Jesus And Nicodemus
JESUS AND NICODEMUS
JOHN 3:1-8
Have you been born again?
If the Messiah brings a new beginning for the nation and its religion, he also brings one for the individual and his religion. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council. He was probably both theologian and diplomat. He comes by night in anonymity. His questions show an inability to understand the spiritual significance of the gospel. Eventually he is “faded out” of the scene and Jesus is left talking to a baffled Judaism and to puzzled and uncommitted religious men as a whole.
Nicodemus’ approach is cautious. He not only comes by night, so as not to commit himself (cf. Joseph of Arimathaea in 19:38f.), but his opening gambit is also non-committal. He recognizes in a general way (“we know”) Jesus as a rabbi, doing signs and sent by God in some sense. When “Jesus answered him” (3:3) it was his thoughts rather than his words. He calls directly for a radical response—a completely new start. Without a new birth a man cannot even see the kingdom of God—cannot begin to understand what it is all about. Nicodemus probably takes Jesus literally, as others do mistakenly (cf. 6:42,52; 8:33). But perhaps he does see that it is figurative and protests that a new spiritual start is impossible.
If understanding the kingdom is impossible without new birth, how much more is the commitment of entering it! Men must be born with water, and the reference in the first instance is perhaps to the baptism of John as an external rite signifying repentance (cf. 1:26,31-34). From there the extension may be made to Christian baptism, which in its turn must be linked with the internal experience of new life in the Spirit. Two worlds are shown to us in the Gospel—flesh and spirit, the earthly and the heavenly (cf. 8:23). Even a man’s religion may be on the level of “flesh”—human effort. It is not surprising that spiritual life needs spiritual birth. The Spirit is like the wind—free, powerful, unseen, unpredictable—but its results may be observed. The power of the Spirit goes far beyond the physical realm to every sphere of life. He both illuminates and empowers the believer. There is no area of our lives where this influence cannot be effective. Let us never seek to limit his power.
Notes 3:3: “born anew,” cf. RSV margin “from above.” The Greek word can mean either, and both may be in mind. “Kingdom of God” means his reign rather than his realm. 3:8: both Hebrew ruah and Greek pneuma mean wind or breath as well as spirit.
Prayer “Breathe on me, Breath of God.”