John 3 Born Again. I. (vs. 1-21) To enter the kingdom of God, one must be born again through faith in Jesus Christ.

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1 Introduction: John 3 Born Again John s chief concern throughout the Gospel is to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through belief in Him, one inherits eternal life. Perhaps no chapter more clearly makes this point than this one where Jesus discusses this new spiritual birth with Nicodemus, one of Israel s religious leaders. In writing his Gospel, John records Jesus sign miracles and discourses. That is, he records the sign miracles as proof of Christ s identity as Son of God, and records Christ s discourses to state the necessity for faith in Him. In this chapter, Nicodemus, a Pharisee engages Jesus in a discussion on the necessity of being born again to see the kingdom of God. Later in the chapter, John will return to the story of John the Baptist to advance further his argument that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world. I. (vs. 1-21) To enter the kingdom of God, one must be born again through faith in Jesus Christ. A. (vs. 1-15) One must be born again to see the kingdom of God. 1. (vs. 1) Nicodemus (1) Nicodemus was a Pharisee (2) The Sadducees probably had more at stake in the Temple concerning the prior actions of Jesus in clearing the moneychangers. (3) Nonetheless, it is a bit startling to see a Pharisee approaching Jesus on friendly terms. b) He was of the ruling council probably the Sanhedrin. c) (vs. 2) The fact that Nicodemus came at night is not necessarily an indication that he was afraid of the Jews. (1) At this point in Jesus ministry, the Jews were not yet seeking to kill Him. (2) It does not necessarily mean that Nicodemus was either timid or fearful. (3) However, I do believe it is important that John records Nicodemus coming in the night. John typically uses words and images that can have double meaning or significance. Page 1

2 (4) In this case, I think the contrast of light and darkness John makes in Chapter 1 is seen in Nicodemus actions. He comes at night to Jesus who is the light of God. Nicodemus represents Israel s religious leaders who are spiritually in the dark. It s an interesting comparison and observation. d) (vs. 2) Nicodemus recognizes Jesus as a fellow teacher. (1) He calls Him, Rabbi. (2) Nicodemus is probably approaching Jesus (in his own mind) as a peer. (3) He recognizes the power of God though the miraculous signs. 2. (vs. 3) You must be born again. a) Jesus cuts right to the heart of the matter be stating one must be born again to see the kingdom of God. b) Being born again (gennhqh/ a;nwqen) is not a repeat birth, but a different kind of birth. c) Perhaps a better translation would be born anew. 3. Seeing the kingdom of God a) This kingdom is a well-understood OT concept dealing with God s reign. b) Check out Daniel 2 as one example. 4. (vs. 4) Nicodemus asks how? One cannot repeat a physical birth. 5. (vs. 5) Jesus responds one must be born physically and spiritually. a) Water and Spirit have been variously interpreted. b) Some believe this reference is to mandatory believer baptism as a requirement for salvation. However, such would make no sense in this context for Nicodemus, a Jew, would not have understood later Christian practices of baptism. c) There are other interpretations, but most probably the water refers to physical birth and spirit to spiritual birth through faith in Christ. d) (vs. 6) Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit to spirit in other words, these are two distinct types of birth. e) (vs. 7) Nicodemus should not be surprised. Page 2

3 6. (vs. 8-9) The spirit blows where it will. a) These verses make more sense when one understands that both in Greek and Hebrew, the words for spirit and wind are the same (pneuma and ruah). b) Jesus is likening the things of the spirit to the wind, which is unseen but quite real as is seen in its effects. c) Those who are born of the Spirit exist in a different plane a spiritual plane that is quite real. 7. (vs ) Nicodemus does not understand a) Jesus point is that Nicodemus, as a Pharisee, is Israel s teacher and should understand these things of God. b) Yet, Nicodemus and all the religious leaders do not understand. c) They do not understand when Jesus explains with earthly terms, how can they ever hope to understand even deeper things of the Spirit? 8. (vs ) Jesus is the Son of God who will die for the sins of the world. a) Here is the point of the section. b) (vs. 13) Jesus is God as evidenced by the fact that He has come from heaven where no man has ever gone before. c) There is an interesting use of the Greek perfect tense in the word for gone up. (1) English cannot capture the full nuances of the Greek perfect tense. This tense is used to show a past event that has current implications. One way to capture the force in English is to use the present as in, It is written. The nuance here is that no man has gone up to heaven up to this very moment except Jesus, the one standing before Nicodemus, who has come down from there. The phrase here is a powerful indicator of Christ s full deity. (2) The use of the Son of Man here can be read through the Messianic understanding of the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13 ff. d) (vs ) The Son of Man lifted up (1) Jesus makes reference to the events of Numbers 21 where the grumbling Israelites were perishing in the desert by poisonous snake bites. Page 3

4 (2) Moses lifted a bronze snake on a pole so that everyone who looked on it would live. (3) The Rabbis understood that Yahweh was the source of this healing in the wilderness. (4) What is powerful in Jesus image is that the snake (as image of defeated Satan) of the wilderness becomes His own body in the NT. That s an ironic twist. In other words, it s through His own sacrifice, humility, and death, that Satan will ultimately be destroyed (c.f. Gen 3). (5) Jesus being lifted up is another one of those word choices where John is playing on two meanings (uỳwqh/nai). That is, He will be lifted up on the cross but also lifted up (read exalted ) through the cross to the resurrection. These are powerful images coming together here as Jesus predicts His own death. e) Interestingly, Nicodemus along with Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38-39) took Jesus body from the cross after all the disciples fled. Nicodemus must have been thinking back to this conversation with Jesus. B. (vs ) For God so loved the world 1. Greek does not use quotations to indicate direct discourse, so it is hard to figure out it these are Jesus words, or John s discourse on Jesus words. 2. John tells us that the world hates the light and loves darkness. It hates God. 3. Yet, God does not hate the world, but through His love is willing to allow His Son to die for it. 4. Only begotten in KJV is aptly translated one and only by the NIV. The concept of uniqueness is central to this thought. The concept of begotten is not made or born. See also Psalm 2 where being the son carries the implication of divine rule. 5. (vs. 17) Jesus did not come to condemn the world at His first coming, but to save it. 6. (vs. 18) The process of judgment works like this: Salvation and judgment are two sides of the same coin concerning God s justice. Those who believe are saved, but those who are not are condemned by their choice to refuse pardon. 7. (vs ) The reason why many choose to reject the pardon is that they hate God s light and retreat from fear of exposure. Page 4

5 8. (vs. 21) Those who live by truth that is, who believe and are transformed to live right do not have fear of exposure because there is no evil within them to cause fear. II. (vs ) John the Baptist testifies to these truths of Christ A. (vs ) John s influence wanes while Jesus increases 1. (vs. 22) Jesus disciples were baptizing probably for repentance in the same vein as that of John the Baptist. 2. (vs ) That sets up a comparison between John and Jesus. 3. (vs ) Using the illustration of the friend of the groom, John the Baptist shows that Jesus is the groom and must increase in stature. a) The friend of the groom was to bring the bride from her home to the groom. b) John is overjoyed to see the groom Jesus who is the Son of God come for His bride. c) Jesus must increase and John must decrease His role is coming to a close. B. (vs ) Summary 1. (vs. 31) Jesus, as one from above, is God and over all. 2. (vs. 32) Jesus testifies to the things of God, but He is not received by the world. 3. (vs. 33) Those who do believe in Christ simultaneously certifies that God is truthful. (I think Rev. 12:11 is related to this thought. It s the power of our testimony as believers.) Revelation 12:11 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 4. (vs. 34) God gives the Holy Spirit without limit. 5. (vs. 35) God the Father has given Jesus authority over everything and everyone. 6. (vs. 36a) Whoever believe in the Son, therefore has eternal life. 7. (vs. 36b) Whoever does not believe in the Son will see God s wrath, not life. Page 5

6 Conclusion: This chapter clearly spells out the necessity to believe in Jesus as the Son of God for eternal life. Through a conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus teaches that one must be born anew with a spiritual type of birth to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus does not understand at this point. He is Israel s spiritual teacher, but he is blind to the elementary truths of God. John the Baptist witnessed to Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world. John the Baptist will fade from the narrative at this point and Jesus will go on to proclaim the kingdom of God and salvation to all who are willing to believe. This course will set Him in growing conflict with the religious leaders who will seek to kill Him and remove Him from scene. Page 6