Jesus and Nicodemus

God sent his Son “to save the world.” Have you ever noticed that before? God sent his Son to the world for the purpose of saving it. The whole world is in need of saving, as you can discern from any day’s newspaper. God’s Son came to save it.

Nicodemus is mentioned by name only in John. He appears here near the beginning, in chapter 7 where he speaks in defense of a legal process for Jesus, and again at the end where he assists Joseph of Arimathea in taking the body of Jesus down from the cross and placing him in the garden tomb. The comment is made in that exchange that no rulers of the Pharisees had believed in Jesus.

Come to Jesus with Your Hesitations:

Nicodemus represents a group among the Jewish leaders who hesitantly came to believe in Jesus.

Nicodemus is a member of the Jewish ruling council, almost certainly the Sanhedrin. The council was composed of priests (Sadducees), scribes (Pharisees), and lay leaders of the aristocracy. Its 70 members were presided over by the high priest.

He comes under cover of darkness. John mentions this because it makes for a curious meeting. And there is in it a sense of the darkness of evil and sin and ignorance. He begins his gospel by talking about the Word of God as the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:4-5). Judas leaves the light in John 13:30 to go out into the night of Satan. Nicodemus will do the opposite. He comes out of the darkness and into the light as John 3:19-21 indicates.

• The cover of darkness is a little protection for Nicodemus. He and Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate secretly “because he feared the Jews” (John 19:38).
• Nicodemus is not alone in his secret belief. “We know” may indicate that there are other Jewish leaders who feel the same way Nicodemus does, but they have not attempted any contact.

Your hesitations do not have to be hindrances. You can come to Jesus with all the doubts and questions. He is happy to receive you just as he received and talk with Nicodemus.

A Man of the Pharisees—tying this verse to 2:23-25 where Jesus knows what was in man. Jesus knows what is in the heart of Nicodemus just as he knows us all.

The “now” also ties it to the end of chapter 2. So this is an account of one man who pulled out of the crowd because he wanted it all to be real.

 Come to Jesus with Your Observations:

No one can—this is the verb dynasthai translated “can.” It appears six times in these first 9 verses. The verb is about the ability or power to do something.

Nicodemus observes “no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (v2).

• Nicodemus observes the uniqueness of Jesus.
• You may want to do this as well. He tells Jesus what Jesus already knows.

Nicodemus is asking some questions in the middle of his observations.

• How can God be with you? Why is God with you? How do you do these things?

Nicodemus is making a confession about himself. He believes that God is with Jesus, but he is not ready to go public with that belief. And he doesn’t understand how these things can possibly be true.

• He is confessing limited version.
• Jesus tells him, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (v3).
• “How can a man be born again…” (v4).
• “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” (v4).
• “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (v5). Jesus responds using the same verb but helping Nicodemus understand the nature of the new birth and its urgent necessity.
• “How can these things be?” (v9).

You must be born again! (v7).

• “Born again” may also mean “born from above.”
• The adverb anothen is used in John 3:3,7, and 31. In John 3:31 it is clearly “from above.” The two other Johannine uses are John 19:11 and 23, both translated “from above.” In 19:11 Jesus says to Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
• This is the doctrine of “regeneration,” the event of the “new creation” in Christ. Here our rescue from heaven comes through the new birth.

Come to Jesus with Your Limitations:

The night is dark. The light of Christ is in 1:4-9 and 3:19-21. John emphasizes the nighttime visit in part to show that Nicodemus is in spiritual darkness—sin and ignorance—just as we all are. We come out of the night into the day trusting Christ.

The We is You. In “you must be born again” the “you” is plural. This is in contrast to the previous verse, “I tell you,” is singular. The plural “you” in “you must be born again” refers back to the introductory statement of Nicodemus, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God” (John 3:2). Nicodemus is not alone in this knowledge, probably including other Jewish leaders in his “we.” All of those in the “we” of Nicodemus are now included in the “you must be born again” of Jesus meaning “all of you and each of you must be born again.”

The "must" is "now."

• “Now.” It is a connective to the previous chapter where John says that Jesus knew what was in people.
• The necessity of the new birth is an urgent necessity.

The "how" is "Him": How can these things be? (v9)

• Gennao is the word John is using that is translated both “born” and “begotten.” The word “born” emphasizes the feminine and pictures the newborn infant in the mother’s arms. The word “begotten” emphasizes the masculine and goes back to the conception in the womb. The same word is used in the Greek and Hebrew to refer to “born” and “begotten.” Born is more about the infant himself. Begotten is more about the father and the character that the father is imparting to the child.
• Jesus is the only begotten. In Matthew 1:20 Joseph is told by the angel, concerning Mary: “What is conceived (gennao) in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Here the word is clearly used to describe the conception and is often translated “begotten.” In John 3:5 Jesus says, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” So here we have a parallel to being begotten or conceived by the Spirit.
• This new birth is mentioned already by John in John 1:12-13: "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
• “Will” here is thelema, almost always translated “will” and referring to what one wishes or desires. It is the key word for volition in the Bible. Here the children of God are not “born” (gennao)—same word as in John 3:3,7—out of blood or out of the will of the sarkos, flesh, or out of the will of man (husband), but of God. That is, the children of God are born through the will and desire of God himself rather than any human will. What makes a child of God is not a human decision. It is not a husband’s will. It is God alone. It is a new and different birth to which John refers.