Christ and Nicodemus
3
📚There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 3:1 See note on the Pharisees at Matt 3:7. Nicodemus was a good representative of the religion of the Jews with its law-keeping, ceremonies and religious activities. In the conversation which follows, the Lord Jesus shows that all of that put together was not enough to make anyone a child of God.⚜
2 📚This man came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miraculous signs that you are doing, unless God is with him”.
3:2 We do not know why Nicodemus came at night, but we do know that Jesus received him just as he was (compare John 6:37), and taught him some great truth – truth at the very heart of God’s revelation in the New Testament. On “Rabbi” see John 1:38. Evidently he regarded Jesus only as a teacher from God and not as the Messiah and Son of God. But he could see that the miracles Jesus did proved His connection with God. See notes at John 2:11; Matt 8:1.⚜
3 📚Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born again, 📖 he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
3:3 The reply of Jesus is very abrupt. It is as though He was saying, “Do you really believe that? Then I will teach you what you need to know”. Do we now say that Jesus is a teacher come from God? Then we too should let Him teach us, and examine very carefully every word of His in the Bible. On the phrase “truly, truly” see John 1:51. On “born again” see note at John 1:13.⚜
4 📚Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
3:4 Nicodemus either did not understand what Jesus was saying, or else he was questioning the possibility of it and was asking, “Can old men be radically changed?” There are still many religious leaders who are in the same condition as Nicodemus. The answer to such a question is that any person, young or old, can experience the new birth by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.⚜
5 📚Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 📚That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 📖 and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 📚Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 📚The wind blows 📖 where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but cannot tell from where it comes and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit”.
3:5-8 In these verses the Lord Jesus reveals how the new birth is brought about. It is produced in the individual by the Spirit of God. The expression “born of the Spirit”, is here thrice (vs 5,6,8). The words “born of water” in v 5 have been interpreted in several different ways.
Some say “water” here stands for purification as it often does in the Old Testament. See Ex 30:17-21; Num 19:9; 31:23; Ps 51:7-10; Isa 44:3; Jer 4:14; Ezek 37:25. Compare Ezek 36:25-26 with the words “born of water and the Spirit”. Observe in Ezekiel that the “sprinkling of water” is something God does, not man. So it refers to the cleansing of the heart from sin, not to water baptism. Compare Titus 3:5 – there the new birth itself is called a “washing”. It cleanses the heart as water cleanses the body. Water baptism is not there in the picture at all. Others say that “born of water” means born of the Word of God. They take water here to be a symbol of God’s Word. As a basis for this they point to such verses as John 15:3; Eph 5:26; Jam 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23.
Others say that “water” here is a symbol of God’s Spirit, as in John 7:37-39. They think that “born of water and the Spirit” is two ways of saying the same thing and saying it very emphatically.
Others think “water” here indicates physical birth into the world. As though Jesus was saying “Man’s first birth was not enough; birth by God’s Spirit is also necessary for entrance into God’s Kingdom”.
Others say that “water” here refers to the repentance and confession which are symbolized by water baptism (see notes at Matt 3:6).
Still others say “water” here means water baptism and insist that this is necessary for the new birth, that God’s Spirit works with this ceremony to produce new life in people.
The author of these notes thinks there is something to be said for any of the above interpretations except the last one. Certainly the Lord Jesus never taught anywhere else that baptism is necessary for the new birth. The new birth occurs when individuals receive the Lord Jesus by faith (John 1:12-13), not when they participate in the ceremony of baptism. Baptism should follow the new birth; it does not produce it. Only God can perform the miracle of the new birth and He does so as people repent and trust in the Lord Jesus. And this is what is absolutely necessary for salvation and entrance into God’s Kingdom.⚜
9 📚Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can these things be?”
3:9 Nicodemus is still puzzled. We should be glad for his question because in answering it the Lord Jesus gave him some very beautiful and important truth.⚜
10 📚Jesus answered and said to him, “You are a teacher of Israel, and do you not know these things?
3:10 As a teacher in Israel, familiar with the Old Testament, he should not have been so puzzled. He should have known the sinfulness of men and the need for a radical change in heart and life taught in many places there (for example, Gen 8:21; Ps 51:5; Jer 13:23; 17:9). And he surely knew such verses as Jer 31:31-33; and Ezek 11:19; 18:31; 36:26. Today there are still many who have not learned the most vital truth themselves but who still try to teach others. Gross spiritual ignorance may be in the most educated and famous of men.⚜
11 📚Truly, truly I say to you, we speak what we know, and testify to what we have seen. And you do not receive our testimony.
