John 3:1–21

3:1–15 You Must Be Born Again. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a ruler (v. 1), probably a member of the Sanhedrin, and a teacher (v. 10—“teacher” may designate him as a preeminent authority). In 7:50–52 Nicodemus is shown to be open-minded and just, and in 19:38–42 he joins Joseph of Arimathea in the risky and expensive venture of providing the crucified Jesus a proper burial. The least we can say is that, across John’s Gospel, Nicodemus is interested in and favorably disposed toward Jesus. From the care he and Joseph of Arimathea show to Jesus after the crucifixion, it would seem that John presents Nicodemus and Joseph as taking the side of Jesus. They are certainly not on the side of those opposed to Jesus, and they seem more than merely neutral as they put themselves in danger and expend considerable wealth to place the body of Jesus in a tomb.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in chapter 3, and Jesus tells him he must be born again. Nicodemus does not understand. In chapter 7 Nicodemus sees the hypocrisy and wickedness of his colleagues in their rejection of Jesus. Then in chapter 19 Nicodemus joins Joseph in burying Jesus. This is an encouraging progression, involving many factors and experiences. John presents Nicodemus on a journey of sorts, making his way to becoming one who sides with Jesus. The progression we see in Nicodemus shows that some people may have an initial confusing encounter with the message of Jesus; as events unfold, perhaps they will be disabused of their doubt, bringing about a time when they may risk their lives and treasure for the sake of Christ.

There are different assessments of the fact that Nicodemus “came to Jesus by night” (3:2). Some conclude that the reference to night in verse 2 is akin to 13:30, where Judas leaves to betray Jesus and John adds with laconic symbolism, “And it was night,” reinforcing the idea of the wider context that the “light of the world” is about to go dark (e.g., 8:12; 12:35–36). Others observe that night is frequently referenced in the Psalms as a time for the study of Scripture, and there are indications that Jewish rabbis discussed the Scriptures together at night. On the whole, Nicodemus goes directly to Jesus (rather than simply talking about him and making assumptions) and engages him in forthright, respectful conversation. It would seem, then, that though Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus says to him in this passage, John presents him as a sympathetic character rather than as hostile or adversarial.

That Jesus will address Nicodemus as “the teacher of Israel” in 3:10 colors Nicodemus’s addressing him as “Rabbi” in verse 2 with humility and deference. Moreover, Nicodemus has come to a positive conclusion about the power at work in Jesus’ ministry. Unlike those who attribute it to dark forces (cf. Mark 3:22), Nicodemus says, “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.” The opening statement from Nicodemus gets the conversation started, and Jesus grants the truth of what Nicodemus has said and tells him more.

In his reply to Nicodemus, Jesus both affirms and expands what Nicodemus has said. Jesus begins rather solemnly, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you.” This phrase occurs only in John’s Gospel, always on the lips of Jesus (3:3, 5, 11; 13:38; 21:18; etc.). Much more frequent in the Gospels is the shorter phrase “Truly, I say to you.” Only John presents Jesus speaking this way—repeating the word “truly” (Gk. amēn)—perhaps reflecting a unique sensitivity to this expression.

Jesus continues in 3:3, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The word rendered “again” here is another double entendre, as it could also mean “from above.” A birth “from above” recalls the birth in 1:12–13—the reader of the Gospel will recognize this concept, but Nicodemus at this point does not. Nicodemus comes favorably disposed to Jesus, but he has not yet experienced the new birth. Thus he serves as an illustration of the kind of person described in 2:23–25, one drawn to Jesus because of the mighty works but to whom Jesus will not yet entrust himself. Nicodemus has seen the signs, but if he has not been born again, those signs have not revealed to him the kingdom of God. When those who have experienced the new birth see the signs, they glimpse the glory of Jesus (cf. 1:14; 2:11), which reveals God’s kingdom to them (3:3; cf. 1:18).

The words of Nicodemus in 3:4 show that he knows only the physical birth that humans experience, as he replies, “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, however, is describing a spiritual rather than physical birth, a spiritual birth that brings to fulfillment OT expectations related to the return from exile and the resurrection from the dead.

