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cherish the thought that Nicodemus was numbered among the 120 who met together in
the upper room of Acts 1:
Now, this is the man to whom the Lord said, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye
believed not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?" It is evident from these
words that all that the Lord has said to Nicodemus up to that point was concerning
"earthly things", "If I have told you earthly things". What had the Lord told Nicodemus?
He had said:--
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God."
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye
must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is
born of the Spirit" (John 3: 3-8).
This new birth therefore belongs to earthly things. The Greek word gennao is used in
the N.T. for both begetting and birth. This dual use may be seen in Matt. 1: 16: "And
Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom (i.e., Mary, whom being feminine)
was born Jesus." Nicodemus evidently understood the Lord to speak of birth, but the
Lord's words are better understood of the begetting of the Father. "Again" is anothen =
"from above". It is so translated in 3: 31. No sense is made of the verse by translating
it, "he that cometh again". So we hear of authority given "from above" (19: 11), of the
Lord's coat woven "from the top" (19: 23), and many other instances. "Ye must be
begotten from above" is a better rendering of the Lord's words.
In answer to Nicodemus' question, "How?' the Lord expands His statement, the
words "from above" being omitted and "of water and spirit" substituted. From this
passage baptismal regeneration has been taught, the baptism being that of water. A
reference to John 7: 38, 39 gives guidance: "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, but this spake He of the
Spirit." Here we have Scripture for in that "living water" can be a type of "Spirit". We
did not quote fully John 7: 39 above, which we now do: "But this spake He of the
Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet
given: because that Jesus was not yet glorified." This combines the two thoughts "from
above" and "Spirit" referred to in John 3:
In what way are we justified in speaking of the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as
an "earthly thing?" We cannot use it if we mean by "earthly" anything that is sinful or
base. But this is not the meaning of the expression "earthly things" in John 3: 12. The
word so translated is epigeios, and is found in I Cor. 15: 40, "There are also celestial
bodies and bodies terrestrial". The subject of this passage is "the resurrection body".
"How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" In the answer we
learnt that some resurrection bodies will be celestial, or heavenly (epourania), while
some will be terrestrial or earthly (epigeia), but far from the earthly being despised the
apostle declares that, like the heavenly, they have their distinct "glory".