John 2:23-3:12: Nicodemus at Night

(1) Bible Study Questions

Discuss: Do you have teenagers in your life who sometimes hit you with, “Well, I didn’t ask to be born, did I?” What might you say in response?

1. How did the attenders of the Passover feast in Jerusalem respond to Jesus and why? (John 2:23) Can we evaluate their response? (cf. John 2:18, 4:48, 6:1, 14-15, 30, 12:18)

2. Why does Jesus not entrust himself to man or need the testimony of man? (John 2:23-25, cf. 3:11-12)

3. Who is this man Nicodemus who comes to see Jesus? (3:1, 10)

4. When does he come to see Jesus? (John 3:2, 19:39) Is that significant?

Note: For the significance of the time of the visit and further on this and related ideas, see John 1:5, 3:19, 8:12, 9:4-5, 11:9-10, 12:35-36, 13:30.

5. What is your reaction to the first thing Nicodemus says to Jesus? (3:2)

6. What do you think of Jesus’ response to what Nicodemus says to him? (3:3)

7. What do you think Jesus means by “born from above”? (3:3, 7, cf. 3:6, 8, 1:12-13)

8. What do you think Jesus means by the phrase “born of water and Spirit”? (cf. John 4:14, 7:39-39, and also Matt 3:11, Luke 3:16, Ezek 36:25-28)

9. Can we bring about this birth that Jesus talks about? Why or why not? (John 3:8, 1:12-13, 6:44; cf. Jas 1:17-18; 1 Pet 1:3)

10. John in his First Letter talks about the ‘sounds’ that the Spirit makes when he goes where he wishes (John 3:8). Look up these passages from 1 John to see the consequences or result of being born again of the Spirit:

• 1 John 2:29
• 1 John 3:10, 4:7
• 1 John 5:1

11. What is Nicodemus’ problem with Jesus’ words? (3:4, 7, 9-12)

12. If you are concerned about whether you are “born from above”, how can the following passages help?

• 1 Cor 12:3
• Luke 11:13

(2) Sermon Script

Introduction: Born Twice, Die Once, Live Forever

Buddhism teaches that a person is reborn after they die. The quality of that rebirth depends on performance. If you didn’t do so well, you will come back as a cockroach. Do better, and you might get to be a human again. For Hinduism, you might even get to be a cow.

Such a theory of rebirth is cyclical. You’re born, you live, you die. The form your rebirth takes depends on how you lived last time. You live, you die, you are reborn again, over and over again, one assumes on and on until the end of everything.

By contrast, the biblical view is linear. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” You need to be reborn from above (verse 3, 7). Such a rebirth will only happen once, if it happens at all. And this rebirth will determine what will happen to you in the life to come.

New birth is required in this life if you want to enjoy the life to come. Jesus calls this teaching about being ‘born from above’ an ‘earthly thing’ (v. 12). It is something that must occur in this life. It is something that people who know their Bibles should know about. A church notice board got it right when it proclaimed the new birth to the world: “Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once!”

Simply be born of your mother, and two deaths await you, the physical death, and then the spiritual death: hell. But being born twice, first of your human parents, and then of God, means that you are a child of God and heaven is your home. You might die once, but you were born twice, so you will live forever.

Context (John 1:12-13; 1 John 5:1)

John is the apostle of second birth. No doubt, the words that Jesus said here to Nicodemus at night had a great impact on John. Perhaps John himself was there, as one of Jesus’ inner three. John mentions the ‘new birth’ in his majestic prologue (John 1:1-18) in chapter 1 verses 12-13.

1:12But as many as received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave them the authority to become children of God. 1:13They were not born from the blood of humans, nor from the will of the flesh, nor from the will of man, but were born from God (ἀλλ’ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν).

Spiritual rebirth is an act of God alone. No human intends it, and no human wills it so that it comes to pass. It is purely and only a divine act, and humans do not contribute to it.

However, it has without a doubt occurred wherever someone believes that Jesus is the Christ. 1 John 5:1 says:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. (NIV)

While the new birth issues in believing in Jesus, it is not brought about by believing in Jesus. It is expressly said to be not the result of human will. Humans cannot bring it about. It is not the result of human decision. It is not brought about by human effort. They are “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

It is God’s will that those who are born again are born again. That fits with the image of birth. No one ever gives birth to themselves. Nor does anyone ever choose to be born, as many parents can testify, when their teenagers retort, “Well, I didn’t choose to be born, did I?” Our first birth from our human mothers and fathers is a gracious gift that happens to us. And our birth from above from our heavenly Father is a gracious gift that happens to us. It is not something that we do to ourselves.

