Nicodemus and being "Born Again"

 

Christ crucified between the Virgin and Nicodemus - Michelangelo
(in the Louvre)

I was interested to hear last night at our bible study that there are some distinctly Jewish connotations to the phrase "born again."

Apparently there are six ways one can be born again in Judaism and Jewish culture.  Only the last four were available to Nicodemus:

1. When Gentiles were converted to Judaism, they were said to be "born again."
2. When a man was crowned king, he was said to be "born again."
3. When a Jewish boy becomes bar mitzvah at the age of thirteen, he is said to be "born again."
4. When a Jewish man married, he was said to be "born again."  One of the rules for a member of the Sanhedrin was that he must be married, and Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, so he was "born again" a second time when he married.
5. When a Jew was ordained a rabbi, he was "born again."
6. Nicodemus was "born again" a fourth time when he became the head of a rabbinical school (the term "a teacher of Israel" is the title for the head of a rabbinical school, John 3:10).

Nicodemus had experienced all the rebirths possible to him as a Jew. But in his interview with Jesus, he was being told that something was lacking in his life. (Source:  "Teaching like Jesus" by La Verne Tolbert, quoting Fruchtenbaum's "Nicodemus, a rabbi's quest."