John 3:4

4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born [when he] is an old man? He is not able to enter into his mother's womb for the second time and 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 This man came to him at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that [you are] a teacher who has come from God, for no one is able to perform these signs that you are performing unless God were with him."

3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."

4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born [when he] is an old man? He is not able to enter into his mother's womb for the second time and be born, [can he]?"

5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.

6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Footnotes

• [a] *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase "[can he]"