Video Lessons with Transcript
John 3:1-21: Born Again
John 3:22-36: John’s Final Testimony
Commentary
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
- Profile of Nicodemus
- “A Pharisee”- Nicodemus was a Pharisee, part of a Jewish group that was known for zealous, legalistic teaching of God’s law, often missing its true meaning.
- “A member of the Jewish ruling council”- He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. There were traditionally only 71 scholars in the Sanhedrin, so his influence and power were exceptional.
- “Nicodemus”- His name is Greek, not Hebrew. Jews with Greek names in this timeframe were influenced from the Greek culture that spread throughout the region during Alexander the Great’s reign. Jews that spoke Greek were disproportionately likely to be from urban centers, have access to wealth and travel, and have had access to quality education.
- Given these details, Nicodemos was someone who likely thought he knew everything! He had a good education on how to think incorrectly. It’s very likely that he was arrogant, given how many worldly accolades he had.
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.”
- Despite his background and influence, something compelled Nicodemus to seek Jesus. There was something about this “Jesus” teacher that evaded him, and he had to know what it was.
- He met Jesus at night, indicating a desire for secrecy to protect his reputation.
- He addressed Jesus as “Rabbi,” a title he also held, approaching the meeting as a peer-to-peer discussion (“teacher to teacher”) to explore “finer points of religious philosophy.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
- In response to Nicodemus’s formal introduction, Jesus immediately and authoritatively declares, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again.”
- “Truly, truly” (amen amen) is a doubled emphatic in Greek—an exclamation, not filler. Jesus isn’t theorizing! He’s making a serious, decisive statement.
- Jesus’s directness is tailored to Nicodemus’s arrogant, know-it-all demeanor. He wants to shake him out of his stupor!
- “Take away whatsoever seemeth thee good, reputation, fortune, friends, health, only give me this, to be born of the Spirit, to be received among the children of God!” -John Wesley
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!”
- Nicodemus’s question isn’t sincere. Metaphor long before Jesus’s time. To ask this question in a way that implies that Jesus is literally demanding someone to go back into their mother’s womb is intentionally obtuse, misunderstanding on purpose to suggest that Jesus is being absurd.
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.
- Many interpreters assume that Jesus is referring to baptism, but Nicodemus wouldn’t have understood what Jesus meant if that was the intended analogy since Christian baptism doesn’t exist yet. Jesus’s words needed to be comprehensible, and they would have been to someone who knew Scripture as well as Nicodemos. Water and the Spirit are both well-established symbolically throughout Scripture.
- Water: Symbolizes repentance and cleansing (Psalm 51:7: “Wash me and I will be whiter than snow”; Ezekiel 36:25: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean”).
- The Spirit: Represents God’s creative power at work in the world and in people (Genesis 1: Spirit hovering over the waters; Judges 6:34: Spirit coming upon Gideon; 2 Samuel 23:2: Spirit speaking through David).
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.”
- Jesus compares the Spirit’s work to the wind: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”
- This illustrates that one can experience and feel the effects of God’s Spirit without fully grasping the “finer points” of doctrine.
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.
- This particular verse is an elemental part of the Christian faith. It’s the most commonly-known verse in the entire Bible. Rather than approach it with the assumption that we know it, it’s good to think through it slowly. Having come so far, do we still align with the very basics that we set out with?
- “For God”: In a world like ours, it is a bold claim to know something true about God. Who can say what is true or false about God? But the core of Christianity is to know who God is… and who he isn’t.
- “so loved”: God’s primary motive is love, not anger or sadness.
- “the world”: God’s love extends to all creation—plants, animals, and people—not just humanity.
- Dostoyevsky discussed true love for the world beautifully in his novel, The Brothers Karamazov: “Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you have perceived it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day, and you will come at last to love the world with an all-embracing love…. Treasure this ecstasy, however absurd people may think it.” -Dostoyevsky
- “that he gave”: God has not begun this relationship with us by demanding anything, but by freely giving to us grace upon grace.
- “His one and only son”: his most precious possession.
- “that whoever”: A universal invitation open to anyone from a beggar in India to a bureaucrat in China and everyone in between
- “believes in Him”: Belief means full, trusting surrender of one’s life to Jesus, not just intellectual assent.
- “shall not perish”: God intervenes to save us from the perishing caused by our own sin.
- “but have eternal life”: New life that begins now, not only after death.
- “Men who love much will give much, and you may usually measure the truth of love by its self-denials and sacrifices. That love which spares nothing, but spends itself to help and bless its object, is love indeed, and not the mere name of it. Little love forgets to bring water for the feet, but great love breaks its box of alabaster and lavishes its precious ointment. Consider, then, what this gift was that God gave.” -Charles Spurgeon
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.
- It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge that God openly condemns those who don’t believe in his Son, but we need to address this uncomfortable reality. If we don’t acknowledge that we’re condemned without Jesus, how can he be a savior? What is he saving us from?
- Some people say God is stingy for not giving us multiple ways to be saved. That isn’t reasonable.
