He Brings New Life

John 3:1-36

Welcome! Today we continue our journey through the book of John, going through Chapter 3. This chapter includes perhaps the most well-known verse in the New Testament, John 3:16, which says, For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

As we dig into Chapter 3, I think it will help to first review a few things from the second half of the previous chapter. Just before the Passover, Jesus had gone with His disciples into Jerusalem, and there He drove the moneychangers and people selling animals for sacrifice out of the temple area, saying “Get out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” This of course created quite a stir, and Jesus no doubt was noticed by not only those in the marketplace, but also many of the people gathering for the Passover as well as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.

Also, while there for the Passover, the passage tells us that Jesus did miracles, and many people saw them. But Jesus did not entrust Himself to those who said they believed, because He could see into people’s hearts. I can imagine there were some people seeing the things Jesus was doing who had dollar signs in their eyes (or shekel signs) thinking of ways to make a whole bunch of money if only they could get Jesus to join with them. You see something like this in Acts, where a girl under the influence of a demon is used to make her owner a ton of money. (After she came to Christ, her owner was very angry with those who “ruined his business.”)

Anyway, the important thing here is that Jesus is in Jerusalem and has gone from being unknown to famous, or even infamous, in the eyes of some, such as those who were driven from outside the temple. Although many are excited about what He is doing, others are upset, and even those who are excited don’t really understand who He is or what it all means. This brings us to Chapter 3.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” – John 3:1-2

Let’s look for a bit at Nicodemus. He is a Pharisee, a ruler among the Jews, meaning a member of the Sanhedrin. From extra-Biblical sources we know there were two groups of Sanhedrin in Jerusalem at this time, a 23-member court run by the Sadducees that ran local affairs, and a 70-member group called the Great Sanhedrin, a group that served all of Israel much like a combination Senate and Supreme Court; they both wrote and interpreted laws of the Jews. Many of these laws went far beyond Old Testament Scripture.

From extra-Biblical sources we also know there were two great schools within the Pharisee world, one group that followed Shammai, and one that followed Hillel. At the time of Jesus, the Shammai school had the greater influence. The followers of Shammai were the most harsh and legalistic of the Pharisees, adding rule upon rule upon rule for observance of the Sabbath, foods eaten, association with non-Jews, and so on. The followers of Hillel were more lenient, more eager to keep peace, but as a result they yielded to the demands of the Shammai on many occasions. As long as they continued to yield, relationships between the two groups remained more or less harmonious.

Most likely, Nicodemus was a member of the Hillel school; either that or he was a “bad” disciple of Shammai. It was to the ultra-legalistic followers of Shammai that Jesus reserved His harshest judgments for. Anyway, Nicodemus came at night, perhaps simply because it was convenient, but perhaps because he did not come in an “official” capacity and would rather not stir up unwanted attention from the harshest members of the ruling council. He respectfully called Jesus “Teacher,” acknowledged His miracles, and declared He must come from God. 

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” – John 3:3-4

Jesus, who knew Nicodemus’ innermost thoughts, spoke immediately to deeper things, challenging his deepest-held beliefs. “No one, not even you, Nicodemus, can see the kingdom of God without first being born again!” As a Pharisee, even if he was a follower of Hillel, Nicodemus would have believed that people could be categorized into three groups: the unrighteous (who were predestined for hell), the sinners (who were heading there too unless they started keeping all the commandments), and the righteous (those who kept the commandments and by this act had their names written in the Book of Life). To a Pharisee, this was Religious Truth 101, and in one short sentence, Jesus declared this thinking utterly wrong. Instead, according to Jesus, there was an absolute necessity, no exceptions, not even for a Pharisee of the Sanhedrin, to be born again.

Nicodemus’ response shows how this just blew Nicodemus out of the water. Nicodemus was not a stupid person, but he was so shocked by Jesus’ opening remarks that he was reduced to talking like a fool. As I thought about an analogy for this this week, I came up with the idea that suppose you had just finished your Ph.D. and were ready to begin a career as a professor, when you are told you must start over. Not to start over with graduate school, not even to start over with your undergraduate degree, and not even to go all the way back to kindergarten, but to go back, back, to the very beginning, before preschool, before learning to talk, to crawl, to use the potty, all the way back.

What did Jesus mean? He meant that all of Nicodemus’ being good, his law-keeping, his mitvot, good deeds, his being a good example, his helping others, his position of leadership, all of it, was worthless in terms of being a “ticket” into heaven. Nicodemus’ bumbling response was to say, in effect, “Well, then, nobody can get into heaven!”

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” – John 3:5-8

If poor Nicodemus was flustered before, I can only imagine his state after hearing this. Let’s go through it line by line. First of all, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born of water and the Spirit. This verse has been misinterpreted and misused by some to imply that baptism is necessary for salvation. There is nothing to support this. The fact that the thief on the cross would see Jesus in heaven, the fact that baptism is seen again and again in Acts to follow conversion, and even John 3:16 (and many other verses) tear down this idea. We need to make sure we don’t make the same mistake as Nicodemus, taking things literally that are meant to be figurative. Just as we don’t need to go back into our mother’s bodies to be saved, neither do we need to be dunked or sprinkled. There is a place for baptism, in fact, it is an act of obedience to Christ to be baptized, but it is not a condition for salvation.

So what does “born of water” refer to? There are two reasonable theories. One is that it is just talking about natural birth, that, of course, you first do need to be actually physically born. The other is that it refers symbolically to repentance. This is based on the fact that John’s gospel details John the Baptist’s baptisms of repentance in chapter 1 and again later in this chapter. I personally lean toward the first interpretation, because of the later phrase “flesh gives birth to flesh.”

You won’t really go wrong with either interpretation, because they are both certainly true. There is no question that if you are discussing this, you have already been physically born, and there is also no question from many other verses of Scripture that repentance is a necessary first step of salvation – you must agree you are a sinner before you can become saved.

What about “born of the spirit”? From many, many verses, we know that this refers to the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us at the point of salvation. The Holy Spirit breathes this new life into us as surely as God breathed into Adam and made life come from non-life. As long as we rely on works, even really, really good works, we are still dead in our sins. (Those works also aren’t nearly as good as we think they are, but even if they were, it would not change anything.)

Note that, contrary to Pharisaical thinking, you cannot tell someone’s state by looking at their works. Again, the Pharisees believed that you could judge this, that you could lump people into those three groups. Jesus was saying that as the Spirit moves someone to become a new creation, through faith (as we will see), this could happen to anyone, not just those who were already outwardly religious. As Peter and the disciples later learned in Acts, it could even happen to those who weren’t Jewish at all!

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? – John 3:9-12

This sounds harsh to our ears, but we should be careful not to confuse earnestness with harshness. By the way, who is the “we” here? Almost certainly Jesus was referring to His small band of disciples. Picture them – a motley crew of uneducated fishermen plus a few others. Jesus is telling the ultra-educated, upper-class, ultra-respected and respectable Nicodemus that this group of country bumpkins were getting this (well, at least they were starting to get it – they still had spectacular lapses, as we will see).

But Nicodemus’ core problem is one these young disciples did not have – one of belief. This is what Jesus says, and because He can see into the heart, He knows. Nicodemus is hearing truth from a man he knows comes from God, but because it clashes with what he has believed, what has given him his status, what he thinks makes him who he is. And this conflict between belief and what people want to believe has repeated itself again and again over the last two thousand years. Many people’s core issue with the truth claims of Christianity is that they don’t want to change, they don’t want it to be true.

No one has ever gone into heaven except the One who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. – John 3:13-15

It is easy to gloss over this first sentence for the second. This continues Jesus’ theme – no one, without exception, has gone into heaven by their works, or by their secret knowledge, or by anything else. Jesus, the only sinless one, who came from heaven, who is the Word who was with God and was God, is the only one who had gone into heaven.

As for the second sentence, it is a reference to the coming death of Christ, that the death of this man who was God, who was without sin, for the death of mankind, was necessary for belief in Him to actually provide eternal life. By analogy it refers to the account in Numbers 21 in which the Israelites were so hard-hearted and grumbling against God that God finally sent a plague of poisonous serpents. In their pain they as a people repented, and God provided a process by which these dying people could be saved. How were they saved? By looking up to the snake lifted up on the pole for them.

We too are dying, and we too must look up to the One lifted up for us. And just as those in the desert escaped certain death, we too escape our justly deserved punishment and receive eternal life. And then we come to that famous verse, John 3:16. I will read on and couple it with verse 17:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. – John 3:16-17

Do you know which word is the most exciting to me from John 3:16? It is the word “loved.” In verse 15 Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up. Must? Why? Because of God’s nature, of His love. His love for us compelled Him to sacrifice His Son for us, so that we could live eternally with Him. This is the gospel, the good news.

For could any news be better than this? That we don’t have to try to be “good enough” to get into heaven, because, if we were honest, we would all know that we couldn’t do that, that we were all doomed to fall hopelessly short? That we only need to agree with God as to our hopeless state and look to Him, to believe? That He has already done the hard part – that He gave Himself for us, to rescue us? That by faith the Spirit makes us born again, a new creation, made possible through Jesus’ blood? That He loved us so much He would do such an outrageous, extravagant, thing to save us? As it says in verse 17, Jesus did not come to condemn us, but to save us.

Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. – John 3:18-19

For us who believe, our condemnation is gone. As it says in Romans 8:1-3, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.”

In contrast, to not believe is to reject God’s Son, and in so doing, to reject God. Everyone knows God on some level, and is therefore responsible for what they do with that knowledge. Romans 1:18-21 states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” – John 3:20-21

The light here symbolizes truth revealed. Logically speaking, why would anyone want to block the truth from being revealed, especially when it is truth about a God they themselves will face? Taken at this level it is crazy! And Romans 1:28 says a similar thing: “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” To give over is to let the natural consequences have their way. To think like a crazy person will eventually make you a crazy person.

