CHAPTER 3. _ A specimen is given of the kind of belief produced in the Jews of Jerusalem and of the manner in which Jesus dealt with it_. ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος, the Syriac adds “there,” _i.e._, at Jerusalem. ἄνθρωπος is simply equivalent to τις, and does not point back to the ἄνθρωπος of the preceding vers... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗτος ἦλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν. The pronoun instead of the name Jesus, as Holtzmann remarks, shows the close connection with the closing verses of the last chapter. Nicodemus came to the fountain head, dissatisfied with the way in which his colleagues were dealing with Jesus, and resolved to judge for himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; μὴ δύναται, etc. In this reply there is no attempt to fence with Jesus, but merely an expression of the bewilderment created by His statement. The emphasis is on πῶς, which asks for further explanation. The μὴ of the second clause shows that Nicodemus unders... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῆ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν β. To remove as far as possible the difficulty of Nicodemus as to the πῶς of the second birth our Lord declares that the two great factors in it are “water” and “spirit”. Calvin thinks this is a ἐν διὰ δυοῖ... [ Continue Reading ]
The necessity of the new birth is further exhibited by a comparison of the first and second birth: τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τὴς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστι · καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος, πνεῦμά ἐστι. The neuter is used because the speaker “wishes to make His statement altogether general” (Winer, 27, 5), wha... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore it was no cause for wonder that a new birth was required for entrance into the spiritual kingdom. The argument implies that natural birth produces only σάρξ, not spirit. By his natural birth man is an animal, with a nature fitting him to live in the material world in which he finds himself... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ. Two renderings of these words are possible: “The wind bloweth where it listeth,” as in A.V [39]; “The Spirit breatheth where He will,” as in margin of R.V [40] By the one rendering a comparison is instituted between the unseen but powerful operation of the Spirit in regene... [ Continue Reading ]
This explanation did not satisfy Nicodemus. He falls back upon his bewilderment, πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι; This question stirs Jesus to a fuller explanation, which is reported in John 3:10-15.... [ Continue Reading ]
He opens with an exclamation of surprise, Σὺ εἶ ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις; perhaps there is more of sadness than either of indignation or irony in the words. Is this the state of matters I have to confront? If the teacher is so obtuse what must the taught be? The presence of the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν … οὐ λαμβάνετε. From this point dialogue ceases, and we have now an unbroken utterance of Jesus. It starts with a certification of the truth of what Nicodemus had professed himself unable to understand. ὃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν. Why plural? Were the disciples present and are they included? Or d... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια … πιστεύσετε; The reference of τὰ ἐπίγεια is fixed by the εἶπον ὑμῖν. They are such things as Jesus had been speaking of: things verified in human, earthly experience, the necessity of a spiritual birth and the results of it. Regeneration was a change made in this earthly life. The kin... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν … καταβάς. The connection is: You have not believed earthly things, much less will you believe those which are heavenly; for not only are they in their own nature more difficult to understand, but there is none to testify of them save only that One who came down out of heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
If the Son of Man alone has this knowledge, how is it to be disseminated and become a light to all men? This is answered in the words, καὶ καθὼς Μωσῆς … τοῦ ἀνθρώπου [modern editors read Μωυσῆς; so also in LXX]. The emphatic word is ὕψωσε. When Moses made the brazen serpent, he did not secrete it in... [ Continue Reading ]
The words μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλʼ of the T.R. are omitted by Tisch [41], W.H [42], and R.V [43] Further, the same editors replace the words εἰς αὐτὸν by ἐν αὐτῷ, and the R.V [44] translates “that whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life,” in accordance with Johannine usage, which does not support t... [ Continue Reading ]
Several conservative theologians, Neander, Tholuck, Westcott, are of opinion that the words of Jesus end with John 3:15, and that from John 3:16-21 we have an addition by the evangelist. There is much to be said in favour of this idea. The thoughts of these verses are explanatory rather than progres... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν … διʼ αὐτοῦ. For whatever the result of Christ's coming has been, in revealing a love of sin and bringing heavier judgment on men, this was not God's purpose in sending His Son. The Jewish idea was that the Messiah would come “to judge,” _i.e._, to condemn the world. κρίνω and κατα... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ πιστεύων … τοῦ θεοῦ. Expansion of previous verse. God sent His Son not to judge but to save; and whoso accepts the son and His revelation is not judged. It is no longer “every Jew,” nor “every one chosen by God,” but every one that believeth. All here is spiritual. Although judgment was not the ob... [ Continue Reading ]
