John 3:4

4 Nicodemus asked him, "How can anyone be born when he's an old man? He can't go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?"

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 He came to Jesus one night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him."

3 Jesus replied to Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

4 Nicodemus asked him, "How can anyone be born when he's an old man? He can't go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?"

5 Jesus answered Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

6 Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual.