John Chapter 3 - Commentary

1-13 Jesus with Nicodemas

[1] Nicodemus

The Talmud records he was one of the four richest men in Jerusalem, and possibly the Nicodemus ben Gorian, the brother of historian Josephus. Later he was reckoned a disciple of Jesus and lost his wealth. His position as a Pharisee was of great esteem. It is likely he represented a faction of the Pharisee’s who were open to considering Jesus the Messiah, partly due to his acknowledgment of Jesus’ signs. He had “everything” the world could offer, a sharp mind, wealth, prestige, position, power; every reason to be self-assured.

[3] Born “again”..

an'-o-then “from above”, “from the first”, “anew”. Unless you are regenerated anew from above is a valid translation. Nicodemus asked “what do you mean?” rhetorically, focusing on how an old man can change his ways. “Born again” by water and spirit reflects the “death, burial, and resurrection” of repentance, baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit. Anything else is not “from above” or truly “regenerative”. Without this, one cannot perceive or understand the things of God.

[8] The wind blows…

Play on words from pneuma, which can mean spirit, breath, or wind. The Spirit is at work in the lives of believers, but those without the light cannot understand His ways. I Corinthians 18:

⁸For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The Spirit is not known by a visible sign, but by the effect on those who He indwells.

[9] How can this be? Asks Nicodemus – yet he should have known these concepts as a “teacher of the law”.

Ezekiel 36:

²⁴For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Jeremiah 31:

³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jesus was implying that this time had come – that through Him this covenant was about to be fulfilled – something sincere Jews were fervently looking forward to. Remember Luke 2:

²⁵And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ²⁹“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; ³⁰For my eyes have seen Your salvation ³¹Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, ³²A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

[11] You do not receive the witness

We are told that men are blinded by the god of this age (II Cor 4:4), so how does the light of the gospel penetrate the hearts of the blind. It is not for us to “prove” Christianity, but the witness of the Holy Spirit, that will regenerate (replace) a heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

[13] From heaven…

Christ is NOT a great teacher. He is either delusional, a great liar, or God, Yahweh. He claims His origin was heaven 8 times in John: 3:13, 6:33, 6:38, 6:46, 6:51, 6:62, 8:23, 8:42

14-35 Christ’s Role Symbolized as the Serpent on the Pole

[14] Recall in Numbers 21:9, where no remedy devised by man can save, but only trust in the payment made by Christ on the cross. Man wasn’t told to fight the serpents, treat the wound, offer ceremonial sacrifice – just to the sign of God’s redemption.

⁶ The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. ⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” ⁹And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

Jesus “became” the serpent, symbolizing the sin of our lives, in our place and was judged in our stead. See Isaiah 53.

[16] The Gospel in one verse. God suffered to redeem us. To carelessly ignore this sacrifice is to further injure the Father with ingratitude.

[17] Christ came to the world in incarnate form to redeem us. He didn’t need to do that if He simply wished to condemn and punish us.

[19] Men “agapao” the darkness – the alternative to John 3:16

Strange that this word, “agapao” appears here, which is best translated as “totally given over to”. Men condemn themselves, they choose to hate that which could give everlasting life.

[20] “Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged”.

While this is shoved in our faces when evil is exposed, the fact is man is already judged. We are to be the Light of the World – which by nature demands evil is exposed, and truth is spoken, even if that means we will be rejected. Christ creates a great moral divide between mankind – those who accept Jesus as their savior and those who choose to disbelieve. Unbelief is not passive, or the absence of faith, it is a willful act of disobedience.

Psalm 53:

¹The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”




Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.