UTN uW Translation Notes:

John 3 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

1. Jesus teaches Nicodemus about being born again ([3:1–21](../03/01.md))2. John the Baptist testifies about Jesus ([3:22–36](../03/22.md))

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Light and Darkness

The Bible often speaks of unrighteous people, people who do not do what pleases God, as if they were walking around in darkness. It speaks of light as if it were what enables those sinful people to become righteous, to understand what they are doing wrong, and to begin to obey God. (See: righteous)

The kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is a concept that is very rich in meaning. It includes the idea of eternal life in the presence of God, but it also includes the idea of what the earth will be like in the future when Jesus returns and rules everything, and the idea of life on earth right now, when and where God’s wishes are carried out fully. The unifying concept behind all of these ideas is God ruling and people embracing God’s rule over their lives. (See: kingdomofgod)

Born again

A major idea in this chapter is the spiritual new birth that Jesus says is necessary in order for someone to enter the kingdom of God [3:3–8](../03/03.md). Jesus also uses the following expressions to refer to being born again: “born from water and the Spirit” ([3:4](../03/04.md)) and “born from the Spirit” ([3:6,8](../03/06.md)). (See: bornagain)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“Son of Man”

Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man” twice in this chapter ([3:13–14](../03/13.md)). Your language may not allow people to speak of themselves as if they were speaking about someone else. See the discussion of this concept in Part 3 of the General Introduction to the Gospel of John. (See: sonofman and figs-123person)