Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) Why did Nicodemus go by night?
2) What is the birth of water and spirit Jesus refers to?
3) Does verse 20 mean believers will never do wrong again?
John 3:1-21
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.
14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
Original Intent
1) Why did Nicodemus go by night?
Nicodemus, a Pharisee, decided to visit Jesus at night. He knew Jesus must be from God because of the miracles Jesus had performed. However, this public display of miracles and teachings were not enough for Nicodemus. He wanted a more private discourse regarding salvation with Jesus. Nicodemus wanted answers to certain questions and wanted to be free to talk with Jesus openly. In public, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and expected to behave as such. The Pharisees publicly opposed Jesus and would never have engaged Jesus as Nicodemus did. By approaching Him at night, Nicodemus was able to dialogue with Jesus without the judgement of the other Pharisees. Matthew Henry says, “Probably it was the very next night after he saw Christ’s miracles, and he would not neglect the first opportunity of pursuing his convictions. He knew not how soon Christ might leave the town, nor what might happen betwixt that and another feast, and therefore would lose no time. In the night, his converse with Christ would be more free, and less liable to disturbance.” Nicodemus wanted answers and would not allow anything to stop him from getting those answers.
2) What is the birth of water and spirit Jesus refers to?
Nicodemus understands how people are physically born and is thinking purely in human terms when Jesus begins talking about being born again. Nicodemus doesn’t understand how one who was already born can repeat the process of entering and exiting the mothers’ womb. However, Jesus quickly explains He is not talking about an earthly birth, but a spiritual birth instead. This birth takes place in a completely different manner than a physical birth. Jesus helped us understand this birth by obeying what His Father asked of Him when He was baptized by John. (Matthew 3:13-17) Jesus explained to Nicodemus that this second birth happens through water and spirit. John baptized Jesus in water and that day the Spirit was present in the form of a dove overhead. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that, while he was once born of a human mother, in order receive the gift of salvation, he must be reborn of the spirit. This gift of salvation is only possible by what Jesus would do on the cross and can only be received through faith and belief in what Jesus did.
3) Does verse 20 mean believers will never do wrong again?
This verse is found in a discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus and therefore is not meant to be taken alone. Jesus had taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-16) that believers are the light of the world and here Jesus is saying evil (darkness) cannot be in the presence of light. If taken alone this verse may seem to be saying a believer cannot do evil. However, in this same discourse Jesus presents the Gospel to Nicodemus. Nicodemus learns He can never earn salvation on His own, but it is a gift of Jesus. Jesus is going to do what only He can do and what no man is capable of on His own by paying the penalty for our sin through His sacrificial death. The promise is in eternal life and the freedom from condemnation because of Christ, not of a life lived perfectly. This discourse ends by giving all credit to God. Jesus never tells Nicodemus that if He believes He will live perfectly, so Jesus is not promising the freedom from all evil only the forgiveness from evil.
Everyday Application
1) Why did Nicodemus go by night?
Nicodemus watched first hand as Jesus performed miracles and taught the masses. This left Nicodemus with questions he wanted answers. He waited until the most likely time to have an uninterrupted conversation with Jesus and sought Him out. As believers today, there is much we can learn from this. There are lessons we can only learn as we sit at the feet of Jesus and spend time with Him uninterrupted. While corporate gatherings of believers and fellowship together are wonderful and necessary, there is something irreplaceable in time spent alone with Jesus. In those moments, we are free to reveal our deepest thoughts, emotions, and questions to the Lord and He is able to meet us exactly where we are. In those moments, He can mold and shape us into who He desires to make us. We, like Nicodemus, need to make a priority of coming to Jesus when we can be free of interruption and simply sit at His feet.
2) What is the birth of water and spirit Jesus refers to?
Jesus welcomed Nicodemus’ questions and explained to Nicodemus how he must be reborn. However, this rebirth is not of flesh, but a birth of the spirit. We too, just as Nicodemus, must experience a rebirth if we are to receive the gift of salvation offered through Jesus’ sacrifice. We must accept, and hold firmly as our own, what Jesus did on our behalf on the cross by giving Himself as the payment for our sin followed by His victory over and defeat of death. To be reborn, we must see how we are the ones worthy of a death sentence and eternal separation from God because of our sin and believe Jesus as Lord over Sin and Death. When we do, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is the spirit portion Jesus referred to in His conversation with Nicodemus. We are also called to follow in obedience as Jesus did and be baptized in water. As believers, we are baptized by water displaying an outward symbol of our belief in Jesus by which we have been baptized by His Spirit. When we are baptized in water it is a picture of our rebirth as a believer and shows the world the change that has taken place in our lives.
3) Does verse 20 mean believers will never do wrong again?
In John 8:21 Jesus calls Himself the light of the world and Matthew 5:14 refers to believers as the same. However, this verse says if whoever does evil hates the light. If we read only John 3:20, it may seem that once we believe we will never do evil again and will be freed from it. However, that is not the promise Jesus makes. Jesus promises us the gift of eternal life and freedom from condemnation, the punishment for sin, when we believe in Him. There is only one who is capable of living with no evil and that is Jesus alone. However, that does not mean we continue in our old ways. Instead, as believers once we place our faith in Jesus, through the power of the Spirit we are now the light of the world. We have the source of all light living inside of us. As we allow God to work in us conforming us to look more like Him through the process of sanctification, there is less of us, less evil, to be found and more light as Jesus transforms us. This discourse closes by reminding us it is all the work of God and He deserves all credit… not us. It is never in our power, but only by His power we have been saved and are able to live as His light.
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1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
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3) Write down your questions
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4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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