- Imagine a person $5 million in debt who complains that a blank check from a benefactor requires them to walk a block to the bank.
- Or imagine a person falling off a cliff who criticizes their rescuer for offering a hand instead of a rope or a helicopter.
- In both cases, the one needing salvation is entitled; the savior is not stingy.
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.
- Evil-doers “hate the light” and avoid exposure. US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” in reference to the simple fact that corruption grows where there is no visibility and accountability.
- Belief must be embodied in deeds; evidence of new birth should be visible.
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
- Note that according to John 4:2, Jesus didn’t personally baptize anyone. His disciples did it for him while he oversaw it.
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.”
- John’s disciples are worried that Jesus is now stealing John’s ministry! Not only is he baptizing people, something that John literally has a title about, but he’s drawing bigger crowds!
- Ministries built on ego or a sense of territory do not reflect the kingdom of Heaven. Many such “ministries” exist to this day, much to the sadness of God.
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.”
- In his response, John submits to the authority of Jesus.
- John’s response to his disciples reveals a fundamental truth about the prophets: prophets are people who submit.
- The image of a prophet being a wild man standing at the edge of society, unwilling to submit to church authorities isn’t accurate. They only refuse to submit to authorities who have abandoned God’s word.
- When leaders stop submitting to God, they lose their authority, and prophets arise as God’s true spokesmen.
- Conversations about “submitting” to anyone in our culture can be very jarring and even offensive! Submission seems as though it’s against our core expectations to live as free people in this world!
- Modernity tends to defines freedom via “negative freedom”–you’re free from external obligations when making choices.
- The Bible presents a definition of freedom that might be called positive or teleological freedom–you’re free to live well and be what you were made to be through the grace of God.
- We can only understand how submission can lead to freedom if we understand freedom on God’s terms. Through modern expectations, submission to anyone would seem tyrannical, but on Biblical terms, freedom requires you to submit to God and to others in your life.
- The willingness to submit that John models is important for every Christian today as well. The Bible speaks often about submission.
- Colossians 3:20: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord,”
- Notice that there is no age limit specified in the text.
- Colossians 3:18-19 reads “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”
- Uncomfortably enough, the passage doesn’t advocate for mutual submission. The language for each gender is intentionally different.
- Ephesians 5 explains the husband’s role in greater detail: “Love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” This is servant leadership—putting his wife first, himself second. To exploit this authority is to abuse one’s spouse.
- Colossians 3:22: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything… work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
- The idea of getting rid of slavery would have been ridiculous to most people in the ancient world.
- Athenaus’s comedy, “The Banqueting Sophists” includes a section where people theorize about a world without slaves, but it would require automata, or items that move themselves. They imagine a world where you could just tell objects, “Table, lay yourself! … Cup, pour yourself!”
- Depressingly enough, this seems to be somewhat prophetic–slavery in our world mostly ended with the advent of the Industrial Revolution
- For Christian slaves, the question would have been, should we stage a violent uprising? That’s what is being addressed in submission. The answer is no.
- For Christian slaveholders, The Book of Philemon shows that slavery is incompatible with Christianity as Paul encourages a master to treat his runaway slave both as a brother, a partner, and as he would treat Paul himself (v. 16-17)
- Many other examples can be found throughout the Bible, in reference to civil authority, religious authority, and so forth. If it does not disobey God to submit, Christians are encouraged to submit
- Colossians 3:20: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord,”
- John’s response to his disciples reveals a fundamental truth about the prophets: prophets are people who submit.
- “He must become greater; I must become less.”
- This especially sums up the way John has completely submitted to God. He knows that his authority must give way to Christ’s. He doesn’t sabotage Jesus–he makes room.
- As God becomes greater in us, we don’t become less ourselves but more truly ourselves, the people we were made to be, freed from sin’s distortion. This is good, though it may frighten us at first.
- “Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it? He is not interested in flesh: all he sees is that the tin is being spoilt. He thinks you are killing him” -CS Lewis
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.
- John’s witness to Jesus affirms God’s truth; whoever accepts Jesus’s testimony isn’t doing anything wild! They’re just certifying that God is doing exactly what he said he would do.
- Affirming God’s truthfulness in worship and Scripture reading is a daily opportunity.
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.
- Submission to the authorities we can see helps us submit to the authorities we can’t see until they’re fully revealed in their glory
- IfJesus entered the room, radiant with heavenly rays, wearing an otherworldly crown and the finest robes imaginable, the ONLY response would be to kneel and submit. To do anything else would be absurd! But if we don’t prepare our hearts for that moment, we’ll miss it.
- “[H]e who denies God the glory of redemption, in addition to his folly, has robbed the Lord of the choicest jewel of his regalia, and aimed a deadly blow at the divine honor. I may say of him who despises the great salvation, that, in despising Christ, he touches the apple of God’s eye. “This is my beloved Son,” saith God, “hear ye him.” Out of heaven he saith it, and yet men stop their ears and say, “We will not have him.” Nay, they wax wrath against the cross, and turn away from God’s salvation. Do you think that God will always bear this?” -Charles Spurgeon
Classic Theology 