It's not 'born again', it's 'born from above'.
Hey KY, back again I see.
Nicodemus' reply would seem to be a rather odd one in John 3 if the idea of being born again was not, at the very least, implied in the definition. Given the fact that it is translated born again, and not born of God, I'll stick with what it says. Tomayto - tomahto.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother. Gal 4:26
As in:
3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah
4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among them that know me: Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: This one was born there.
5 Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her; And the Most High himself will establish her.
6 Jehovah will count, when he writeth up the peoples, This one was born there. Selah
7 They that sing as well as they that dance shall say, All my fountains are in thee. Ps 87
There's nothing 'new' about Christ's revelation given in Jn 3:8. 'Born from above' is a direct reference to the children of the heavenly Zion. Every saint that ever was, OT or NT, are children of 'HER', and this includes God's children among the nations, of which there were more of than Israelites under the old covenant.
And, before anyone can enter into or even see the long awaited kingdom of God here on earth, they must first be a child of the heavenly Jerusalem. One must first be 'born from above' before one can enter into 'the regeneration'.
The children of the heavenly Zion have always been the true Jews, the real Israel, thus we’re told, “they are not all Israel, that are of Israel, neither, because they are Abraham`s seed, are they all children”.
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
When was that promise fulfilled?
Look at the context.
Gal. 4:21-31 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-- for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband." Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
It's a type, a picture. Hagar and Isaac were types of a NT reality. It doesn't say that Isaac was born again, if that's what you're implying. But he did, in type, represent those who would be born again in the NT.
When was the Promise realized? Include Psalm 87:3-7 in this...
Go back to the end of chapter three.
Galatians 3:26-29 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith.
It was realized at Pentecost.
Acts 1:1-5 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said,
"you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
By the time Galatians was written, after Pentecost, it was already a reality.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
