08-01-2004, 07:07 PM
Shlama Akhi Rich,
Lamsa wrote that "born again" was a "northern Galilean Idiom", something along the lines showing repentance. He points out that Nicodemus spoke a southern Aramaic dialect and did not understand the figure of speech that was unique to Y'shua's Aramaic dialect.
Now, whether Lamsa is correct or not, in this case, the plain meaning of both the Aramaic and the Greek texts gives us the answer. Nicodemus want to know if a man can enter his mother's womb a second time, and Y'shua answers:
"That which is flesh is give birth to flesh and that which is spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying that you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit."
John 3:5-8
If Aramaic can help a little, I suppose it is in pointing out that WIND and SPIRIT are the same word, as they are in Hebrew, and a similar terminology exists in Genesis 1:2.
So, for myself, being "born again" points to a birth of the Holy Spirit coming down and dwelling inside us, so that we are given birth of the spirit. And because we are talking RUACH (spirt and wind) we do no know where it comes from or where it is going, but it also through the virgin birth brings forth (and therefore is likened to) the Son of Man, Y'shua the Messiah. A similar idea is also found in Isaiah 11:1-2, presaging the birth of Messiah, and this is also why Y'shua, referring to Tanakh, expected Nicodemus to understand because he was also a Torah teacher.
We are born the first time into flesh and sin and then born again into the way of the Spirit of the Living Word, and also to receive the inheritance of sons, as we are told elsewhere in the NT, Galatians I think.
Another way to think of it I guess is with the living water teachings in John 4. Y'shua talks of himself as havig living water that wells up as a spring to eternal life. The regular water leads to thrist and eventually death. I think the same is true of of wind. You have the regular wind that breathes in and out of a man and then the man dies. And then LIVING WIND (or Holy Spirit, again same word) that opens the way to eternal life
Hope this helps a little.
Lamsa wrote that "born again" was a "northern Galilean Idiom", something along the lines showing repentance. He points out that Nicodemus spoke a southern Aramaic dialect and did not understand the figure of speech that was unique to Y'shua's Aramaic dialect.
Now, whether Lamsa is correct or not, in this case, the plain meaning of both the Aramaic and the Greek texts gives us the answer. Nicodemus want to know if a man can enter his mother's womb a second time, and Y'shua answers:
"That which is flesh is give birth to flesh and that which is spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying that you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit."
John 3:5-8
If Aramaic can help a little, I suppose it is in pointing out that WIND and SPIRIT are the same word, as they are in Hebrew, and a similar terminology exists in Genesis 1:2.
So, for myself, being "born again" points to a birth of the Holy Spirit coming down and dwelling inside us, so that we are given birth of the spirit. And because we are talking RUACH (spirt and wind) we do no know where it comes from or where it is going, but it also through the virgin birth brings forth (and therefore is likened to) the Son of Man, Y'shua the Messiah. A similar idea is also found in Isaiah 11:1-2, presaging the birth of Messiah, and this is also why Y'shua, referring to Tanakh, expected Nicodemus to understand because he was also a Torah teacher.
We are born the first time into flesh and sin and then born again into the way of the Spirit of the Living Word, and also to receive the inheritance of sons, as we are told elsewhere in the NT, Galatians I think.
Another way to think of it I guess is with the living water teachings in John 4. Y'shua talks of himself as havig living water that wells up as a spring to eternal life. The regular water leads to thrist and eventually death. I think the same is true of of wind. You have the regular wind that breathes in and out of a man and then the man dies. And then LIVING WIND (or Holy Spirit, again same word) that opens the way to eternal life
Hope this helps a little.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth