The teacher sent from God meets the teacher sent from the Jews
Reading the gospels we are given precious little as to many things Jesus did in His ministry.We have seen Him baptized by John, tempted of the devil and then the choosing of the disciples and the wedding feast of Cana where we are told He performed His first miracle and then He comes to Jerusalem for the Passover and cleanses the temple. So when this Pharisee now comes to Jesus, he says something a bit puzzling.
John 3:1-2 (NASB)
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
We are told a man of the Pharisees comes to Jesus.
Pharisees were a sect of Judaism that formed during the Macabean period. The Greeks were attempting to force all peoples into the Greek culture. Many Jews embraced this Hellenism, but the more Orthodox rejected it and became so overly legalistic that they formed their own sect called Pharisee meaning “separated ones”
We cannot imagine the obstacle Nicodemus had to over come as a learned old Sanhedrist, to acknowledge a Galilean, un-trained in any schools, as a teacher come from God. While the gospel of John suggests that only Nicodemus came to Jesus that night, it is possible he was not alone.
"Rabbi, “we” know that You have come from God as a teacher….
Who is the “we” here? Perhaps other more Nobel Pharisees came with him and are not mentioned. Perhaps Joseph of Aramathea or Gamaliel. Or perhaps Nicodemus is using the “we” to distinguish himself and others from the main body of Pharisees. It is doubtful that the Sanhedrin as a body thought Jesus a teacher come from God. In fact they accused Jesus of doing what He did by the power of Beelzebub. At any rate Nicodemus comes by night, obviously fearing being seen with Jesus publicly.
for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
What signs Nicodemus could have known about is unclear since so far Jesus had done just one we are told of.
Jesus has no time for flattery. He knew who He came from and He also knew why He came.
John 3:3 (NASB)
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
To the Jewish mind, the Kingdom of God was an earthly kingdom, ruled by a king like David and a time of Wine and rejoicing and wealth similar to the times of Solomon.
I can’t see this kingdom unless what?
John 3:4 (NASB)
4 Nicodemus said* to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
Nicodemus’ concern is understandable on the surface. Certainly a man cannot physically be born when he is old and he certainly cannot enter his mothers womb a second time. The physical restrictions aside, what if someone’s mother had already passed away. Would this keep him out of God’s kingdom?
The difficulty comes from the word Jesus used here. In the English it is translated “born again”. It has remained this way to show why Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus. The word’s used are “gennao anothen”. The word gennao means to bring forth, to be born. It implies decendence from another. The word "anothen" can have two meanings. One as Nicodemus took it is again. But the more frequent use was from above.
It is used this way by Jesus later in this chapter
John 3:31 (NASB) 31 "He who comes from above (anothen) is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
At Jesus’ death we see the temple veil was torn and its description uses the word anothen
Matthew 27:51 (NASB) 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top (anothen) to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
So what Jesus is saying is that unless a man is born from above, literally from God, he cannot see the kingdom of God The misunderstanding of what is literal and what is spiritual has gotten men in trouble for centuries. We say we are born again but we really are born from above and from God.
John 3:5-8 (NASB)
5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
This mystery of rebirth has been debated for centuries. Most of Gods mysteries are like that and this one is certainly no different. Jesus began by saying unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom. He now gives more detail and says unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom
Some have tried to make the water birth and spirit birth two distinct births and this cannot be supported by the Greek structure here. Some also say that the water birth is the natural birth all men undergo. Also not supported by the structure since all men are born in this fashion, and so this would not agree with the word “Unless” as if there were a choice.
If we connect this water birth with a Spiritual birth from above that is where the difficulty comes in. Many scholars say that Nicodemus could not escape the allusion to a Jewish mode of expression in regard to both proselytes and priests who were both viewed as reborn. But in that case Nicodemus should have understood the implications
The Talmud in “Yebarn 22” and “Bekor 47” and other Rabbinic writings have many sections that allude to “NEW BIRTH” and Nicodemus would have known this.
A proselyte upon conversion and immersion was said to be born anew or a new creature. The old gentile man was gone along with family who were no longer his closest kin, and the new Jewish man was born
A priest upon entering the office and being immersed was said to have been born anew. The old man was gone and a new priest of God along with new white linen clothes and responsibilities was born
It also had the allusion of his past now being in the past and all of his past sins forgiven. It implied a new state. What disturbed or confused Nicodemus was that the sure meaning of Jesus’ words pointed to a new birth from above or from God.
When a man was literally or physically born, it was said to be of God. But the new births I just mentioned were seen as from man. This is why Nicodemus asked if a man could go back into his mothers womb a second time
But John's repeated use of the word anothen to mean from above rather than again or a second time is our clue here.
1 John 2:29 (NASB) If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
1 John 3:9 (NASB) No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 4:7 (NASB) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 5:1 (NASB)
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
Eerdman says this: Judaism could understand a new relationship towards God and man and even the forgiveness of sin. But it had no conception of a moral renovation, a spiritual birth as the initial condition for reformation, far less as that for seeing or entering the Kingdom of God.
I believe Jesus was speaking of baptism and its effects and benefits from above or from God There are repeated passages that speak to our dying to the old sinful self and then being created anew in the baptismal grave
When asked of Peter on Pentecost what the listeners had to do, Peter said to repent and be baptized for the remission of sin and the reception of the Holy Spirit
The last command Jesus gave His apostles and by extension us was "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Paul tells us in Romans 6 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Paul again says in Galatians 3 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
And finally in Colossians 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
All of these speak of something new, something different, a resurrection and a new birth to newness of life and the working of the Holy Spirit and are not mentioned in or from any other place but in the watery grave. I cannot tell you exactly how God accomplishes this. It is a mystery and Jesus says as much to Nicodemus.
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
We can see the effects of wind but not the wind itself. So too we see the effects of the working of the Holy Spirit, that we call maturity and fruit, but as humans we cannot explain it and neither could one of the most educated scholars of Israel 9 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?"
This was something Nicodemus had never heard. No Rabbinic school ever taught this or anything concerning the Holy Spirit or God initiating a second birth
John 3:10-12 (NASB)
10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
11 "Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Jesus is as amazed as we are at just how little the Jewish scholars really knew or understood. Too much of man’s teachings had entered the school. Too much of Gods word was reduced to “non important” status when it conflicted with what man taught. The meaning of words changed and the clear meaning of passages like Isaiah 53 were changed to fit their nonsensical teachings
Are you a teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? This sounds like Paul’s rebuke to us, “I am amazed not more of you are teachers by now…”
If you cannot see from what has already been revealed in earthly types (Israel crossing through the Red Sea, the cloud of God engulfing them, the priest’s washings, Naaum washing himself in the Jordan to clean his leprosy etc)
If you cannot understand earthly things how will you understand heavenly things?
But if you think that was difficult wait till you hear this
John 3:13-15 (NASB)
13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
We like to think that when Abraham and Moses died they went to heaven. They did not! They went to a place called paradise. Jesus said as much to the thief on the cross (this day you will be with me in paradise)
That is because the ultimate sacrifice for sin had not yet occurred. They had not yet been washed in the blood of the Lamb. The lamb who takes away the sin of the world had yet to be offered up.
The reference to Moses and the serpent on the staff is important here. Because of Israel’s continual disobedience, God sent serpents to bite and injure Israel. The serpent is always representative of the devil and his poisonous venom. God made a way out, seemingly simple but at the same time seemingly foolish. Simply look to the serpent on the staff and the Lord will heal you. We know from recorded scripture that it worked
Jesus makes this a type or shadow of what He must do. He must be lifted up on the cross and all bitten sinful men must look to Him for the cure. Not the cross so many today have made a good luck charm, or religion practiced to appease God, or good works or even the giving of monies.
We are told to look to Jesus. Look at what he has done. Submit to it and identify with it, take part in that death as if it were our own (and it is) and then as he was raised so we too might be raised to new life “IN CHRIST”
Jesus says to him who believes this (and believe here means also to surrender to all that is a part of Him)
To him will be given eternal life. That is the only way.
