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| − | [[The New Testament]] > [[John]] > [[John 3|Chapter 3]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[John 1:19-3:36]] |
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| − | | [[John 2:21-25|Previous (John 2:21-25)]] || || [[John 3:6-10|Next (John 3:6-10)]]
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| − | == Questions ==
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| − | ===Verse 1===
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| − | * What do we know about Nicodemus? How does this affect the way we read this story?
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| − | ===Verse 2===
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| − | * ''By night.'' Why might Nicodemus have come to Jesus by night? Is Jesus doing something during the day that might have made it easier for Nicodemus to come at night? Is Nicodemus doing something during the day that might have made it easier for him to come at night? Might he have been trying to protect himself? Might he have been trying to protect Jesus? Is there any symbolic significance to the fact that Nicodemus came to Jesus out of the night. (Think about other ways that John uses the night in his gospel.)
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| − | * ''Rabbi.'' Why does Nicodemus call Jesus “Rabbi”? The word “rabbi” is a transliteration of a Hebrew term meaning “great.” In Jesus’ time it was used as a term of respect and it was primarily applied to the scribes—those who taught from and interpreted the scriptures—by their followers. Thus, “rabbi” was a term of respect that one used for one’s teacher. What is Nicodemus saying by calling Jesus a teacher? Why does Nicodemus us the plural, “we,” rather than the singular, “I”?
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| − | * ''Miracles.'' How does Nicodemus claim to know that Jesus has come from God? Do miracles prove that the person who works them has a divine origin? Is it relevant that, during the tempation in the desert, Jesus refused to work miracles as a proof of his divinity and power? Does Nicodemus’s confession help us understand him any better than we might without it?
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| − | * ''From God.'' What does Nicodemus mean when he says that Jesus has come from God? How does Jesus give him a different understanding of what it means to come from God?
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| − | ===Verse 3===
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| − | * ''Jesus' response.'' How do you explain the disconnect between Nicodemus’s greeting in verse 2 and Jesus’ response in this verse? Is he rebuking Nicodemus for misunderstanding Christ’s mission, admiring Christ’s miracles but not seeing that he himself must be born again? Or, is Jesus responding to an unuttered question in Nicodemus’s heart?
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| − | * ''"Verily, verily."'' Why does Jesus begin what he says with “verily, verily,” or—literally “amen, amen”? The word “amen” is used by both individuals and the community as a whole in the Old Testament, and it is used to confirm the acceptance of a task given to human beings by God (e.g., [[1 Kgs 1:36]]), to confirm the application of a divine curse (e.g., [[Num 5:22]]; [[Deut 27:15]]ff.; [[Jer 11:5]]; and [[Neh 5:13]]), and to verify the praise of God (e.g., [[1 Chr 16:36]] and [[Neh 8:6]]). Thus “amen” means that which is sure and valid (''Theological Dictionary of the New Testament'', 1:335).
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| − | * ''"Again."'' The Greek word translated “again” could have been translated “from above.” It is an ambiguous word. How does that ambiguity effect the conversation that follows?
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| − | * ''"Kingdom."'' The Greek word translated “see” could also be translated “know.” As in [[Matt 3:2]], the word translated “kingdom” could also be translated “reign.” How do we know the reign of God? Must we wait for death or the Second Coming? What are the types and shadows on this earth of that reign? What does Jesus tell us must happen for us to know the reign of God?
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| − | * ''Seeing.'' Nicodemus has seen Christ’s miracles (verse 2), but he has not seen the Kingdom of God (verse 3). What does that teach us?
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| − | ===Verse 4===
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| − | * ''Nicodemus' misunderstanding.'' How does Nicodemus misunderstand what Jesus has said to him? What does the sheer grotesqueness of his Nicodemus’s interpretation of Jesus’ remark tell us about Nicodemus?
