Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 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?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, and you do not accept our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.” John 3: 14-21 LSB
John 3: 14-21 Everything in Between
…7Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people. 8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” 9So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.… Numbers 21: 7-9
Let's review a little, Jesus has been talking to a Pharisee, a religious ruler who sits on the Sanhedrin, a man named Nicodemus. Before the dialogue with Nicodemus it was said that many believed in the name of Jesus at the end of chapter 2, but He did not entrust Himself to them because He knew what was in men's hearts, and that these were superficial believers. They believed because of the miracles, because they wanted more miracles, because they wanted to be free of Rome. Then we have Jesus expose the heart of Nicodemus coming forward, Jesus looking into this man's mind and seeing that he wants to enter the kingdom, but their is some uncertainty. He probably wants to hear that he is on the right track, that his years of studying the Scribes, following rituals, presenting outward cleanliness, has all paid off, but Jesus removes this way, He negates it. He tells Nicodemus that salvation is not in traditions, not of works basically, but that it is born from above, outside of you, you must be born again. Nicodemus badly wants in the kingdom, wants to know how to get in there, and Jesus basically takes all earthly hopes and measures and rips them from the man's heart, revealing that it's like birth, you are born, you don't call yourself into being, "the wind blows where it wishes", we see the result, but we don't control the wind. Jesus also rebukes Nicodemus for not knowing these things. He has the Scriptures memorized probably, but has failed to understand them, has opted for a works system as taught by the Scribes.
…24For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. 25I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.… Ezekiel 36: 24-26
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up - This takes Nicodemus and everyone else who is listening back to the OT, all the way to Numbers where the people had murmured and rebelled. Jesus is going to give the insight, the teaching of heaven on this matter. He has been giving Nicodemus a very logical sequence on salvation, using metaphors about birth and wind, about being born of water and of the Spirit, these pointed him back to verses like Ezekiel 36:25 above, and now He is going to give him a picture from Scripture. This also foretells Jesus' death, but as the plan of God from eternity past.
Note how Jesus goes back to the Scriptures, passages which Nicodemus likely even knew by heart and taught the teacher truths that he would have never discovered had Jesus not revealed them to him. He reveals to Nicodemus that the bronze serpent on the standard was a Biblical type. "A type in Scripture is a person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament." (Typology)
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness -The bronze serpent was merely a shadow of the substance to come in Christ (Col 2:17+). It is interesting that this was the last miracle of Moses, on the borders of the promised land. The bite of the fiery serpents was uniformly fatal (sounds a lot like the effect of sin - Ro 5:12+, Ro 3:23+). The Israelites were without hope and yet they humbled themselves, confessed and sought Moses' intercession.
Ryle - Christ “lifted up” and put to shame on Calvary is the ladder by which Christians “enter into the holiest,” and are at length landed in glory. It is true that we are sinners;—but Christ has suffered for us. It is true that we deserve death;—but Christ has died for us. It is true that we are guilty debtors;—but Christ has paid our debts with His own blood. This is the real Gospel! This is the good news! On this let us lean while we live. To this let us cling when we die. Christ has been “lifted up” on the cross, and has thrown open the gates of heaven to all believers. - Precept Austin
Merrill Tenney observes that "Although Jesus did not elaborate the details of this allusion, it has several applicable aspects:
1. The ancient Israelites were guilty of disobedience and a grumbling and unthankful spirit.
2. They were under the condemnation of God and were being punished for their sin.
3. The object elevated before them was the emblem of their judgment.
4. They were unable to rescue themselves.
5. The poison of the serpents was deadly, and there was no antidote for it.
6. They were urged to look at the serpent in order to receive life.
…20Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. 21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5: 20-21
V. 15 So that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life - What did you believe? Who did you believe in? We saw that there were already shallow professors in chapter 2: 23-25
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.[d] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
But John has built up to this place, has warned against this, and look how He started this book. In John 1 we are immediately met with Who Jesus is, Who we need to believe in.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.… John 1: 1-3
This eliminates many false professions that use the name Jesus, but speak of another Jesus. John very clearly outlines Who He is, His deity, His preexistence. Jesus let's us know that it's also a work of the Spirit, that you have to be born again, and when one is born again this is their profession, that they believe in Jesus for their salvation, not in any works of their own. The Father calls from eternity past, through the work and atoning death of the Son Who is the Way, the bridge between God and man, and the Spirit gives life, brings the new birth that opens men's eyes to their sin, brings them to repentance and points them back to the Way, to Christ.
30Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. John 20: 30-31
…21Speak up and present your case—yes, let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. 22Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. 23By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.… Isaiah 45: 21-23
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. 36 And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 [And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. Acts 8: 35-38 LSB
Leon Morris - The life Christians possess is not in any sense independent of Christ. It is a life that is “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3+)....In the Prologue he has informed us that life is “in” the Logos, and much the same thought is found here, with the addition that the lifting up of the Son of man is an integral part of the process whereby the life is mediated to believers. The word rendered “eternal” (always in this Gospel used of life) basically means “pertaining to an age.” The Jews divided time into the present age and the age to come, but the adjective was used of life in the coming age, not that of the present age. “Eternal life” thus means “the life proper to the age to come.” It is an eschatological concept (cf. Jn 6:40, 54). But as the age to come is thought of as never coming to an end the adjective came to mean “everlasting,” “eternal.” The notion of time is there. Eternal life will never cease. But there is something else there, too, and something more significant. The important thing about eternal life is not its quantity but its quality. In Westcott’s phrase, “It is not an endless duration of being in time, but being of which time is not a measure.” Eternal life is life in Christ, that life which removes a person from the merely earthly. As we see from the earlier part of this chapter, it originates in a divine action, the action wherein one is born anew. It is the gift of God, and not a human achievement. (Borrow The Gospel according to John) - Precept Austin
V. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son- This is big, this expands God's love past Israel, it embraces both Jew and Greek or Gentiles as the Bible only speaks to or divides the world into these two categories.
So (houtos) emphasizes the intensity or greatness of His love. It means to the degree that, to the end that or in this way. And what is that end or degree? The Father gave His unique and beloved Son to die on behalf on sinful men (2Co 5:21+). Stated another way, the extent of God's love for the world was measured by the extent of His gift. The greatest demonstration of God's love was to give the One He loved most, His beloved one of a kind, unique Son! Paul says that "what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh." (Ro 8:3+)
Morris adds that "“The Greek construction puts some emphasis on the actuality of the gift: it is not ‘God loved enough to give,’ but ‘God loved so that he gave.’ His love is not a vague, sentimental feeling, but a love that costs. God gave what was most dear to him.” (Borrow The Gospel according to John) - Precept Austin
…8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.… 1 John 4: 8-10
V. 16b That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life - As a reformed believer, what some would call a Calvinist, I believe that regeneration precedes faith, meaning, I believe you have to be born again, as Christ said. The Bible is also clear that this belief is of faith, and that this faith is also a gift associated with the new heart given to those who are born of from above, born of the Spirit, born again unto life in Christ Jesus. The only acceptable works here are Christ's, yours, mine, those are all filthy rags even on our best day, we must be found in Christ.
Sola Fide is the great word of the reformers. As Gotquestions says ""faith alone," is important because it is one of the distinguishing characteristics or key points that separate the true biblical Gospel from false gospels. At stake is the very Gospel itself and it is therefore a matter of eternal life or death. Getting the Gospel right is of such importance that the Apostle Paul would write in Galatians 1:9+, “As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Paul was addressing the same question that sola fide addresses—on what basis is man declared by God to be justified? Is it by faith alone or by faith combined with works? Paul makes it clear in Galatians and Romans that man is “justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law” (Galatians 2:16+), and the rest of the Bible concurs." (See Sola Fide)
Whoever - Note the pronoun whoever (cf whoever in Jn 3:15) which flings open the gates of paradise to for this pronoun means any person who or anyone that.
Believes in Him -This is the means of salvation. As the reformers said "Sola Fide" and "Sola Christos". The belief is in Him which is a shorthand way of saying believing everything about Him, that He was fully Man, fully God, that He was without sin, that He died on the Cross as our substitute for our sins, and that God showed He was satisfied with His Son's "sin offering" by raising Him from the dead. Stated succinctly the means of salvation is belief in the Gospel of His Son (Ro 1:9), the Gospel of Christ (Ro 15:19, 1 Cor 9:12, 2 Cor 2:12, 2 Cor 9:13, 2 Cor 10:14, Gal 1:7, Phil 1:27, 1 Th 3:2), the Gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Th 1:8).
Phillips - The damning sin, the ultimate sin God will not forgive, is the sin of refusing to trust his Son. That is the greatest insult one can offer the Lord, to say to him verbally or otherwise, "I can't trust you." When someone came to D. L. Moody on one occasion with the excuse, "I can't believe," Mr. Moody asked, "Whom can't you believe?" (Ibid) - Precept Austin
…7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast.… Ephesians 2: 7-9
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD - Years ago a lady who prided herself on belonging to the intelligentsia said to me, “I have no use for the Bible, Christian superstition, and religious dogma. It is enough for me to know that God is love.” “Well,” I said, “do you know it?” “Why, of course I do,” she said; “we all know it, and that is religion enough for me. I do not need the dogmas of the Bible.” “How did you find out that God is love?” I asked. “Why,” she said, “everybody knows it.” “Do they know it in India?” I asked. “That poor mother in her distress throwing her little baby into the Ganges to be eaten by filthy and repulsive crocodiles as a sacrifice for her sins-does she know that God is love?” “Oh, well, she is ignorant and superstitious,” she replied. “Those poor natives in the jungles of Africa, bowing down to gods of wood and stone, and in constant fear of their fetishes, the poor heathen in other countries-do they know that God is love?” “Perhaps not,” she said, “but in a civilized country we all know it.” “But how is it that we know it? Who told us that God is love? Where did we discover it?” “I don’t understand what you mean,” she said. “I’ve always known it.” “Let me tell you this,” I answered. “No one in the world ever knew it until it was revealed from Heaven and recorded in the Word of God. It is here and nowhere else. It is not found in all the literature of the ancients.” (1 John 4 Commentary - Ironside's Notes) - Precept Austin
…16But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 18But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”… Romans 10: 16-18
4 But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs [a]according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3: 4-7
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