JESUS AND NICODEMUS - JOHN 3:1-15

 

Jesus and Nicodemus

John 3:1-15

The chapter division here can interrupt the flow the story if you are not careful. It can cause you to miss a great transition. If you start reading the passage in 2:23, you see that Jesus did not entrust himself to people who said they believed in him, because he knew “what was in man”. Then, chapter three starts with “now there was a man”. 

Jesus knew what was in the people of Jerusalem, their spiritual darkness. And when Nicodemus came to see him, he knew the spiritual darkness that was in him also. John reinforces that idea by telling us Nicodemus came at night. (2) John often uses the term “night” to indicate spiritual or moral darkness. Here, Nicodemus was in spiritual darkness and did not know it. 

Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, most likely meaning that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious body of Israel. He was also a Pharisee, a man devoted to keeping the law. His use of the word “we” indicates he came, not only for himself, but also as a representative of the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin, or some sub-group of one of them.

Nicodemus greeted Jesus respectfully. He addressed Jesus as “Rabbi” even though Jesus was not formally trained. He also acknowledged that God was with Jesus, as evidenced by the signs he had done that week in Jerusalem. 

This does not mean that Nicodemus believed, at this point, that Jesus was the Messiah or the Son of God. In fact, the implication of his acknowledgment of Jesus having God with him is, tell us who you really are.

Jesus, for his part, did to engage the point with Nicodemus or explain himself. He simply went directly to the spiritual need of Nicodemus. Jesus said “you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again”. (3)

There is also this underlying note about authority. Nicodemus comes as one with some authority as a member of the Sanhedrin to sort out the matter of who Jesus is. Jesus opens up the dialogue by telling Nicodemus he is not qualified to sort out spiritual, or heavenly things. Nicodemus thinks he can “see” something about Jesus through the signs, but Jesus ays you cannot “see” the kingdom, or reign of God at all unless you are born again. 

To Nicodemus, as a Jew and a Pharisee, the concept of “kingdom of God” would mean that he and others like him would participate in the kingdom of God at the end of the age. He would experience eternal life and resurrection. But Jesus contradicted that idea. The qualification to participate in the kingdom was not being a Jew, but being one who has been born again. 

The word translated “again” can also be translated as “from above”. Nicodemus seems to treat it as “again” when he asked  if a person could enter a second time into his mother’s womb. (4) This is an early example of Jesus speaking of spiritual things but the Jews taking it as physical things. 

But Jesus did counter by saying one must be born of water and Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, which gives credence that the intended meaning was “born from above”.  This would go nicely with 1:13, which says those who receive Jesus are born of God. 

Regardless, you can see that Nicodemus is dumb-founded by Jesus’ statement and responds very literally with how can I get back in my mother’s womb and be born? (4) 

Jesus “doubled down” with his response to Nicodemus’ question. He invoked the solemn formula of “truly, truly” and said “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. (4)

There is a lot of speculation about the meaning of “born of water and the Spirit”. One is that water actually refers to amniotic fluid present at physical birth. The other is that water refers to baptism. However, the term is meant to be a restatement of the words “born again” or parallel to it. So, physical birth is not contemplated. And baptism is not being discussed, but the transformation or regeneration of the person that is needed to see or enter the kingdom of God. 

It is more plausible that Jesus is referring to an Old Testament passage, Ezekiel 36:25-27. This also explains why Jesus berates Nicodemus for not understanding. Since he is a Pharisee, he should know and understand the Scripture. 

Ezekiel wrote: 

“I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

This passage speaks of transformation and it speaks of a new birth in the sense of getting a new heart and new spirit after being cleansed.

In verse 6, Jesus reiterates the necessity of a new birth, saying that which is born of flesh is flesh and that with is born of the Spirit is spirit. Being born of a human body only makes you human, it does not get you to spiritual rebirth into the kingdom of God. But that which is born of the Spirit is the transformed person, with a new spirit, a transformed heart, and entrance into God’s kingdom. 

Paul’s explanation is similar in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. All this is from God…” 

In verse 7-8, Jesus chides Nicodemus for his lack of understanding of being born again. He drew an analogy between the wind and the Spirit. You cannot see wind, but you can observe its effect: you hear the sound, for example. But you cannot say where it came from or where it goes. In other words, you cannot control it or completely understand it.

It is the same with the Spirit. You cannot see the Spirit, understand or control him, but you can observe the effect of his presence. One effect is the new birth, the transformation and regeneration of a person. This was portrayed to us symbolically in Ezekiel 37, when God caused the dry bones to live. The same symbols of wind (also breath) and spirit were used to show God to reviving the Israelites from dead and useless to living and filled with the Spirit. 

Nicodemus still did not understand. He said “How can these things be?”. And Jesus rebuked him for it. He said “you are a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things?” . This again shows up these concepts are built upon the Old Testament scripture, since Jesus tells this teacher he should understand it. 

Jesus went further in his rebuke, saying that Nicodemus did not lack understanding so much as he lacked belief. Jesus spoke of things he knew and had seen, but Nicodemus did not receive them. (11) The use of the plural “we” here is probably a reference back to Nicodemus’ introduction that “we” knew he was a teacher come from God. 

Verses 12 and 13 are difficult to understand. But, in the context of what Jesus is saying, I think it means that “earthly things” are Jesus’ teaching about the new birth, the need to be born again. So, Jesus was saying, if you do not understand this basic thing, how will you understand the deeper things, such as the heavenly things of God’s kingdom fully consummated. 

Verse 13 is Jesus’ assertion of authority to teach these things. The English translations may not capture the original language well. In context, we see that Jesus is challenging Nicodemus’s understanding and teaching that you come into God’s kingdom by being an observant Jew by teaching that you come into God’s kingdom by being born again. Here is he says he is the only one with the authority and ability to teach how you come into the kingdom because no one has ascended into heaven to learn the truth and descended back to earth to teach it. But Jesus was in heaven and came to earth to teach the truth. True wisdom and knowledge reside in heaven and Jesus came from heaven to teach it. 

In verse 14, Jesus moves from explaining the new birth to the well known (at least to the Jews) story of the bronze snake. He has moved from referring to Ezekiel 36:25 to Numbers 21:4-9 in his references. God told Moses to lift up a bronze snake on a pole so the Israelites could look upon it and be healed of their snake bites. The people had spoken against the Lord and he sent snakes to bite them. When they acknowledged their sin, God, in his grace, provided that they could look upon the snake and live.

Similarly, the Son of Man must be lifted up (on the cross) so that those who believe in him will receive eternal life. Jesus was challenging Nicodemus to look to Jesus for the new birth into eternal life, into the kingdom, as the Israelites looked to the bone snake for new life when they were dying from snake bites.  

One of the things we should focus on as we study the Gospel of John is the exclusivity of Jesus. Jesus repeatedly says that faith in him is the only way to have eternal life and forgiveness of sins. He said you must be born again, not you should be born again, or it would be nice if you were born again, or being born again is one way you obtain eternal life. He also said the Son of Man must be lifted up. It was absolutely necessary for Jesus to be crucified to pay the penalty for our sins. It was the way God provided and the only way he would accept.

Takeaways

Jesus also asserted his exclusive authority to teach the way to the new birth into eternal life as the one who came from heaven to do so. The signs, which Nicodemus had observed, testified to Jesus’ authority and status as teacher and savior. Now, it was up to Nicodemus to believe.

The same is true for us. John recorded these things to know what Jesus taught and his authority to teach it, so that we will believe it and have eternal life.