John 3:6
The contrast between begetting
from the σαρξ and
begetting from the πνευμα is foreshadowed
in 1:13, where begetting from God (εκ
θεου) is contrasted with begetting from the
will of the flesh (εκ
θεληματος σαρκος), which is equivalent to begetting from
the will of a man (εκ
θελεηματος ανδρος). An earthly father is one thing, a
heavenly Father something else entirely. That is also the point here. Begetting
from the Spirit puts a human being, who was begotten from the flesh, in another
dimension of reality, that if the Spirit itself, which is in some sense
equivalent to the kingdom of God (on which see commentary on v. 3c above) and
eternal life (3:15c, on which see below). (Martinus C. De Boer, A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to John: Introduction and
Commentary on John 1-6 [The International Critical Commentary; London”
T&T Clark, 2025], 436)
John 6:63
The flesh (η σαρξ)
here is not the flesh of the Son of Man (the consumption of which sustains life)
but the weak and ineffectual human reality which is “of no avail” (ουκ φωελει ουδεν) in securing or sustaining (eternal)
life (see on 1:13; 3:5-8; 8:15). Only the Spirit can do that, which is another
way of saying that only the Father and His Son can do that (see on 5:21).
According to 1:32-33, the Spirit descended from heaven and remained on Jesus.
After Easter, it is given through the mediation of Jesus to the disciples (cf.
7:39; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13-14; 20:22).
The primary concern of the
verse is to posit an intimate connection between the Spirit which makes alive (το πνευμα εστιν το ζωοποιουν) in v. 63a and Jesus’s words (ρηματα) in v. 63b: “The words which I have
spoken to you are Spirit and are life” (τα ρηματα
α εγω λελαληκα
υμιν πνευμα εστιν και ζωη εστιν). His words are Spirit (πνευμα εστιν) in
the sense that they are informed by the Spirit, and they are life (ζωη εστιν) in the sense that they mediate life
once they are taken to heart, i.e., lead to belief (v. 64 below) in Jesus as
the Son whom God has sent. As 3:34 puts it, “for the one whom God has sent
speaks the words of God, for He does not give the Spirit by measure” (ον γαρ απεστειλεν ο θεος τα
ρηματα του θεου λαλει, ου γαρ
εκ μετρου διδωσιν τα πνευμα). (Martinus C. De Boer, A Critical
and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to John: Introduction and
Commentary on John 1-6 [The International Critical Commentary; London”
T&T Clark, 2025], 790-91)
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