3:11 When the Lord Jesus taught, He was not merely expressing opinions on religious subjects. He knew His material as fact, and spoke with divine authority (John 7:16-17; 8:38; 12:49-50; Matt 7:28-29). If we refuse to listen to Him the great loss will be ours.⚜
12 📚I have told you earthly things, and if you do not believe them, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
3:12 He had spoken to Nicodemus of water and wind and the new birth which takes place on earth and in men of the earth. Heavenly things are things more directly related to heaven. These He speaks of in the verses which follow – His own eternal dwelling place in heaven (v 13), His coming down to take away man’s sin by the sacrifice of Himself (v 14), eternal life (v 15), and the love of the God of heaven and what it caused Him to do (v 16).⚜
13 📚And no man has gone up to heaven except he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of man who is in heaven. 📖
3:13 In this verse He reveals how He can speak with such authority, and how He could speak of heavenly things. He is the only person born into the world whoever lived in the immediate presence of God in God’s own home, in the highest heaven. And He came down from there with God’s revelation for men. Compare v 31; John 1:1, 14; 6:38; 8:23.⚜
14 📚“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, 15 📚so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
3:14-15 See notes at Num 21:4-9. Moses lifted up the serpent, and people who were dying physically lived. For people dead in sin (Eph 2:1) to live spiritually it was necessary that Jesus be lifted up. This lifting up was on the cross (compare John 12:32-33). In these verses the Lord Jesus links His sacrifice for the sins of men with the new birth. People can be born again and receive eternal life only because Christ was the Lamb of God bearing away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Sin destroys people and condemns them to eternal punishment. But when anyone repents and believes in Christ and His sacrifice for them, God’s Spirit creates new life in them (v 5). And this holy spiritual life goes on forever.⚜
16 📚“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 📖 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
3:16 Here in one verse is the heart of John’s Gospel, indeed, the heart of the Bible. God had pity and compassion for men lost and perishing in their sins. He does not love men because they are good or worthy of His love (if they were good and worthy they would not be perishing). He loves because it is His nature to love (see Ex 34:6-7; 1 John 4:8). And His love was not merely in words but in deeds. He proved His love once and forever by giving His only Son (Rom 5:8; Titus 3:3-5; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10). And God’s love was not for one nation only (as many Jews thought), but for the whole of mankind (2 Cor 5:19; 1 John 2:2; 1 Tim 2:3-4).⚜
17 📚“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
3:17 See John 12:47. God is the just Judge of the universe. The time will come when every person must stand before Him for judgment (Gen 18:25; Deut 32:36; 1 Sam 2:10; Ps 7:8; 9:8; 82:8; 96:13; Acts 17:30-31; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11-13). But He sent Christ into the world for another purpose altogether – that is, to save men from just condemnation for their sins. Christ accomplished God’s purpose by bearing their sins and condemnation Himself (John 1:29; 3:15; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24).
Forty (40) times in John’s Gospel Jesus indicated that God had sent Him.⚜
18 📚He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:18 Rom 8:1. Believers are fully forgiven, their sins are taken away in the sacrificial death of Christ, and they are counted as innocent and righteous (Rom 3:24-25; 5:1; Eph 1:7; Col 2:13; 1 John 2:12). So there is no condemnation for them. The case of unbelievers is entirely different. They are rejecting God’s one and only remedy for their sins. They are even adding to their sins by refusing God’s greatest gift, and calling God a liar by their unbelief (1 John 5:10). If such people do not repent and believe the Gospel, there can be nothing but condemnation for them. Observe once again the importance given to faith in the teaching of the Bible.⚜
19 📚And this is the condemnation: Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 📚For everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come to the light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.
3:19-20 The world as a whole already stands guilty and condemned before God (compare Rom 1:18-20; 3:9, 19). Unbelievers do not have to wait until God’s great judgment day for God’s general verdict on their behavior. It is given in these two verses. They show by their actions what kind of people they are and how worthy they are of condemnation and punishment. In the person of Christ light has come into the world (compare John 1:4-9; 8:12). He brought wonderful revelations of truth about God and men and salvation. But men in general did not love Him or the truth He brought. They loved something else – darkness.
