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According to Strong's Concordance, anothen means from above; from the first, or anew.  Anothen comes from ano, which means upward or on the top.  According to Strong's, the only verses anothen is translated as again is at John 3:3 and 3:7, and at Galatians 4:9.  In Galatians 4:9, Paul asked them why they are turning back to "weak and miserable principles?  Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" (NIV Interlinear)  But most of the time, when anothen is translated in the KJV, it is translated as "from above".  In John 3:31, the KJV reads "He that cometh from above is above all".  At John 19:11, Jesus, facing Pilate, tells Pilate that he has no power over him unless it comes "from above".  At James 1:17, we are told that every gift and every good comes down "from above".  And at James 3:15, we are told that earthly wisdom does not come "from above".  From these examples, we can see that anothen has been translated both as "again" and as "from above".  But looking back at John 3:3 and 3:7, especially in light of John 3:31 and the two verse from James, it really would appear that Jesus means for anothen to mean "from above".  Nicodemus could just be dense and/or boorish.  Or he could also simply not understand what Jesus is saying, as his response seems to show:  "How can a man be born when he is old?  Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born?" (v. 3:4/ NIV Interlinear)  Nicodemus is obviously taking anothen to mean "again", while Jesus means "from above". - Danielitld

According to Strong's Concordance, anothen means from above; from the first, or anew.  Anothen comes from ano, which means upward or on the top.  According to Strong's, the only verses anothen is translated as again is at John 3:3 and 3:7, and at Galatians 4:9.  In Galatians 4:9, Paul asked them why they are turning back to "weak and miserable principles?  Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" (NIV Interlinear)  But most of the time, when anothen is translated in the KJV, it is translated as "from above".  In John 3:31, the KJV reads "He that cometh from above is above all".  At John 19:11, Jesus, facing Pilate, tells Pilate that he has no power over him unless it comes "from above".  At James 1:17, we are told that every gift and every good comes down "from above".  And at James 3:15, we are told that earthly wisdom does not come "from above".  From these examples, we can see that anothen has been translated both as "again" and as "from above".  But looking back at John 3:3 and 3:7, especially in light of John 3:31 and the two verse from James, it really would appear that Jesus means for anothen to mean "from above".  Nicodemus could just be dense and/or boorish.  Or he could also simply not understand what Jesus is saying, as his response seems to show:  "How can a man be born when he is old?  Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born?" (v. 3:4/ NIV Interlinear)  Nicodemus is obviously taking anothen to mean "again", while Jesus means "from above". - Danielitld

: Which is more or less the point I made in the analysis of John 3:3. Clearly Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about, either spiritually or linguistically, thus his assumption that Jesus used anothen in the sense of "again." It is interesting that Jesus did not correct Nicodemus' linguistic error, but actually skipped right over it and went straight to the issue of spiritual birth. Jesus never was interested in word games, and seemed to operate from the assumption that people would not understand what He was talking about (particularly illustrated by His surprise when someone DID understand His point), thus His habit of NOT explaining Himself when people misunderstood him. Very interesting indeed.

: Which is more or less the point I made in the analysis of John 3:3. Clearly Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about, either spiritually or linguistically, thus his assumption that Jesus used anothen in the sense of "again." It is interesting that Jesus did not correct Nicodemus' linguistic error, but actually skipped right over it and went straight to the issue of spiritual birth. Jesus never was interested in word games, and seemed to operate from the assumption that people would not understand what He was talking about (particularly illustrated by His surprise when someone DID understand His point), thus His habit of NOT explaining Himself when people misunderstood him. Very interesting indeed. [[User:Mback|Michael Back]] 12:21, 20 October 2009 (EDT)