[kosta50]

You guys got a hold of a bad translation that should have read "born from above" and then ran with it

Yes, it's called Vulgate, the one Trent declared as "inerrant". It reads:

"respondit Iesus et dixit ei amen amen dico tibi nisi quis natus fuerit denuo [i.e. anew] non potest videre regnum Dei."

The Greek versions, all copies, read

ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ

The word anothen never means again or a anew, but rather from above, from the top. There is only ONE instance where Paul uses a unique combination palin anothen which literally means "again from above" but in the context it is understood as simply "again". Maybe it was an inadvertent mistake.

In fact the whole John 3:3-4 is suspect because such pun, even if it were, could not have been understood as such by Nicodemus in Aramaic because in Aramaic the word 'from above' and 'again' are not even close. And it's a real stretch to even imply that Jesus used a really strange Greek hyperbole to a member of the Sanhedrin.

John made it up. I know this is sacrilege to most people, especially, because "born again" is the cornerstone for some Christians, but the conversation simply never took place. It's a tel John made up.

[kosta50]

it’s a tel = it’s a tale

[Elsie]

It's a tel John made up.

The RASCAL!

Kick his butt for me when you see him!

[Diamond]

In fact the whole John 3:3-4 is suspect because such pun, even if it were, could not have been understood as such by Nicodemus in Aramaic because in Aramaic the word 'from above' and 'again' are not even close. And it's a real stretch to even imply that Jesus used a really strange Greek hyperbole to a member of the Sanhedrin.

John made it up...

Your point that the word anothen means "from above, from the top" can be freely granted without reading into the passage everything else you are reading into it. And as far as a highly educated Nicodemus not understanding a Greek concept, if indeed that was what Jesus was using, at other times when it suits your purpose you tell us how Hellenized the Jews were. Most Jews lived life as participants in both cultures. Your conclusion that John made it up is overreaching, considering the little amount of evidence you have presented in support of it.

Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

John 3:3

Except a man be born anew (ean mh tiv gennhthi anwten).

Another condition of the third class, undetermined but with prospect of determination. First aorist passive subjunctive of gennaw. Anwten. Originally "from above" (Mark 15:38), then "from heaven" (John 3:31), then "from the first" (Luke 1:3), and then "again" (palin anwten, Galatians 4:9). Which is the meaning here? The puzzle of Nicodemus shows (deuteron, verse 3:4) that he took it as "again," a second birth from the womb. The Vulgate translates it by renatus fuerit denuo. But the misapprehension of Nicodemus does not prove the meaning of Jesus. In the other passages in John (3:31; 19:11,23) the meaning is "from above" (desuper) and usually so in the Synoptics. It is a second birth, to be sure, regeneration, but a birth from above by the Spirit.

[emphasis mine]

Cordially,