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Verse 44 adds a further pair of words, "a natural body", and, "a spiritual body",
"natural" being psuchikon, pertaining to the soul. Inasmuch as the purpose of the ages
embraces things in the heavens and things on earth, and both spheres of blessedness are
to be occupied by a redeemed people, it follows that for "spiritual blessings in heavenly
places", "spiritual" and "heavenly" resurrection bodies will be necessary, while for the
meek, who are to inherit the earth and enjoy the delights of Paradise with its twelve
manner of fruits, earthly and physical bodies will be required.
Birth from above, therefore, may well be one of the many "earthly things" which the
Lord had to tell Nicodemus.
Peter who wrote to the "Dispersion", whose salvation was the salvation of their
"souls", a salvation spoken of by the O.T. prophets, and whose destiny was to be "a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, and a peculiar people", speaks of this birth from above,
"Being begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever" (I Pet. 1: 23). James, who writes to the twelve tribes
scattered abroad, says, "Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth, that we
should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1: 18). John, in his first epistle, has
much to say about those who are "born of God" (see I John 2: 29, 3: 9, 4: 7, 5: 1-4
and 18). Peter, James and John looked forward to sitting upon thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel.
Paul's use of the term in I Cor. 4: 14, 15, and Philemon 10 is not strictly parallel:--
"As my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the
gospel."
"I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds."
The distinctive teaching of Paul's epistles is not the new birth, but a new creation.
Some may set this aside as a quibble, but we record it as one of the many distinctions that
must be observed between things earthly and heavenly.
We learn from John 3: that the new birth belongs to the outer circle of truth to-day.
It may be perfectly right to emphasize the necessity for this new birth when preaching the
gospel, so long as we are clear that such does not belong to the ministry of the apostle
Paul, nor afford an entrance into the church of the One Body. New creation and
identification "with Christ" in His death and resurrection is something deeper and higher.
"Ye must be begotten from above" belongs to earthly things.