John 3:4

4 Nicodemus said, "But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother's body again. So how can a person be born a second time?"

John 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

John 3:4

Nicodemus saith unto him
Understanding him of a natural birth, to be repeated:

how can a man be born when he is old?
as it seems by this, he himself now was:

can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born?
the Ethiopic version adds, "again"; and the Arabic version, "and then be born"; this he urges, as absurd, impracticable, and impossible; and which shows him to have been as yet a natural man, who could not receive nor discern spiritual things.

John 3:4 In-Context

2 One night Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we know you are a teacher sent from God, because no one can do the miracles you do unless God is with him."

3 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot be in God's kingdom."

4 Nicodemus said, "But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother's body again. So how can a person be born a second time?"

5 But Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's kingdom.

6 Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.