Even conservative scholars recognize that John “translated” the kingdom vocabulary of Jesus into a different idiom, namely, “[eternal] life.”303 (The Greek term aeonic, which we render “eternal,” denotes the age-of-glory; the focus is therefore more on quality of life and less on temporal duration.) When John wants to summarize the purpose of Jesus, and the purpose of the Fourth Gospel, he relies on the image of “life” (John 3:16; 20:31). This is clearly a rebirth archetype.
