Last week, I worked very hard to end on a sour note. Let's reread 2:23-24:
(23) Now, while he was in Jerusalem during the Passover at the feast, many gave allegiance to his name,
seeing his signs that he was doing.
(24) Now, Jesus himself wasn't giving his own allegiance to them
because he knew all people,
and because need, he didn't have
that anyone should testify about man.
For himself knew what was in man.
While Jesus was in Jerusalem, he did a bunch of other signs that AJ hasn't told us about. Miracles, of some sort or another. But AJ doesn't tell us about any of them. For AJ, what Jesus did, specifically, is less important here than how "the many" respond to Jesus. "Many" people, when they saw the signs Jesus was doing, "gave their allegiance" to Jesus.
But this allegiance, shockingly, wasn't reciprocated by Jesus. Jesus sees all of these people coming to him, saying the right things, doing the right things, and he knows that this response isn't trustworthy. There is something about it that is lacking.
What is it? This week, we get at least a partial answer. Our story continues, in 3:1:
(3:1) Now, there was a man from the Pharisees-- Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Judeans.
(2) This one came to him at night,
and he said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that from God, a teacher, you have come.
For no one is able these signs to do that you are doing,
except only if God was with him."
Let's pause here. John gives us four clues here, for how to read everything that follows, and we need to make sure we catch these.
(1) Nicodemus is a man.
This maybe doesn't grab you. So let me try reading 2:24-3:1, taking out the chapter division and the white space:
(24) Now, Jesus himself wasn't giving his own allegiance to them
because he knew all people,
and because need, he didn't have
that anyone should testify about man.
For himself knew what was in man.
(3:1) Now, there was a man from the Pharisees.
John just told us that Jesus didn't trust the many who gave their allegiance to him, because Jesus knew what was in man. There is something about man that's just off. Then in verse 1, John deliberately opens by saying that there was a man from the Pharisees. We are being invited to read this story, as a story about what's wrong with "man."
(2) Nicodemus is a ruler of the Judeans.
Nicodemus is not simply a "man." John goes out of his way to describe him a second way, as a ruler of the Judeans.
At this, we are supposed to remember John 1:10-12. These words are about Jesus, and how he was received by his own people, the Judeans:
"In the world, he (Jesus) was,
and the world through him happened (=was created),
and the world, him it didn't know.
For/to his own he came,
and his own didn't receive him.
Now, as many as received him, he gave to them authority/right children of God to be--to the ones giving allegiance to his name."
The gospel of John doesn't really hide anything from us at the beginning of the book. There are no surprises about how all of this is going to turn out. You are going to read Jesus shine as a light, as truth, in the world. But the world didn't know him. And his own people-- the Judeans-- didn't receive him. So when Nicodemus comes, as a ruler of the Judeans, we expect him to act as part of the majority who reject Jesus.
(3) Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.
When we hear this detail, we are supposed to remember John 1:5:
"And the light in the darkness shines,
and the darkness didn't understand (or: seize) it.
John will have a lot more to say about darkness and light as the gospel continues, but even on the basis of this one verse, we should understand darkness negatively.
The question, though, is how are we supposed to view Nicodemus coming "at night." Some scholars (Schnackenburg, for one) think we are supposed to understand this positively. They argue that Nicodemus is coming out of the darkness, and to the Light.
But I think this is wrong. It's not how AJ describes it, for one thing. Nicodemus comes "at" night, and not "out of the darkness." And, for another, given the framework AJ has given us, I think it's more likely that there is something fundamentally deceitful about the way Nicodemus approaches Jesus. My own take on this is that if Nicodemus was sincere, and trustworthy, he'd be coming to Jesus during normal business hours. Not slinking to him at night.
I'm going to try really hard to read John from left to right, but let's turn to John 12:42-48 (NKJV modified):
42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many gave allegiance to him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who gives allegiance to Me, gives allegiance not to Me but to Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever gives allegiance to Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not [g]believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
I think Nicodemus coming at night is a clue that he is untrustworthy (2:23). There is something about his allegiance that isn't authentic. And what's missing, in large part, is a willingness to be open about his "faith/allegiance" toward Jesus.
(4) Nicodemus comes to Jesus as representative of the Judeans.
Let's reread Nicodemus's first words:
and he said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that from God, a teacher you have come.
When you hear Nicodemus's words in chapter 3, understand that Nicodemus doesn't just speak for himself. He speaks on behalf of a larger group of people-- of the Judeans who find themselves seeing what Jesus is doing, and understanding that he must be from God, but unable to fully commit to Jesus.
So if we put all of this together, we should expect what we are about to read to go poorly. We should expect Nicodemus to be the kind of man who isn't trustworthy. He is the kind of man who gives allegiance to Jesus, but in a way that cannot be counted on. He serves as a representative of, and spokesman for, the Judeans who will only give partial allegiance to Jesus. And this, quite simply, isn't good enough (H/T Jouette Bassler).
Let's start again, from 3:1:
(3:1) Now, there was a man from the Pharisees-- Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Judeans.
(2) This one came to him at night,
and he said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that from God, a teacher, you have come.
For no one is able these signs to do that you are doing,
except only if God was with him."
What does Nicodemus "know"? He knows three things:
(1) Nicodemus knows that Jesus is, in some sense, from God.
(2) He knows that Jesus is a teacher.
(3) He knows that God is with Jesus.
Now, when we read Nicodemus's words, we understand that Nicodemus has a true, but only partial, understanding of who Jesus is, and where he came from. Why do we know this? We've read chapter 1. WE know that Jesus is "from God," not simply as a divinely sent teacher, but as the one through whom the world was created. We know that Jesus has been "with/toward" the Father forever (1:18).
What does Nicodemus "know"? Nicodemus knows that Jesus is a teacher from God, and that God is with him. He views Jesus as being someone like himself-- maybe as a better version of himself.
So we recognize that there is a gap between what Nicodemus knows, and what we know.
Now, this gap doesn't have to be the end of the world. Nathaniel, in chapter 1, also had a true, but partial understanding of Jesus. And Jesus was able to take that true, but partial understanding, and push him toward the full truth (1:49, to 2:11).
So the question is, will Jesus be able to do the same thing for Nicodemus? Will Nicodemus be able to overcome this dark starting point, to move from partial to full sight?
I should say one more thing about these verses. Notice what the signs did for Nicodemus. They brought Nicodemus toward Jesus. That's what signs are designed to do. They are the first step, in pointing people in the right direction, toward the right person. Here, Jesus' signs did their job.
Verse 3:
(3) Jesus answered,
and he said to him,
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born [from above/again], he isn't able to see the kingdom of God."
Jesus sees the man Nicodemus, and hears his words, and he knows what's in his heart. No one has to tell Jesus that something is wrong with Nicodemus' Spiritual vision (2:23-24). It's like Nicodemus is wearing a bad pair of glasses, and he just can't see reality for the way it truly is. He sees something-- but not everything. And what he sees, he doesn't see right.
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This is the only place in the gospel of John that talks about "the kingdom of God." And this idea is something that Christians (including myself) struggle to really understand. We aren't quite sure what to do with it. We're uncomfortable working with that language.
God has a kingdom. And this kingdom is invading earth. Jesus is the one who brings in the kingdom, in power. And people enter into the kingdom, as they come to King Jesus, giving their allegiance to him. This is a kingdom marked by its offer of freedom. If you want to be freed from Sin, and sins, and Satan, you come to Jesus
.
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, scholars talk about how God's kingdom is "already" here, but also "not yet" (="partially realized eschatology"). I prefer calling it the "now and later," fwiw. We see the kingdom coming in power, partially, now. But it's not yet everything it will be. If you picture this tension between already and not-yet as a sliding scale, and compare it to John, John leans way more toward the side of "already." Eternal life is something we have, and experience, now (John 17:3). We are in God's kingdom, now, with the perks that come with that.
How does this tie in with John 2? Scholars disagree about how to understand Jesus' initial response to Nicodemus here. Some make it sound like Jesus' words really have nothing to do with what Nicodemus has said.
But I assume that we are seeing John 1:10 acted out (NIV): 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
Nicodemus is outside of God's kingdom. He's part of the world (which is not good). He doesn't see God's kingdom; he's not part of it. And you can't see Jesus, or understand who he really is, so long as you stay an outsider.
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And so Jesus cuts straight to Nicodemus' problem.
Nicodemus isn't going to be able to see Jesus rightly, and see God's kingdom, unless he is born... how?
We've heard our whole lives that we have to be born "again." We call ourselves "born again" Christians. But your English Bibles should all have a little footnote here, and if you follow it down, you'll read that the Greek word can also mean "from above." It's ambiguous by itself; the way you tell what it means is through context. So what does it mean here?
Verse 4:
(4) Nicodemus says to him,
"How is a man able to be born,
an old man being?
"He isn't able, into the womb of his mother, a second time to enter and to be born, can he?"
