what is born of the flesh is flesh

The Greek in John 3:6 that is translated as “what is born of the flesh is flesh” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as eine Kreatur bringt immer wieder nur Kreaturen hervor or “a created being will always only bring forth created beings.”

Religious leaders sought him out to find answers to life's deepest questions

“It is unusual for anyone to seek out another at night unless it is desired to be kept secret. Betel nut and condiments are laid out to welcome the guest even at the late hour. Nicodemus’s robe and bared shoulder show he is a religious devotee.”

Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010.

For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.

The following 1973 painting “Nicodemus” of the JESUS MAFA project is a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

Here we see Jesus patiently teaching about the kingdom of God to a perplexed Nicodemus, whose hands are in a gesture of questioning. Nicodemus has, like so many before and since, gotten caught up in the literal and limited understanding of the scriptures. Jesus attempted to explain the nature of reality in different terms that thereby he (and we) might be transformed. The boundaries we place on ourselves can be escaped if only we are brave enough to venture beyond them. Shall we remain in the cover of night with Nicodemus or step into the light that Jesus offers?

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

complete verse (John 3:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 3:6:

  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “That which originates from the body of a person is the body of a person. That which originates from the Spirit of God is spirit.”
  • Aguaruna: “Those born from people are people. Those born by God’s spirit, they have God’s spirit.”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “All the children of human beings are human beings by birth. All who are born another time, this being the work of the Holy Spirit, these are new people.”
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “One who is a child of people, he has his flesh and bones. And one who has his new life by the power of the Holy Spirit, he has the Spirit of God.”
  • Chol: “He who is born of a mother is given a body. He who is born of the spirit is given life in his heart.”
  • Alekano: “One that people give birth to will surely have a person’s soul. One that the Spirit gives birth to, he will surely have the Spirit’s soul.”
  • Tenango Otomi: “A child, when it is born, if his parents are only people, is also only a person. But in order for a person to live anew, only the Holy Spirit can cause it.”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “People’s flesh and blood causes our flesh and blood to be alive when we are born. But the great Spirit of God causes our hearts to be alive.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Uma: “Man lives in this world, and is born from his parents. But the new life of his soul he receives from the Holy Spirit.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “What is born of mankind is mankind/human. But if a person is born again from the Spirit of God, he is made a child of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That which is born by means of a human is only human also, but that which is born by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit lives in him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the one to whom a person gives-birth, he is humanlike (connotes limited, sinful humanity), but the one by-contrast to whom the Holy Spirit gives-birth, he is spiritual (loan naispiritoan).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because the one given birth to by a human, he is indeed human, a slave yet to sin. But that one who has been given birth to again, for he has been given birth to by the Espiritu Santo, he is now free from that slavery.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “A child, when it is born and his parents are only people, is also only a person. But in order for a person to live anew, only the Holy Spirit is able to cause it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Spirit (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also Holy Spirit