Jesus, using OT terms, then elaborates on what it means to be “born again” (v. 5; note that vv. 3 and 5 are essentially parallel), describing the new birth using imagery drawn from Ezekiel 36–37. Ezekiel 36:24 describes God’s gathering his exiled peoples from the nations and restoring them to their land. The phrase “born of water and the Spirit” in John 3:5 seems to have in view the “water” in Ezekiel 36:25 and the s/Spirit in 36:26–27.¹ The Lord had said in Ezekiel 36:25, “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.” This statement seems to inform the phrase “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). The cleansing function of the new birth shows it to be conceptually equivalent to regeneration, which also has a cleansing function (Titus 3:5). One aspect of the new birth, then, is that people are washed clean as they are “born of water” (cf. Ezek. 36:25; John 3:5; Titus 3:5): the new birth cleanses those who experience it (cf. Eph. 5:26). Baptism does not automatically produce the new birth, but the waters of baptism do symbolize this cleansing, and may be used by God for that purpose.

Ezekiel 36:26 speaks of God’s giving his people “a new heart, and a new spirit,” and then in verse 27 the Lord promises, “I will put my Spirit within you.” These statements seem to inform Jesus’ reference to those who are “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). The meaning, then, is that the Holy Spirit (Ezek. 36:27) produces a changed human spirit (v. 26). This understanding is also confirmed by Titus 3:5, where Paul says that the Lord “saved us, . . . by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus next elaborates on these concepts to help Nicodemus understand (John 3:6–8). Nicodemus had spoken of physical birth in verse 4, while Jesus had spoken of the spiritual birth in verse 5. Jesus then contrasts these two births: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). The physical birth brings one into the realm of the flesh, while the spiritual birth, produced by “the Spirit,” brings one into the realm of the spirit. Those born of their mothers are flesh; those “born of God” (1:13) are “born again” (3:3) “of the Spirit”—they are spirit not in the sense that they become the Holy Spirit but in the sense that they belong to and partake of his realm. This is also how they are able to “worship . . . in spirit and truth” (4:23–24).

When Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (3:7), the first “you” is singular, addressing Nicodemus, while the second “you” is plural, indicating that the need for the new birth is general. The plural “you” may indicate that others were there with Nicodemus, but it certainly shows that Nicodemus is not the only person who needs to be born again. Notice also that to “be born again” is passive. People do not cause themselves to be born physically, nor do they cause themselves to be born spiritually.

Jesus had alluded to Ezekiel 36:25–27 in John 3:5, seeking to show Nicodemus that the prophesied renewal was being accomplished. Now in verse 8 Jesus alludes to Ezekiel 37, where Ezekiel prophesied of the “breath” (Ezek. 37:9) that would give life to the formerly dead dry bones (37:10). The Lord then promised to open the graves of his people and put his Spirit in them (37:14). The Spirit/wind/breath ambiguity of the Hebrew word ruakh is true also for the Greek term pneuma, and this ambiguity is evoked when Jesus states, “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” (John 3:8). That the Spirit “blows where it wishes” points again to the reality that no one can cause himself to experience the new birth.

Jesus’ echo of the blowing of the wind/breath/Spirit that gave life in Ezekiel 37 also indicates that the new birth is something like the resurrection of the dead’s breaking into present reality. This forges another connection between the new birth and regeneration, as the term rendered “regeneration” in Titus 3:5 is used to speak of the renewal of all things, the “new world,” in Matthew 19:28, when believers will enjoy resurrection bodies. Furthermore, the new birth can also be referred to as being “made . . . alive” out of deadness to sin (Eph. 2:1–3, 5), a foretaste of the resurrection from the dead made possible by union with Christ in his resurrection. The Holy Spirit cannot be controlled or summoned, but like the wind its life-giving power can be discerned.

Jesus has explained to Nicodemus that in order to perceive and enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5), one must be born again. This new birth grants the ability to see and enter the kingdom. This is not an ability that pertains to the flesh but a spiritual ability to understand the significance of Jesus (vv. 5–6). In response to all of this, Nicodemus asks in seeming wonderment, “How can these things be?” (v. 9). In his reply, Jesus is relentless. He is aghast at the amazement of Nicodemus, asking in verse 10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” Jesus seems to expect Nicodemus to understand that he claims to bring the fulfillment of what was prophesied in Ezekiel 36–37. As he continues to speak, however, Jesus indicates that the problem is not merely one of understanding.

Jesus says in John 3:11, “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.” At this point Jesus is speaking on the basis of the reality that he is the Messiah. More than that, he is God incarnate. He has just explained how he is fulfilling the OT to Nicodemus, who is both confused and unconvinced. Jesus responds in accordance with the way things are: Nicodemus should accept what Jesus has said. What Jesus has said is true, whether Nicodemus understands and believes or not. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is fulfilling the OT. He has explained it, and that ought to be enough for Nicodemus.

When Jesus says, “We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen,” he testifies to his knowledge and perception of how the new birth is necessary for people to see and enter the kingdom. He has explained how the new birth fulfills Ezekiel’s prophecies of a new heart, new experience of the Spirit, and new life. When Jesus explains something to hearers who do not accept it, the problem is not merely that they do not understand but that they do not believe his testimony.

Jesus indicts Nicodemus for not receiving his testimony in verse 11, and he continues in verse 12, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” This statement seems to serve as a transition, with the reference to earthly things looking back to what Jesus has said to this point concerning the Spirit’s work in the new birth, and the reference to heavenly things looking forward to what Jesus will say in verses 13–15 (perhaps extending through v. 21). The indictment, “you do not believe,” in verse 12 draws out the implication of Nicodemus’s not receiving Jesus’ testimony in verse 11. Nicodemus had asked in verse 9, “How can these things be?” and Jesus has answered in verses 10–12 that if Nicodemus has not believed what he has said to this point, further explanation will hardly help. Even so, Jesus makes two statements in verses 13–15 designed to give further insight into how he fulfills the OT. These statements speak to the identity and mission of Jesus.

There is some discussion of whether the switch from the second person (you) in verse 12 to the third person (no one) in verse 13 indicates that Jesus has stopped talking and John has begun commenting. Others think, since Jesus normally refers to himself as the Son of Man, that perhaps Jesus speaks through verse 15, with John commenting in verses 16–21. Given the way that Jesus is regularly presented in John’s Gospel as making explosive statements he does not go on to explain (e.g., 1:51; 2:19), it seems Jesus is the one making the profound and complicated assertions of 3:13–15. Because there is no overt indication that Jesus has stopped talking, the ESV appears correct to put verses 10–21 in red (or within quotation marks in non-red-letter editions), with verse 22 clearly marking a new departure.

Jesus’ statement in verse 13 asserts his unique identity on the basis of OT anticipations of the coming Son of God. He picks up ideas from Proverbs 30:4 and Daniel 7:13 to identify himself to Nicodemus. These assertions are meant to announce his identity to Nicodemus, to summon him to a decisive moment of acceptance or rejection of the claims Jesus makes.

In Proverbs 30:4 Agur son of Jakeh asks, “Who has ascended to heaven and come down? . . . What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!” Jesus, having revealed to Nicodemus his need in terms of OT expectation, seems to be offering the answer to Agur’s question: “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” (John 3:13). The reference to the Son of Man offers Nicodemus another OT context whereby he can understand the identity of Jesus. Jesus has implicitly declared himself to be the Son of the one who is in heaven by means of the allusion to Proverbs 30:4, and he then identifies himself as the Daniel 7:13–14 Son of Man. Having just referenced his ability to declare heavenly things in John 3:12, and having asserted that he testifies to what he has seen and known in verse 11, the words of Jesus in verse 13 amount to a declaration that he himself is simultaneously the Son of the one who is in heaven and the Son of Man; he is the one who has descended from heaven (Prov. 30:4), and the only one who has ascended to heaven (Dan. 7:13–14). Nicodemus should believe Jesus because of his unparalleled status. Because he descended from heaven, Jesus can declare heavenly things. Because he can declare heavenly things, Nicodemus should believe the earthly things he has explained.

Having declared his identity to Nicodemus by means of these OT allusions, Jesus next tells Nicodemus what he has come to do, again in OT terms: “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” (3:14–15). Jesus puts two OT texts together in these words. The word translated “lifted up” is the same term used in the Greek translation of Isaiah 52:13 to describe the wise servant being lifted up and exalted—the servant who bears the sin of the people in Isaiah 53. Several times in John’s Gospel the term from Isaiah 52:13 will be used to describe Jesus’ being lifted up (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34).

There also is the obvious comparison to the incident with the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:4–9, as Jesus presents himself as the typological fulfillment of that event. In Numbers 21:6, the people are dying because of the serpents whom the Lord has sent among them as a judgment on their sin. John later presents Jesus as the one to whom judgment has been entrusted (John 5:27), and those who do not believe in Jesus face wrath (3:36). In Numbers 21:8 the Lord instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent, depicting the means whereby judgment was visited, and to lift it up. Just as an instrument of judgment, the serpent, was lifted up in the wilderness, so the great agent of judgment, Jesus, will be lifted up on the cross. In Numbers 21:8–9, those who look at the bronze serpent are delivered from the serpent’s bite, and in the same way, those who see the glory of Jesus when he is lifted up are delivered from the judgment he will execute. However, whereas the bronze serpent merely extended the physical lives of those who looked on it, those who believe in Jesus enjoy eternal life (John 3:15).

John presents Jesus as claiming to fulfill the OT in dense and various ways in this passage:

• He claims to bring in the promised kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5).
• He claims to bring the cleansing and renovation of attitude prophesied in Ezekiel 36:24–26 through the new birth (John 3:5–6).
• He claims that this renewal partakes of the resurrection blowing of the Spirit prophesied in Ezekiel 37:1–14 (John 3:8).
• He claims to be the ascending and descending Son of the one who is in heaven from Proverbs 30:4 (John 3:13).
• He claims to be the Daniel 7:13–14 Son of Man (John 3:13–14).
• He claims to be the wise servant who will be exalted from Isaiah 52:13 (John 3:14).
• He claims to be the typological fulfillment of the bronze serpent from Numbers 21:4–9 (John 3:14).

3:16–21 This Is How God Loved the World. In 2:23–25, John reported that there were people at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem who were believing in Jesus because they saw the signs, but that Jesus was not entrusting himself to these people because he “knew what was in man.” John follows this in chapter 3 with an example of just such a man, Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus because of the signs (vv. 1–2). Nicodemus, however, needs to be born again, as Jesus explains to him in verses 3–8. This indicates that the people to whom Jesus was not entrusting himself also needed to be born again (cf. the plural “You must be born again” in v. 7). Jesus explains the new birth to Nicodemus in terms of the cleansing and renewing work of the Holy Spirit described in Ezekiel 36:24–27 (John 3:5) and the resurrection of the dry bones by the blowing of the Holy Spirit wind in Ezekiel 37 (John 3:8).

Nicodemus responds in perplexed confusion (v. 9), and Jesus faults him not only for not understanding (v. 10) but also for not receiving his testimony (v. 11). Jesus indicts Nicodemus for not believing what he told him about earthly things (v. 12) and proceeds to tell him heavenly things concerning his identity and mission. Jesus identifies himself as the Daniel 7:13 Son of Man and the answer to the riddle of Proverbs 30:4 (John 3:13). Jesus describes his mission to accomplish the typological fulfillment of the lifting up of the bronze serpent in the wilderness (v. 14), but when Jesus is lifted up, those who believe in him will have eternal life (v. 15).