Nicodemus at Night: A Testimony Rejected (John 2:23-3:2)

No doubt, the meeting between Nicodemus and Jesus helped John to think through his understanding of the new birth.

Jesus is in Jerusalem during the Passover, like any good Jew. But unlike others, he has been filling Jerusalem with the signs of his glory. He has been doing miracles that point to his unique relationship to his Father.

Nicodemus comes at night to see Jesus. He comes at night time for the same reason that thieves steal at night. Nicodemus doesn’t want to be seen. He is afraid of what the other religious leaders will say. And Nicodemus starts off by saying, “Well teacher, we know you are sent from God” (John 3:2).

But Jesus is not interested in the approval of men. He knows what is in a man (John 2:23-25). So he is not interested in human testimony. He puts the metaphorical hand in Nicodemus’ face, and says in unambiguous terms, “You must be ‘born again’ to see God’s kingdom.”

Born ‘From Above’, ‘Of the Spirit’, ‘Of Water and the Spirit’ (John 3:3-8)

What is this ‘being born again’, being born ‘from above’? ‘Birth’ necessarily points to the beginning of human life. ‘New birth’, being born from above, points to the commencement of the Christian’s new spiritual life. When someone is born from above, a new spiritual life is commenced now, and will continue for eternity.

So Jesus says to Nicodemus, “You must be born again”. Jesus says it solemnly, prefacing it with , “Truly, truly I say to you”. He says it three times (vv. 3, 5, 7). And he says it in three different ways.

Jesus says Nicodemus must be “born again”, or “born from above”, to enter the kingdom of God (vv. 3, 7). Jesus says Nicodemus must be born “of water and the Spirit” to enter the kingdom of God (v. 5). And Jesus says this is the same as being born ‘of the Spirit’. Being “born again” or “from above” is the same as being “born of water and the Spirit” or being born “of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 5, 7, 8).

Many understand the reference to ‘water’ in verse 5 to refer to the ritual of water baptism. The ritual of water baptism then is seen as necessary for being ‘born again’ But Jesus elsewhere is said to baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11; Luke 3:16). And every Christian is said to be baptized by the Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). But few if any have demanded converts be ritually immersed in fire to be born again. In like manner, ‘water’ (like fire) is best seen as a metaphor for the cleansing that the Spirit brings (cf. Ezek 36:25-28; 1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26).

‘Water’ is metaphorical for ‘Spirit’. The verse can quite acceptably be translated, “unless anyone is born of water, that is, Spirit”. The Greek word ‘kai’ very frequently means ‘and’, but it can also me ‘even’. And ‘water’ later in John is expressly used as a figure of speech for the Spirit (John 7:38-39). Jesus says later:

7:38 The one who believes in me, as the Scriptures say, rivers of living water will flow from his belly. 7:39Now he said this about the Spirit, whom the ones who believed in him were about to receive, for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The Spirit is the living water that Jesus gives (cf. John 4:14, 7:38-39). So being born of water and the Spirit is the same as being born of the Spirit. And that cannot be limited to water baptism. After all, the Spirit blows wherever he wills (v. 8). You hear the Spirit’s sound but cannot tell where he comes from or where he is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

If the only place the Spirit made people born again was the baptismal font, we hardly could say the Spirit blows where he wills. We should say that the Spirit blows only within the baptismal font.

When Peter baptized Cornelius, the Spirit had already visibly come upon him. And Peter said “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have” (Acts 10:47-48). So Cornelius and his friends received the Spirit before their water baptism.

By contrast, the believers in Samaria received water baptism, but they have not manifested the Holy Spirit. It is only after Peter and John placed their hands on them that they receive the Holy Spirit, even though they have already been baptized with water (Acts 8:15ff.).

So sometimes in the book of Acts, the Spirit comes first, and then the believers are baptized with water. At other times, the Spirit comes some time after the believers receive Christian water baptism. It is a terrible mistake to limit and confine the Spirit’s work to those who are water baptized.

Likewise, it is a terrible error to replace the means of the new birth, which other passages teach as the preached word applied by the Spirit, with water baptism. The ritual of water baptism is good and a gift from God. It is commanded by Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19-20). It is the pictorial representation of new birth. And if you haven’t been baptised with water and you believe in Jesus, you should be, and I will do it for you, if you like. But the ritual of water baptism is not the same as being born again. Just as my wedding ring is not my marriage, so water baptism is not being born again. It is the symbol or sacrament of being born again.

