John chapter 3

vs 1

Again we have John explaining things, this time about who the Pharisees were. And we are looking at one of them, Nicodemus.

vs 2

Nicodemus says to Jesus that the Pharisees know he is from God, and yet he comes to visit him at night. The word night in greek (nux) metaphorically is used almost exclusively to denote moral deficiency and shameful activities. Now I'm not suggesting that Nicodemus was a bad man in any way, and I am not saying that the use of nux here is metaphorical. But what I am saying is that if Nicodemus went to visit Jesus at night, then he obviously was doing it in secrecy.

So while Nicodemus is confessing that the Pharisees know Jesus must come from God, he still feels ashamed of visiting him (or doesn't want to be seen to support Jesus).

vs 3

It seems a bit of an odd reply to me, a bit of a non-sequitur, but if you think about it, it makes sense. If Nicodemus is saying to Jesus that he thinks Jesus has come from God and God is working through him, then he is also saying that he wants to learn what Jesus has to teach about God. So Jesus teaches him about the Kingdom of God.

What Jesus teaches him is now a crusty old cliche, but from Nicodemus' reply, we can tell it wasn't a worn-out phrase back then. We don't really need to worry about what he meant in this verse, because he explains himself later.

vs 4

What is interesting is Nicodemus' reply. I have heard some preachers adopt the literal "Nicodemus had no clue" position - that Nicodemus thought Jesus was literally talking about being born out of your mum again, and didn't get it - and I have heard other preachers say that Nicodemus as part of the ruling council was not going to be so dumb as to take what Jesus said as a literal empirical necessity.

The latter will usually say that what Nicodemus means, then, is "How can someone who has been a member of the old way of things change how they live, after having lived it for so long?"

To be honest, while I like the idea of the second proposition, I find it a little bit of a stretch, although I will concede that some translations read it as "born from above" rather than "born again", and this might change things a little. I'm happy to take this one as being a literal understanding, because John uses these sorts of discussions regularly in his gospel (where Jesus makes a statement which if taken literally is hard to understand, like when he says you have to eat his flesh and drink his blood in chapter 6), and people often show they don't really understand what he's saying at the time.

vs 5

Jesus does explain himself a lot more clearly this time though. He spells out what he means by "born again". It is not a birth of physical origins (like out of your mum). Rather, it is a birth borne of water (baptism) and the spirit (the Holy Spirit). A new birth, then, is the figurative start of a new life. The confusion of course comes when we realise that the new life is not figurative, but is a real new (eternal) life. And in that way, the new birth is at the same time both figurative (in that we are not born of a mother again) but is also a reality (so that our spiritual rebirth is an actual occurence).

vs 6

So that just in the same way as a woman will physically give birth to a human child (and not an angel or a table or something), God's Holy Spirit will create and spawn new spiritual children.

vs 7

Whatever Nicodemus meant when he questioned Jesus, Jesus is now putting him straight, by saying that he shouldn't be surprised to learn that the Kingdom of God is only open to those who have been spiritually born. Don't forget to note that the "you" is plural, so Jesus is sending a message, not just talking about Nicodemus.

vs 8

In greek, this verse is a little bit of a play on words. Remember, the word for 'spirit' and 'wind' and 'breath' are the same (pnuema means a lot of things, with 5 definitions and 13 sub-definitions), so when Jesus is talking about the wind blowing all over the place, he is using the same word as 'spirit'.

So what is Jesus saying? Here's my opinion, which you can take or leave because I am open to suggestion here. Taking into account the context of verses 11-13, I think Jesus is condemning Nicodemus (and probably by extension the other Pharisees) for his lack of understanding about who Jesus is. His condemnation comes because Nicodemus, a supposed leader of the Jews, when he sees and hears the Son of God, cannot recognise where he has come from (heaven), and is probably saying that people like him will not understand anyone who is subsequently born of the Spirit.

vs 9

Although I wish this verse backed up my hypothesis about vs 8, with Nicodemus saying "Oh no, how can it be that I can't recognise such things!?" I don't think that's what he's saying. I think, from Jesus' response (vs 12), he's simply saying "Errr.... what now? I don't get it."

vs 10

Jesus again shows his disappointment in Nicodemus' lack of understanding. Considering this is the cream of the leadership (after all, at least he had the guts to come and talk with Jesus, even if only at night), he is still too thick to get what Jesus is saying and who he is.

vs 11

So according to my idea, Jesus here is saying "I've come from heaven, and I'm testifying to what I have seen from up there, telling you how it is, how things work from a heavenly perspective. But you don't accept what I say, because you don't realise who you're talking to. You think I've just blown in from anywhere - you don't see that I've blown in from heaven".

vs 12

Jesus has used a simple illustration about wind, but Nicodemus didn't grasp it. And so Jesus is saying that if he can't accept that Jesus is right that these people don't even know where the wind is coming from or where it's going, then how is he going to accept what Jesus says about spiritual truths?