John 3:1-21

John 3:3–4 NRSV

Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Born from above = born again Nicodemus takes this literally

The Gospel according to John (1. The New Birth (3:1–15))

Leon Morris “... in one sentence he sweeps away all that Nicodemus stood for, and demands that he be remade by the power of God”

John 3:5–7 NRSV

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

John 3:7–8 NRSV

Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:9–12 NRSV

Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

John 1–11 The Story of Nicodemus (3:1–10))

Borchert states “Nicodemus’s final question to Jesus reveals that he was stuck in an intellectual and philosophical quagmire of the flesh (earthly realities) and that his earlier lack of comprehension seems here to have deteriorated into helpless doubt. Jesus’ reply in 3:10 is an excellent example of Johannine patterns of reversal. Nicodemus, as leader (archōn, 3:1) and teacher (didaskalos, 3:10) of the Jews, had come to Jesus as a seeking “knower.” By the time Jesus asked his first question of Nicodemus (a man who was filled with questions), it became clear that Nicodemus was a confused “nonknower.” The irony in the exchange is that Nicodemus, the earthly teacher, was shown to be a poor learner of the message of Jesus, the teacher sent from God (3:2). Nicodemus was in fact one who did not know (ou ginōskeis) the core subject matter of his vocation as a Pharisee.

John 3:13–15 NRSV

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus is the Son of Man. The example of the golden serpent (Numbers 21:1-9)

Jesus will be lifted up - the cross

Nicodemus - Negative as ignorant and doubting but positive as still being revealed the gospel

Modern day Nicodemuses - Journalists? Politicians?

John 3:16 NRSV

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

John 3:17–18 NRSV

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:19–21 NRSV

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Jesus is the light - two kinds of people those who love evil and those who come to the light