NLT Study Bible - Gospel of John - Flipbook - Page 12
John 3:3
1773
2:16
Luke 2:49
2:17
*Ps 69:9
2:19
Matt 26:61; 27:40
Mark 14:58
Acts 6:14
2:21
John 10:38; 14:2, 10;
17:21
1 Cor 3:16; 6:19
2:22
Luke 24:6-8
John 12:16; 14:26
2:23
John 7:31; 11:47-48
3:1-2
John 7:50; 19:39
3:2
Matt 22:16
Acts 2:22; 10:38
crhabbi (4461)
John 11:8
3:3
John 1:13
danothen gennao
(0509, 1080)
John 3:7
scattered the money changers’ coins over
the floor, and turned over their tables.
16Then, going over to the people who sold
doves, he told them, “Get these things out of
here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a
marketplace!”
17Then his disciples remembered this
prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for
God’s house will consume me.”
18But the Jewish leaders demanded,
“What are you doing? If God gave you au
thorit y to do this, show us a miraculous sign
to prove it.”
19“All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20“What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken
fort y-six years to build this Temple, and you
can rebuild it in three days?” 21But when
Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own
body. 22After he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered he had said this,
and they believed both the Scriptures and
what Jesus had said.
Nicodemus: A Religious Leader Visits Jesus
23Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in
Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many
began to trust in him. 24But Jesus didn’t trust
them, because he knew all about people. 25No
one needed to tell him about human nature,
for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
3
There was a man named Nicodemus, a
Jewish religious leader who was a Phar
isee. 2After dark one evening, he came to
speak with Jesus. “cRabbi,” he said, “we all
know that God has sent you to teach us. Your
miraculous signs are evidence that God is
with you.”
3Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, un
less you are dborn again, you cannot see the
Kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus (3:1-9)
John 7:50; 19:39-42
Nicodemus was a highly respected Jewish Pharisee (3:1), one of the prominent members of
the high council, who appears to have become a convert of Jesus. He is mentioned only in
the Gospel of John.
Intrigued by the authority of Jesus and the miracles he was doing, Nicodemus went to see
him secretly, at night, in a serious attempt to discover who he really was. Jesus challenged
him with the need to be born again, if he wished to be in the Kingdom of God (3:1-8). The
Gospel does not give us Nicodemus’s response.
Later, however, in opposition to his colleagues on the Jewish high council, he strongly
argued that Jesus should be given a fair trial (7:50). After Jesus was crucified, he bought
seventy-five pounds of expensive perfumed ointment for his burial, took it to the tomb, and
assisted Joseph of Arimathea in burying him (19:39-42). Thus, Nicodemus appears to be an
example of a Jewish Pharisee who came to believe in Jesus and was willing to express that
commitment publicly after his death.
now contained Jesus’ wine, and a
stone Temple dedicated to sacrificial
purification would be replaced by
Christ himself (2:19-21). Another view
is that Jesus cleared the Temple at the
beginning and again at the end of his
ministry.
2:17 Passion for God’s house will consume me: Or “Concern for God’s house
will be my undoing.” See Ps 69:9.
2:19 Destroy this temple: Herod
the Great began reconstructing the
Temple’s magnificent structure in 20 BC,
and work on it continued until AD 64.
This explains why Jesus’ audience was
amazed when he claimed he could
destroy and rebuild it in a few days.
However, Jesus spoke figuratively of
his body as the temple where God was
present (see 1:14; 1:51)—his body was
destroyed and restored in three days
through the resurrection, rendering the
Jerusalem Temple and its services obsolete. Later, at his trial, Jesus’ symbolic
reference to destroying the Temple was
used as evidence of blasphemy (Mark
14:58).
2:22 they believed: Witnessing a miracle from God can inspire belief, but it is
not the deepest faith possible (20:29).
2:24 Jesus didn’t trust them: John uses
a play on words here. Because of his
signs, many people trusted in Jesus
(2:23), but Jesus didn’t trust them. This
did not refer to specific people Jesus
met in Jerusalem, but to his knowledge
of all humanity.
3:1 John links 2:25 and 3:1 by referring to humanity as a whole (“mankind,” 2:25) and then to one specific
man using the same Greek word
(anthropos) in both verses. Nicodemus
was saturated in religious knowledge and had witnessed Jesus’ work
(2:13-24), but he had not experienced
spiritual rebirth. a Pharisee: See note
on 1:24. He was elite, proud of his
spiritual purity, and well educated in
Jewish law.
3:2 After dark: Nicodemus might have
feared public association with Jesus.
Night also symbolizes the realm of
evil, untruth, and unbelief (9:4; 11:10;
13:30).
3:3 born again: Or born from above;
also in 3:7. John’s expression “from
above” (3:31; 19:11) means “from God.”
To experience spiritual rebirth, a person
must be completely renewed through
God’s power. Nicodemus interpreted
Jesus’ words physically; he demonstrated that those in darkness, who
do not have spiritual rebirth, cannot
understand Jesus or other “heavenly
things” (3:12). Jesus sometimes used
ironic misunderstanding as a teaching
strategy (see “Misunderstanding” at
7:32-36, p. 1785).
