13: Nicodemus
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
John 3:1–2
Nicodemus’ choice to visit at night sounds suspicious to modern ears—bad things happen at night. So why did Nicodemus choose to visit Jesus at night?
Perhaps Nicodemus was ashamed, or even afraid, to be seen cavorting with this upstart teacher? Nicodemus was, after all, a “ruler of the Jews,” which most take to mean a member of the Sanhedrin, both well-educated and jealous of his position. There is no indication of this shame in the text, however—Jesus doesn’t rebuke for fear, nor does the timing of Nicodemus’ visit come up any time during their conversation.
Nicodemus might also have visited during the night because he found it convenient. Jewish Rabbis often stayed up late into the night studying the Scriptures. Many Rabbis supported themselves in some way and had families to attend to. The only time when the world was quiet and cool was at night, so Rabbis often stayed up all hours to study and discuss the Scriptures.
The broader context of John’s Gospel provides another possible explanation: darkness is often associated with ignorance or evil, and day is often associated with knowledge and salvation. Is Nicodemus ignorant and searching for the truth, or is he trying to trap Jesus in some way?[1]
The flow of the conversation does not seem to imply Nicodemus is trying to trap Jesus in any way. Nicodemus calls Jesus “Rabbi,” a title not many would have applied this early in Jesus’ ministry, and shows respect towards the signs Jesus performs.
On the other hand, Nicodemus’ ignorance is evident throughout the conversation. He asks Jesus: “How can a man?” three times, showing he does not understand Jesus’s reasoning.
Nicodemus is a curious, religious Jew trying to understand Jesus’ message and ministry.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:3
The word translated again is ἄνωθεν. This word is translated above in John 3:31, John 19:11, James 1:17, and James 3:15. The above/again pairing ties this passage to John 3:6, where Jesus differentiates between being born of the spirit and being born of the flesh. Reading this word as “above” also plays a role in understanding a later passage.
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
John 3:4
Nicodemus asks for the first time: “How can a man.…” His thinking is clearly trapped in Second Temple Jewish thinking, which is very physical. Blessings, curses, salvation, and condemnation were all thought of in physical and national terms. The spiritual and “heart” aspects of following Yahweh were often subsumed into physical compliance, places, and actions.
Modern Christianity often has the opposite problem—the physical aspects of Christian observance are often subsumed into a form of pietism.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
John 3:4
Jesus tells him to be born of “water and spirit”—to be baptized, right? No.
Baptism would be out of place in John’s Gospel. John only mentions baptism once in his entire Gospel, the baptism of Jesus. The baptism of Jesus is the only sacrament mentioned in the entire Gospel. Because of this, John’s Gospel is often considered non-sacramental. His Gospel is focused on spiritual rather than physical things. Hodges says:
…nothing requires that in John 3:5 the words “born of water” should imply baptism, unless the expositor is already committed to a sacramental orientation to Christian experience.[2]
Another common reading of this passage is while Jesus is talking about baptism, Nicodemus is thinking about natural birth. Since birth involves the mother’s water breaking, birth is via water. No one today, however, speaks of giving birth as being “born of water”—nor was this terminology used in Second Temple Judaism. Although Nicodemus is thinking about being born again (“Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”), this bears no relation to Jesus’ statement about being born of water and spirit.
What, then, is Jesus saying to Nicodemus?
The best place to start is with the text itself. Placing Jesus’ two statements in parallel, we have:
unless one is born again (verse 3)
unless one is born of water and the Spirit (verse 5)
Being born of water and Spirit is to be born from above. Jesus explains what it means to be born from above (again)—to be born of water and Spirit. But seeing this parallel still leaves us with a question: If John is not using water here for baptism, what is he referring to?
Perhaps we should start with spirit rather than water. It should stand out that we read this word as Holy Spirit when the original intended audience—Nicodemus, a Jewish Rabbi—would never have heard it that way. Jewish Rabbis were strict monotheists; while “the spirit” is mentioned in the Tanach, there was no “third person of the Godhead” called “the Holy Spirit.”
What else would Nicodemus hear?
Wind.
In fact, each time you read the word “spirit” in the Tanach, the word is translated from the same Hebrew word that means wind. Jesus’ answer in John 3:8 strengthens this view:
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
John 3:8
What would Nicodemus relate water and wind to? Consider Isaiah 44:3–5:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants
Water and wind originate in the heavens—from above—and affect the Earth.
Thus, this reading fits perfectly into the flow of the conversation. Instead of oblique references to baptism, which Nicodemus would not understand, and the Holy Spirit, which Nicodemus would not understand, the references are to prophecies and ideas drawn directly from the Tanach, which Nicodemus surely must understand.
Nicodemus still takes a strictly physical view of salvation, missing the point Jesus is making, leading to Jesus saying:
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
John 3:10–12
Does Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus end here? The text neither separates the conversation from John 3:15ff nor does it connect these two sections. Either way, we will cover John 3:15ff in a separate dispatch.
[1] Keith Vande Vrede, “A Contrast Between Nicodemus And John The Baptist In The Gospel Of John,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 57, 2014.
[2] Zane C. Hodges, “Water and Spirit—John 3:5: Problem Passages in the Gospel of John Part 3:,” Bibliotheca Sacra 135 (1978).