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An Oft-Stated Scholarly Factoid about John 3:3 is Not True
#1
I just came across an interesting article by James David Audlin on the split meaning of the Greek word "anothen" in John 3.3. Yeshua is quoted saying in the selected translation, one must be born "again/anew," but Nicodemus is confused on how to take this expression. Most NT scholars argue this confusion arises because of the multiple meanings of "anothen" in Greek which Nico misinterprets, and in this case, its intended meaning is "from above." No English word fulfills the multiple meanings of the term in question so the multiple meanings and subsequent faux pas is lost on most readers of English text reckoning Yeshua intended to only say "born again." Therefore, scholars argue, they must have been conversing in Greek for the full sense of the text to come through. Wonderful. However what these scholars don't discuss or simply are unaware of is the fact that the same principle applies with the Aramaic text of the verse but with a different set of meanings. I think Audlin takes a balanced approach in the article notwithstanding his assertion that the Syriac Sinaiticus is older than the Peshitta text. What I love is how Nico provides a biblical example of how words with multiple definitions are sometimes misunderstood, misinterpreted and mistranslated leading to the meaning of a (important) statement being lost. Whether in Greek or Aramaic texts, often times these misunderstood words/meanings can lead to spurious claims or doubts of the text's reliability, and as I've discovered, mask huge clues to deep insights. Let's pray that God guides our understanding when we study His words.

As an aside, the idea of being born in the beginning (ie, in the Memra), from the head, in the Spirit, out of the living waters, in heaven, carries the theme of being reborn and recorded/written/enrolled in the Book of Life as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven (Heb 12.22-23; Ps 69.28, 87.6) as was done in the temple on earth vs how the Pontifex Maximus Augustus Caesar ordered all subjects of his kingdom be enrolled with an oath of loyalty to himself as the Pater Patriae, especially royalty claimants (ie, House of David) to the fulfillment of ancient Babylonian prophecies by Daniel of a world leader to come on the scene in this period, and Herod acted in accordance with upon receiving report of the Messiah's star (Zedek), and which 6000 Pharisees refused to obey according to Josephus, just before Yeshua's birth as recorded in Luke 2.1-7, which the Antichrist will likewise institute just before Yeshua's second advent near the birthpangs of his return.


http://audlinbooks.com/tag/bart-d-ehrman/

(I'm getting the below error message when I try to paste the article here, perhaps due to the use of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek characters, so a link will have to suffice.)

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Incorrect string value: '\xCE\xB1\xCE\xBD\xCF\x89...' for column 'post_text' at row 1 [1366]
"All that openeth the matrix is mine" -Exodus 34.19a
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