John 3:9

9 Nicodemus asked, "How can this happen?"

John 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

John 3:9

Nicodemus answered and said unto him
Remaining still as ignorant as ever, though Christ had explained the phrase "born again", at which he stumbled, by a being "born of water and of the Spirit", or of the grace of the Spirit of God; and had illustrated this by the free, powerful, and invisible blowing of the wind:

how can these things be?
The Arabic version reads, "how can this be?" referring either to the last thing said, that a man's being born of the Spirit, is like the blowing of the wind; or to the explanation of the first expression, that a man should be born of water, and of the Spirit; or to the first assertion itself, that a man should be born again; which notwithstanding the explanation and illustration, seemed as impossible, and as impracticable as ever; or rather to them all, and so the Persic version reads, "how can all these things be?"

John 3:9 In-Context

7 Don't be surprised when I tell you, 'You must all be born again.'

8 The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit."

9 Nicodemus asked, "How can this happen?"

10 Jesus said, "You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don't understand these things?

11 I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don't accept what we tell you.