John 3:3-5 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.… It is not mere reformation; not the renovation of that which was dilapidated — the repairing of the old house, and making it as good as new; bat it is a reconstruction of the house upon a new foundation — the house itself being built anew from that foundation to the copestone. The meaning of this, however, is not that the renewed man is then a different being as to his identity. The house in which the leprosy had become a fretting plague, when taken down every stone of it, and built again in due time, was not a different house from that which it had previously been. The materials were still the same — the design and form were the same even to the most minute details; and, in the case of the new birth, the "spirit, and soul, and body," are the same in personal identity, but they are "made new." (J. Beith, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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