Don't you find it strange that Jesus never mentioned the born again slogan again. Nor the apostles, or their disciples, nor any church or writing in the next 1900 years.
The greek word "anothen" for again or anew can also be from above. I believe Yeshua was teaching the resurrection
While I agree with you that anothen should be translated "from above" in John 3, but I also believe you have gone too far away from the context of the opening verses by wrongly claiming that the term "born from above" refers to the resurrection in John 3.
This is from the NET Bible, a footnote which explains the meanings of the word anothen, which is from John 3:3:
H. "The word ἄνωθεν (
anōthen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [
palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in
3:3,
7;
3:31;
19:11 and
23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (
3:3,
7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant."
This shows that the post above is wrong, as John used it 5 times in his gospel, throughout his book. To say nothing of the fact that the concept of being born from above appears many times in the NT! Unfortunately, because so many translations use the wrong translation of anothen, the phrase "born again" has become a trite way of expressing the miracle of the new birth from above!
Reading the first part of John 3:1-7, there is no mention of Jesus' resurrection, or in the rest of the chapter, esp to verse 21, which ends this section, for that matter!
1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, 2 came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above,[
h] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”[
i] 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit,[l] he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’" John 3:1-7 NET
I left some of the footnote references in, because I am directly quoting them.
Please note that in verse 7, Jesus says, "You must ALL be born from above!" How could he be speaking of the resurrection, when he is addressing everyone, and saying that they must ALL be born from above? This is a confirmation he is speaking of the new birth, where God in heaven works through the Holy Spirit, who comes from above and gives us the gift of grace through faith, and we are born of the Spirit into the Kingdom of God!
For those wondering about verse 7 and "the Kingdom of God," this footnote gives a good explanation!
I. "The
kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ teaching. The nature of the kingdom of God in the NT and in Jesus’ teaching has long been debated by interpreters and scholars, with discussion primarily centering around the nature of the kingdom (earthly, heavenly, or both) and the kingdom’s arrival (present, future, or both). An additional major issue concerns the relationship between the kingdom of God and the person and work of Jesus himself. But what does Jesus’ statement about not being able to
see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word
kingdom (βασιλεία,
basileia) only 5 times (
3:3,
5;
18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase
of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the
kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in
John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed
precisely this point about
who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth."
Finally, another footnote explains again the importance of being "born from above," in terms of the Spirit, which again confirms this passage is about the process of justification during salvation. It is not speaking of the resurrrction at all! (However, the resurrection is a vital part of the gospel, but it is not being referred to in John 3!)
L. "Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [
pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”). Jesus’ somewhat enigmatic statement points to the necessity of being born “from above,” because
water and
wind/spirit/Spirit come from above.
Isaiah 44:3-5 and
Ezek 37:9-10 are pertinent examples of
water and
wind as life-giving symbols of the Spirit of God in his work among people. Both occur in contexts that deal with the future restoration of Israel as a nation prior to the establishment of the messianic kingdom. It is therefore particularly appropriate that Jesus should introduce them in a conversation about entering the kingdom of God. Note that the Greek word πνεύματοςis anarthrous (has no article) in
v. 5. This does not mean that
spirit in the verse should be read as a
direct reference to the Holy Spirit, but that both water and wind are figures (based on passages in the OT, which Nicodemus,
the teacher of Israel should have known) that represent the regenerating work of the Spirit in the lives of men and women."
PS I rarely copy & post footnotes, because they can be a reflection of the personal theology of the individual or translation committee writing the explanations in the footnotes. However, these notes are well written & accurate, in my opinion. It also saves me the time of another long winded explanation!
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