Chapter 3 – One God Translation

John

   3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a Jewish ruler. 2 He came to see Jesus by night[542] and said to him, “Rabbi, we recognize that you are a teacher commissioned by God.[543] No one can possibly do these miraculous signs which you are performing, unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied to him, “I tell you on the authority of God, unless a person is born again,[544] he is unable to see the Kingdom of God.”
    4 Nicodemus replied, “How is it possible for a person to be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “On the authority of God I tell you that unless a person is born from water and spirit, he will be unable to enter the Kingdom of God. 6 What has been born of flesh is fleshly and what has been born of spirit is spiritual. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. So it is with anyone who has been born from the spirit.” [545]
    9 Nicodemus responded, “How can these things happen?” 10 Jesus replied, “Are you a teacher in Israel, and you do not understand these things? 11 On God’s authority I assure you, we speak the things which we know about and witness to the things we have seen, but you do not accept our Gospel-witness. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe them, how will you believe heavenly things[546] if I tell you about them? 13 And no one has ascended to heaven[547] except the one who has his origin in God, the one who is the Son of Man. [548] 14 And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that all who believe in him may gain the life of the Age to Come. [549]
    16 “God loved the world in this way: that He gave His uniquely begotten Son,[550] so that every person who believes in him should not perish but have the life of the Age to Come. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world[551] for the purpose of condemning the world, but so that the world might be rescued through him. 18 The person who believes in him is not condemned. But the one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the revelation and whole agenda[552] of God’s uniquely begotten[553] Son. 19 This is the reason for condemnation: the light has come into the world and human beings loved darkness rather than light, because their activities were wicked. 20 Every person who does wicked things hates the light and will not come to the light, so that his works will not be exposed. 21 But the one who performs truth comes to the light, so that his works may be demonstrated as performed under God’s direction.”
    22 After these things Jesus and his disciples came into Judea and he stayed there with them and was baptizing[554] people. 23 And John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there were many springs there, and people were coming to get baptized. 24 John the Baptist had not yet been thrown into prison.
    25 There arose a dispute amongst the disciples of John with a Jew about purification. 26 So they came to John and asked him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the one you bore witness to,[555] he is baptizing and a lot of people are joining him.” 27 John replied, “A person can receive nothing unless it is granted him from heaven. 28 You yourselves will confirm the fact that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and listens to him has great joy hearing the bridegroom’s voice. I am therefore full of joy. 30 He must increase, while I must decrease.
    31 “The one who comes from above[556] is superior to all. The one who comes from the earth is of the earth and speaks from the earth. The one coming from heaven[557] is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard. But no one accepts his witness. [558] 33 The person who does accept his Gospel-witness sets his seal on the fact that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God sent as His agent speaks the words of God, for he does not give out the spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything. 36 The person who believes in the Son has the Life of the Age to Come. The one who refuses to obey the Son[559] will not see that life. Rather, the righteous fury of God hangs over him.” [560]

John

[542]

It would have been dangerous to be seen in public with the “heretic” Jesus. The same fear may exist today, but we have to be unashamed of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of his words (Mk. 8:38).

[543]

This certainly does not mean that Nicodemus thought that Jesus preexisted his birth. The same language about being sent from beside God is used of John the Baptist (Jn. 1:6).

[544]

Or born from above, that is, with God as the author of this regeneration dependent on our belief in the truth and repentance. Rebirth is thus the non-negotiable basis for becoming a Christian. In the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, spiritual rebirth is described as the new life springing from the seed of the Gospel (Lk. 8:11). Thus with Nicodemus Jesus uses the biological metaphor and with the public who heard the parable of the sower, the agricultural metaphor. These are beautifully combined in 1 Pet. 1:22-25 where being born again is based on the seed which is the Gospel. Thus the NT contains a single united theology for becoming a believer. It starts with belief in Jesus’ Gospel of the Kingdom (Mk. 1:14-15). The Gospel is given the “shorthand” form “word,” or “word of God.” This Gospel of the Kingdom contains the essential seed of immortality and conveys to us the creative life of God, the logos, the word preached as Gospel by all NT evangelists and writers. We become children of God by the infusion of His seed in us (1 John 3:9). The spiritual parallel with the natural reproduction by “seed” (sperma and sporos) is obvious. One might think of a human head as an ovum and the Gospel of the Kingdom must penetrate it through the ear, conveying understanding. The parable of the sower is indispensable for understanding all the parables (Mk. 4:13). The parable of the sower teaches us about the essential “new root of personality in rebirth” (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 4, p. 216), created by the regenerating seed.

