What Does John 3:3 Mean in the King James?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word translated “again” also means “from above,” so this verse joins new life to a new way of seeing God’s reign.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you now: birth from above opens your perception of God’s governance. It joins a new source of life to a new way of seeing, so God’s reign becomes something you can recognize.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that human origin or effort alone makes God’s governance perceptible; this sight follows birth from above.
THE ROOT
ἄνωθεν
anōthen
GROWS FROM
ἄνω
anō
above, upward
Ἄνωθεν can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving the phrase a sense of origin as well as renewal. The birth in this verse begins from above; it is not merely a second turn through the same life.
ALSO GROWS
anōthen: from above; again, anew
ἄνωθεν
Its two senses hold source and renewal together in “born again.”
anōteros: higher, upper
ἀνώτερος
This related form retains the language of elevation, underscoring the above-source of the birth.
ἴδῃ
idē
GROWS FROM
εἴδω
eidō
see, perceive
“see” in this verse is idē. This Greek family connects seeing with knowing: perception can become recognition. The verse presents sight of God’s governance as something opened by birth from above, not just eyesight.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: saw, perceived
εἶδον
This aorist form carries the act of seeing into the sense of perception.
oida: know, recognize
οἶδα
This related form shows how seeing can lead into knowing.
βασιλεία
basileia
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
kingship, royal rule
The word carries both the sphere under a king’s rule and the rule itself. “The kingdom of God” therefore holds the sense of God’s governance alongside the realm that governance embraces.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king
βασιλεύς
The king is the source of the authority named by the kingdom.
basileuō: reign, rule as king
βασιλεύω
This verb makes the governance within “kingdom” active.
THE PATTERN
Life and sight open together when their source is God.
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.THE THREAD
He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.The same Greek word ἄνωθεν (anōthen), “from above,” appears here and in John 3:3. The birth’s source is also a vantage point: the sight of God’s governance comes from that same above-source.
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