So I am not going to command you to be born again. Yes, if you haven’t been baptized in water, come and be baptized in water. But I will only baptize you if you have faith in Christ, and that faith in Christ evidences that the Spirit is already at work in you. For “[e]veryone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1).

The Sound of the Spirit (verse 8; 1 John 2:29, 3:10, 4:7, 5:1)

I have been to a number of funerals where the priest (for so he is) has confidently said that the person lying in the casket was born again in baptism, and now they are in heaven by virtue of the new spiritual life given them in the sacrament of baptism that they experienced as infants. In this case, it is very easy to tell if someone was born from above. You simply do a search of the baptismal records of a church.

But John elsewhere says that we can see if people are born again by looking at them, not whether they have a baptismal certificate. Because being ‘born of God’ has practical and obvious results. And John, ‘the apostle of new birth’, talks about the evidences of being born again in his first letter. You can see the effects of the Spirit, but you cannot tell who the Spirit is going to give new birth to. As Jesus says in John chapter 3 verse 8:

3:8The Spirit [or ‘wind’] blows where he wishes, and you hear his sound, but you do not know where he comes from and where he is going. In this same way is each one born from the Spirit.

(1) The One Who Does Right Has Been Born of God (1 John 2:29)

One of the ‘sounds of the Spirit’ is that a person does what is right. 1 John 2:29:

Everyone who does what is right has been born of God (1 John 2:29 NIV)

The person born again or born of God ‘does righteousness’ just as Jesus was righteous and did righteousness (1 John 2:29). The one who does not do what is right is not a child of God (1 John 3:10). So the one who does what is right has been born of God.

Now, this righteousness evidencing the new birth is not an absolute righteousness—a sinlessness. Plenty of passages say that ‘No one is righteous’ in an absolute sense (e.g. Rom 3:10-12) After all, John as already said that the one who claims to be without sin is a liar and has urged the Christians to confess their sins (1 John 1:8-2:2).

Rather, this is a ‘relative righteousness’, a righteousness when compare to others. The person who is ‘righteous’ in this sense has faith in Jesus Christ, lives Jesus’ way, that lives an active Christian life, by fleeing sin, confessing sin when they fall into it, and by repenting and believing “does righteousness”. It is not the ‘absolute righteousness’ of perfectly conforming to God’s standard, the law. It is a relative righteousness. They are living faithful Christian lives and innocent of great transgression and apostasy, and when they fall into sin, they confess and repent. They are evidencing that they are born again.

(2) The One Who Loves Has Been Born of God (1 John 3:10, 4:7)

Another evidence is that they love their brothers, fellow Christians. John says in 1 John 3:10:

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10 NIV)

Again:

Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7 NIV)

God is love. And if someone is born of God, that person begins to take on the likeness of his Father in heaven. The one born of God is characterized by love of neighbour, love of enemy, and love of brother and sister. So the one who claims to be born of God but doesn’t love is not born again.

(3) The One Who Believes That Jesus is the Christ Has Been Born of God (1 John 5:1)

A key piece of evidence of whether they are born again is what they think of Jesus. 1 John 5:1 says:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. (NIV)

Someone who rejects Jesus as the Christ cannot be said to be born of God.

Is Jesus the Christ and your Lord? Then you are born of God. Paul agrees. He says, “no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3 NIV).

The Relationship Between Faith and New Birth

So what is the relationship between new birth and faith? Is faith the fruit and evidence of new birth, or is the new birth the fruit of faith?

John doesn’t specifically explain the relationship between faith and new birth. For John, both simply co-exist in the believer (John 1:12-13; 1 John 5:1). [3]

But the image of ‘birth’ suggests that new birth is the beginning. It doesn’t depend on human faith, but instead the new birth produces human faith. No-one brings about their own birth. The emphasis again and again lies exclusively on God’s sovereign will in bringing about new birth (see especially John 1:12-13; 3:8; Jas 1:17-18; 1 Pet 1:3). Similarly, Jesus said that no one is able to come to him unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). The new birth is an internal and secret work, though with observable effects (cf. John 3:8). So the ‘new birth’ strictly precedes faith as its cause. Faith is the fruit of new birth; new birth the root of faith.

