An excerpt from the soon-to-be-available John in Everyday Bible Study guides.
John 3:1-21
3:1 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 are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
The Pharisees have suffered from both bad press as well as from overt stereotyping that has at times turned into anti-Semitism and violence against Jews. Christians are the perpetrators. Here’s how they do their nasty work. Step one: Pharisees, they say, were legalistic, picayune, scrupulous fundamentalists who thought they could earn their way to heaven by their good works. This denies the Christian gospel of grace and faith. Step two in the fatal pattern is to say all Jews are Pharisees. Step three is overt anti-Semitism and the Final Step is Jews are “Jesus killers” and deserving of whatever happens to them. Most Christians take some of these steps. Not all take each step but the first step is the trouble-making step. The Gospel of John is one of their sources.
The evidence from the 1st Century counters nearly every inch of every step taken here. The Pharisees liberalized in their law observance by adding rules that made the law do-able. They were not then hide-bound, inflexible conservatives. A recent Jewish scholar on a webinar said the Pharisees were 1st Century progressives! Here’s a surprise for many Christians: Pharisees were confident in their place in God’s covenant and not concerned about going to heaven when they died. In fact, the Christian understanding of heaven was not their understanding of the afterlife at all. They thought the future was a kingdom on earth, centered of course in Jerusalem where everyone would observe the Torah. They knew they were destined for the kingdom because they were God’s elect and observant as covenant people. Pharisees were law-observant Jews who formed home Bible studies (or the 1st Century equivalent) and worked hard to help all people follow the law. Recent studies, in fact, would say the Pharisees were “more liberal” than Jesus and that Jesus was more Bible-based (Sievers and Levine).
And they were not all alike. Some were like Nicodemus who were clearly impressed by Jesus, wanted to get to know him and have some conversations. Nicodemus then represents a Pharisee-seeker.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus
Nicodemus was one of Jerusalem’s prominent Pharisees and he was a “member of the Jewish ruling council,” which is paraphrase for “ruler of the Judeans” (3:1).[1] He comes at night, which for John sign-ifies spiritual darkness posed over against Jesus as the Light of the world (3:19, 21). He’s a seeker pondering that Jesus must be “from God” because of the “signs” he was performing (3:2). Nicodemus is on the journey of faith, and that he continued to grow in faith shows up in 7:50 and 19:39. Did he ever get there? As Alan Culpepper has said, “The reader has good reason to be hopeful about Nicodemus” (Culpepper, “Nicodemus,” 259). Perhaps many Pharisees were like Nicodemus when it came to responding to Jesus.
Jesus jumps a hurdle or two, responding with “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (3:3). The expression “born again” could be translated “born anew” or “born from above,” indicating not only a rebirth but also a fusion with the God who has come to us in his Son, the Logos (1:14; Thompson, John, 79). Nicodemus has not yet arrived at full faith: he hears those words of Jesus and can’t make sense of a second birth, whether as born again or born from above.
So Jesus explains what he means.
Jesus explains
Instead of simplifying what he had just said, as one might expect, Jesus dives into the depths of Who he is and the Life he offers. Readers need to be on full alert because Jesus swims fast and changes directions a few times. You might just mark in your Bible the various images Jesus uses in from John 3:5-15.
First, Jesus defines “born again” with “unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (3:5), or perhaps “born of water, that is, Spirit.” The meaning of “of water and the Spirit” could be first water, then Spirit. In which case, water points to baptism by water, and Spirit would point to the indwelling of the Spirit of the new covenant. Or this may be a singular act of God’s regenerating work of a person. As a singular act we might translate it as “water, that is, Spirit,” that is purification by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-28). The first option seems more likely to me.
Second, Jesus explains two cosmic powers at work in the world: “flesh” and “Spirit/spirit,” each with its own capacity to reproduce. But flesh cannot reproduce into Spirit, only Spirit can do that. Spirit-rebirth here is a surprising, uncalculated, unearned act of God (3:8). The Greek word for “spirit” and “Spirit” and “wind” is pneuma, and John plays with the term here. God’s Spirit (pneuma) works in the human spirit (pneuma) in mysterious yet wholly surprising ways like the wind (pneuma). David Ford must be quoted here. He says verse eight
evokes imaginatively a God who is free (the wind/Spirit blows where it chooses), who overflows our categories, who challenges ours knowledge of origins and purposes (where it comes from or where it goes), who has an energy we cannot harness, who can spring endless surprises, who is unseen yet effective, and who can blow us in new directions (his italics and bold; Ford, John, 89).
Third, Jesus challenges Nicodemus, who remains confused (3:9) even if he is “Israel’s teacher” (3:10). In fact, Jesus points a long finger at the man: “you people do not accept our testimony” (3:10-11). Then Jesus asks him how someone stuck in “earthly things” can comprehend or believe in “heavenly things” (3:12). Jesus probes Nicodemus more. The only one who can speak of such heavenly things is the one who has come down, the “Son of Man” (3:13; cf. 1:51), and the one who will be “lifted up,” that is crucified (3:14; 8:28; 12:32-33). Those who “believe” in that Son of Man “may have eternal life in him” (3:15; again, 20:30-31 and 1:4).
We cannot be overly surprised Nicodemus has trouble keeping up with Jesus. Most of us have to read the paragraph (3:10-15) a couple times to catch it all.
God’s mission explained by John
Jesus is not done and he changes directions again with some new themes and metaphors about God’s mission in this world. Or should we say John expands on what Jesus said to Nicodemus? It is hard to know who is now speaking: would you put John 3:16-21 in red letters or black letters? (I suggest black letters.)
First, God’s mission expresses God’s love for the world. Jesus was sent into the world because God loves the world (3:16). As Murray Harris defines it, this divine love is “clearly a strong, selfless, gift-giving love that is totally focused on the welfare of others” and he adds that “God’s love knows no bounds in its intensity (it is limitless) or in its scope (it includes all humans) (Harris, John 3:16, 11, 13). God’s love-mission means God gave “his one and only Son” to redeem the world, and that redemption is both “beyond imagination” and “beyond calculation” in giving his Son (Harris, 18). The power of that love-mission is that anyone and everyone who “believes in him” is gifted “eternal life.” John characteristically repeats himself: God’s mission is not a mission of condemnation but a mission of salvation (3:17), but salvation is only for those who turn to Jesus in faith (3:18).
Second, God’s mission enters into cosmic battle. John backs up to chapter one now with the imagery of Light and Darkness. In John 1 his own people rejected Jesus but that repudiation is now cosmic: “Light has come into the world, but the humans [my translation; NIV has “people”] loved darkness” (3:19). Not only is it cosmic, that rejection occurs in the midst of a cosmic battle: “everyone who does evil hates the light” (or “The Light”; 3:20) because it exposes their unbelief and sin. The alternative is redemption for those who live “by the truth” (3:21) and open themselves to divine exposure.
Now back up to the beginning. This is a conversation with a Pharisee who is a leader in Jerusalem. His concerns were spiritual and everything about this late night discussion shows profound respect by Jesus of the Pharisee as well as genuine seeking by the Pharisee. Nicodemus is more typical of a Pharisee than most Christians think. Nicodemus will show up on Jesus’ side later in the Gospel and when 3000 people get baptized at Pentecost (Acts 2), most likely many of them Pharisees. Jesus blew apart stereotypes and we’d do well to learn from him.
R. Alan Culpepper, “Nicodemus: The Travail of New Birth,” in Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel: Narrative Approaches to Seventy Figures in John, ed. S.A. Hunt, D.F. Tolmie, R. Zimmermann (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2016), 249-259.
Murray J. Harris, John 3:16: What’s It All About? (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade, 2015).
Joseph Sievers, Amy-Jill Levine, editors, The Pharisees (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2021).
[1] The English word “Jew” in our translations today translates the Greek term Youdaioi, which could be translated “Judean,” in which case it refers to persons who live in or who are from Judea. That is, a geographical location more than an ethnic group. Think of referring to Minnesotans as Scandinavians.
I skimmed this yesterday. Today, it got my attention! As an “everyday” Bible Study guide, it is just what I hope for! You give both valuable background information, AND, inspiring pathways to connect “who I am”, “where I am”, for anyone to sense a splash of water as some fresh Wind approaches to wake us and propel us forward, in any direction!
I really liked your Pharisee commentary. Very valuable words for today. It’s more than “pharasaic” name calling. We do plenty of that! It’s recognizing a calling, and, as it is with every calling, we are here to listen, help clarify/encourage, and find the path.
Thank you, Scot! Your Everyday Bible Study Guide will likely find its way into my “every day” library.
I have a question about something you said regarding a theology of the relationship between baptism and the reception of the Holy Spirit which this passage brings to the forefront.
You said: "The meaning of “of water and the Spirit” could be first water, then Spirit. In which case, water points to baptism by water, and Spirit would point to the indwelling of the Spirit of the new covenant."
I had been taught that (water) baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit are meant to always go together. The Holy Spirit is received at (water) baptism as a benefit of baptism. Union with Christ (Ro 6:5) means union with the Spirit (1 Cor 6:17). Thus, there is 'one baptism'.
I'm aware of some other traditions believe that there are 'two baptisms', a water baptism and a separate baptism 'of' the Holy Spirit. Significant 'experiences' with the Holy Spirit separate from water baptism are given as 'practical evidence' of this theological system.
The incidences in Acts 8:14-17 and Acts 10:44-48 are often a point of contention between these theological camps. I believe these examples to show that the early church thought that baptism and the gift of the Spirit were thought to go together and that something was wrong when they didn't go together. (Of course, there is also an act of God involved in how these incidences also kept unity in the church.) Some view this as evidence that they are indeed separate events.
I would be curious to hear what you think of this, especially as it relates to the theology of 'water and Spirit' with the the Johannine corpus.