The interview of Christ with Nicodemus.
This brings before us one of the most important passages in Scripture.
I. NICODEMUS APPEARS HERE AS A RELIGIOUS INQUIRER.
1. He was "a ruler of the Jews." That is, not a civic magistrate, but a member of the Sanhedrin, which governed the Jewish community in ecclesiastical concerns.
2. He was a Pharisee. The most popular and influential of the Jewish sects—narrow in its particularism, and with a zeal springing out of a selfish root. According to his view as a Pharisee, every Jew with the authorized ritualistic qualification would enter the Messianic kingdom as a matter of right, and saw in the Messiah the Head of a new kingdom that would annihilate Gentile powers and control the destiny of the world.
3. Nicodemus was of a timid and compromising temper. He came to Jesus "by night;" not, as some suppose, because he feared to give too much importance to the young Rabbi by coming openly, but because he feared to lose his credit with his unbelieving colleagues of the Sanhedrin. This timid spirit never left him, though he became somewhat stronger with experience; for he afterwards defended Jesus without acknowledging any personal interest in him (John 7:51), and it was not till Jesus was dead and his body in the hands of Joseph of Arimathaea, that he brought the precious offering that displayed his faith.
4. His curiosity in Jesus may have been excited by the report made to the Sanhedrin by the deputation that waited on John the Baptist. His present secret visit, therefore, was one of inquiry as to whether Jesus was not the Messiah spoken of by the Baptist.
II. THE MODE OF HIS INQUIRY. "Rabbi, we know that thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."
1. He concedes that Jesus was a Rabbi, though he had not received his knowledge from the rabbinical schools, but "from God" himself.
2. He concedes his miracle-working power as an evidence of his Divine mission. This was in accordance with our Lord's own declaration at another time, that "his works bore witness that the Father sent him" (John 5:36). It is suggestive that Nicodemus uses the very expression of Peter when, in describing our Lord's ministry and miracles, that apostle said, "God was with him" (Acts 10:38).
3. Yet he does not concede our Lord's Messiahship, much less his Divinity as the Son of God. He calls him simply "a Teacher," as if he were not different from other teachers. This was the error of Nicodemus.
4. Yet his inquiry, though not formally expressed, was for further light—as to how far this teaching and these miracles betokened the dawn of the Messiah's kingdom.
III. OUR LORD'S ANSWER TO HIS INQUIRY. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." We have here the statement of the doctrine of regeneration by the Holy Ghost. The answer is, in substance, "You are asking, Am I the Messiah, and is my kingdom near, as my miracles seem to testify? I answer that my kingdom is at hand; but it is not a kingdom that men see coming 'with observation,' but a spiritual state into which men enter by a transformation of character."
1. Our Lord asserts the fact of the new birth.
2. Our Lord asserts the condition of this new birth, and the agent in its accomplishment. "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The usual interpretation is that the water refers to a definite external rite—baptism—and to an internal spiritual operation. The theory of baptismal regeneration points to this passage as one of its favourite proofs. Many able divines, however, believe that there is no allusion whatever here to Christian baptism.
But let it be conceded that "born of water" does refer to baptism, there is nothing in the passage to justify the theory of regeneration by baptism.
(10) If baptism is equivalent to regeneration, why should it be so seldom referred to in Scripture? Faith, which is the true means of our salvation, is mentioned everywhere. Yet baptism is only mentioned twice in Romans, seven times in Corinthians, only once in Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Hebrews, and Peter.
IV. THE NECESSITY OF THE NEW BIRTH. "That which is of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is of the Spirit, is spirit." Nicodemus had spoken of a man entering once more into his mother's womb, and being born again. Our Lord declares that if such a thing were possible, it would not effect the new birth. Children will always be like their parents. Grace does not descend with blood. Therefore there is a profound necessity for the life of the Spirit being imparted by the Spirit.
V. THE MYSTERY OF THE NEW BIRTH. "The wind bloweth where it listeth,…but thou canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." We cannot account for the beginning, or the influence, or the direction of the wind. So there is deep mystery in the action of the Holy Spirit upon the spirit of man; for while man preserves his absolute moral freedom, the Spirit works in him to will and to do according to his good pleasure.
VI. THE EVIDENCE OF THE NEW BIRTH. "Thou hearest the sound thereof." We cannot know all the mysteries of the wind, but we see and feel the effects of its presence in nature. So the mystery of regeneration comes visibly to the surface of Christian life in the fruits of that life.