Conclusion

So friends, I do not command you to be born again. I say “You must be born again”. But I do not say, “Be born again”. What I say is “believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved”. And God uses that word to make people new born children. And we know who God’s children are, because they have Jesus as their Lord and Christ, and they love their Christian brothers and sisters.

Let’s pray.

(3) English Translation

(4) Exegetical Notes

Regarding 2:23-25, John has selected the seven signs of which he gives a full account, but he also notes that Jesus did many other signs, apart from those recorded in the Gospel of John, in John 2:23. Verse 23 tells us that many believed, but verse 24 intrudes, because Jesus did not entrust himself to those believers, and in verse 25 Jesus does not need human testimony because he knows what is in a man. This is the reason for Jesus not trusting humans. Jesus can see into the heart, and he doesn’t accept those who believe him because of the signs. The crowd believes in Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t believe in signs. In John 1-12, John’s way of evangelising is through signs (cf. John 20:31), but Jesus considers this as producing only inadequate faith.

It is at that point that Nicodemus is introduced to us in John 3:1, and it is in a negative context. Nicodemus is a man who comes to Jesus at night in John 3:1, which is contextually and verbally linked to John 2:23-25, particularly by the noun ἄνθρωπος, which connotes all that John has just said about human untrustworthiness.

Moreover, in 3:2, Nicodemus comes to Jesus ‘at night’. The genitive νυκτὸς denoting ‘time during which’, and functions adverbally to modify the verb ἦλθεν. Night implies a certain secrecy and covertness about Nicodemus actions, and coming under the cover of darkness gives a negative connotation here (cf. John 19:39). The picture is therefore not consistently positive of Nicodemus, though there are a number of positive elements (e.g. the acknowledgements in 3:2). However, Jesus’ signs have driven Nicodemus to the conclusion that God is with him, and this is not wholly positive. Yet, the account is left open-ended, and positive cameos are provided later (John 7:50-52, 19:39-42).

Nicodemus’ first statement in 3:2 raises the issue of Jesus’ origin. Nicodemus speaks as one of the ruling Jews in declaring that the signs show that Jesus is from God. This shows the reader that the evidences of Jesus’ signs can be correctly appreciated if someone wants to obey God.

The interaction of Jesus and Nicodemus consists of three contributions by Nicodemus, one statement (3:2) followed by two questions (3:4, 9) in response to Jesus’ statements. Jesus makes three statements, each responses, and partly answers to Nicodemus’ statement or questions (3:3, 5-8, 10-15, perhaps longer, vv. 16-21, depending on the solution of the issue of where the quotation ends). Jesus’ responses get progressively longer. Indeed, Jesus speaks more and more as we proceed through the Gospel of John. The speeches of Jesus become longer, for example, John 13-17.

In 3:3, Jesus abruptly changes the topic to what Nicodemus needs to enter life—the real issue is not where Jesus is from, but how Nicodemus will enter the kingdom of God. “You must be born from above. Jesus is introducing the vital questions and setting the agenda of the discussion. Perhaps Nicodemus was looking for answers about eternal life, and expected answers such as “you need to be faithful to the law”. But Jesus says, “You must be born from above”.

Therefore, the double entendre around the motifs of night and darkness may well refer to the fact that Nicodemus comes at night, and he also comes under the darkness of understanding about the kingdom of God and the Old Testament Scriptures (3:10). But there is a more sinister problem for Nicodemus that Jesus points out to him in John 3:11-12: “you do not receive our testimony” and “you do not believe”.

The phrase ‘born again’ (γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν: 3:3, 7) has been rendered in the translation, ‘born from above’. Compare James 1:17. This seems to be a better translation than ‘born again’, as Jesus concentrates not on the number of births someone must have, but the origin of that birth. Some claim that the ἄνωθεν is purposefully ambiguous and means both ‘born from above’ and ‘born again’ (e.g. BAGD, 77), and this does seem consistent with the fact that Nicodemus picks up on the ‘again’ implication of γεννηθῇ (3:4), while Jesus picks up on ἄνωθεν as ‘from above’ in his discourse about entering the kingdom of God and birth by the Spirit (3:5-8). Nevertheless, given how little Nicodemus seems to understand of what Jesus is saying, it is unwise to use his understanding of Jesus as determinative of what ἄνωθεν means.

In 3:5, Nicodemus’ question as to how a man can be born again when he is old shows that he does not understand that Jesus’ is speaking about a spiritual rebirth. Yet Nicodemus is introduced as “a ruler of the Jews” (3:1), and Jesus addresses him as “the teacher of Israel” (3:10). Yet despite all this, Nicodemus doesn’t understand. We are in a privileged position as readers of scripture. If only Nicodemus had the prologue to John, as we do! Yet then, even John the Evangelist probably did not understand. John 2:23-3:12 is the first of a series of dramatic encounters between the religious leaders and Jesus. The institutions of religion are insufficient to bring humans eternal life.

One can take ‘water’ (3:5) as metaphorical for ‘Spirit’. The phrase “born of water and Spirit” || γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος can quite acceptably be translated, “born of water, that is, Spirit”. The Greek conjunction καί (‘kai’) very frequently means ‘and’, but it can also me ‘even’, the so called ascensive καί. And ‘water’ later in John is expressly used as a figure of speech for the Spirit (John 7:38-39).

This interpretation is that of John Calvin. See Calvin, Commentary John, 111-2; Carson 1991, 194-5; C S Keener, John, 1:550-1; A J Köstenberger, John: BECNT, 123-4. It is supported in part by Origen, Commentary John, 2:249ff (only in part: Origen says that Spirit and water are the same, but Origen still holds to baptismal regeneration). I will quote Calvin’s comments at length:

So far as this passage is concerned, I cannot at all bring mystelf to believe that Christ is speaking of Baptism, for it would have been inopportune. And we must always keep Christ’s purpose in mind, which we have already explained as a wish to urge Nicodemus to newness of life, because he was not capable of receiving the Gospel until he began to be another man. […]

Accordingly, He used the words Spirit and water to mean the same thing, and this ought not to be regarded as harsh or forced. It is a frequent and common way of speaking in Scripture, when the Spirit is mentioned, to add the word water or fire to express his power. We sometimes hear of Christ baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire, where fire does not mean something different from the Spirit but only shows what is His power in us. It matters little that He puts the word water first. He phrase just flows more easily than the other, since a plain and straightforward statement follows the metaphor. It is as if Christ had said that no on is a son of God until he has been renewed by water and that this water is the Spirit who cleanses us anew and who, by His power, poured upon us, imparts to us the energy of the heavenly life when by nature we are utterly barren. […]

By water therefore is meant simply the inward cleansing and quickening of the Holy Spirit. Nor is unusual to employ the word and explanatorily when the latter clause is an explanation of the former. And the context supports me too; for when Christ at once adds the reason why we must be born again He shows without mentioning water how newness of life which He requires comes for the Spirit alone Whence it follows that water must not be separated from the Spirit (T H L Parker (trs), Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: John: 1:64-5).

Calvin’s point about the later word ‘Spirit’ as explanatory of the former word ‘water’ is illustrated by Acts 13:11 where ‘mist and darkness’ comes over the blinded Elymas. I don’t think Luke means literal ‘mist’ but metaphoric ‘mist’. That is, Elymas couldn’t see. It was mist in the form of darkness.

On the Relationship Between Believing And Birth From Above

Kostenberger notes “the relationship between faith and rebirth is not easily reduced to a set of sequential formula. The statement in 1 John 5:1, ‘Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,’ allows one to deduce from a person’s belief that person’s regenerate state; regeneration (being “born of God”) and saving faith thus go together and cannot be separated. Spiritual rebirth takes place at God’s initiative; people are called to faith based on God’s revelation in Christ. John nowhere elaborates on the precise temporal relationship of these two aspects”: Kostenberger, John, 39 fn 60.

What is the role of misunderstanding in this narrative and the gospel as a whole?

The misunderstanding here shows that Nicodemus did not understand why birth from above was a criteria for entrance into the kingdom, and he was amazed at the category, so he responds to Jesus’ words with crass literalism (Carson 1991: 190-1).

Nicodemus’ misunderstanding “was not a failure of intellect but a failure to believe Jesus’ witness” (Carson 1991, 199).

In John’s Gospel, there is a pattern of misunderstanding, followed by further explanations (cf. John 2:20; 3:3ff; 6:41ff; 11:4-53: Carson 1991: 182). The misunderstandings arise because people focus on the material and the natural, and yet are unable to comprehend that spiritual realities that Jesus is talking about. See also D A Carson, ‘Understanding Misunderstandings in the Fourth Gospel’ TynB 33 (1982) 59-89.

“”‘’—