Studies in the Gospel According to John* By R. A. TORREY [These Studies are for careful study, not rapid and heedless reading] II. The Public Ministry of Jesus Leading Those Who Were of the Truth to Believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God. Ch. 1:19—12:50. (Continued.) 6. The Testimony of the Signs Wrought by Jesus in Jerusalem, Leading Nicodemus,“The Teacher of Israel” to Believe in Him, 3:1-15 (continued). V. 8. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, (rather, will), and thou hearest the sound (or, voice) thereof, but cttnst not tell (rather, knowest not) whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of (rather, out of) the Spirit.” ■ The key to the rich treasures of truth that are revealed in this verse is found in the fact that in the Greek text in which we have the report of this conversation (as well as in the language in which our Lord probably spoke to Nicodemus) precisely the same word is used for “wind” and “Spirit.” The verse might be translated with perfect exactness, “The Spirit bloweth (or breatheth) where He, will, and thou hearest the voice of Him, but knowest not whence He cometh, and whither he goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” ; or it might be translated with equal exactness, “The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the wind.” There might have been an advantage in some ways' if the word which is translated in this verse, “Wind” and “Spirit” had been translated uniformly throughout the New Testament, “Wind” or “Breath,” and if we had thus come to know the Holy Spirit as “the Holy Wind” (or, “the Holy Breath”), which is what His name, “the Holy Spirit,” really signifies; but as it was not so translated, and as consequently we have come to know the third person of the Trinity as the Holy Spirit and not as the Holy Wind, it saves confusion for the ordinary reader of the Bible to have the wofd translated as it is here, i. e., “wind” in the first part of the verse and “Spirit5’ in the latter part of the verse, though it needs to be explained, if the verse is to be properly understood and its precious lessons grasped, that it is precisely the same Greek word that in the one case is translated “wind” and in the other case is translated “Spirit.” The word which is here translated “wind” and “Spirit” is not the word for wind which is generally used for wind in the New Testament. Dean Alford thinks the reason for this is that the word here used might indicate a gentle breath of the wind, that is heard not felt, while the usual word might indicate a violent gale. This will hardly bear careful examination ; for (to say nothing of the fact that a breath of wind that is strong enough to be heard will most certainly be felt) in Acts 2 :2, where the Holy Spirit came “as the rushing of a mighty wind,” the word translated “wind” is' not the word ordinarily used' for wind in the New Testament, which Dean Alford says is not used here because it might in- *Gopyright. 1913, by R. A. Torrey
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