Nicodemus Encounters Life (John 3)
Synopsis Jesus tells Nicodemus he (and everyone) must be born again to enter into the kingdom of God. He’s giving instructions on how to live into the new Jesus-life that he establishes through his ministry and resurrection. This new kingdom isn’t like the Jewish faith where you have to be born into Judaism; all can enter into the family of God by being born again. The marks being born again are entering into the community of believers (symbolized by water baptism) and receiving the Spirit and letting it work in you. And when you receive that Spirit, you will, as a result, begin to see the ways that you live in darkness and step into the light that comes in Jesus. In other words, the Spirit will begin to reveal all the ways that God wants to prepare you for life in the kingdom forever, to make you new.
The passage for this week is John 3:1-21, where a guy named Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night.
The win this week: 1) Emphasize that being born again isn’t just about personal salvation. It’s about becoming part of a community of believers, receiving the Spirit, and letting your life be transformed. 2) Think practically about how you live in “darkness” and how to “step into the light.”
“How can a man be born again?” Read John 3:1-21
Commentary Nicodemus visiting Jesus in the night immediately stands out as sort of odd. But understanding why he did so will help understand this scene. See, Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and a pharisee. If you read the Gospels you’ll quickly see that the pharisees weren’t Jesus’ biggest fans. In fact, they killed him because he threatened their authority. But Nicodemus, for all that he’s supposed to hate about Jesus, knows there’s something unique and powerful about who Jesus is. And so he comes in the night, to avoid his fellow pharisees knowing.
The Jewish faith of the time had a whole lot to do with whether or not you were born into the right family: the lineage of Abraham. This lineage is where the pharisees got their power. They thought that being part of God’s family or not was based on your birth. But Jesus says that being born into the right family isn’t enough (or even all that relevant). Instead, you need to be born again (or from above).
John Page 5 of 29 So what’s it mean to be born again? We get a little picture of what all this entails from Jesus’ description of being “born of water and the Spirit.” The first seems to be a reference to baptism, the entrance into the kingdom-movement that began with John the baptist announcing the coming of the Christ and continues today in the Church. So part of being born again is entering into a community of Jesus followers. The second part is new life led by and overflowing with the Spirit. So being born again isn’t just about the moment you receive your salvation. It’s about becoming a member of the body of Christ, receiving the Spirit, and letting your life be transformed by him. That’s how you begin to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Light and darkness is a major theme throughout John. And what John writes here is so powerful. Jesus is like light coming into a world that lives in the shadow of power and fear and desire. But one of the primary things that keeps people from entering into this new life is that they don’t want to let go of the things they do in darkness—their indulgence and selfishness. And they know that, seen in the light, letting go of these things would be the only reasonable option. In other words, what keeps people from being born again is that they don’t want to put their darkness to death.
Though he first comes to Jesus in the dark of night, Nicodemus does step into the light. He lays down his pharisee badge-of-honor for a life of following Jesus, and likely being persecuted for doing so. He even makes sure Jesus’ body was buried in an honorable ways after the crucifixion (John 19). Of course, he didn’t foresee that Jesus would rise again—that he would be the ultimate example of what new life with God really and finally looks like.
Finally, Jesus says that this process, being born again, is how you enter (and even see) the kingdom of God. It’s important to realize that the “kingdom of God” doesn’t just mean heaven. Jesus isn’t just talking about a place of salvation after death; he’s talking about the kingdom that he inaugurated on this earth when he defeated death. You enter into it, and begin to take part and become part of it, by this process of re-birth.
Questions
What do you know about Nicodemus? What can you tell about him from his first comment to Jesus? How does that shape the way Jesus responds to him?
What Jesus mean when he says that people need to be “born again?”
Jesus is teaching Nicodemus (and us) about how to enter “the kingdom of God.” What is the kingdom of God? What’s that really mean?
Right after this conversation Jesus has with Nicodemus, John writes a lot about light and dark. Why’s he do that? How are these two topics related?
John Page 6 of 29
Application Questions
What is the popular understanding of what being “born again” means? How does this passage add to that definition?
What does being “born again” practically look like?
The only insight Jesus gives us into this process is that it happens by “water and the Spirit.” What can we learn about what being born again really looks like from that description?
How do you know if you’ve been born again?
Who can be born again? What are the qualifications for re-birth?
Does this understanding of what it means to be born again affect the way that we should think about evangelism?
Does being born again mean that all the sin you used to live in will suddenly be gone?
If someone told you they wanted to be born again, how would you tell them to go about doing so?
Are there factors that disqualify someone from re-birth? Or that make being born again more difficult?
Why does John connect these conversations about being born again and about light and dark? What should this connection teach us?
What does John say is the reason people don’t come into the light? Are there other reasons people might not come into the light?
John 3:16 is one of the most well known and well-loved verses of Scripture. How is this verse balanced by the verses immediately after?
John Page 7 of 29
Toolbox
Martin Lloyd Jones sermon on Regeneration Tim Keller - “The New Birth” Commentary on John 3 Christ Plays in 10,000 Places by Eugene Peterson (specifically the Introduction)
John Page 8 of 29