Chapter BY Chapter

John 3:1-21

 

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 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.”

 

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

 

“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!”

 

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  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.”

 

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

 

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?  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.  I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

 

“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.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  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.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  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.”

 

Notice that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.  Maybe Nicodemus had something to hide. 

 

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the ruling Jewish Council.  Apparently, Nicodemus wanted his meeting with Jesus to be secret from the general public.  Maybe Nicodemus didn’t want to associate himself as one of the sinners that were coming to Jesus to repent.  There must be something that he does not want to acknowledge about Jesus, but he does want to acknowledge that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God.  Nicodemus says, “No one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”  This is interesting because so far in the gospel of John, the only miracle that Jesus performed was changing water into wine, and the only people that knew about that are the servants and the disciples. 

 

It was not John’s objective to list every action of Jesus.  As he says in John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”  Roman historian Marcus Velleius Paterculus provided the first eyewitness account ever recorded of a miracle of Jesus Christ.  He describes a scene that he allegedly witnessed, in which a prophet and teacher that he names as ‘Iésous de Nazarenus’, resuscitated a stillborn boy and handed him back to his mother.  This could have been before Jesus’ Baptism.  Other non-biblical sources also tell of a wide number of miracles that Jesus did including breathing life into clay birds as a child, resurrecting a friend who fell off the roof, healing a man who chopped his foot with an axe, produced a feast from a single grain, stretching a beam to help his father have enough wood for a project, and healing people that were bitten by a poisonous snake.  So, John assumes that the reader knows about the many miracles that Jesus had already performed. 

 

The miracles of Jesus were so abundant that Quadratus writes the following to Emperor Hadrian about 125 AD:

"The deeds of our Savior were always before you, for they were true miracles; those that were healed, those that were raised from the dead, who were seen, not only when healed and when raised, but were always present. They remained living a long time, not only whilst our Lord was on earth, but likewise when He had left the earth. So that some of them have also lived to our own times."

 

The purpose of the gospel is much more than to only present Jesus as a miracle worker.  John writes to an audience that already accepts the miracles he performed.

 

Nicodemus says, “We acknowledge the signs” Jesus performed.

 

So, Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as a teacher sent from God. 

 

Jesus answers by teaching him something, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  Now the Greek word for “again” here also means “from above.”  We also know from the other gospels that that Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is at hand.  Jesus said that many people that he spoke to would not die before they would see the kingdom of God.  Now Jesus is telling how to see the kingdom of God.  By being born again. 

 

Nicodemus initially either misunderstands, or acts sarcastically by saying, “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!”

 

Jesus explains, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  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 explains that one must be born of water and the Spirit.  By water, he is referring to the water that breaks when a child is born.  By Spirit, he means the Spirit of God.  Again, Jesus says, “You must be born again.”  The “you” here is plural.  Either Jesus is speaking to all those that are listening or he is speaking to all the Pharisees vicariously by speaking to Nicodemus, or all of those options. 

 

Notice that Jesus says, “You should not be surprised” at him saying this.

 

Well, Nicodemus acts like he is still surprised and he asks, “How can this be?”

 

Jesus says, ““You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things?”

 

Nicodemus certainly should have known this. 

 

Deuteronomy 30:6 talks about a new life when it says,

"The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

 

Ezekiel 11:19 talks about a new birth,

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

 

Ezekiel 36:26 also says,

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

 

So, Nicodemus should have not been surprised when Jesus said, “You must be born again.”

 

In verse 12, Jesus says, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe.”  By this he means that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again, a concept that is implanted in the Old Testament.  Then Jesus says, “How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”  In other words, how is Nicodemus going to believe a new revelation that Jesus teaches.  In verse 13, Jesus makes a declaration showing why it is important to believe him about heavenly things, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”  Remember that Nicodemus said that they know Jesus is a teacher from God because of the signs he performed.  Jesus is now making a declaration about how he is a teacher from God.  Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man.  Jesus is saying that no one has gone into heaven except for himself.  This makes Jesus equal to God and also the one to listen to about any new revelations.

 

Now comes the new revelation in verse 14, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” 

 

The incident where Moses lifted up the snake is in Numbers chapter 21 verse 9,

 

“So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”

 

Now Jesus is saying that the Son of Man, himself, must be lifted up so that everyone that believes may have ETERNAL life in him.

 

This is very early in Jesus’ ministry and already Jesus is alluding to his death on the cross. 

