John 3:31-36

3:31 The one who comes from above is superior to all. ¹  The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. ²  The one who comes from heaven ³  is superior to all. ⁴  3:32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ⁵  3:34 For the one whom God has sent ⁶  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ⁷  3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ⁸  3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ⁹  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ¹⁰  remains ¹¹  on him.

John 3:1-3

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ¹²  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ¹³  3:2 came to Jesus ¹⁴  at night ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  that you do unless God is with him.” 3:3 Jesus replied, ¹⁷  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁸  unless a person is born from above, ¹⁹  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ²⁰ 

[3:31]  ¹ tn Or “is above all.”

[3:31]  ² tn Grk “speaks from the earth.”

[3:31]  ³ sn The one who comes from heaven refers to Christ. As in John 1:1, the Word’s preexistence is indicated here.

[3:31]  ⁴ tc Ì⁷⁵ א* D ˹ 565 as well as several versions and fathers lack the phrase “is superior to all” (ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν, epanw pantwn estin). This effectively joins the last sentence of v. 31 with v. 32: “The one who comes from heaven testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.” On the other side, the phrase may have been deleted because of perceived redundancy, since it duplicates what is said earlier in the verse. The witnesses that include ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν in both places are weighty and widespread (Ì^36vid,66 א² A B L W^s Θ Ψ 083 086 ˹³ 33 Ï lat sy^s,p,h bo). On balance, the longer reading should probably be considered authentic.

[3:33]  ⁵ tn Or “is true.”

[3:34]  ⁹ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[3:35]  ¹³ tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

[3:36]  ¹⁷ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

[3:36]  ¹⁸ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

[3:36]  ¹⁹ tn Or “resides.”

[3:1]  ²¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ²² 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]  ²⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ³⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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.