English Standard Version
John 3:6
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- New International Version (NIV)Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
- New King James Version (NKJV)That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
Context of John 3:6
4Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Read all of John 3John 3:6 word by word
Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for John 3:6
- Genesis 5:3When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
- Genesis 6:5The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
- Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
- Job 15:14What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
- Job 25:4How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?
- Psalms 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
- Romans 7:5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
- Romans 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 15:47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
- Galatians 5:16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
- Ephesians 2:3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
- Colossians 2:11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
- Ezekiel 11:19And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
- Ezekiel 36:26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
- Romans 8:5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
Commentaries on John 3:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh - This is the answer to the objection made by Nicodemus in John 3:4. Can a man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Our Lord here intimates that, were even this possible, it would not answer the end; for the plant will ever be of the nature of the seed that produces it - like will beget its like. The kingdom of God is spiritual and holy; and that which is born of the Spirit resembles the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6That which is born of the flesh - To show the necessity of this change, the Saviour directs the attention of Nicodemus to the natural condition of man. By “that which is born of the flesh” he evidently intends man as he is by nature, in the circumstances of his natural birth. Perhaps, also, he alludes to the question asked by Nicodemus, whether a man could be born when he was old? Jesus tells him that if this could be, it would not answer any valuable…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-86-8. That which is born, &c.--A great universal proposition; "That which is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it" [Olshausen]. flesh--Not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth, the entire man; yet not humanity simply, but in its corrupted, depraved condition, in complete subjection to the law of the fall (Ro 8:1-9). So that though a man "could enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born,"…Read the comment
Topics related to John 3:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on John 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Catena Aurea
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- John Lightfoot Commentary
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
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