Daily with Jesus Nov. 8

Recap - What did we learn from the previous session?

In John 2:11 we learn:

John 2:11 CSB

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Jesus is God. So He was able to do a miracle.

Jesus is God. So His disciples believed in Him.

Jesus is God who came to give His life to save people from eternal damnation.

Jesus and Nicodemus

The Curious Inquiry of Nicodemus

Now, let us turn to John 3:1-21.

This is the well known story about a Pharisee, named Nicodemus.

John 3:1–2 CSB

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

Before going into this passage, let us get some idea of Jesus.

John 1:4 CSB

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Jesus came to give hope and life!

We know this from chapter 1.

In John 2:25

John 2:25 CSB

and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus is aware of a man.

What we see from here on is that Jesus will have conversations with some individuals, but gets right to the heart.

To begin with, Jesus will have a conversation with Nicodemus, “a man from the Pharisees” (Jn. 3:1). He was also a ruler of the Jews.

Who is a Pharisee?

What does it mean by a ruler?

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Introduction

The origin of the term “Pharisee” comes from the Aramaic word פרשׁ (prsh), which means “to separate,” “divide,” or “distinguish.”

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Pharisees

PHARISEES (Φαρισαῖος, Pharisaios). Members of a Jewish party that exercised strict piety according to Mosaic law. The Pharisees were a sect within early Judaism, becoming active around 150 BC and enduring as a distinct party until being subsumed into the Rabbinic movement around AD 135.

Nicodemus was also a ruler. Meaning, he was one of the rulers. He must be from a wealthy family.

So the term “ruler” means:

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ἄρχων

one who has administrative authority, leader, official

He comes to Jesus at night.

John 3:2 CSB

This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

Some suggest that he might be scared that other members would notice Nicodemus meeting Jesus, so he came at night.

Or that he won’t be noticed by the Gentiles.

Some say, that night time is when rabbis studied.

Others believe that:

The Gospel according to John John 3:2

The best clue lies in John’s use of ‘night’ elsewhere: in each instance (3:2; 9:4; 11:10; 13:30) the word is either used metaphorically for moral and spiritual darkness, or, if it refers to the night-time hours, it bears the same moral and spiritual symbolism.3 Doubtless Nicodemus approached Jesus at night, but his own ‘night’ was blacker than he knew

John 3:2 CSB

This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

Nicodemus addressed Jesus as Rabbi. What is the significance?

He recognized that Jesus was not an ordinary man. He, that is Nicodemus, observed what Jesus was doing? Jesus did many miracles by this time, though there was only one mentioned in the previous chapter.

Rabbi is, “(Hebrew) an honorific and respectful term of address for a teacher of the Mosaic Law (or the Scriptures).”

Nicodemus then says, “we know.” Pointing out that it was not just him who noticed something unusual in Jesus, but there are others as well.

But not only that, he was also saying, that “we have come to believe.”

Then he says, we know that you are a “teacher who has come from God.”

So, we see a recognition of who Jesus is.

The he explains (explanation) that no one could perform the signs “unless God were with him.” (v.2).

Now, notice that Nicodemus was not “confessing” that Jesus is God - he only recognized that God must have been with Jesus (like with other prophets in the O.T).

So we notice two things in the verse:

Recognition of Jesus being a Rabbi, and a teacher.

He must have come from God.

This is a good starting point to think of who Jesus is?

Remember the major theme we are learning about - why did Jesus come to this world?

Then we notice:

The Conditional Response from Jesus

What is this conditional response?

John 3:3 (CSB)

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus makes it clear - that unless one if born from above, no one can experience the kingdom of God.

For Jewish people, then, the concept of kingdom of God comes at the end of all.

The Gospel according to John John 3:3

To a Jew with the background and convictions of Nicodemus, ‘to see the kingdom of God’ was to participate in the kingdom at the end of the age, to experience eternal, resurrection life.

But Jesus is saying two things here:

One must be born again or born from above.

without being born again, you cannot experience the kingdom.

I see that Nicodemus was confused.

John 3:4 CSB

“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

So I see that the response Jesus gives to Nicodemus was a bit confusing.

Nicodemus did not ask any question in his statement, did he?

Nicodemus did not ask Jesus, “Master, what must I do to be saved” like the Philippian Jailer asked Paul and Silas in Acts 16:30 “He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?””

So Jesus’s response here was a bit confusing. However, confusing it may seem, it is really not so confusing, because Jesus knew what man is. So He goes right to the heart of the issue.

So he says, John 3:3 “Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.””

In other words, what is the Lord’s answer?

John John 3:3–5

“The Lord answered not his words, but his thoughts. The Lord’s answers to questions will be found generally to reveal the true thought of the questioner, and to be fitted to guide him to the truth which he is seeking.”

But what was Jesus talking here?

What does it mean by “born-again”?

It means an inner transformation of a person’s life.

In Ezekiel 36:25-27, the text says:

Ezekiel 36:25–27 CSB

I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.

So, being “born again” is regeneration.

Regeneration is:

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Regeneration

REGENERATION The transformation of a person’s spiritual condition from death to life through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is saying, the, that in order to experience the kingdom of God, one must be born again - that is born from above, or by the Holy Spirit. That is, regeneration is an “act of God.” Only God can do this.

Psalm 51:10 gives us an idea.

Psalm 51:10 CSB

God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

So, one must be born-again to experience the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus then, rightly asks:

John 3:4 CSB

“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

The issue here is the phrase, “born-again” can be understood as born from above, or born again. Nicodemus understood the phrase as “born-again”, and not “born from above.”

But, Jesus further explains what He said in 3:3 in 3:5.

John 3:5 CSB

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

With this statement, it seems like Nicodemus is even more confused. (But obviously, he is supposed to know somethings, being a teacher of the law himself).

What is it now? “Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit.”

Are these two births? Born of water and born of the Spirit? No.

This statement is parallel with “born ‘from above.’”

In the Old Testament, water signifies cleansing one from impurity. The Spirit’s coming signifies the transformation of a heart.

So the statement “born of water and the Spirit” signifies new birth that cleanses and renews (Carson, John, 195).

So what?

What is this to us?

What can we learn from this?

One must be transformed to understand the works of God. How can this transformation take place? It is the work of the Spirit. When one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, one would be regenerated, transformed with this new birth, and new person.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary New Testament and Later Christian Views

The only way for someone to enter the kingdom of God is for the Holy Spirit to bring about “new creation” or “new reality” (καινὴ κτίσις, kainē ktisis) in the person’s soul (2 Cor 5:17), reversing that person’s condition. This soteriological operation—regeneration (παλινγενεσία, palingenesia; or ἀναγεννάω, anagennaō; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 1:3; 1:23; Jas 1:18)—greatly empowers individuals to live for God rather than self. Regeneration causes a person to genuinely want to live for God and to consistently behave in ways that demonstrate this desire (Swindoll and Zuck, Understanding, 862–866).