John 3:7

John 3:7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. Nicodemus had no doubt shown by look or exclamation his astonishment at hearing such words, containing so strange a view of the kingdom of God and the conditions on which it could be entered. The use of ‘marvel' in other passages would seem to show that in this Gospel the word indicates much more than amazement. It is certainly not the astonishment of admiration, but incredulous and sometimes angry surprise. Our Lord's teaching had set at nought the accepted teaching of Israel, thoughts and hopes to which Nicodemus had long and firmly clung, and his heart rebels. Our Lord, according to His wont, does but the more emphatically affirm the truth at which Nicodemus stumbled. ‘Ye must be born again' the necessity is absolute. Before, He had spoken of ‘any one,' leaving the application to His hearer; now, as Nicodemus had said ‘We know,' Jesus says ‘Ye must,' even ye who possess the treasures of Israel's learning, and whom the signs are guiding to the King of Israel, ‘ye must be born again:' ‘Marvel not at this.'