John 1:11-13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
11 He came to what was his own,
but his own people[a] did not accept him.
12 (A)But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 [b](B)who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
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- 1:11 What was his own…his own people: first a neuter, literally, “his own property/possession” (probably = Israel), then a masculine, “his own people” (the Israelites).
- 1:13 Believers in Jesus become children of God not through any of the three natural causes mentioned but through God who is the immediate cause of the new spiritual life. Were born: the Greek verb can mean “begotten” (by a male) or “born” (from a female or of parents). The variant “he who was begotten,” asserting Jesus’ virginal conception, is weakly attested in Old Latin and Syriac versions.
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