tradition by man.  The sins that hid us from the face of God are likened to

clouds, which are dispelled and vanish away leaving 'not a wrack behind'.

Born Again.  Attention has been drawn in the Dispensational section of

this analysis to the distinction which the Scriptures make between 'children

and sons' (see article, Children v. Sons1).  John, in his Gospel and

Epistles, never uses the Greek word huios, 'son' to designate the believer's

relationship with God by grace, but the broader term, teknon, 'child'.  The

A.V. has confused these two words, and care must be exercised before building

a doctrine on any one passage.  This usage is in complete harmony with the

distinctive character of these two ministries.  John is concerned mainly with

life, and that the believer shall become one of the family of faith.  Such is

a child and nothing further is added.  Paul freely uses teknon, 'child' but

goes on to speak of 'sonship' and 'adoption'; which convey the idea of

dignity, priority, inheritance and the like.  (See the article entitled

Adoption1).  Entry into the family of faith is by birth and with this aspect

of truth John is concerned.  Paul uses the Greek word gennao, 'to be born' or

'begotten' in 1 Corinthians 4:15 and Philemon 10 where he uses it

figuratively, saying, 'I have begotten' you through the Gospel, or in my

bonds.  Gennao when used actively is translated 'beget', but where it is

passive it is translated 'born'.  The word used in John 3:4 is passive and

refers not to the act of begetting but of birth. Nicodemus's immediate

reference to the mother confirms this (John 3:4).  This fact settles the

question as to the translation of anothen.  This adverb can be, and is,

translated 'from above' in verse 31, but this is because it is associated

with the active verb 'to come'.

Peter supplies us with the two usages of the word in his first epistle.

The act of begetting, 'Blessed be the God and Father which ... hath begotten

us' (1 Pet. 1:3).  Here the verb is anagennesas, active; and the act of

birth, 'being born again not of corruptible seed' (1 Pet. 1:23).  Here the

verb is anagegennemenoi, passive.  Those thus 'begotten' or thus 'born' are

called 'new born babes' (1 Pet. 2:2).  James uses the Greek word apokueo in

1:15 and 18, 'Sin... bringeth forth death', 'Of His own will begat He us with

the word of truth'.  The instrumental causes of this new birth are severally

recorded as 'His own will', 'with the word of truth', 'not of corruptible

seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for

ever', 'by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead', 'of water and of

the Spirit'.  The only passage that is controversial is this quotation from

John 3:5.  How are we to interpret 'water and spirit'?  Standard

commentaries, like those of Alford and Bloomfield say that there can be no

doubt, on any honest interpretation of the words that they refer to the token

or outward sign of baptism and to the inward grace of the Holy Spirit.  The

Companion Bible says of the words, 'water and spirit' that it is the figure

of hendiadys; that not two things but one are intended, 'of water -- yea,

spiritual water'.

The intrusion of water baptism into the Epistles of the Mystery is to

be deplored, but so also is the attempt to interpret John 3:5 as though it

were on all fours with Ephesians 4:5 or Colossians 2:12.  The Saviour's words

as recorded by John were spoken to Nicodemus, a Ruler of the Jews, about

entry into the kingdom of God, and that aspect of the kingdom of God, which

he, a Jew even though unregenerate, should have known (John 3:10).  John the

Baptist had baptized in water, and spoke of One who should baptize with the

Holy Ghost (Mark 1:8) and John 3:5 can be left where it belongs, and accepted

at its face value.