John 3

John 3:1

H. Jesus Teaches Nicodemus About the New Birth (3:1-21) 3:1 The story of Nicodemus contrasts with what had just gone before. Many of the Jews in Jerusalem professed to believe on the Lord, but He knew their faith was not genuine. Nicodemus was an exception. The Lord recognized in him an earnest desire to know the truth. Verse 1 should begin with a connective: But there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.Nicodemus was recognized as a teacher among his people. Perhaps he came to the Lord for instruction, so that he might return to the Jews with this additional learning. 3:2 The Bible does not say why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. The most obvious explanation is that he would have been embarrassed to be seen going to Jesus, since the Lord had by no means been accepted by the majority of the Jewish people. However, he did come to Jesus. Nicodemus acknowledged the Lord to be a teacher sent by God, since no one could perform such miracles without the direct help of God. In spite of all his learning, Nicodemus did not recognize the Lord as God manifest in the flesh. He was like so many today who say that Jesus was a great man, a wonderful teacher, an outstanding example. All of these statements fall very far short of the full truth. Jesus was and is God. 3:3 At first sight, the answer of the Lord Jesus does not seem to be connected with what Nicodemus had just said. Our Lord is saying, Nicodemus, you have come to Me for teaching, but what you really need is to be born again. That is where you must begin. You must be born from above. Otherwise, you can never see the kingdom of God.The Lord introduced these wonderful words with the expression: Most assuredly (literally Amen, amen). These words alert us to the fact that important truth is being given. As a Jew, Nicodemus had been looking for a Messiah to come and free Israel from the bondage of Rome. The Roman Empire was then in control of the world, and the Jews were subject to its laws and government. Nicodemus longed for the time when the Messiah would set up His kingdom on earth, when the Jewish people would be chief among the nations, and when all their enemies would be destroyed. Now the Lord informed Nicodemus that in order to enter this kingdom, a man must be born again. Just as the first birth is necessary for physical life, so a second birth is necessary for divine life. (The expression born again may also mean born from above.) In other words, Christ’s kingdom can only be entered by those whose lives have been changed. Since His reign will be a righteous one, His subjects must be righteous also. He could not reign over people who were going on in their sins. 3:4 Here again we see how difficult it was for men to understand the words of the Lord Jesus. Nicodemus insisted on taking everything literally. He could not understand how a grown-up could be born again. He pondered the physical impossibility of a man entering his mother’s womb again in order to be born. Nicodemus illustrates that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1Co_2:14). 3:5 In further explanation, Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born of water and the Spirit. Otherwise, he could never enter the kingdom of God. What did Jesus mean? Many insist that literal water is intended, and that the Lord Jesus spoke of the necessity of baptism for salvation. However, such a teaching is contrary to the rest of the Bible. Throughout the Word of God we read that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Baptism is intended for those who have already been saved, but not as a means of salvation. Some suggest that water in this verse refers to the Word of God. In Eph_5:25-26 water is closely associated with the Word of God. Also, in 1Pe_1:23 and Jam_1:18, the new birth is said to take place through the Word of God. It is quite possible, therefore, that water in this verse does refer to the Bible. We know that there can be no salvation apart from the Scriptures. It is the message contained in the Word of God that must be appropriated by the sinner before there can ever be the new birth. But water may also refer to the Holy Spirit. In Joh_7:38-39 the Lord Jesus spoke of rivers of living water, and we are distinctly told that when He used the word water He was speaking of the Holy Spirit. If water means the Spirit in chapter 7, why can it not have the same meaning in chapter 3? However, there seems to be a difficulty if this interpretation is accepted. Jesus says, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. If water is taken to mean the Spirit, then it would appear that the Spirit is mentioned twice in this verse. But the word translated and could just as correctly have been translated even. Thus, the verse would read: Unless one is born of water, even the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. We believe that this is the correct meaning of the verse.

Physical birth is not enough. There must also be a spiritual birth if one is to enter the kingdom of God. This spiritual birth is produced by the Holy Spirit of God when a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the expression born of the Spirit is found twice in the verses to follow (vv. 6, 8). 3:6 Even if Nicodemus could in some way have entered his mother’s womb a second time and been born a second time, that would not have corrected the evil nature in him. The expression that which is born of the flesh is flesh means that children born of human parents are born in sin and are hopeless and helpless as far as saving themselves is concerned. On the other hand, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. A spiritual birth takes place when a person trusts in the Lord Jesus. When a person is born again through the Spirit, he receives a new nature, and is made fit for the kingdom of God. 3:7 Nicodemus was not to marvel at the teachings of the Lord Jesus. He must realize that one must be born again and understand the complete inability of human nature to remedy its own fallen condition. He must realize that in order to be a subject of God’s kingdom, a man must be holy, pure, and spiritual. 3:8 As He so often did, the Lord Jesus used nature to illustrate spiritual truth. He reminded Nicodemus that the wind blows where it wishes, and a person can hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. The new birth is very much like the wind. First of all, it takes place according to the will of God. It is not a power which man holds in his own control. Secondly, the new birth is invisible.

You cannot see it taking place, but you can see the results of it in a person’s life. When a man has been saved, a change comes over him. The evil things which he formerly loved, he now hates. The things of God which he formerly despised, these things are now the very things which he loves. Just as no one can fully understand the wind, so the new birth is a miraculous work of the Spirit of God which man is not able to comprehend fully. Moreover, the new birth, like the wind, is unpredictable.

It is not possible to state just when and where it will take place. 3:9 Again, Nicodemus illustrated the inability of the natural mind to enter into divine things. Doubtless he was still trying to think of the new birth as a natural or physical event, rather than as a spiritual one. And so he asked the Lord Jesus: How can these things be?3:10 Jesus answered that as the teacher of Israel, Nicodemus should have understood these things. The OT Scriptures clearly taught that when the Messiah came back to the earth to set up His kingdom, He would first judge His enemies and destroy all things that offend. Only those who had confessed and forsaken their sins would enter the kingdom. 3:11 The Lord Jesus then underlined the infallibility of His teaching, and yet man’s unbelief concerning it. From all eternity, He had known the truthfulness of this and had only taught what He knew and had seen. But Nicodemus and most of the Jews of his day refused to believe His testimony. 3:12 What were the earthly things to which the Lord referred in this verse? It was His earthly kingdom. As a student of the OT, Nicodemus knew that one day the Messiah would come and set up a literal kingdom here on earth with Jerusalem as His capital. What Nicodemus failed to understand was that in order to enter this kingdom, there must be a new birth. What then were the heavenly things to which the Lord referred? They are the truths which are explained in the following versesthe wonderful way by which a person receives this new birth. 3:13 Only one person was qualified to speak about heavenly things, since He was the only One who was in heaven. The Lord Jesus was not merely a human teacher sent from God, but He was One who lived with God the Father from all eternity, and came down into the world. When He said that no one has ascended to heaven, He did not mean that OT saints such as Enoch and Elijah had not gone to heaven, but that they had been taken up whereas He ascended to heaven by His own power. Another explanation is that no human being had access to the presence of God continually in the way which He had. He could ascend to God’s dwelling place in a unique way because He had descended out of heaven to this earth. Even as the Lord Jesus stood on earth, speaking with Nicodemus, He said that He was in heaven.

How could this be? Here is a statement of the fact that, as God, the Lord was in all places at one and the same time. This is what we mean when we say that He is omnipresent. While some modern translations omit the words who is in heaven, they are widely supported in the manuscripts and belong to the text. 3:14 The Lord Jesus was now about to unfold heavenly truth to Nicodemus. How can the new birth take place? The penalty of man’s sins must be met. People cannot go to heaven in their sins. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent of brass on a pole in the wilderness when all the children of Israel had been bitten by snakes, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. (Read Num_21:4-9.) As they wandered through the wilderness to the promised land, the children of Israel became discouraged and impatient. They complained against the Lord.

To punish them, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, and many people died. When the survivors cried to the Lord in repentance, the Lord told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. The bitten Israelite who looked to the serpent was miraculously healed. Jesus quoted this OT incident to illustrate how the new birth takes place. Men and women have been bitten by the viper of sin and are condemned to eternal death. The serpent of brass was a type or picture of the Lord Jesus. Brass, in the Bible, speaks of judgment. The Lord Jesus was sinless and should never have been punished, but He took our place and bore the judgment which we deserved. The pole speaks of the cross of Calvary on which the Lord Jesus was lifted up. We are saved by looking to Him in faith. 3:15 The Savior was made sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ receives eternal life as a free gift. 3:16 This is one of the best known verses in all the Bible, doubtless because it states the gospel so clearly and simply. It summarizes what the Lord Jesus had been teaching Nicodemus concerning the manner by which the new birth is received. God, we read, so loved the world. The world here includes all mankind. God does not love men’s sins or the wicked world system, but He loves people and is not willing that any should perish. The extent of His love is shown by the fact that He gave His only begotten Son. God has no other Son like the Lord Jesus. It was an expression of His infinite love that He would be willing to give His unique Son for a race of rebel sinners. This does not mean that everyone is saved. A person must receive what Christ has done for him before God will give him eternal life. Therefore, the words are added, that whoever believes in Him should not perish. There is no need for anyone to perish. A way has been provided by which all might be saved, but a person must acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior. When he does this, he has eternal life as a present possession. Boreham says: When the church comes to understand the love with which God loved the world, she will be restless and ill at ease, until all the great empires have been captured, until every coral island has been won. 3:17 God is not a harsh, cruel ruler anxious to pour out His anger on mankind. His heart is filled with tenderness toward man and He has gone to the utmost cost in order to save men. He could have sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but He did not do so. On the contrary, He sent Him here to suffer, bleed, and die in order that the world through Him might be saved. The work of the Lord Jesus on the cross was of such tremendous value that all sinners everywhere could be saved if they would receive Him. 3:18 Now all mankind is divided into two classes: either believers or unbelievers. Our eternal destiny is determined by the attitude we take toward the Son of God. The one who trusts the Savior is not condemned, but the one who does not trust Him is condemned already. The Lord Jesus has finished the work of salvation, and now it is up to each individual to decide whether he will accept Him or reject Him. It is a terrible thing to reject such a gift of love. If a man will not believe on the Lord Jesus, God can do nothing else but condemn him. Believing in His name is the same as believing in Him. In the Bible, the name stands for the person. If you trust His name, you trust Him. 3:19 Jesus is the light who came into the world. He was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He died for the sins of all the world. But do men love Him for this? Nothey resent Him. They prefer their sins to having Jesus as Savior, and so they reject Him. Just as some creeping things scurry away from the light, so wicked men flee from the presence of Christ. 3:20 Those who love sin hate the light, because the light exposes their sinfulness. When Jesus was here in the world, sinful men were made uncomfortable by His presence because He revealed their awful condition by His own holiness. The best way to reveal the crookedness of one stick is to place a straight stick beside it. Coming into the world as a Perfect Man, the Lord Jesus revealed the crookedness of all other men, by comparison. 3:21 If a man is truly honest before God, he will come to the light, that is, the Lord Jesus, and realize his own utter worthlessness and sinfulness. Then he will trust the Savior for himself, and thus be born again through faith in Christ.

John 3:22

I. The Ministry of John the Baptist in Judea (3:22-36) 3:22 The first portion of this chapter described the Lord Jesus’ witness in the city of Jerusalem. From this verse to the end of the chapter, John describes Christ’s ministry in Judea, where doubtless He continued to proclaim the good news of salvation. As men came to the light, they were baptized. It would appear from this verse that Jesus Himself did the baptizing, but we learn in Joh_4:2 that it was done by His disciples. 3:23 The John referred to in this verse is John the Baptist. He was still preaching his message of repentance in the region of Judea and baptizing those Jews who were willing to repent in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. John also was baptizing in Aenon … because there was much water there. This does not prove conclusively that he baptized by immersion, but it certainly implies as much. If he baptized by sprinkling or pouring, there would have been no necessity of having much water. 3:24 This verse is given in explanation of John’s continued ministry and of the continued response of devout Jews to it. In the near future, John would be thrown into prison and beheaded for his faithful testimony. But in the meantime, he was still diligently carrying out his commission. 3:25 It is clear from this verse that some of John’s disciples became engaged in a dispute with the Jews about purification. What does this mean? Purification here probably refers to baptism. The argument was whether the baptism of John was better than that of Jesus. Which baptism had the greater power? Which was of greater value? Perhaps some of John’s disciples unwisely contended that no baptism could be better than that of their master. Perhaps the Pharisees tried to make John’s disciples jealous of Jesus and His current popularity. 3:26 They came to John for a decision. They seemed to be saying to him, If your baptism is the better, why is it that so many men are leaving you and going to Jesus? (The expression He who was with you beyond the Jordan refers to Christ.) John bore witness to the Lord Jesus, and as a result of this witness, many of John’s own disciples left him and began to follow Jesus. John 3, 4 3:27 If John’s reply was referring to the Lord Jesus, it means that any success the Savior received was an indication of God’s approval on Him. If John was referring to himself, he was saying that he had never pretended to be anyone great or important. He had never claimed that his baptism was superior to that of Jesus. He simply said here that he did not have anything but what he had received from heaven. That is true of all of us, and there is no reason in the world why we should be proud or seek to build up ourselves in men’s esteem. 3:28 John reminded his disciples that he had pointed out time and again that he was not the Christ, but was simply sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. Why should they argue over him? Why should they seek to form a party around him? He was not the important one, but was simply trying to point men to the Lord Jesus. 3:29 The Lord Jesus Christ was the bridegroom. John the Baptist was merely the friend of the bridegroom, the best man. The bride does not belong to the friend of the bridegroom, but rather to the bridegroom himself. Therefore, it was fitting that the people follow Jesus rather than John. The bride was used here to refer in a general way to all who would become disciples of the Lord Jesus. In the OT, Israel was spoken of as the wife of Jehovah.

Later on in the NT, those who are members of Christ’s church are described under the figure of a bride. But here in John’s Gospel, the word was used in a general sense to include those who left John the Baptist when the Messiah appeared. It did not mean either Israel or the church. John was not unhappy to lose followers. It was his great joy to listen to the bridegroom’s voice. He was satisfied that Jesus receive all the attention.

His joy was fulfilled when Christ was praised and honored by men. 3:30 The entire object of John’s ministry is summarized in this verse. He labored ceaselessly to point men and women to the Lord, and to make them realize His true worth. In doing this, John realized that he must keep himself in the background. For a servant of Christ to seek to attract attention to himself is really a form of disloyalty. Note the three musts in this chapter: for the Sinner (Joh_3:7); for the Savior (Joh_3:14); and for the Saint (3:30). 3:31 Jesus is the One who comes from above and is above all. This statement was designed to show His heavenly origin and supreme position. To prove his own inferiority, John the Baptist said that he himself was of the earth and was earthly and speaks of the earth. This simply meant that, as to his birth, he was born a man of human parents. He had not heavenly rank and could not speak with the same authority as the Son of God. He was inferior to the Lord Jesus because He who comes from above is above all. Christ is the supreme Sovereign of the universe. It is only proper, therefore, that men should follow Him rather than His messenger. 3:32 But when the Lord Jesus spoke, He spoke with authority. He told men what He had seen and heard. There was no possibility of error or deceit. Yet strange to say, no one receives His testimony. The expression no one is not to be taken in an absolute sense. There are individuals who accept the words of the Lord Jesus. However, John was looking at mankind in general and simply stating that the Savior’s teachings were rejected by the majority. Jesus was the One who came down from heaven, but comparatively few were willing to listen to Him. 3:33 Verse 33 describes the few who did accept the words of the Lord as being the very words of God. By their acceptance, they certified that God is true. So it is today. When people accept the message of the gospel, they take sides with God against themselves and against the rest of mankind. They realize that if God has said something, it must be true. Notice how clearly verse 33 teaches the deity of Christ. It says that whoever believes the testimony of Christ acknowledges that God is true. This is just another way of saying that the testimony of Christ is the testimony of God, and to receive the one is to receive the other also. 3:34 Jesus was the One God has sent. He spoke the words of God. To support this statement, John stated that God does not give the Spirit by measure. Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit of God in a way that was not true of any other person. Others have been conscious of the help of the Holy Spirit in their ministry, but no one else ever had such a Spirit-filled ministry as the Son of God. The prophets received a partial revelation from God but the Spirit revealed in and by Christ the very wisdom, the very heart of God to man with all its infinitude of love.3:35 This is one of the seven times in John’s Gospel where we are told that the Father loves the Son.

Here that love is manifested in giving Him control over all things. Among these things over which the Savior has complete charge are the destinies of men, as explained in verse 36. 3:36 God has given Christ the power to grant everlasting life to all who believe on Him. This is one of the clearest verses in all the Bible on how a person can be saved. It is simply by believing in the Son. As we read this verse, we should realize that God is speaking. He is making a promise that can never be broken. He says, clearly and distinctly, that anyone who believes in His Son has everlasting life.

To accept this promise is not a leap in the dark. It is simply believing what could not possibly be false. Those who do not obey the Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on them already. From this verse we learn that our eternal destiny depends on what we do with the Son of God. If we receive Him, God gives us eternal life as a free gift. If we reject Him, we will never enjoy everlasting life, and not only so, but God’s wrath already hangs over us, ready to fall at any moment. Notice that there is nothing in this verse about keeping the law, obeying the Golden Rule, going to church, doing the best we can, or working our way to heaven.