Now let us hear of a case of ‘free-will’. Nicodemus is surely a man in whom you can find no lack of anything for which ‘free-will’ avails. What in the way of effort and endeavour does he leave undone? He confesses Christ to be true, and to have come from God, he refers to his signs, he comes by night to hear and discuss further. Does he not seem to have sought by the power of ‘free-will’ all that pertains to godliness and salvation? But see what shipwreck he makes. When he hears Christ teach the true way of salvation, by new birth, does he acknowledge it and confess that in time past he sought it? No; he starts back, and is confounded; and not only says that he does not understand it, but turns from it as an impossibility. (Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
As people think of the case for or against ‘free-will’ it may not occur to them to think of Jesus and His encounter with Nicodemus. Yet when one looks at this passage (John 3) it is actually very strong against ‘free-will’ and its contribution to salvation in any way. Nicodemus was born a Jew and was evidently (being a leader among the Pharisees) very trained in the law. But those who practice the law apart from the Holy Spirit practice the law according to the power and choice of their own will. Apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His indwelling Spirit, all keeping of the law has to be by the will that is free of His power and life in the inner man.
So Nicodemus was a man who had lived by the power of his own will in keeping the law and his whole life as a Pharisee was based on his own efforts and endeavors. One could argue that the whole concept of the Pharisees, at least in the time of Jesus, was based on the power of their own wills to be holy and keep the law. When Jesus attacked their interpretation of the law and what it meant to keep the law, He was attacking the very heart of the Pharisees and their ability to keep the true law and its true interpretation. When the true interpretation is seen and understood, the ability of the will to keep it is destroyed. The heart of the law is spiritual and that is beyond the flesh of human beings to keep it apart from the Spirit.
Nicodemus heard the teachings of Jesus and saw the signs that He was doing. The signs were undeniable to Nicodemus and so he went at night to speak with Jesus. He confessed what would have gotten him in big trouble with his friends, which was that Jesus was a teacher sent from God. The power and ability of the will, however, had reached its end. It is almost as if Jesus looked at this leader and man of high position and went right after this man’s profession of Him as a teacher sent from God. It seems that as soon as the man’s confession of Christ as a teacher from God escaped his lips, Jesus wanted to see how deep that profession was and said this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
This simple but profound statement would have rocked the world of Nicodemus. His being born a Jew was just dashed to the ground as a basis for hope in being in the kingdom of God. The idea of keeping the law as a basis for thinking he was in the kingdom was dashed to the ground. All hope in his ability to keep the law or to do something that he may enter the kingdom was dashed to the ground. Jesus also went a short step more in this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). He then went on to show that the power of the new birth was the Spirit and not the power of the will of man: 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 “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” (John 3:6-8).
What power of the will did this leave Nicodemus? He is told that he must be born from above (again) to even see the kingdom and then enter the kingdom. He is then told that only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit and that this new birth is a work of the Spirit who does that work as He wishes. This had to have been like a bomb going off in the mind of Nicodemus and exploded his hopes for salvation by his own will (the way of the Pharisees). Nicodemus was left with no hope in anything he could do. All the power of the will is stripped and left as useless when it is the sovereign Spirit regenerates lost and dead sinners as He pleases. Even if Scripture did not state in the clearest of terms that human beings are born dead in sins and trespasses, that teaching would be a necessary doctrine in light of this teaching of the new birth. The freedom of the will for salvation is cast down and trod in the dust by the teachings of Jesus in the new birth. Nicodemus and all his efforts and works are cast down and the glory of God’s power and ability stand. The ‘free-will’ has no power to work any part of the new birth and so it has no choice. The new birth is by the power and choice of the Holy Spirit who alone is free to do as He pleases.
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