what is born of the flesh is flesh

The Greek 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 (image)

“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.

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

Translation commentary on John 3:6

This verse is in the form of a general statement, similar to a parable. A self-evident truth from everyday life is used to explain what Jesus has just said.

In Greek verse 6 is literally “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” John is not contrasting two aspects of human nature. Rather, he is speaking of two orders of existence, that of the physical world and that of the world of the Spirit. So “the flesh” is best taken as a reference to human parents, and “the spirit” as a reference to God’s Spirit, who brings about spiritual birth. Goodspeed makes this explicit: “Whatever owes its birth to the physical is physical, and whatever owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual.” The entire verse is a kind of parable in which Jesus makes an analogy between a familiar experience in this world and that which happens in the realm where God’s Spirit works: human parents give life to their children, but only the Spirit can give spiritual life.

It is difficult in some languages to speak of something being “born physically” or “born spiritually,” because such abstracts as “physically” or “spiritually” do not exist as adjectives or adverbs. However, much the same type of meaning may be communicated in a different form, for example, “Our human parents give birth to our bodies” or “A man gets his body from his human parents” or “A man receives his body from his father and mother.” In a parallel manner one may say “the Spirit of God gives birth to the spirit in us” or “… causes us to have spirit.” Or it may be possible to say “Our parents cause our body to have life, but the Spirit of God causes our spirit to have life.” Care must be taken in the use of singular or plural in referring to “spirit” or “spirits” in order not to suggest that each person has a number of different spirits. Rather, there should be simply one spirit for each individual. This passage refers, of course, to man’s spiritual nature or capacity.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .