JULY 26 - Jesus One on One: Nicodemus

On Sunday, July 26 we looked at Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus in John 3:1-17.

To go a little deeper, here are some thoughts by various writers across the years on the character Nathanael.

RAY STEDMAN. Jesus sensed in Nicodemus a deep hunger, an emptiness. Here was a man who was doing his level best to obey what he thought God wanted, yet he had an empty and unsatisfied heart that led him to seek out Jesus by night, at the risk of the displeasure of his peers, to talk with him about the kingdom of God. Sensing this our Lord immediately puts him on the right track, saying to him, in effect, "You are wasting your time if you think you can enter the kingdom of God the way you are. You cannot do it. You must be born again." John Wesley's favorite text, which he preached all through England, Wales and Scotland, was this, "You must be born again." Someone said to him once, "Why do you preach so often on 'you must be born again'?" Wesley's answer was, "Because -- you must be born again." That is what Jesus is saying.

JOHN WESLEY. How must a man be born again? What is the nature of the new birth?....Not that we are to expect any minute, philosophical account of the manner how this is done. Our Lord sufficiently guards us against any such expectation, by the words immediately following the text; wherein he reminds Nicodemus of as indisputable a fact as any in the whole compass of nature, which, notwithstanding, the wisest man under the sun is not able fully to explain. "The wind bloweth where it listeth...but thou canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth;" -- the precise manner how it begins and ends, rises and falls, no man can tell. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit:" -- Thou mayest be as absolutely assured of the fact, as of the blowing of the wind; but the precise manner how it is done, how the Holy Spirit works this in the soul, neither thou nor the wisest of the children of men is able to explain.

JOHN WESLEY. The expression, "being born again," was not first used by our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus: It was well known before that time, and was in common use among the Jews when our Saviour appeared among them. When an adult Heathen was convinced that the Jewish religion was of God, and desired to join therein, it was the custom to baptize him first, before he was admitted to circumcision. And when he was baptized, he was said to be born again; by which they meant, that he who was before a child of the devil was now adopted into the family of God, and accounted one of his children. This expression, therefore, which Nicodemus, being "a Teacher in Israel," ought to have understood well, our Lord uses in conversing with him; only in a stronger sense than he was accustomed to. And this might be the reason of his asking, "How can these things be?" They cannot be literally: -- A man cannot "enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born:" -- But they may spiritually: A man may be born from above, born of God, born of the Spirit, in a manner which bears a very near analogy to the natural birth.

RAY STEDMAN. It is amazing that [Nicodemus] would come to Jesus at all, because the Pharisees regarded themselves as superior to other men in spiritual status before God due to their total dedication to obeying the law of God....John tells us that he began his word with a courteous introduction, "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...." This is a rather amazing statement....Nicodemus regarded Jesus as a successful teacher, because God put his seal of approval on him by doing miracles through him....Nicodemus came with a great deal of respect for Jesus, regarding him as a superior teacher, able to instruct in the meaning of the Law.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. It was by night that Nicodemus came to Jesus....It may have been a sign of caution. Nicodemus quite frankly may not have wished to commit himself by coming to Jesus by day. We must not condemn him. The wonder is that with his background he came to Jesus at all. It was infinitely better to come at night than not at all. It is a miracle of grace that Nicodemus overcame his prejudices and his upbringing and his whole view of life enough to come to Jesus....Nicodemus was a puzzled man, a man with many honors and yet with something lacking in his life. He came to Jesus for a talk so that somehow in the darkness of the night he might find light.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. When Jesus said that a man must be born anew, Nicodemus misunderstood him....How can anyone, he said, enter again into his mother's womb and be born a second time when he is already an old man? But there is more to Nicodemus's answer than that. In his heart therew as a great unsatisfied longing. It is as if he said with infinite, wistful yearning: "You talk about being born anew; you talk about this radical, fundamental change which is so necessary. I know that it is necessary; but in my experience it is impossible. There is nothing I would like more..." It is not the desirability of this change that Nicodemus questioned; that he knew only too well; it is the possibility. Nicodemus is up against the eternal problem, the problem of the man who wants to be changed and who cannot change himself.

CHRYSOSTOM (4th century). Even now [Nicodemus] was disposed toward Christ, but not as he should have been, nor did he yet have a proper regard for Jesus....This is why he came by night, because he feared to do so by day. Yet our merciful God did not reject or rebuke him for this, or deprive him of his instruction. Rather, with much kindness Jesus talked with him....Nicodemus shows he wants to learn....And so what Christ says to him is something like this: If you are not born again...everything you think about me will be from a human point of view, not a spiritual one....It is impossible, Christ says, for someone who is not born in this way to see the kingdom of God.

AUGUSTINE (354-430 AD). [Nicodemus] knew only one birth from Adam and Eve. He did not yet know [the birth] from God and the church....Although there are two births, he only knew one. One is from earth, the other from heaven. One is from the flesh, the other from the Spirit. One is from mortality, the other from eternity. One is from male and female, the other from God and the church.

AUGUSTINE. Do you think that the Lord meant to insult this master of the Jews? The Lord knew what he was doing. He wanted the man to be born of the Spirit....The man was puffed up with his mastery, and it appeared of some importance to him that he was a teacher of the Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride so that he might be born of the Spirit.