Jesus then offers further explanation to Nicodemus in verses 16–21. Because a clear break comes in verse 22, it seems that Jesus continues to speak through verse 21, and thus verses 16–21 are a clarification and elaboration from Jesus for Nicodemus. Specifically, in verses 16–17 Jesus clarifies for Nicodemus what he said in verses 14–15 about how he will be lifted up like the bronze serpent. Then in verses 18–19 Jesus elaborates on the relationship between his being lifted up and the judgment. The teaching continues in verses 20–21 with Jesus explaining why some flee the light while others do all they can to find it. This points back to what Jesus said about the new birth in verses 3–8 and the way that new birth was introduced in the prologue to the Gospel in 1:12–13.

The marginal reading for the first clause of the ESV’s translation of John 3:16 captures the sense of the text: “For this is how God loved the world.” Having just told Nicodemus in verse 14 that the Son of Man must be lifted up like the snake in the wilderness, Jesus now tells him that God loved the world by giving his Son to be lifted up on the cross. In verse 14 Jesus refers to himself as the “son of man” from Daniel 7:13, and in John 3:16 he describes himself as the “only begotten Son” of God (AT). The Son of Man in Daniel 7:13 is both the Davidic king and a member of the heavenly court, and Jesus communicates this dual nature by referring to himself in several ways:

• as the Proverbs 30:4 Son of the one who is in heaven, who ascended to heaven and came down (John 3:13);
• as the Son of Man (3:13–14);
• and as the only begotten Son of God (3:16).

The outcome of the lifting up of the Son in verses 14–15 is the same as that of God’s giving the Son in verse 16: “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (v. 15). The only changes from the wording of the last phrase of verse 15 to the same phrase in verse 16 are the use of a different preposition (εν in v. 15; εις in v. 16) and the addition in verse 16 of the phrase “should not perish.”

In what way did God love the world? God loved the world in this way: he gave. God gave his Son. God gave his only begotten Son. There is no one else like Jesus. No one else is both God and man. No one else could be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness so that those who believe might have life. Only Jesus would answer. God gave Jesus.

The words of Jesus in verse 17 continue to explain the reference to the lifting up of the Son of Man in verse 14 and the giving of the only begotten Son in verse 16. Nicodemus and other Jews of the time were familiar with OT prophecies of a coming king from David’s line who would conquer (e.g., Psalm 110). In Acts 5:36–37 Gamaliel speaks of two men—Theudas and Judas the Galilean—who rose up and gathered a following, but whose movements came to nothing when they were killed. When Paul says that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23), part of what he has in view is how the Jews expected the Messiah to conquer and thus interpreted crucifixion as proof of failure. Jesus seems to be addressing this expectation when he says to Nicodemus in John 3:17, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

If the Son had first come to conquer, he would have brought condemnation on the world: his enemies would have been judged, and all sinners would have been consigned to perdition forever. But God did not send his Son to condemn the world. God did not send Jesus to conquer and condemn but to die and save. Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus why he will not be raising an army and going to war to drive the Romans out of the Holy Land. Jesus is explaining why he will be lifted up like the snake in the wilderness (v. 14), what it means that God gave the Son (v. 16), and how it is that those who believe in him will have eternal life (vv. 14–15, 16): those from the world who believe will “be saved through him” (v. 17).

That last phrase of verse 17, “saved through him,” indicates that those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life (vv. 15, 16) because they will be saved through Jesus. Saved from what? Verse 36 will describe the wrath of God remaining on those who do not obey the Son. Saved how? As the Son is lifted up like the snake in the wilderness (v. 14). Once again, the reference to his being “lifted up” comes from Isaiah 52:13. Christ saves through his death on the cross. Though not explicitly stated in this passage, the logic undergirding the statements found here, as seen from statements elsewhere in John, holds that the death of Jesus on the cross propitiated the Father’s wrath against sin, just as the bronze serpent was the answer to God’s wrath toward rebellious Israel.

God loved the world by giving Jesus to die in its place. There was nothing the world needed more than for God’s wrath to be assuaged, nothing more valuable to the Father than Jesus. There was no greater length to which anyone could go to show love, no way for greater love to be more convincingly demonstrated, than for ultimate value to be sacrificed for ultimate need to accomplish ultimate salvation.

