hand in hand, because flesh and spirit belong together in the new birth Jesus envisions. One is not reborn to a new life apart from the physical body; one is reborn to a new life within the physical body. Jesus’ offer of new life is not for an afterlife, but for this life (see vv. 15–16 below). In an important way, what Jesus offers Nicodemus is what Jesus himself models in the incarnation: God-made-present in the flesh. To be “born again” is a catchword in much of Protestant Christianity, yet many
Page 43