I'd be careful here, creatr, about rightly dividing the Word - The contrast here is with natural birth as compared with spiritual rebirth - wind is just an analogy. You don't want to be so caught up with being 'windy' as to miss the essential point. Sure, there's a play on words, but in every translation something gets left out - in this case, you don't want it to be the main point
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Agreed - every translation is a compromise.
My point in this example is that the play on words has been obscured by the translation. My intent is to "draw back that veil," if only momentarily, so that the English reader can see and perhaps appreciate that play on words, and then evaluate for themselves the underlying meaning.
Perhaps I can convey to you what I'm wishing for, and maybe even heading towards, with an analogy of my own. This analogy is custom tailored particularly for you, my friend John:
Have you ever been to one of Disney's Haunted Mansion's? There is a portion of that ride during which, for just a few seconds, you get to see an "overlay" reflected before you of "others" that appear to be riding with you in your carriage. I think what I'm wishing for here is a truly dynamic page of scripture (we now have the technology!) designed in such a way that, as you read it, you actually are treated to some alternate words or constructions.
In the instant case, the word "Spirit" would appear on the page most of the time, but (in the mode I have in mind) the words "wind" and "breath" would flicker in and out, presenting themselves for perhaps a fraction of time that would be somewhat indicative of the amount of weight that ought to be given to that rendering.
In that way, the play on words would at least become "visible" to the common reader while the "mainline" meaning would remain.
And so, consider this particular article and passage one of those "flickers" intended to raise awareness among those who will never study the original languages...
ha ha...only you, creatr, could see Biblical exegesis as a Coney Island of the Mind LOL!!
So Jesus spoke Greek?
sorry, biblenerd, but I'm not sure whom you're asking. I mentioned nothing about Greek - lydon sipe did though
Hello John. Sorry I meant it for all the readers here. The author wrote that the Greek word for wind and spirit are the same, so maybe Jesus was doing a play on the Greek words. So I ask the readers here: when Jesus said those words to the Jews, was He speaking Greek?
an interesting question - no doubt, Jesus spoke the 4 languages in the region, so possibly...we'll never know unless a cell phone video surfaces LOL!!
It is unusual for Jesus to speak to Nicodemus in Greek. But it appears we can only speculate.