understands Jesus’ words as implying a ‘second birth’, and that another physical one, with consequent absurdity. Jesus offers two helps to clarification, one biblical and the other meteorological (5–7). The former is a saying of much disputed interpretation, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit (5). In eliciting Jesus’ meaning here, much depends on the historical context. His surprise at Nicodemus’ difficulty with the concept of new birth (10) is the key to