III. (1) THERE WAS A MAN. — Read, _But there was a man._ Our division of Chapter s breaks the connection, and the omission of the conjunction leads us to think of the visit of Nicodemus as quite distinct from what has gone before; whereas it really rises out of it (comp. John 3:2 with John 2:23). T... [ Continue Reading ]
BY NIGHT. — This has impressed itself upon the writer’s mind, so that it becomes part of the description of Nicodemus in John 19:39, and in some MSS. in John 7:50. We have to think of him as having heard the answer of the messengers sent to the Baptist (John 1:20 _et seq._)_,_ as present at the clea... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM. — The words of Nicodemus are clearly only a preface to further questions. Jesus at once answers these questions; the answer being, as it frequently is, to the unexpressed thought (comp. _e.g.,_ John 2:18). The coming of the Messiah, the Divine Glory, God’s Kingdom,... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW CAN A MAN BE BORN...? — Nicodemus understands the words “born again” in the sense given above. The thought is not wholly strange to him. The Rabbis were accustomed to speak of proselytes as children, and the term “new creature” (comp. 2 Corinthians 5:17) was in frequent use to express the call o... [ Continue Reading ]
Again the words “Verily, verily” (comp. Note on chap John 1:51), calling attention to the deeper truth which follows; and again the words of authority, “I say unto thee.” OF WATER AND OF THE SPIRIT. — We are here on the borderland of a great controversy. The subject is closely connected with that of... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE FLESH IS FLESH. — The first step is to remind him of the law of likeness in natural generation. “Flesh,” as distinct from “spirit,” is human nature in so far as it is common with animal nature, consisting of the bodily frame and its animal life, feelings, and passions. “Fle... [ Continue Reading ]
YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN. — The laws of natural and spiritual generation have been stated as general truths, holding good for all mankind, “that which is born.” But there is a special application to the present case, “Marvel not that I said unto thee (teacher as thou art) that ye (children of Abraham a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WIND BLOWETH WHERE IT LISTETH, AND THOU HEAREST THE SOUND THEREOF. — Better (see Note below), _the Spirit breatheth where He willeth, and thou hearest His voice._ These words are an explanation of the spiritual birth, the necessity of which has been asserted in the previous verses. They must hav... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE? — The answer to the previous question has spoken of a spiritual birth and a spiritual life and a spiritual kingdom, but all this is in a region of which the Rabbinic schools knew nothing. They were the authorised exponents of Law and Prophets; they knew the precise number of... [ Continue Reading ]
ART THOU A MASTER OF ISRAEL? — Better, _Art thou the teacher of Israel?_ The article is emphatic, and points to the position of Nicodemus as a teacher of repute — “the well-known teacher;” or possibly it is to be understood of the Sanhedrin as represented by him — “Is this the teaching of Israel?” T... [ Continue Reading ]
Once again the “Verily, verily” of deeper truth. “We speak that we do know” is in sharp contrast to their formal teaching of matters external to the truth. The plural is not usual in the language of Christ, and the immediate passage to the singular forbids us to accept the usual grammatical explanat... [ Continue Reading ]
EARTHLY THINGS — i.e., things upon earth, having the sphere of their action upon earth. These are not necessarily restricted to the subjects of this interview. The context includes previous witness borne by Him, and there must have been much which is unrecorded. (Comp. John 2:23.) But the new birth... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NO MAN HATH ASCENDED UP. — There can be no other means of receiving heavenly truth. No man hath learnt it, and is able to teach it, except the Son of Man, who ever was, and is, in heaven. The thought has met us before (John 1:18). To Nicodemus it must have come as an answer to the words of Agur,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS MOSES LIFTED UP. — This verse is closely connected by the conjunction “and” with what has gone before. Jesus has taught that in Himself heaven and earth meet; so that, while subject to the conditions of human life, He, the Son of Man, the representative of humanity, is in heaven. He goes on t... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT PERISH, BUT... — These words have been added here from the following verse. Omitting them, the sentence should be rendered, _that every one who believeth may have in Him eternal life._ This construction is borne out by a comparison of John 5:39; John 16:33; John 20:31. “To believe in Him” is not... [ Continue Reading ]
The last verse has spoken of “every one who believeth.” The thought went beyond the limits that Rabbis set to the kingdom of God. Its only limit is humanity. This thought is now repeated and strengthened by the “might not perish,” and the love of God is made the foundation on which it rests. Perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
