I've heard many sermons on the Pharisee named Nicodemus. He was a religious man, a teacher, and a leader. But religion is a funny thing. Our sin nature can result in an affinity for religion. It becomes a career and a political pursuit. The politics of religion in most historical eras was the center of power and leadership. We like the separation of church and state but in many ages they have been intertwined. Nicodemus ruled and he taught and he was accustomed to verbal contests. However, he had no idea how far out of his league he was when he went to negotiate and make initial contact with the "Rabbi".
John 3:1-8
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." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 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?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 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."
Nicodemus knew that Jesus was influential enough that He would need to be dealt with but he didn't want to be seen with Him so he went in the night. He didn't want to be seen with Him during the day because he was a ruler of the Jews. He didn't want his career messed up by association with a controversial rabbi. I think sometimes there should have been the hiss of an arrow in flight and the thud as it hits the mark when Jesus spoke. I've been hit by some of those. Here Jesus doesn't do the seeker friendly thing. He tells Nicodemus that it is impossible for him to enter into the Kingdom of God.
You can't decide to be born again any more than you decided to be born the first time. Remember that John told us earlier in the Gospel that (1:12-13) all who received Jesus, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God? However, remember that John went on to stress that we are not born as a result of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Here the Gospel is driving it home again and making the point with someone who had the blood, he had the will of the flesh, and he had all the support of man that anyone could hope for. All he really had was three strikes against him.
Nicodemus had a very rude reply. Argumentation was part of his work and he jumped on what he perceived as a ridiculous statement by Jesus. The response from Jesus is very calm but it has some portions that are not isn't easy to fully understand. Jesus said you needed to be born of water and Spirit to see the Kingdom of Heaven. There are a few ways to interpret this statement but you know I like simple when simple will do the job.
One simple explanation is that Jesus meant a natural birth (water) and supernatural birth (Spirit). That is possible but that means Jesus was stating the obvious since you need to be born naturally just to be. So the person who isn't born naturally doesn't have a problem because they don't exist. However, it does parallel the second statement of that "which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Well maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. Because born of the flesh is flesh. That is your problem. You need to be of another kind and that kind is born of the Spirit. I think the most likely exegesis (and profitable line of study for these verses) is that "water and spirit" are an Old Testament link to purification and rebirth. The Old Testament prophets would have been the subtext to everything Jesus and Nicodemus would have said.
The Old Testament prophets always pointed out the problem of impurity and spiritual death. Israel was dirty and dead.
For example,
Isaiah 32:15-17
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
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. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, 'I am the LORD's,' another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, 'The LORD's,' and name himself by the name of Israel."
Ezekiel 36:24-27
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Given the context and the speaker's common background in the scriptures it seems reasonable to think that this is what Jesus was referring to. So perhaps Jesus was drawing from these verses to stress purification and a new birth that is a birth of a different kind. Keep in mind that we are heading to a "Living Water" verse very soon. It seems to me that the light is going on in Nicodemus and he realizes that he was wrong. Maybe he began to remember verses that he should have remembered faster. He can in thinking that he needed to talk to a poorly schooled fringe rabbi and found instead the Lord of Glory.
John 3:9-15
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" 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? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Nicodemus admits ignorance at last and Jesus is right to criticize Nicodemus as a teacher because this is Old Testament revelation. These really are things that a teacher of Israel should have known. It is significant that Nicodemus started the conversation speaking as "we" and now Jesus moves to the "we" and I think it is a point back at the prophets here.
Nicodemus comes in with the "we" of a few of the current teachers of Israel and Jesus finishes up with the "we" of God's Word. The walls should have vibrated when Jesus said "we".
The prophets, and Jesus here, spoke of what they knew, and gave witness to what they had seen, but Nicodemus had failed to receive the testimony. So if he fails on earthly things then who is he going to believe heavenly things? Here is the Son of Man, the Messiah, standing in front of the best that organized first century Judaism had to offer and that man didn't recognize the Messiah. They waited 400 years, had John the Baptist to give them the heads up, and missed the boat. Sin goes right to the core and blinds us.
Jesus again foreshadows His crucifixion by comparing himself to the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. Remember that in that story everyone was dying until they looked up to the serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
John 3:16-21
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
These are famous verses. When we read the entire passage we would never fall into the error of universalism. We see that God loved the world and gave His only Son. Then we see that whoever believes has eternal life. We don't see (yet) who that whoever will be. We don't see it here but we will in the rest of the Gospel. God saves the world means that God saves from all nations and not just Israel by making Israel of all nations. But some are not going to believe and are condemned already.
The condemnation is the result of a sacrificial love for darkness. It isn't a rational thing to reject God but it is produced by a sin nature that the Holy Spirit must conquer. As we pray for the lost we pray that God will purify and resurrect. Unlike Nicodemus, and thanks to God's Grace, we know the way these things can be. It is as a result of God the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:24-27) taking the unsaved from the nations and gathering from all countries and bringing us into an inheritance of grace.
He cleans us from all our sins and from all our idols. And He gives new hearts, and puts a new spirit within us. He removes the heart of stone from your flesh and gives us hearts of flesh.
He is the one who puts His Spirit within us and causes us to walk in His statutes and be careful to obey His rules. All glory to Christ our Savior and God our Father. Amen.
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