 

Jesus uses Son of Man 80 times in the Gospels to refer to himself.  It was so well accepted that this was what he meant, that this is the understanding when Stephen says in Acts chapter 7 verse 56, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 

 

Jesus refers to or alludes to his sacrificial death 54 times in the gospels BEFORE he died on the cross.  This is obviously his mission and this is his message about the kingdom of God.  You must believe in Jesus’ sacrificial death for your sins to enter the kingdom of God. 

 

Now some translations end the quote at verse 15.  However, the Greek text shows us that Jesus is still talking right down to verse 21.  The Greek did not have quotation marks.  So you have to figure out where the quote ends sometimes.  The Greek text does have paragraphs.  Sometimes the quote ends at the end of the paragraph.  John 3:16 starts with a new paragraph.  John tends to have some doctrinal insertions in his gospel as he does with the first 18 verses in the gospel.  There are also extensive quotes of Jesus in the gospel of John.  Take the prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17, for instance, which has many paragraphs.  In the English translations, the first 6 words in John 3:16 are, “For God so loved the world.”  However, in Greek that first word is 2 words, “Houtos gar.”  Houtos means “So it follows,” or “Therefore.”  Gar means, “For,’ or “Indeed.”  So what we have here is a double connector.  It only makes sense that the original speaker would say, “So it follows,” with such emphasis on being connected to the previous paragraph. 

 

It must also be noted that this verse contains a word that is sometimes translated, “Begotten.”  This word in the Greek is, “monogenes.”  Mono means only and genes means kind species.  So what is being denoted here is “one of a kind,” or “one and only.”

 

So, my translation would continue quoting Jesus and would be as follows:

 

“So, indeed it follows, that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone believing in him should not perish, but should have eternal life.”

 

There are two key things that this verse accomplishes.  First of all, it centers salvation in Jesus Christ and believing in him.  In fact, the Old Testament can only be understood in this light.  Beginning with Adam, God promises a savior to crush the head of Satan and defeat sin.  This savior would come from the seed of the woman.  God pictures the eventual sacrifice of Jesus through the prescribed sacrifices of the Old Testament.  There are many parallels between the Passover lamb and the crucifixion of Jesus. 

 

In Exodus 12:7 it says, “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.”  Likewise, the blood of Jesus covers us from death.

 

Leviticus 22:21 says,

“When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable.”

 

No one can pay for the sins of another when he has to pay for his own sin.  Christ was sinless so he could pay for our sins.

 

Psalm chapter 16, verse 10 says,

 

“Because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.”

 

Now since David was a prophet and we know he remains in the grave, we know that he spoke of this about the Messiah, and Jesus was raised from the dead, which all the disciples witnessed. 

 

Isaiah 43:25 shows that it is about the forgiveness of sins,

 

“I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.”

 

Isaiah prophesies the sacrifice of Jesus in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5 says,

 

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.”

 

Notice what the Lord says in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10,

 

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

 

Notice the Lord is speaking when he says, “They will look on ME, the one they have pierced.”

 

Jesus reiterates this by saying,

 

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  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.”

 

There is no grey area here.  There is no middle ground.  There is no weighing in of your good deeds verses bad deeds and wondering if you are going to make it.  Either you believe in the free gift of God, his Son, or you don’t.  Either you accept the gift of God, or you don’t.  It only makes sense that God would make the way to him simple so every person can understand and accept it.  What is so hard to accept God’s gift?  It also makes sense that God would make his way known in such a way that you can have complete certainty about it.  Why would God make a plan of salvation in a way they we could have some doubt about it?

 

God foretold about his plan for thousands of years. 

 

God made it explicit that his plan would be about the forgiveness of sins and that there would be a sacrifice for sins.

 

God made it plain that He would be the sacrifice.

 

When He came, God performed many miracles so we would know it is Him. 

 

After the sacrifice, He rose from the dead to give us certainty of his promise. 

 

These things all remain proven to this day.

 

It is as plain as day.  That is why Jesus continues saying, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  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.”

 

Everyone that accepts the gift of God has to admit that they are a sinner.  Those that are hiding their sin don’t want to admit this.  Being born again is allowing God to replace your stony heart with a heart of flesh.  It is a new life, a new relationship with God.  Do you think that Nicodemus came into the light?  Was Nicodemus born again? 

 

How about you?  Will you come into the light?