“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”
4. How can a man be born when he is old? Though the form of expression which Christ employed was not contained in the Law and the prophets, yet as renewal is frequently mentioned in Scripture, and is one of the first principles of faith, it is evident how imperfectly skilled the Scribes at that time were in the reading of the Scriptures.
A Pharisee and ruler of the sanhedrim comes to Christ, proof that grace subdues even the greatest opposition. He sought private counsel rather than public hearing, a pattern we should follow: go to faithful ministers about the deep matters of your soul, not content with hearing sermons alone.
AI summary
Commenting on John 3:1-21
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee,.... Explaining somewhat more clearly, what he before said: except a man be born of water and of the Spirit: these are, , "two words", which express the same thing, as Kimchi observes in many places in his commentaries, and signify the grace of the Spirit of God.