“Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?””
Nicodemus asked, 'How can this be?' — the repeated incomprehension demonstrates the impossibility of spiritual truth's natural accessibility. Nicodemus, despite official expertise and genuine seeking, cannot transcend categories of flesh to grasp pneumatic reality. His question, though earnest, reveals intellectual limitation, not moral fault.
Jesus does a wordplay here. At least in this scripture. Wind and Spirit are the same word in Greek – πνεῦμα. Jesus explains that as you see the effects of the wind, and can feel it, but you have no idea where it comes from and where it goes. The same is with the Spirit. You cannot control it, master it. It is sovereign – it moves freely, on its own initiative. You can perceive its effects (just like you hear the sound of the wind), but you cannot master, predict or trace it.
Nicodemus, as a Pharisee who is a person of a law is mechanism oriented. He wants to understand things, have a formula, a law to practice to achieve a result (e.g. born again in Spirit).
But Jesus with this explanation makes it clear that one cannot exercise a formula to control and manipulate Spirit.
“Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?””
Nicodemus asked, 'How can this be?' — the repeated incomprehension demonstrates the impossibility of spiritual truth's natural accessibility. Nicodemus, despite official expertise and genuine seeking, cannot transcend categories of flesh to grasp pneumatic reality. His question, though earnest, reveals intellectual limitation, not moral fault.
Jesus does a wordplay here. At least in this scripture. Wind and Spirit are the same word in Greek – πνεῦμα. Jesus explains that as you see the effects of the wind, and can feel it, but you have no idea where it comes from and where it goes. The same is with the Spirit. You cannot control it, master it. It is sovereign – it moves freely, on its own initiative. You can perceive its effects (just like you hear the sound of the wind), but you cannot master, predict or trace it.
Nicodemus, as a Pharisee who is a person of a law is mechanism oriented. He wants to understand things, have a formula, a law to practice to achieve a result (e.g. born again in Spirit).
But Jesus with this explanation makes it clear that one cannot exercise a formula to control and manipulate Spirit.
Nicodemus asked, 'How can this be?' — the repeated incomprehension demonstrates the impossibility of spiritual truth's natural accessibility. Nicodemus, despite official expertise and genuine seeking, cannot transcend categories of flesh to grasp pneumatic reality. His question, though earnest, reveals intellectual limitation, not moral fault.