Understanding John 3:1-21

John 3:1-21 Jesus teaches Nicodemus

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who as come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

"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!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The 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."

"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I 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. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever 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. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But 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."


One of the first scripture verses that I learned as a child (in the King James version, no less!) was John 3:16. I was much older before I learned that there was a context for this verse. But how many of us learned verses by rote, and can still rattle off that the shortest verse in the Bible is "Jesus wept." or that we know "For the wages of sin is death" and cannot finish the verse but remember well the poster we learned it from because of the designs on it.

I believe that this is one of the major pitfalls of children and youth ministries today. We hand out verses on stickers and buttons and pencils, but never take the time to really delve into why the verse is of value. So why would we remember a verse twenty years later and be able to use it correctly? We won't.

In checking out a book on our bookshelf here at home, along with reading nearby passages in the Bible, this is information that can be gleaned to help give us a broader picture of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. The book I'm using is the Holman Bible Handbook, copyright 1992.

So who wrote this book?

Traditionally, this is attributed to the apostle John, son of Zebedee and brother of James. (HBH, p. 606)

Why was the book of John written?

This is information that is actually written in the Gospel of John. "That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:31

Why is it specified that Nicodemus was a Pharisee?

The Pharisees legalized the purity laws of the Old Testament, focusing on ritual cleanliness. They also were demanding that people follow "the tradition of the elders" - Mark 7:3 (HBH, p. 608) As Jesus was one who broke Pharisaic law, he was not really someone that Nicodemus would want to be seen associating with. It would have threatened his high position to become a known associate of Jesus.