But in contrast to this is the person who lives by the truth. This person comes into the light, that is, they embrace the revealed truth. They look truthfully upon themselves and see their sin, their brokenness. And then they look truthfully upon Christ and see God’s love and see salvation and see hope and see that nothing in their lives matters compared to this. And so, poisoned by sin, dying by sin, they look upon Christ lifted up for them and find new life, find eternal life, find the true meaning of love.

Now we don’t know exactly where Jesus’ discourse to Nicodemus ends, whether all of this was said to Nicodemus by Jesus or whether some of it was John’s commentary on Jesus’ conversation with him. But it doesn’t really matter. It is all glorious truth, the core of the gospel, the greatest news that has ever been proclaimed.

After this, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.)  – John 3:22-24

This is such a profound scene to me. There is something about it that reminds me a little of the Lord of the Rings – if you are familiar with the books and/or movies there are a number of scenes in which you get the clear sense that it is the end of an age – in that story the age of the elves is being replaced by the age of men.

Here we are too witnessing the end of the age, of sorts, the end of the age of the Law, and the beginning of the age of Christ. John the Baptist you could well say was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Prior to John was the age of silence – there hadn’t been a genuine Old Testament prophet in 400 years, and he had a wide following. Matthew 3:5 says that people went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. John was well known and well-respected by many, although some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law probably didn’t like him, since he called them a brood of vipers. But John was very popular – people were “constantly” coming to him to be baptized.

Now, interestingly, Jesus Himself did not do any baptizing; it was His disciples who did it, as it says quite clearly in John 4:2.  So you have John baptizing at one place, and a little distance away, probably no more than a few miles apart, was Jesus’ disciples baptizing as well.

An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” – John 3:25-26

So what is going on? The crowds that were coming to John are becoming smaller and smaller, and the crowds coming over to Jesus and His disciples are becoming larger and larger. This is over some period of time, at least multiple days, maybe longer. And now an argument develops over some matter of the baptizing itself. What exactly did they argue about? We don’t know, but it might have been over the “right” way to baptize, or over which way was “better.” After arguing a while, they went to John, and tell him, in effect, “Hey, John, you know that guy you said was so great, the Lamb of God, the one whose sandals you were not even worthy to untie? Well, people are going to him to get baptized.” It’s actually a pretty humorous thing, isn’t it? “Hey, that guy you told people to go to? Well, people are going to him!”

How does John, the last of the Old Testament prophets, respond?

To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. – John 3:27-30

This is a beautiful answer. Humility, true humility, is beautiful. John rejoices, even as he is beginning to fade away. I am reminded of I Cor. 13:5 that says, “Love is not self-seeking.” We all should have this mindset.

Another person who exemplifies the beauty of this kind of humility was Moses. The account of it is in Numbers 11, starting at verse 24: So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!”

One thing that John the Baptist says that I think is so powerful is that first line, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.” I think this sentiment is rare today even among Christians. If you are successful at work, to whom do you give the credit? I don’t mean right now, when we are discussing the humility of John the Baptist; I mean the rest of the time! If you are talented at something, do you view it as “your” talent, or as what is given to you from God?

More directly, if you are not successful, are you jealous of someone who is? If you don’t feel talented, are you jealous of those who are? You may think that thinking of yourself as untalented means you cannot be proud, but I’m not so sure. True humility is not based on false thinking of oneself. True humility is like John’s here. Most of what he says isn’t about himself at all, but about the “bridegroom,” that is, Christ. John rejoices because Christ is here. He doesn’t care about anything else.

Now, the “friend who attends the bridegroom” – this was a special role in a Hebrew wedding, called the Shoshabin in Hebrew. Usually this was a close relative of the bridegroom, and he had a responsibility for getting the bride and bridegroom together properly, following all the laws and customs of the time. John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, their mothers were close even while pregnant. Viewing Christ as the Bridegroom, a theme repeated again and again in Scripture, could there be any one more appropriate to be the Shoshabin than John the Baptist? And after the wedding, his only desire was that there would be a happily-ever-after ending to the story. This is exactly John the Baptist’s attitude here

“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. – John 3:31-34

I believe these verses are a continuation of the testimony of John the Baptist, because they further his explanation of why he has no problem that people are leaving him to go to Christ; indeed, he rejoices in this fact.

And what does John say? Christ is the one who comes from above and is above all. John is only a man. Christ testifies to what He has seen and heard; that is, He is giving a first-hand account; He was personally with God in the beginning, as it says in John 1; in contrast, John’s account is only what has been revealed to him. And in Christ is the Spirit without limit. Now John had been touched by the Spirit; in fact, we know from Luke that the Spirit was with John even when he was in his mother’s womb, but there is just no comparison. It’s a drop of the Spirit compared to the flood.

“The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” – John 3:35-36

John then says of Christ that He is loved by the Father and has been giving everything by the Father. Even John’s role as Shoshabin is temporary; the one who really looks out for the Bridegroom is God the Father. He has given Him everything.

And the chapter ends with this simple but powerful restatement of the most important truth for any person’s life: Whoever believes in Him has eternal life; whoever rejects Him will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. It is not removed, because it is only removed by accepting the gift of eternal life from the giver, and that giver is Christ.