Introduction to John 3.

There is continuation of the issues presented in 2:23-25 into 3:1. Jesus was said to “not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and needed to one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees …” The word “man” (anthropos) occurs three times in 2 verses. The connection seems unmistakable.

The man who came to Jesus was identified as a Pharisee. This was the group that was most strongly opposed to the Person and Work of Jesus. They were his chief persecutors and they prosecuted him with charges that led to his death.

C.K. Barrett (John) notes that there was “minimal dialogue” between the man and Jesus. There was no purpose given for his visit to see the Lord. But the purpose was known to Jesus. Remember 2:25, “he knew all men” and “he knew what was in man.” And so he does in this conversation with Nicodemus.

Summary Outline of John 3

John 3: 1-15 – discourse / questions between Nicodemus and Jesus

John 3:16-21 – the meditation by John the Evangelist (the writer of the Gospel)

John 3:22-36 – more on John the Baptist. After being introduced, John is sidelined almost immediately when Christ appears on the scene. His testimony is recounted, and the fact that he would be imprisoned and killed is anticipated (3:24).

Nicodemus’s timeline through John

Nicodemus is introduced in John 3 but he appears in John in two other sections. In this first encounter, nothing is said about his faith or his response in any way. He responds almost in a dismissive way to the claim that “you must be born again,” but when Jesus gives a more detailed description of the new birth, there is nothing recorded of Nicodemus’s response.

John 7:50 – in the rising tide of Pharisaical hatred of Jesus, Nicodemus rises in the defense of Jesus inasmuch as the charges brought should be tried carefully and there should not be a rush to judgment without “giving him a hearing and learning what he does.”

Nicodemus had, in fact, done these very actions. He interviewed Jesus and he was aware of his miracles, having either seen them or come to believe they had been done through his own research and information-gathering. In this conflict in Chapter 7, Nicodemus is appealing for the leaders and Pharisees to be careful not to rush to judgment.

John 19:39 – After the crucifixion of Christ, Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea, tended to the burial of Jesus. Joseph by providing the tomb. Nicodemus by bringing the spices required for the if they saw someone raised from the deadpreparation of the body for interment.

His name only appears five times in the whole of the New Testament — John 3:1, 4, 9; 7:50; and 19:39.

The power of the miracles and their danger.

The miracles of Jesus were powerful testimony to his authority over nature, his ability to heal diseases demonstrated his compassion for the hurting and his healing power was certainly miraculous, outside the realm of our normal experiences. His miracles are called signs. They point to the one who does them.

The signs to Grand Canyon can be impressive, but if you merely stopped your car and took all your pictures standing beside the sign that said, “Grand Canyon” you would miss the point. The signs and miracles can be of that sort. They can be so powerful that they command the attention and admiration of the viewer, but they can hide the purpose of the miracle. The miracles themselves were not the stuff out of which faith is made. Faith comes from knowing the One who creates the miracle.

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31 ESV)

He came to him at night.

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. One might think this to be an unimportant detail, but something that an eye-witness might think to include. But when you look at the others references to night in John, and the introduction that wrote about the darkness and the light, then perhaps there is something more.

Night and darkness referenced:

Night:

• John 3:2

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

• John 9:4

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

• John 11:10

But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

• John 13:30

So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

• John 19:39

Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.

• John 21:3

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Darkness:

·         John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

·         John 3:19

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

·         John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

·         John 12:35

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

·         John 12:46

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

The passage present the dark, the night as having a moral component. Nicodemus came to Christ at night, because he was in the dark. There were forces of spiritual darkness at work. The darkness is being engaged in conflict with the Light of the World.

These concepts are important to the message of Jesus and they appear quite remarkably in the account of the Gospel.

Water and spirit.

John 3:5 has been given many different interpretations, from believer’s baptism, to physical human birth, to a hundred other options. But it seems that perhaps the best understand must come from the Old Testament. Jesus points Nicodemus the Old Testament, he was “The Teacher of Israel” an important post, and he would have been teaching the content of (what we now call) the Old Testament. Certainly it must be said that Ezekiel 36:25-27 is one of the most  important of the prophetic proclamations. And in that important declaration, Ezekiel speaks about the cleansing of water (implying the forgiveness of sins) and the giving a new heart by an act of the Spirit. There could not be a clearer picture of the new birth that this section.

“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.”  (Ezekiel 36:25-27 ESV)

But it was eternal life that Nicodemus did not understand. He should have had some understanding of the promise of sprinkled water and the new heart of flesh. So many in Israel knew something about the life of faith, but they had missed the central point. Faith is knowing God. Believing in God is more than obeying the Law.  Loving God is much more than justifying yourself. Nicodemus was at this point woefully lost and incapable of understanding eternal life. He asked, “How can these things be?”

“You must be born again,” Jesus told him.