John 3:1-10

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ¹  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ²  3:2 came to Jesus ³  at night ⁴  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ⁵  that you do unless God is with him.” 3:3 Jesus replied, ⁶  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁷  unless a person is born from above, ⁸  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁹  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?” ¹⁰ 

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹¹  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ¹²  he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, ¹³  and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all ¹⁴  be born from above.’ ¹⁵  3:8 The wind ¹⁶  blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ¹⁷ 

3:9 Nicodemus replied, ¹⁸  “How can these things be?” ¹⁹  3:10 Jesus answered, ²⁰  “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things? ²¹ 

[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).

[3:2]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ⁵ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[3:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ⁸ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ⁹ sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[3:4]  ¹⁰ tn The grammatical structure of the question in Greek presupposes a negative reply.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:5]  ¹² tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

[3:6]  ¹³ sn What is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e., what is born of physical heritage is physical. (It is interesting to compare this terminology with that of the dialogue in John 4, especially 4:23, 24.) For John the “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) emphasizes merely the weakness and mortality of the creature – a neutral term, not necessarily sinful as in Paul. This is confirmed by the reference in John 1:14 to the Logos becoming “flesh.” The author avoids associating sinfulness with the incarnate Christ.

[3:7]  ¹⁴ tn “All” has been supplied to indicate the plural pronoun in the Greek text.

[3:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “born again.” The same Greek word with the same double meaning occurs in v. 3.

[3:8]  ¹⁶ tn The same Greek word, πνεύματος (pneumatos), may be translated “wind” or “spirit.”

[3:8]  ¹⁷ sn Again, the physical illustrates the spiritual, although the force is heightened by the word-play here on wind-spirit (see the note on wind at the beginning of this verse). By the end of the verse, however, the final usage of πνεύματος (pneumatos) refers to the Holy Spirit.

[3:9]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Nicodemus answered and said to him.”

[3:9]  ¹⁹ 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.

[3:10]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to him.”

[3:10]  ²¹ sn Jesus’ question “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?” implies that Nicodemus had enough information at his disposal from the OT scriptures to have understood Jesus’ statements about the necessity of being born from above by the regenerating work of the Spirit. Isa 44:3-5 and Ezek 37:9-10 are passages Nicodemus might have known which would have given him insight into Jesus’ words. Another significant passage which contains many of these concepts is Prov 30:4-5.