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."

Logos: Judaism and Christianity Collection

I think understanding Jewish perspectives on law would give considerable insight into Jesus' teaching and also on his comments and debates with the Scribes, Lawyers and other religious authorities of the day.  It would also put to rest the misunderstanding that has arisen over time that Jewish law, both written and oral, are somehow mutually exclusive from Grace as we understand it as Christians.

Without understanding this perspective, passages such as Mat 5.17 and his teaching that we should obey the Rabbis because they "sit in the seat of Moses," are problematic.

For me, exploring these Jewish perspectives has really broadened my understanding and given depth to my investigation into such questions as to who is Israel, who is a Jew, what is legalism, and what is the New Covenant.  The answers to which I have found to be quite influential on one's hermeneutical thought.

I'm glad to see that Logos has gradually built up its resources from Jewish writers who can bring this rich perspective to us believers with a Gentile background.  Prominent amongst these authors is David Flusser. 

He was a professor of Early Christianity and Judaism of the Second Temple Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Flusser was a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and received the Israel Prize in 1980, for his contributions to the study of Jewish history.  Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball department of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, credited him with pioneering "the modern study of Christianity in the state of Israel in a scholarly context".

Flusser was a devout Orthodox Jew who applied his skills in Torah and Talmud to the study of ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic texts, as well as the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He scrutinized the ancient Jewish and Christian texts for evidence of the Jewish roots of Christianity. While critically distinguishing the historical Jesus from the visionary portrayal in the Gospels and other Christian writings, Flusser saw Jesus as an authentic Jew, misunderstood by his followers.

David Satran, a professor of comparative religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said, "Dr. Flusser was rather remarkable in his strong insistence that not only was Jesus a Jew from birth to death, but that Jesus did nothing that could be interpreted as a revolt or questioning of the basic principles of the Judaism at the time."  Personally, Flusser viewed Jesus as a tsadik with keen spiritual insight and a "high self-awareness" that near-contemporaries similarly expressed, such as Hillel in the Talmud and the "Teacher of Righteousness" in certain Dead Sea Scrolls.

Flusser pursued his research at a time when many Jews blamed Christianity for Nazism. During the trial, the Gestapo officer Adolf Eichmann refused to take an oath on the New Testament, insisting he would only swear "in the name of God." Flusser commented in an editorial in the Jerusalem Post: "I do not know who is the God in whose name Eichmann swore, but I am certain that it is neither the God of Israel nor the God of the Christian church. It should now become clear to the strongest Jewish opponents of Christianity that Christianity per se imposes limitations, and that the greatest crime against our people was not committed in the name of the Christian faith".

Flusser published over 1,000 articles in Hebrew, German, English, and other languages. The results of his many academic writings can be found in his book, Jesus (1965), whose augmented second edition The Sage from Galilee (1998) was updated to incorporate his later research and views on Jesus.[1]
 
When Logos released the Judaism and Christianity Collection on pre-pub pricing, and I noticed that Flusser's works were a significant proportion of the collection, then I could hardly refuse to put in an order. I've already read Jesus (1965) as a hard copy but look forward to reading the other two titles, "Judaism and the Origins of Christianity" and "Judaism of the Second Temple Period."

I'm unfamiliar with the other authors so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

[1] Source:  Wikipedia.