What does Pneuma mean in this passage? It means the divine physical Wind. Verse 8 proves the point irrefutably:
"The [divine] Pneuma [i.e. Wind] blows wherever it
pleases. You hear its sound but know not where it is going or whence it came. So it is of everyone born [i.e. regenerated] of the [divine] Pneuma [i.e. Wind]".
How do I know this passage is talking about divine Wind, not about ordinary wind used as a metaphor for Spirit? Three reasons:
(1) Pneuma is used twice. A word is almost never used as a metaphor for the same word - that's not generally how metaphors work. Exegesis looks for the most PLAUSIBLE reading. Therefore it can be safely assumed that the term pneuma is not used here as a metaphor for pneuma. Let's bear in mind that this speech is the Son's
magnum opus on salvation. It is literally God Himself standing in front of all mankind explaining how to be saved. That's the ONE speech that we'd expect to be relatively clear, not filled with confusing, senseless, essentially impossible metaphors.
(2) Pneuma-as-metaphor-for-Pneuma undermines Trinitarianism. If pneuma can serve as a metaphor for God, then we could justifiably limit the Trinity to Father and Son (i.e. a Duality) on exegetical grounds, because pneuma could be a metaphor for those two.
(3) Here's the clincher. Read the passage again. THIS kind of wind, it says, blows wherever it
pleases. Whereas ordinary wind doesn't blow where it pleases, rather it is driven by forces of nature, and ends up wherever those forces drive it, it has no control over its destination. Clearly this is divine Wind blowing.
Again, this speech is supposed to be a clear description of salvation. The Platonic belief in Spirit has only muddied the waters. Hence for 2,000 years the church has considered John 3:5 to be obscure:
"Unless a man is born of water and Spirit [?????], he cannot see the Kindgom of God".
Water? But verse 16 says it is by faith alone! Remove Plato from the equation, and it all begins to make sense. Here's what Jesus REALLY said:
"Unless a man is born of Water [Hudor] and Wind [Pneuma], he cannot see the Kindgom of God".
Your body is mostly water, and wind (oxygen) plays a significant role even in the brain. Therefore it is logically impossible for God to regenerate you without recourse to assuming the shape of Water and Wind. He literally must sprinkle clean Water [Hudor] on you, and put His Breath/Wind in you:
"I will sprinkle clean water [Hudor] on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols...And I will put my Pneuma [i.e. Wind/Breath] in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (Ezek 36).
God supplies the Water! Therefore salvation is by faith alone (see verse 16) - no need for water baptism! The most that we have to bring to the table, if anything at all, is faith!
See what I did? By removing Plato from the equation, I just made sense of a passage that has mystified the church for 2,000 years.