In this article we will take another look at the conversion of Nicodemus or the Gospel that was preached by Christ to him. The importance of Nicodemus is not the man, but it is a fairly lengthy passage that deals with how Jesus Himself evangelized. This should be of great interest. The first article on him looked at John 3:1-8, and the second compared him with some who believed and were not converted. In this third article we want to primarily look at John 3:8-21. This method throws light on the meaning of John 3:16 in terms of the Gospel and evangelism. The focus is not really on Nicodemus, but on the evangelism of Jesus and the glory of God’s grace in conversion.
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:8-16)
People differ on whether Jesus was still speaking to Nicodemus after verse 15 or whether it is a discussion by John on it. The issue does not make a huge difference in how the text is approached. It is either the exact words that Jesus in the flesh spoke or it is John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, giving us a God-breathed and condensed form of what Jesus said. While it is true that in verses 16-21 the tone is different and things are spoken of in the past tense, yet either way we are looking at the teachings of Jesus and both sections (or just one if taken together) are giving us what Jesus had to say on this issue and to Nicodemus. This is nothing to trouble us.
In verses 3-8 Jesus teaches Nicodemus of the new birth. When He did this the teaching of John 1:12-13 (though not spoken to Nicodemus) should have been clear to Nicodemus from the Old Testament. The new birth is not because one is a Jew, it was not a husband’s choice, and it was the choice of any human. It is the choice of God to birth a soul into His kingdom or not. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make a spiritual child of God. Jesus was attacking virtually all that Nicodemus thought of regarding salvation. In verse 9 we have the utter astonishment of Nicodemus set out for us. He is not denying them in direct words, but in asking the question how these things can possibly be he is showing his belief is limited by his understanding. Then Jesus expresses amazement that Nicodemus could be the teacher of Israel and not understand these things. After all, this is very clear from the Old Testament. In a word of application, should anyone be a minister of the Gospel who does not believe these things?
The denial of the new birth and especially the denial of the freedom and activity of God in the new birth are widespread. If Jesus would be amazed at Nicodemus for his disbelief, surely He would be and is appalled at the utter denial of this among many ministers in our land and world today. What Jesus said to Nicodemus should be said to people today. They are denying the very words of Christ by not receiving His testimony to the truth of those things. Jesus then clearly tells Nicodemus that He (Jesus) is the Son of Man (v. 13) and that He came from heaven. He then takes Nicodemus back to the Old Testament and the teaching of the serpent. Not only, however, did He claim to be the Son of Man, but He claimed that He was going to be lifted up (the cross) as the serpent was so that those who believe will in Him have eternal life. Those in the Old Testament who were bitten by a serpent looked upon the serpent impaled on a pole and they lived. So now Christ is teaching Nicodemus and us that He would be lifted up on a cross and all who believe in Him will have eternal life. The Gospel is being declared.
The word “for” is the first word of verse 16 which demonstrates the link to verses 14-15. In Numbers 21 the people were punished for sin and the Lord sent in snakes which bit the people and they died. The serpent in the Garden of Eden brought death to Adam and Eve and they died. If they died without repentance they would also die eternally. That is also true of their offspring. Jesus, however, delivers from eternal death and gives eternal life as a gift. Those who believe (“are believing” v. 16) in Him have eternal life. Notice that eternal life is something that the person believing has now and is not something that one only has after death, though that is certainly not to be minimized. The person who is believing (present active participle) is a person that has eternal life in this life. 1st John was written “so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). He didn’t write the letter so people could know that they had made a choice or prayed a prayer, but so that they could look at themselves and their hearts and know that they had eternal life. A person that is truly saved is a person that has been converted from the self life and the power of darkness to the life of God in the soul and the power of light and life.
The people in Numbers 21 knew if they lived rather than died. The way to see if a person has Christ is to see if that person has been truly converted and has eternal life in him or her or not. We know that if we come upon a car wreck with injured people that a person has life if s/he has certain vital signs. A person must have a pulse (heart beating) and respiration (breathing) to be alive away from a hospital. We do not ask a person if s/he was ever alive or ever made a decision to be alive, but we check to see if the person is alive now. There are vital signs to see if people do have eternal life, though there is not space to get into that at the moment. Many believed something about Jesus and even the correct facts about Jesus but were not converted and did not have eternal life. John 3:1-21, in the context of Numbers 21, should force us to look at John 3:16 in its own context and then in the context of the whole book. The teaching on the evangelism of Nicodemus should teach us to look at the passage as a whole. The glory of the mercy and God is in that He loved Jew and Gentile (the world) and sent His Son so that believing ones would have eternal life. He does not just save them from hell at a future point, but eternal life enters them now and will live in them even when their body dies and they will then share in the life of God forever and ever.
Verses 14-15 show that those Israelites who were bitten by a snake and believed looked to a snake on a pole and they lived. Now it is not just the Israelites but the Gentiles (the world) also who may believe and are saved by Christ. The new birth is by God and is not by the nationality or the choice of the husband or of any human being. Jesus is preaching the Gospel of the new birth and eternal life to Nicodemus. Jesus preached to Nicodemus the truth of eternal life as opposed to temporal life. He preached the heavenly kingdom versus the earthly kingdom. He preached the new birth by the Spirit rather than a birth into the nation of Israel. He preached looking to Jesus as God’s provision for eternal life rather than the provision of God in a snake for temporal life. God’s love in giving eternal life is not limited to the nation of Israel and those born of natural generation into that nation, but the love of God is in sending Jesus the Messiah to procure a salvation that includes the new and spiritual birth into an everlasting kingdom of which a person has eternal life which is to know God (John 17:3). Eternal life is not just to escape hell and go to some floating cloud above; it is to live in communion with God and to have His love in the soul. Jesus came to make God known (John 1:14-18) and in manifesting His name He did this: “I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26). Eternal life is to have God and His love in the soul which is the life of the believer.
Jesus came to give those believing ones eternal life and not just deliver them from hell. He came to manifest the glory of God to them and then make Him known to them. He came so that those believing in Him would live in communion with God and to have His love abide in them. This eternal life that He came to give those believing (those faithing) in Him was really His life in them. John 3:36 is very clear on this: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” He who is believing in the Son has eternal life. Eternal life is not something that is only known by its length, but it is also a quality of life. In fact, it is the life of God in the human soul. A believing soul is known by the life that is in it, and an unbelieving soul is known by its lack of life. So we can ask of Nicodemus if he was a believing soul by whether we see eternal life in him. Did he believe? Yes he believed and that is why he went to Jesus. But unlike the many that believed and were not converted in John 2, he had to be born again to be a believing soul with eternal life.
In John 19 we see the same Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night now stepping out and taking care of the body of a crucified criminal who was his Messiah. This shows a heart that has been changed from a fear of the Pharisees that came from a self-focus and self-love to one that loved the glory of God in Christ. We see a love for the Messiah in what he was doing. We see spiritual sight in that he was doing it for a Messiah that was physically dead. We see that he was turned from “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (I John 2:16) which is what the fall gave man to. We see that he was now a man who loved truth rather than the deceit of the world. Nicodemus was a converted man and was a new creature in Christ Jesus. Before he believed when he saw miracles but now he was a believing soul and so He had the life of Christ which is eternal life in him. The glory of God was now in him and so he would live for that glory rather than his own benefit in this world.
God Loves... Himself 
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