The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum John 3:3 Question

Tom,

The Greek text offers NOTHING to support any notion whatsoever that regeneration follows faith. In fact, the text is indisputably clear in stating that regeneration is first and is most necessary if anyone is to be a participant in the "kingdom of God", which is synonymous with salvation in its fullness.

Now as to the Greek text itself, the phrase "gennatha anothen" which is variously translated... gennatha = "born" and is in the third person singular aorist subjective passive. The passive voice is probably the most salient part for it shows that this birth is accomplished without any participation of the individual other than the person being the subject of it. To give a simple illustration between the active mood and the passive mood:

- Active: John hit the ball.
- Passive: John was hit by the ball.

As you can easily see, with the active mood, John is directly involved in the hitting of the ball. But in the passive mood, John has no direct involvement other than being the unfortunate target of the ball which was put into motion by someone else.

The second word in the phrase is anothen and the one word which is variously and most popularly translated as, "again", "anew", "from above". I believe the context as well as John's use of this word elsewhere as well as in other parts of the NT, cf. Jh 3:31; 19:11; 19:23; Matt 27:51, Mk 15:38; Jam 1:17; 3:15,17, that "from above" is to be heavily preferred. In short, this birth is a heavenly phenomena, which later (3:6ff) is made plain that it is a birth brought about by the sovereign, secret and silent working of the Spirit of God.

The bottom line is that man (Grk: tis [anyone, any man, etc.]) has absolutely no part in nor contribution to regeneration, e.g., the exercising of faith. This, of course, accords with the Reformed doctrines of Total Depravity, where man is spiritually dead and Irresistible Grace which includes the spiritual birth, aka: regeneration, OUT OF WHICH faith comes and which embraces Christ.

Now, let's see what response comes you way from Germany.