[545]

Rebirth must happen now, and it depends on the invisible activity of the creative spirit/word/Gospel of God. Nowhere does the NT say that rebirth can happen only in the future resurrection. James (1:18), using a different metaphor says that God has “brought us forth” (the image is of a mother bearing a child). Peter says that Christians have been born again and as newborn babes must then seek the genuine milk of the Gospel (1 Pet. 1:23-2:2).

[546]

The great spiritual truths of the Gospel, originating from God in heaven. Nothing to do with an imagined “going to heaven” at death about which the Bible has nothing to say. The saints will rule and govern on earth (Rev. 5:10; Dan. 7:14, 18, 22, 27; 2:44).

[547]

i.e. gained access to the secrets of God. Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth.

[548]

The human being seen in advance in a vision in Daniel 7.

[549]

The life of the future Kingdom, much too vaguely translated as “eternal life.” The phrase originates in Dan. 12:2 where it describes “the life of the [future] age,” following the resurrection to immortality. That life must be tasted now in advance by believing the Gospel as Jesus preached it, and thereby receiving a downpayment or foretaste of the Kingdom in the spirit.

[550]

All sons are begotten in the Bible and so “son” implies a begetting, coming into existence. This is described in detail, following the declaration about the begetting of the Son in Ps. 2:7, in Matthew’s and Luke’s birth narratives. See Matthew 1:18, 20 (“begotten in her”) and Luke 1:35 (“being begotten”) which provide the definition of Son of God. The begetting of the Son was long before predicted in Isa. 9:6 where the Son/child “will be begotten” (brought into existence by God, begotten by God). 1 John 5:18 records the same event in time: the fathering of the unique Son of God, Jesus (cp. 2 Sam. 7:14; 1 Chron. 17:13-15).

[551]

To be sent into the world means to be commissioned with the task of preaching to it. The disciples were sent out in the same way as Jesus (20:21). All prophets were “sent.”

[552]

Lit., the name, which entails the whole character and activity of God.

[553]

Jesus the Son of God was uniquely begotten, fathered, brought into existence by biological miracle in the womb of Mary. Luke 1:35 provides this basic truth precisely in the authoritative words of the angel Gabriel and Matt. 1:18, 20 speak of the origin (genesis), not just birth, of the one who is “begotten in her” (Mt. 1:20, to gennethen). The Son is the one begotten in 1 John 5:18.

[554]

It is important to note that Jesus baptized in water with his disciples, see 4:1. Jesus himself was baptized in water, as required obedience to God. Salvation is given to those who obey Jesus (Heb. 5:9).

[555]

That is, “the one you said is the Messiah.”

[556]

Whose origin is from God by supernatural miracle in Mary (Lk. 1:35). The one who is divinely authorized.

[557]

This is idiomatic for someone who is God’s gift since “all good gifts come down from heaven” (James 1:17; 3:15). This is nothing to do with a pre-human person, who by definition could not be the promised lineal descendant of David, the necessary qualification for Messiahship.

[558]

Gospel of the Kingdom.

[559]

Refusal to obey the Son is the opposite of believing in the Son. This gives us the most fundamental of all biblical truths about salvation. Salvation is given only to those who obey the Son (Heb 5:9; 1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Jn. 7-9; Jn. 12:44ff, etc). Paul uses the summary phrase “obedience of faith” (framing the whole book of Romans: Rom. 1:5; 16:26).

[560]

That is, threatening him with destruction unless he responds by repenting and believing the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Jesus and every NT writer (Mk. 1:14-15; Acts 8:12, etc).