NOTES for Joh 3:8

Jesus uses a comparison of spirit with wind (in Aramaic this is a play on words): spirit, like wind, blows everywhere; one can feel its breath, but it is impossible to determine the beginning and end of this flow. Only the spirit knows the source and goal of its movement. Up to this point Jesus' thought and the image He uses are clear, but then He makes a sharp turn: "So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." How is it "so"? It appears that He means that new life "not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit" (Rom. 8) is so different from ordinary life that from the outside it is unclear where its beginning is and what its goal is.