TO CONDEMN THE WORLD gives to the English reader a stronger impression than that of the original Greek. The word (κρίνω_, krino,_ the Latin _c_(_k_)_erno,_ and the English dis_-cern_) means originally to separate, and in the moral sense to separate good from evil. Passing from the act to the effect,... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT BELIEVETH ON HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED. — Again, _judged_ is better than “condemned.” There is, moreover, an important change of tense in this verse, which the Authorised version does not mark clearly. _He that believeth on Him, is not judged: but he that believeth not hath been_ (_and is_)_ alre... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS IS THE CONDEMNATION. — For “condemnation” read _judgment;_ for “light” and “darkness,” _the light_ and _the darkness._ The object is salvation, not judgment (John 3:17); but the separation of the good involves the judgment of the evil. The light makes the darkness visible. Both were before... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVERY ONE THAT DOETH EVIL HATETH THE LIGHT. — In this and the next verse we have the explanation of the choice of the darkness and rejection of the light. The fact itself is first stated more strongly. Not only does the man that doeth evil love darkness rather than light, but he hates the light.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT DOETH TRUTH is opposed to “him that practiseth evil.” With fixed purpose he doeth not that which is evil or worthless, but that which, when every veil by which it is hidden from himself or others is removed, remains morally true. Regarding truth as the work of life, he cometh to the light, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THESE THINGS. — Not implying that He left Jerusalem at once. The “land of Judæa” is the province as distinct from the capital. This verse points to a work in Judæa of which we know nothing more. It was probably not confined to one place. We have to think of Christ as continuing His teaching, o... [ Continue Reading ]
ÆNON NEAR TO SALIM. — The latter place was clearly well known at the time, and regarded as fixing the locality of the former. It has been usual to follow Jerome and Eusebius, who fix the place in the valley of the Jordan, eight miles south from Bethshan, or Scythopolis. (See quotation from the _Onom... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS NOT YET CAST INTO PRISON. — This Judæan ministry, then, preceded the Galilean ministry of the earlier Gospels. (See John 4:3, and Note on Matthew 4:12.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THERE AROSE A QUESTION. — For “the Jews,” the reading of the better MSS. is, _a Jew._ The question arose on the side of John’s disciples. What the exact nature of it was we do not know, and have no means of judging. It was one of the questions which in every age has arisen about external rites,... [ Continue Reading ]
RABBI, HE THAT WAS WITH THEE BEYOND JORDAN. — John’s disciples, with a natural attachment to their master, and without the knowledge of what that master’s work really was, are jealous of what seems to them the rival work of Jesus. He had been with John; the Baptist had borne witness to Him. Now He s... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN CAN RECEIVE NOTHING... — Do these words apply to the Baptist himself, or to Christ? Do they mean “I cannot assume this higher position which you wish to give me, because it is not given me by heaven;” or, “His work, with its influence over men, ought to convince you that His mission is divine... [ Continue Reading ]
YE YOURSELVES BEAR ME WITNESS. — They remembered (John 3:26) that John had borne witness to Jesus. Did they not remember too what he had said? He had from the first known his own work, and the greater work. Some of his disciples had known it also, and had gone from him to Jesus. This which they see... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT HATH THE BRIDE IS THE BRIDEGROOM. — This is the only instance in this Gospel where the familiar imagery of an Eastern marriage meets us. (See Note on Matthew 9:15, where we have the same imagery in the answer of our Lord to these same disciples of John, then taking sides with the Pharisees,... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE. — The office of the paranymph ceases to exist when the marriage is accomplished. It must be so. So too in the interpretation. His own work was well-nigh done, but he is filled with the joy of having done his work, not with disappointment that it pales before th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT COMETH FROM ABOVE. — Comp. Note on John 3:13, and John 8:23. It is expressed in another form in the last clause of the verse. IS ABOVE ALL — _i.e.,_ above all persons, and, as the context limits the sense, specially above all teachers. HE THAT IS OF THE EARTH IS EARTHLY. — This is the right... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHAT HE HATH SEEN AND HEARD. — This is the opposite of the third point, the speaking of the earth in the last verse. Divine in origin, divine in nature, He is divine in teaching. That teaching, too, is a witness of things seen and heard. (Comp. Notes on John 6:11.) It was a message from the Fath... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT HATH RECEIVED. — Better, _he that received._ “Hath set to his seal,” better, _set his seal._ It had been so. Earlier disciples, as Andrew and John (John 1:40), had passed from the Forerunner to the Great Teacher, and had heard in His words that which went to the divine in their own spirits,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE WHOM GOD HATH SENT. — Better, _he whom God sent._ The acceptance of the witness of things seen and heard is the attestation by the human spirit of the truthfulness of God, for Jesus is as one sent from God to declare Him. It is the divine image in man which recognises divinity. Every human fa... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FATHER LOVETH THE SON. — Comp. Note on Matthew 11:27, which is remarkable as an instance of what we call distinctly Johannine thought and diction in the earlier Gospels. We shall meet the words again in John 5:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here too we have, in the words of John, thoughts which we have found already (John 3:15), and shall find again (John 5:24), in the words of Christ Himself. HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT THE SON. — Better, _he that obeyeth not the Son._ The word, which occurs only here in the Gospels, is not the same as tha... [ Continue Reading ]