This is further explained in the following, αὕτη … τὸ φῶς. The ground of the condemnation lies precisely in this, that since the coming of Christ and His exhibition of human life in the light of the holiness and love of the Father, human sin is no longer the result of ignorance, but of deliberate ch... [ Continue Reading ]
The principle is explained in this verse. Underlying the action of men towards Christ during His historical manifestation was a general law: a law which operates wherever men are similarly invited to walk in the light. The law which governs the acceptance or refusal of light is given in the words πᾶ... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ ποιῶν … “On the other hand, he who does the truth” … This is one of John's comprehensive phrases which perhaps lose by definition. “To do the truth” is at any rate to live up to what one knows; to live an honest, conscientious life. John implies that men of this type are to be found where the l... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ ταῦτα, subsequent to the ministry in Jerusalem Jesus and His disciples came εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν, “into the Judaean country,” the rural parts in contradistinction to the metropolis. “Nam quum ex Judaeae metropoli exiret Jesus, non poterat simpliciter dici proficisci in Judaeam; … maluimus ergo... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ministry of Jesus in Judaea after He left Jerusalem_. This falls into three parts: (1) a brief account of the movements and success of Jesus and the Baptist which provoked a comparison between them, 22 26; (2) the Baptist's acceptance of the contrast and final testimony to Jesus, 27 30; (3) the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἦν δὲ καὶ … ἐκεῖ. And John also was baptising, although he had said that he was sent to baptise in order that the Messiah might be identified; which had already been done. But John saw that men might still be prepared for the reception of the Messiah by his preaching and baptism. Hence, however, the... [ Continue Reading ]
οὔπω γὰρ … ὁ Ἰωάννης, “for not yet had John been cast into prison”: a clause inserted for the sake of those who might have gathered from the synoptic narrative that John was cast into prison immediately after the temptation of Jesus, Mark 1:14; Matthew 4:12. John having been present with Jesus throu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγένετο οὖν ζήτησις … There arose therefore that is, in consequence of the proximity of these two baptisms on the part of John's disciples [ἐκ, _cf._ Herod. John 3:21 and Dionys. Hal. viii. p. 556] a questioning, or discussion, with a Jew about purifying, that is, generally, including the relation o... [ Continue Reading ]
His answer sufficiently shows that it was not rivalry that prompted him to continue his baptism. οὐ δύναται … οὐρανοῦ. The general sense is obvious (_cf._ Psalms 75:6-7; Psalms 127:1; James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 3:7), but did John mean to apply the principle directly to himself or to Jesus? Wetstein p... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς … ἐκείνου. John's disciples should have been prepared for what they now see happening. He had emphatically declared that he was not the Christ, but only His forerunner (John 1:19-27; John 1:30).... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην … The bride is the familiar O.T. figure expressive of the people in their close relation to God (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:18; Psalms 45). This figure passes into N.T. _Cf._ Matthew 22:2; Ephesians 5:32; James 4:4. ὁ ἔχων, he that has and holds _as a wife_. _Cf._ Mark 6:18; Isaiah 54:1;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι. Paley translates, “it is for Him to go on growing and for me to be ever getting less,” and adds, “the language seems to be solar”. In the Church Calendar, no doubt, John the Baptist's day is Midsummer Day, while our Lord's “natalitia” is midwinter, but scarc... [ Continue Reading ]
The result is ὁ ἑώρακε … μαρτυρεῖ. Seeing and hearing are equivalent to having direct knowledge. The man who is of earth may be trusted when he speaks of earth: he who is from heaven testifies to that of which he has had experimental knowledge (_cf._ John 3:13), and might therefore expect to be list... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason assigned for the truth and trustworthiness of Christ's words is scarcely the reason we expect: οὐ γὰρ … Πνεῦμα. John has told us that Christ is to be believed because He testifies of what He hath seen and heard: now, because the Spirit is given without measure to Him. The meaning of the c... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ πατὴρ … αὐτοῦ. These absolute expressions, “the Father,” “the Son,” are more naturally referred to the evangelist than to the Baptist. This absolute use of “the Son” as a designation of Christ certainly suggests, if it does not prove, the proper Divinity of Christ. It is the favourite designation... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ πιστεύων … ἐπʼ αὐτόν. Christ has been represented as Sovereign, commissioned with supreme powers, especially for the purpose of saving men and restoring them to God. Hence “he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life”. He who through the Son finds and accepts the Father has life in this very vi... [ Continue Reading ]