What Nicodemus heard, was that you have to be born again to see God's kingdom. And Nicodemus knows that this is impossible. We no longer fit inside our mothers. And so he responds to Jesus, saying that this is impossible.
Jesus tries to work with Nicodemus here, and help him understand that he meant "from above"-- from God-- and not again. Verse 5:
(5) Jesus answered,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and Spirit , he isn't able to enter into the kingdom of God.
Jesus begins helping Nicodemus by reframing his language. Nicodemus got stuck on what it means to talk about being born [again/from above]. So instead of using this language, Jesus talks about a birth of "water and Spirit."
Now, what does it mean to be born "of water"? Scholars read Jesus' words as people who are already committed to a particular view of water baptism. If you're a Baptist, you read Jesus' words, and you can't make sense of them. Because you KNOW that you don't have to be baptized to enter into God's kingdom. You know you should be baptized, but you KNOW that baptism is just a symbol and doesn't do anything. And so you maybe argue that being born of water has to do with either the amniotic fluid in your mother's womb, or with semen.
But if you're a scholar from pretty much any other denomination, you read Jesus' words, and you have no problem with this. The vast majority of Johannine scholars accept that Jesus is talking about baptism here.
(And the best argument for this majority view is that John is going to immediately follow this story by talking about Jesus and his disciples baptized lots and lots of people (John 4:1-2).)
Now, why would it be necessary to be baptized in order to see God's kingdom?
Baptism is the step that people take, to pass over from death to life. It marks the boundary between darkness and light, between outsiders and insiders.
Nicodemus "gives allegiance" to Jesus, but he does so secretly. He does so as part of a group of people who publicly remain outside of the church. This doesn't work. You can't love the praise of people more than the praise of God (12:42-43). There is no secret salvation. There is no slipping into God's kingdom, without an open, public confession of Jesus (12:42) and without being part of the visible church.
Now, there was also a second thing necessary to be born "from above." Jesus says you have to be born of water and of Spirit. Jesus will explain this in a minute.
But before we jump into that, we should note that Jesus tries to help Nicodemus a second way in this verse. Instead of talking about "seeing" God's kingdom, here he talks about "entering" it. It's the same idea; Jesus just changes his language to try to help Nicodemus.
Verse 6:
(6) What has been born from flesh, flesh it is,
and what has been born from the Spirit, Spirit it is.
What does it mean to be born from flesh, and to be flesh? Our answer comes by cheating to John 8:37-41:
37 “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have [n]seen with your father.”
39 They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.”
Nicodemus comes to Jesus as a Judean-- as someone who from birth, considers himself to be part of God's people (John 8:37-39).
But Jesus says that this isn't true. If you want to be born from above, you have to be born from (water and) the Spirit.
And if you do this, you are transformed.
People who have been born from the Spirit, become Spirit. They have been transformed into something entirely different. And flesh and Spirit really have very little to do with each other.
Jesus continues, in verse 7:
(7) Don't marvel that I said to you,
"You must be born [from above/again]."
The Spirit/wind, wherever it wants, it blows,
and its sound you hear,
but you don't know from where it comes,
and where it is going.
In this way each one having been born from the Spirit/wind is.
What it is that Nicodemus still lacks? He needs to be born from above. He needs the heavenly birth-- the Spiritual birth.
Jesus has been born from above. He's been born from the Spirit. And Nicodemus has seen the fruit of Jesus' life. He's heard the sounds the Spirit has made through Jesus. He knows that there is a reality here-- a truth-- that he is not experiencing.
But what doesn't he know? Nicodemus had started off by saying that he knows that Jesus is a teacher from God. This is correct. But Nicodemus doesn't realize the extent to which this is true. Jesus is from God/above in a far more profound way that Nicodemus thinks. So this is what Jesus says:
"You don't know from where it comes,
and where it is going."
Jesus is "from God." Absolutely. But he is from God is a far more profound way than Nicodemus realizes.
And Jesus then finishes by saying something that surprises us, maybe:
"In this way each one having been born from the Spirit/wind is."
What is true for Jesus, and so confusing for Nicodemus, is true for all of you.
If you are Christians, you have been born from above. You are Spirit people. And non-Christians look at your life, and they see the effects of the Spirit blowing. They know there is a truth there-- a reality-- that they don't experience, and that they can't understand. They don't understand your origins, as being born from above. And they don't understand where you are going-- to be with God forever. All they can do is hear the sounds of the Spirit working, and either be drawn to you, or run from you.
Nicodemus hears all of this, and he's hopelessly lost. Verse 9:
Nicodemus answered,
and he said to him,
"How can these things be?"
(10) Jesus answered,
and he said to him,
"You are the teacher of Israel,
and these things you don't know?
(11) Truly, truly, I say to you, that what we know,
and what we have seen , we testify,
and our testimony you (plural) don't receive.
Let's pause here. In verse 11, Jesus suddenly begins speaking on behalf of a larger group of people. It's no longer just about him. We are supposed to hear the church-- ourselves-- here. What WE know to be true because WE have been born from above, and what WE have seen-- God's kingdom-- we testify. We openly tell the world the truth. But our testimony "you (plural)" Judeans don't receive.
Jesus is no longer only addressing Nicodemus here. Nicodemus came as ruler of the Judeans, a member of the Pharisees. And Nicodemus' problems in this chapter, are not his alone. Judeans, in general, don't receive "our" testimony. They don't believe it. And so Jesus speaks on behalf of the church, to Nicodemus who stands on behalf of the Judeans. "We" Christians know what we are talking about. "You" Judeans don't.
Jesus continues:
If the earthly things I told y'all, and y'all don't believe, how, if I tell y'all heavenly things, will y'all believe?,
(13) and no one has ascended into heaven,
except only the one from heaven having descended-- the son of man,
(14) and just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, in this way the son of man must be lifted up,
in order that each one giving allegiance to him will have eternal life.
(16) For in this way God loved the world,
so that He gave his unique son,
in order that each one giving allegiance to him shall not perish
but shall have eternal life.
(17) For God didn't send his son into the world,
in order that he would condemn the world,
but in order that the world would be saved through him.
(18) The one giving allegiance to him isn't condemned.
Now, the one not giving allegiance already has been condemned,
because he has not given allegiance to the name of the unique son of God.
What is the real stumbling block for Judeans? It's Jesus. The idea that God would choose to rescue the world through Jesus-- through his being "lifted up"-- was too much. The idea that salvation was found only through allegiance to Jesus-- was too much.
God for centuries had been the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had related to them for centuries through the Abrahamic, and then Mosaic covenants. How do you go from that, to saying that anyone who doesn't give allegiance to this Jesus is already condemned?
So on one level, we can understand why so many Judeans rejected Jesus.
But this should raise a really important question for us. And this question is something that doesn't bother us, the way it should.
What was God's purpose in sending Jesus? Did God send Jesus in order to condemn the world-- and, more specifically, the Judeans? Did God send Jesus to work over people like Nicodemus, who just can't seem to understand, or accept, what Jesus says?
I think if we hear that as the question this passage answers, then John 3 speaks more clearly.
God didn't send Jesus to condemn the world. God didn't do this to reject his people. He didn't do this to make it as hard as possible for people to come to Him. God sent Jesus because He loves the world, and He wants to save the world. The only way that sin could be dealt with, truly, fully, was through Jesus' sacrificial death. And the only way that this sacrifice can be applied to us, to count for us, is through allegiance to Jesus.
The other thing we need to talk about here is verse 14. Let's reread it:
(14) and just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, in this way the son of man must be lifted up,
in order that each one giving allegiance to him will have eternal life.
When you read "eternal life," what do you hear? Living with God forever on the new earth? Some future blessing?
Let's cheat way ahead to John 17:3:
Now, this is eternal life:
that they know you-- the only true God--
and who you sent-- Jesus Christ.
What eternal life means, in John, above all else, is knowing God, and knowing Jesus. So the only way to truly know God, is by giving your allegiance to Jesus. Judeans don't know God. Muslims don't know God. No one else knows God. Only Christians. You have and experience eternal life right now, because you know Jesus, and you know his Father.
And anyone who refuses to give their allegiance to Jesus has already been condemned. Not because God has condemned them. But because they have chosen to place themselves in condemnation. This is a self-inflicted condemnation.
Let's pick back up at verse 19:
(19) Now, this is the judgment:
that light has come into the world,
and men loved the darkness, rather than the light.
For their deeds were evil.
For each one, worthless/evil things doing hates the light,
and he doesn't come to the light,
lest his deeds be exposed.
(21) Now, the one doing the truth comes to the light,
in order that his works may be revealed,
that/because in God they are being worked.
So what is it, at the end of the day, that keeps people from giving their allegiance to Jesus? It's not that people are running around doing good, trying to earn their way to heaven. It's not that people need to be broken of the idea that self-righteousness won't work.
What keeps people coming from coming to the light, is that they love the darkness. They love wickedness. They enjoy it. They feel comfortable in it. Nicodemus is at home in the dark. It's his natural environment. That's why AJ told us, up front, that Nicodemus came "at night."
And people who love the darkness, hate the light, because it exposes everything about them.
(And, actually, verse 21, if you see signs that someone is doing more and more good, and less and less evil, that's maybe a sign that they are coming toward the light. Like coworkers who find themselves blaspheming less because of you, or showing more kindness toward others, or getting married to their live-in girlfriends. View this, maybe, as a sign that people are coming closer to Jesus, and that you are successfully shining as a light).
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So how should we understand Nicodemus, when we step back and try to see the bigger picture?
Nicodemus began with a true, but partial, understanding of who Jesus is. But he ends hopelessly lost. After talking to Jesus, he's more confused than he was at first. There's no progress-- he actually goes backward. (And so it turns out he's not like Nathaniel.)
What keeps Nicodemus from a full understanding of Jesus-- from understanding "our" testimony?
When we read about Nicodemus, we learn something about why the Judeans rejected Jesus (in the first century, when John wrote addressing a specific context). Judeans were unwilling to come out of the darkness because they were wicked. They refused to accept "our" teaching about who Jesus truly is and where he is from. They refused to accept that the Spiritual birth only comes through water and Spirit, and not through Abraham. And because they are unwilling to do this, and haven't experienced this birth from above, they can't understand us. They know there is something different about us. They can see that we are Spirit people. But they can't understand from where we are (=from above/God), and they can't understand where we are going (to be with God).
And so because they refuse to accept "our" testimony about Jesus, Judeans stand condemned.
God didn't want all of this to happen. God sent Jesus because he loves the world. He wanted Judeans to give their allegiance to the Messiah they had been waiting for, for centuries. But they refused. And this story helps us understand why this happened.
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If you're not a Christian, much of what happens in church is a mystery to you. You can see that we are different.
You know that God-- the Holy Spirit-- is at work here. But so much of this is confusing.
You will never understand Christianity from the outside. You can't understand Spirit things without the Spirit. You have to become a Christian, for it to make sense. How do you become a Christian? How do you see, and enter, God's kingdom?
You have to be born "from above." You have to be born of water (getting baptized) and Spirit. You have to leave the darkness, and give your total allegiance to Jesus.
Translation:
(23) Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover at the feast, many gave allegiance to his name,
seeing his signs that he was doing.
(24) Now, Jesus himself wasn't giving allegiance to them
because he knew all people,
and because need, he didn't have
that anyone should testify about man.
For himself knew what was in man.
(3:1) Now, there was a man from the Pharisees-- Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews.
(2) This one came to him at night,
and he said to him,
"Rabbi, we know that from God, a teacher you have come.
For no one is able these signs to do that you are doing,
except only if God was with him."
(3) Jesus answered,
and he said to him,
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born [from above/again], he isn't able to see the kingdom of God."
(4) Nicodemus says to him,
"How is a man able to be born,
an old man being?
(5) Jesus answered,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and Spirit , he isn't able to enter into the kingdom of God.
(6) What has been born from flesh, flesh it is,
and what has been born from the Spirit, Spirit it is.
(7) Don't marvel that I said to you,
"You must be born [from above/again]."
The Spirit/wind, wherever it wants, it blows,
and its sound you hear,
but you don't know from where it comes,
and where it is going.
In this way each one having been born from the Spirit/wind is.
Nicodemus answered,
and he said to him,
"How can these things be?"
(10) Jesus answered,
and he said to him,
"You are the teacher of Israel,
and these things you don't know?
(11) Truly, truly, I say to you, that what we know,
and what we have seen, we testify,
and our testimony y'all don't receive.
If the earthly things I told y'all, and y'all don't believe, how, if I tell y'all heavenly things, will y'all believe?,
(13) and no one has ascended into heaven,
except only the one from heaven having descended-- the son of man,
(14) and just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, in this way the son of man must be lifted up,
in order that each one giving allegiance to him will have eternal life.
(16) For in this way God loved the world,
so that He gave his unique son,
in order that each one giving allegiance to him shall not perish
but shall have eternal life.
(17) For God didn't send his son into the world,
in order that he would condemn the world,
but in order that the world would be saved through him.
(18) The one giving allegiance to him isn't condemned.
Now, the one not giving allegiance already has been condemned,
because he has not given allegiance to the name of the unique son of God.
