John 3, Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

[BrotherJJ]

Jn 3:
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
(NOTE: Born again is speaking to a spiritual birth, No reference to water here)

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
(NOTE: This man is a ruler of the Jews "Doctor of Jewish Law". And he's clueless as to what Born again/spiritual birth is)

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
(NOTE: Water & Spirit, no mention of baptism. The key context FLESH comes in the next verse)

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(NOTE: FLESH is FLESH natural/fleshly birth begins in the womb "AMNIOTIC SAC" with WATER bursting. Spiritual birth comes via the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus can perform this baptism. This verse eliminate salvation for fallen angels (spirit beings). One must be born in the flesh/physically in order to be born AGAIN/spiritually)

AMP Bible - Jn 3:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].
Bible Gateway passage: John 3 - Amplified Bible

The AMP translators make born again clear. It is a spiritual birth & no water is involved.

Baptism Spiritual
Matt 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
(MY NOTE: John the Baptist teaches that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Only Christ can perform this quickening/born again/resurrection life action)

1 Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
(MY NOTE: Translators capitalized Spirit to identify deity when referring the Holy Spirit. Rereading (A) For by ONE Spirit (the Holy Spirit) every believer is baptized into one body)

Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision """made without hands""", in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
(MY NOTE: The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a SPIRITUAL circumcision/covenant done without hands & without water. Only Christ can perform this baptism)

Deut 30:6 (A) the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart,

Throughout scripture there are two kingdoms: flesh & spirit
Cain physical, Abel spiritual
Ishmael physical, Isaac spiritual (See Gal 4:22-31)
Esau physical, Jacob spiritual
Adam physical, Christ Spiritual

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Jesus Christ) was made a quickening spirit

 

[bling]

John 3 Nicodemus

Nicodemus’ job was to help Jews with their problems, but was he addressing his own problem, since Jesus is telling him he has a huge problem, which Nichodemus had the answer to. This sounds very much like myself, so I can easily relate to Nicodemus and unfortunately react like Nicodemus, which is not good. We know more good we should have done or do, than we do.

One of Jesus’ jobs is to help individuals reach the next level in their spiritual growth, but they first got to do what they personally already know to do. If they are not going to do what they already know to do, there is no reason to try and move forward. Christ is hard on people not doing what they know they should do (“why come to me if you already know what to do”) and Christ is not “Mr. Answer Man”, but forces you to think and answer your own questions.

We need to try and put ourselves in Nicodemus’ shoes at that time and place, so what does Nicodemus know he should do (without any need for help from Christ) that he is not doing for his spiritual growth?

It is fine and nice Nicodemus wants to learn more about Christ, but again he is not dealing with the knowledge he already has, so what will he do with more knowledge of Christ?

Set Christ aside for a moment, who and what teaching is out there, that Nicodemus has to deal with? John the Baptist had to be a hot topic among all the Pharisees and in the Sanhedrin especially. Scholars like Nicodemus would have easily concluded John was a prophet of God, being totally consistent with scripture. All the common Jewish people accepted John’s message (the truth taught in scripture plus the prophecies concerning the Christ) and were baptized, so it would be much easier for Bible Scholars to understand the truth. They did not debate what he was saying with him or his disciples, so it appears there was nothing to debate.

A problem for Nicodemus is the fact: “if Nicodemus submits to John’s baptism he would have been kicked out of the Sanhedrin, so what did Nicodemus decide to do?”


One issue with the amniotic fluid be considered “water” in the first century does not hold well, since it was dirty (really being the baby’s pee). The “water” spoken of also seems to something should do and not something we all experience. (more can be said)

To make this Christian Baptism, means you have to be Christian immersion baptism as a requirement for entering the kingdom, so your hell bound without this baptism. Problems with this are: people even in the OT who were not baptized, are part of the Kingdom today. Christian baptism has not yet been instituted. There are all the other scriptures describing “born again”, becoming a child of God, born seems to believe in Christ, not needing water, and others.

My idea is this and I will emphasis the differences with the book’s conclusions: context, context, context, context and context


1. Why did Nicodemus describe Jesus as “Rabbi”?

2. The whole coming at night with Jesus saying: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. So what evil is Nicodemus involved in doing at this time?

3. Jesus says: 11 “Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony”, so who is the “we” making testimony and the “you people” not accepting?

4. The book likes to skip to the next individual encounter of Jesus, but sandwiched in-between is the narrative on John the Baptist, so why is John right after?

5. John says something very similar to Jesus: 32 “He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony” and goes on to say: 36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (Is that not John the Baptist’s testimony?)

I always say: “When I approach someone of different believes I start with where we agree and move from there”. Jesus would know the full extent of where Nicodemus was in agreement with the truth and hit him at the highest point, but would it be truth Nicodemus knew, but would not speak?

Nicodemus at this point would not be sure Jesus was the Messiah, but what did he know?

As we see from Jesus’ response to Nicodemus, Jesus is responding to what is on the heart of Nicodemus (this is like all of Jesus’ responses to all people who come to him) and from “I tell you” it is very individual. This is particularly for Nicodemus. Nicodemus cannot just shrug it off because Jesus presses him with 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?”

Does that mean Nicodemus did understand, but was not admitting it?

If we could determine how far along Nicodemus was in his Spiritual growth, we could than know what Christ was addressing and pressing Nicodemus with. So where is Nicodemus from the context? What did he know (where they agree) and yet he was not teaching (thus doing evil)? What question did Nicodemus not want to address in the light publicly?