Bible Reading
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” 27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.” 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” 27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.” 31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Devotional
The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is probably the clearest, most concise and complete explanation of the Gospel of any other chapter in the bible. So much so that it prompted this quote by Charles Spurgeon: “If we were asked to read to a dying man who did not know the gospel, we should probably select this chapter as the most suitable one for such an occasion; and what is good for dying men is good for us all, for that is what we are; and how soon we may be actually at the gates of death, none of us can tell.”
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, perhaps because he wanted an uninterrupted conversation with this man called Jesus, or out of fear of what his fellow members of the Sanhedrin would think of the questions he would ask. Nicodemus was a man full of half-truths and partial understanding. He tells Jesus that it is known and generally understood that He is a teacher who has come from God. While this is true, it is in no way a complete description of who Jesus is. What Jesus said to Nicodemus next would have been a cultural shattering statement for Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The current Jewish assumption was that their racial identity - their old birth - and their descendence from Abraham is what assured them a place in God’s Kingdom. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gates of Hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there. The parallel today would be those who falsely believe that by works, status and religious duties they can earn their place with God in Eternity.
Jesus made it plain that a man’s first physical birth does not assure him of God’s kingdom; It was only by being spiritually born again that a person could have this assurance. This greek word for ‘again” (anothen) is better translated “from above” and Nicodemus should have understood that Jesus was referring to a spiritual re-birth. Instead, Nicodemus keeps his mind on the physical and asks how this re-birth could be possible. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Maybe Nicodemus was pretending not to understand, but more likely his questions were genuine. Either way, Jesus shifts the conversation away from the physical and into the spiritual. This is something Jesus did often in his teachings and parables. As humans, we naturally do the opposite; we shift spiritual truths and try to look on them as physical things, but Jesus calls on us to first look at our lives through the lens of the spiritual world, the realm that is eternal and therefore of far greater value.
Jesus was emphatic in explaining to Nicodemus how Man does not need reformation or moral reconditioning, but a radical conversion and spiritual transformation by the Spirit of God. This was a radical thought amongst the Jewish leaders of the time who believed they were already living in the will of God and didn’t need to do anything else besides observing the Torah. Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus who He truly is and also why He came to earth. Jesus makes it clear that He can speak authoritatively about things in Heaven, though no one else can, because He is the one who has come down from heaven. Jesus even prophecies about the future when He tells Nicodemus: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” The bronze serpent of Exodus was a picture of the judgment of sin, just as Jesus would soon become sin and take on the judgment and punishment that was meant for all men.
This leads Jesus to say the most well known and quoted verse in all of the bible: John 3:16. Of the 31, 102 verses in the Bible, it may be the single most popular and recited verse in the whole book. A single verse that describes the entire chapter that describes the entire storyline of scripture and history: The redemption and restoration of man. Many Christians don’t even realize that this famous verse is pulled from this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Even this single statement would have been jarring for Nicodemus. The Jews of that day rarely thought that God loved the world. Many of them thought God only loved Israel. The universal offer of salvation and life in Jesus for all people was revolutionary and would have been a bitter pill to swallow for the religious community.
Nicodemus would have understood Jesus’ reference to Abraham and Issac when He told how the Father, “…gave his only begotten Son” as a sacrifice. Nicodemus would have recognized that Jesus was attempting to explain how He would become the sacrificial lamb that would take on the sins of all the people. The realization of what Jesus was saying in this short conversation must have been stunning. Jesus was revealing Himself to Nicodemus in ways that He wouldn’t even do with His disciples for years.
In the end, we don’t know what happened to Nicodemus. We read in John 19:39 that Nicodemus assisted in the burial of Jesus, but the spiritual condition of the man was not declared. One thing we do know is that his conversation with Jesus has been the basis of many people surrendering their lives to Christ and being truly born again over the last two thousand years.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, perhaps because he wanted an uninterrupted conversation with this man called Jesus, or out of fear of what his fellow members of the Sanhedrin would think of the questions he would ask. Nicodemus was a man full of half-truths and partial understanding. He tells Jesus that it is known and generally understood that He is a teacher who has come from God. While this is true, it is in no way a complete description of who Jesus is. What Jesus said to Nicodemus next would have been a cultural shattering statement for Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The current Jewish assumption was that their racial identity - their old birth - and their descendence from Abraham is what assured them a place in God’s Kingdom. In fact, some Rabbis taught that Abraham stood watch at the gates of Hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally wandered in there. The parallel today would be those who falsely believe that by works, status and religious duties they can earn their place with God in Eternity.
Jesus made it plain that a man’s first physical birth does not assure him of God’s kingdom; It was only by being spiritually born again that a person could have this assurance. This greek word for ‘again” (anothen) is better translated “from above” and Nicodemus should have understood that Jesus was referring to a spiritual re-birth. Instead, Nicodemus keeps his mind on the physical and asks how this re-birth could be possible. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Maybe Nicodemus was pretending not to understand, but more likely his questions were genuine. Either way, Jesus shifts the conversation away from the physical and into the spiritual. This is something Jesus did often in his teachings and parables. As humans, we naturally do the opposite; we shift spiritual truths and try to look on them as physical things, but Jesus calls on us to first look at our lives through the lens of the spiritual world, the realm that is eternal and therefore of far greater value.
Jesus was emphatic in explaining to Nicodemus how Man does not need reformation or moral reconditioning, but a radical conversion and spiritual transformation by the Spirit of God. This was a radical thought amongst the Jewish leaders of the time who believed they were already living in the will of God and didn’t need to do anything else besides observing the Torah. Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus who He truly is and also why He came to earth. Jesus makes it clear that He can speak authoritatively about things in Heaven, though no one else can, because He is the one who has come down from heaven. Jesus even prophecies about the future when He tells Nicodemus: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” The bronze serpent of Exodus was a picture of the judgment of sin, just as Jesus would soon become sin and take on the judgment and punishment that was meant for all men.
This leads Jesus to say the most well known and quoted verse in all of the bible: John 3:16. Of the 31, 102 verses in the Bible, it may be the single most popular and recited verse in the whole book. A single verse that describes the entire chapter that describes the entire storyline of scripture and history: The redemption and restoration of man. Many Christians don’t even realize that this famous verse is pulled from this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Even this single statement would have been jarring for Nicodemus. The Jews of that day rarely thought that God loved the world. Many of them thought God only loved Israel. The universal offer of salvation and life in Jesus for all people was revolutionary and would have been a bitter pill to swallow for the religious community.
Nicodemus would have understood Jesus’ reference to Abraham and Issac when He told how the Father, “…gave his only begotten Son” as a sacrifice. Nicodemus would have recognized that Jesus was attempting to explain how He would become the sacrificial lamb that would take on the sins of all the people. The realization of what Jesus was saying in this short conversation must have been stunning. Jesus was revealing Himself to Nicodemus in ways that He wouldn’t even do with His disciples for years.
In the end, we don’t know what happened to Nicodemus. We read in John 19:39 that Nicodemus assisted in the burial of Jesus, but the spiritual condition of the man was not declared. One thing we do know is that his conversation with Jesus has been the basis of many people surrendering their lives to Christ and being truly born again over the last two thousand years.