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| − | * ''Nicodemus' birth.'' Did Nicodemus believe that his first birth had conveyed spiritual advantages on him? What have the Pharisees said to John the Baptist about their birth? (Compare [[Matt 3:7]], [[Luke 3:8]], and the JST version of [[Luke 3:8]].) Might that explain Nicodemus’s misunderstanding? If Nicodemus does believe that his first birth gave him a spiritual advantage over others, why would Jesus’ teaching have been shocking?
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| − | ===Verse 5===
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| − | * ''Comparison to verse 3.'' Are the differences between what Jesus says here and what he said in verse 3 important? Does he say something new here?
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| − | * ''"Born of water."'' We understand “born of the water” to refer to baptism. To what else might it refer? How would we decide between these possible meanings? Does the fact that what the King James version translates “again” in verse 3 could also have been translated “from above” help us decide? Do we need to decide between them? How is the teaching of this verse connected to John the Baptist’s teaching ([[Matt 3:11]], [[Mark 1:8]], and [[Luke 3:16]])?
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| − | * ''"Begotten?'' The word “born” can also be translated “begotten”: “Except a man be begotten of water and of the Spirit.” What does it mean to be begotten of the water? of the Spirit? Does [[Ps 2:7]] shed any light on what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus?
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| − | * ''"Cannot enter."'' “He cannot enter” translates a Greek phrase that means “he has no power to enter.” By what power do we enter the kingdom of God?
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| − | * ''"Enter the kingdom of God."'' What does it mean to “enter the kingdom of God”? Is there more than one meaning? If you can think of more than one possible meaning, consider each meaning and ask yourself when, according to each meaning, one enters the kingdom or reign of God.
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| − | == Lexical notes ==
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| − | ===Verse 1===
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| − | * ''"Nicodemus."'' The name “Nicodemus” means “conqueror” and it was a common name. We know little about Nicodemus. We know that he was a Pharisee because this verse tells that he was. We know that he was some kind of ruler, though we don’t know what kind, because this verse tell us that he was. Many have speculated that Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, but we have little evidence for that speculation and we know little about the Sanhedrin. If he was a member of the Sanhedrin, then he was a member of the ruling body of Jerusalem, a Pharisee, and a teacher (scribe). He was the height of what most people would have taken to be a good Jew, and he probably would be one of those referred to in [[John 12:42]].
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| − | * ''"Man."'' Notice the use of this term at the end of the previous chapter, [[John 2:25]].
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| − | ===Verse 5===
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| − | * ''"Born."'' The Greek word ''gennao'' seems to have a connotation of conversion for Jews.
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| − | * ''"Again."'' The Greek word ''anwyen'' can mean either "above" (particularly relating to God) or "again."
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| − | * ''Symbolism of water.'' Water here may refer to a number of scriptural symbolic metaphors: baptism; the fountain of life; the Red Sea and Jordan River, both of which have important symbolic meaning in the Old Testament; water which quenches thirst during a drought; water that causes things to grow; ritual cleansings (incl. Namaan's being healed by bathing in the River Jordan); the waters referred to in creation. See also [[Ezek 36]]. This may also be related to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikvah mikvah] in Judaism.
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| − | * ''"Water and Spirit."'' Water is an important element in physical birth, so the reference here may be to the birth of our spirit occurring in a way that is analogous to our physical birth. However, scholars seem to favor reading "water and Spirit" together rather than separately. That is, in order to be born from above ("again" in verse 7), one must be born of both water and the Spirit: being born of water and the Spirit is a restatement of being born again. (See [http://feastuponthewordblog.org/2007/01/30/sunday-school-lesson-5/#comment-569 this comment] on Jim F.'s Sunday school lesson.) This might also be echoing the way that the Spirit of God is described as brooding on the water in the creation account(s).
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| − | == Exegesis ==
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| − | ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add exegesis''
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| − | == Related links ==
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| − | * ''Click the edit link above and to the right to add related links''
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| − | {|
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| − | | [[John 2:21-25|Previous (John 2:21-25)]] || || [[John 3:6-10|Next (John 3:6-10)]]
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| − | |}
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