New King James 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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, “Most assuredly, 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 the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is 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 5:3And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
- Genesis 6:5Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
- Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
- Job 15:14“What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
- Job 25:4How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?
- Psalms 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
- Romans 7:5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
- Romans 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 15:47The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
- Galatians 5:16I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Ephesians 2:3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
- Colossians 2:11In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
- Ezekiel 11:19Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,
- Ezekiel 36:26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of 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, 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries