John 3:1

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ¹  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ² 

John 3:9

3:9 Nicodemus replied, ³  “How can these things be?” ⁴ 

John 7:50

7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus ⁵  before and who was one of the rulers, ⁶  said, ⁷ 

John 19:39

19:39 Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus ⁸  at night, ⁹  accompanied Joseph, ¹⁰  carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes ¹¹  weighing about seventy-five pounds. ¹² 

John 3:4

3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?” ¹³ 

[3:1]  ¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ² tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[3:9]  ³ tn Grk “Nicodemus answered and said to him.”

[3:9]  ⁴ sn “How can these things be?” is Nicodemus’ answer. It is clear that at this time he has still not grasped what Jesus is saying. Note also that this is the last appearance of Nicodemus in the dialogue. Having served the purpose of the author, at this point he disappears from the scene. As a character in the narrative, he has served to illustrate the prevailing Jewish misunderstanding of Jesus’ teaching about the necessity of a new, spiritual birth from above. Whatever parting words Nicodemus might have had with Jesus, the author does not record them.

[7:50]  ⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:50]  ⁶ tn Grk “who was one of them”; the referent (the rulers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:50]  ⁷ tn Grk “said to them.”

[19:39]  ⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:39]  ⁸ sn See John 3:1-21.

[19:39]  ⁹ tn Grk “came”; the words “accompanied Joseph” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity.

[19:39]  ¹⁰ sn Aloes refers to an aromatic resin from a plant similar to a lily, used for embalming a corpse.

[19:39]  ¹¹ sn The Roman pound (λίτρα, litra) weighed twelve ounces or 325 grams. Thus 100 Roman pounds would be about 32.5 kilograms or 75 pounds.

[3:4]  ⁹ tn The grammatical structure of the question in Greek presupposes a negative reply.