Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.[a]"
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You[c] must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[d] 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[e]
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[g] 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."[h]
John the Baptist's Testimony About Jesus
22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew[i] over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
27To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ[j] but am sent ahead of him.' 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.
31"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God[k] gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."[l]
Footnotes:
John 3:3 Or born from above; also in verse 7
John 3:6 Or but spirit
John 3:7 The Greek is plural.
John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven
John 3:15 Or believes may have eternal life in him
John 3:16 Or his only begotten Son
John 3:18 Or God's only begotten Son
John 3:21 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 15.
John 3:25 Some manuscripts and certain Jews
John 3:28 Or Messiah
John 3:34 Greek he
John 3:36 Some interpreters end the quotation after verse 30.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Setting out to process the Bible, chapter by chapter, out loud and in a community, hoping that through this, we might all grow closer to the hero of the story.
About Me
Links of Note
Blog Archive
Receiving Comments Through E-mail
If for interaction, or curiosity purposes, you would like to receive the same e-mails I get when a new comment is posted on any blog on this sight, simply send an e-mail to nathan.kemper@gmail.com and ask to be added to the comment forwarding list. Make sure you are clear which e-mail address you would like the comments sent to.
6 comments:
With John 3:16 being one of the most "quoted" or "referenced" texts in the bible (football end zones, etc.) and general discussion, it is impossible to overlook it's significance. However, many never continue on to John 3:17 and don't recognize it's promise and significance. There are so many other important statements in this verse (John 3:3, 3:36) it's very easy to get lost in it. Is it too simple to say that the promises of the new testament are contained in this chapter?
For many (be it people individually or traditions as a whole) this text has signified that if we believe in Jesus on this earth we will be ushered into eternal life when we die...heaven. But I cannot escape the thought that throughout the scriptures Jesus talks about how we live this life on earth now.
Recently I have been contemplating how we as Christians talk with two specific groups of people. One, others who do not believe what I do about Jesus being the Son of God and All Powerful Savior. Two, children. I want to focus more on the latter.
One recent example concerns the issue of accepting Jesus. Children are taught, especially in our Sunday School classes, that if they "accept" Jesus they will be going to Heaven and have eternal life. I was taught this. What if, instead we taught our children from John 3:16 and 36 that if they believe that what Jesus said and did was truth that they could HAVE incredible, abundant lives on earth? Lives filled with adventure and joy and challenge and peace. And how would this effect all other lessons?
I do not have children now, and do not plan to for a while. But I still feel the need to think about now what I will teach my kids about Jesus that is different from what I was taught. I want my kids (and others people) to recognize that Jesus is for this life, now.
To me it ties into John the Baptist's proclamation: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! It is not far away in the future, after we die, it is within reach.
Jesus talks to Nicodemus of being born again. This brought to mind the idea of John the Baptist baptizing people before Jesus came to earth. What did the old testament people believe was the reason for baptism? I guess I had not given much thought to baptism being around before Jesus came.
"Is it too simple to say that the promises of the new testament are contained in this chapter?"
I'd say yes. There are a many great promises in this chapter, and they cover a lot of the big picture broad promises, but the New Testament has so many more promises and blessing that are given to those who surrender their lives fully.
This chapter (and overall book of John) is a great place to begin learning these, but even now, i still find more promises in the New Testament as I study it more in depth.
"What did the old testament people believe was the reason for baptism?"
This is an odd question. "Old Testament people" is pretty broad. My understanding is that in the Ancient Near East (setting of the Old Testament) the culture would have seen baptism as a sign of proclomation of ones belief. It was essentially political, offiliating with or against the king/empire/law of the land. Renouncing those things would be done publically through baptism.
"19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil."
I once heard a pastor say that some scholars argue that after God created light, and separated it from darkness, that the entire rest of the Bible is commentary on the difference between the two.
There is lots of light and darkness imagery in the Bible, someone should do a study on it for us.
John the Baptist's statement seen in verse 30:
"He must become greater; I must become less."
has often been one of my favorite statements in all of scripture.
Its a character understanding that is very helpful for us all to have, and would put us in the right stance before God and before people.
Post a Comment