Jesus is simply explaining to Nicodemus the salvation he has come to accomplish. God loved the world by giving the Son (John 3:16). The Son has come to accomplish the mission and be lifted up on the cross (v. 14). Only those who believe will be saved from condemnation, as Jesus explains in verse 18: “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.” A form of the word translated “condemned” also appears in the Greek translation of Isaiah 53:8 as “judgment”: “by oppression and judgment he was taken away.” The first clause in John 3:18, then, means that whoever believes in Jesus is not judged because Jesus was judged in his place. The rest of verse 18 explains that those who do not believe have been judged “already,” because they have “not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” This indicates that those who do not believe in Jesus are “already” under judgment, even before they encounter him. The only thing that delivers from judgment is belief in Jesus. Those who have not believed in Jesus are under the judgment that has stood over all people since Adam’s sin, because of his sin and theirs.

Jesus provides proof of that judgment in verse 19: “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.” If unbelievers were not under judgment, they would not prefer the darkness to the light. Their preference for darkness shows their guilt; the coming of the light manifests their judgment as their response shows their spiritual state. As Adam hid from God in the garden, so sinners seek darkness when the Light of the World arrives. One’s response to the light reveals one’s spiritual state, as Jesus goes on to say in verses 20–21.

As he talks with Nicodemus, Jesus seeks to prove to him that the lifting up of the Son (v. 14) and the Father’s giving of the Son (v. 16) are necessary for the world’s salvation (v. 17). Nicodemus might think that the Jews would not need such an extreme sacrifice in order to be saved, but Jesus shows from the Jews’ response to him that they need not only his sacrifice but also the new birth described in verses 3–8. The Jews should recognize what Nicodemus said in verse 2, that no one could do what Jesus has done apart from God. But they do not recognize this; instead, as Jesus states plainly in verse 19, they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

Jesus articulates utter moral clarity in verse 20: “Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” Notice that those who do evil are neither merely indifferent to the light nor simply uninterested in it. No, they “[hate] the light.” This hatred is self-protective, arising from a desire to keep one’s wicked deeds from being exposed. Those who encounter Jesus as he is in the Bible encounter him as he is. It is not possible to be neutral toward him. He will be either hated or loved.

This kind of response to the light should be expected. Sinners do not like to have their sin exposed. Counterintuitively, however, God loves people enough to shine the light on their sin. The coming of the light exposes sin and begins the process of wooing people out of darkness into the light. Sinners may not feel loved when their sin is brought to light, but this is how God loved the world. He sent his Son to be the Light of the World, to be killed by the world, that the world could be saved through him.

John stated in 1:12–13 that those who received Jesus were born of God, and Jesus tells Nicodemus that those born again are able to see and enter the kingdom. These earlier statements inform 3:21: “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.” In order to do what is true, such actions must be “carried out in God.” Such works will be done by those who are “born of the Spirit” and thereby are spirit (3:6, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”). Those who are born again are enabled to see and enter the kingdom; they partake not only of the realm of the flesh but also of the realm of the Spirit, and thus their works are wrought in God.

Because of the new birth, those who see the kingdom and believe in Jesus are not repelled by the light but do all they can to enter it. They do what is true, perceiving reality as it is because they have experienced the new birth. They come to the light not for credit for what they have done but so that the light will demonstrate that what they have done has been produced by God’s power.

In this conversation Jesus has brought Nicodemus to a point of decision. He has done so by explaining what must happen to him: he needs to experience the new birth, the resurrection renewal that Jesus brings in fulfillment of Ezekiel 36–37. Nicodemus needs to see Jesus as the answer to OT riddles and the fulfillment of OT patterns. He needs to understand Jesus as the manifestation of the Father’s love.

Jesus presses the decision on Nicodemus by setting forth the binary nature of reality. Nicodemus needs to understand that there are opposite possibilities: he will either perish or have eternal life (John 3:16). To woo him, Jesus states that he has come not to judge but to save (v. 17); that those who believe will not be judged, while those who do not believe are already judged (v. 18). People love either darkness or light (v. 19). There are those who do wicked things, and there are also those who do the truth; some hate and flee the light, while others come to it (vv. 20–21).