Darkness signifies concealment, deception, ignorance, untruth, evil. Those who love such darkness will not love light. Light exposes them for what they are – sinners worthy of hell who can be saved only by Christ. And light makes it impossible for them to indulge in all the evil they desire to do. So they hate the light – that is, they hate Christ and His truth (this is no exaggeration, but the solemn truth which Jesus later repeated – John 7:7; 15:18, 23-25).
We should understand from this that the unbelief of men is not because they have valid reasons for unbelief, or because they are intellectually unable to believe, but because of the sin and darkness in them. The fault is not with their minds, but with their hearts and wills. Belief in Christ is a moral choice for goodness, holiness and truth, and most men are not willing to make this choice. They prefer sin to holiness, darkness to light, and self rather than Christ.⚜
21 📚But he who practices truth comes to the light so that it may be revealed that his deeds have been done through God”.
3:21 But there are some who want the truth and try to practice the truth. They have responded to God’s Word and God has been at work in their hearts. They do not fear the light but come to it. They are those who believe the gospel and receive Christ. We see examples of such in the disciples and others in the four Gospels. And there are many such people today throughout the world.⚜
Further testimony of John the Baptist
22 📚After these things Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea, and there he spent time with them, and baptized. 23 📚And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And people came and were baptized.
3:23 The exact location of Salim is unknown. The reason given for John’s baptizing there is another indication that John baptized by immersion (Matt 3:6).⚜
24 📚For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 📚Then an argument began between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 📚And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi 📖, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, about whom you testified, the same man is baptizing, and everyone is coming to him”.
27 📚John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from heaven.
3:27 John well knew that God has for each of His people a position and a ministry, and that one should not strive for another’s place or envy another, but be satisfied with God’s appointment. Compare Num 11:26-29; Ps 75:6-7; Jer 45:5; Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12:12-20.⚜
28 📚You yourselves can testify for me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I was sent before him.’ 29 📚He who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens to him, greatly rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete.
3:28-29 John knew his place and rejoiced in it. In John 1:19-27 he had stated his ministry exactly. Here he describes Christ as a bridegroom and Christ’s people as the bride. He saw himself only as the friend of the bridegroom. At a wedding the bridegroom and the bride are the important persons, not the friend. John was familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures that speak of the nation of Israel being the bride of Jehovah God (Isa 54:5; 62:4-5; Jer 2:2; 3:20; Ezek 16:8; Hos 2:19-20). In the New Testament Christ calls Himself the “bridegroom” (Mark 2:19), and His Church is compared to a bride (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:32; Rev 19:7).⚜
30 📚He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 📚He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
3:31 The One from “above” is the Lord Jesus – v 13; John 8:23; 1 Cor 15:47. The One from the “earth” is John himself. This is one difference between the Lord Jesus and every other person.⚜
32 📚And he testifies to what he has seen and heard, and no man receives his testimony.
3:32 Verses 11-13.⚜
33 📚He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true.
3:33 If we believe Christ’s words we are saying that God is truthful. If we do not believe, it is the same as calling God a liar (1 John 5:10).⚜
34 📚For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit to him by measure.
3:34 Compare John 7:16-17; 8:38; 12:49-50. “Spirit” here means the Holy Spirit – John 1:32; Matt 3:16; Isa 11:1-2; 61:1. Notes on God’s Spirit at John 14:16-17.⚜
35 📚“The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
3:35 The mutual love of God the Father and God the Son, of one divine person for the other, is seen in all the Gospels, but is revealed more fully in John than in the others (Matt 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; John 5:20; 10:17; 14:31; 15:9-10; 17:23-24, 26). The Father gave all power and authority to the Son. See John 5:22-27; 17:2, 6; Matt 28:18; Acts 2:36; Heb 1:2; Ps 2:6-12.⚜
36 📚Whoever believes in the Son has everlasting life, and whoever refuses to believe 📖 the Son will not see life, but the wrath 📖 of God remains on him”.
3:36 This naturally follows from the preceding verses. God has ordained that Christ has given eternal life to those who believe in Him. He is the only one who can give it and this is the only way by which it is received. See note on eternal life at v 16.⚜