Nicodemus Visits by Night

Nicodemus, identified as a man of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night. He addressed Jesus as Rabbi and acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God, citing the signs Jesus performed as evidence that God was with him (John 3:1-2). Jesus responded by stating that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus questioned how a man could be born when he is old, asking if he could enter a second time into his mother's womb. Jesus clarified that a person must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, noting that what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:3-6).

Jesus compared the movement of the Spirit to the wind, which blows where it wishes; though its sound is heard, its origin and destination are unknown. Nicodemus asked how these things could be, to which Jesus replied by asking if Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, did not understand these matters (John 3:8-10). The text does not say why Nicodemus chose to visit specifically at night. Jesus stated that he spoke of what he knew and testified to what he had seen, yet his witness was not received. He compared the necessity of the Son of Man being lifted up to the event where Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:11-14).

Jesus explained that God loved the world and gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He stated that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:16-17). Those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus described the light coming into the world and how men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Those who do the truth come to the light so that their deeds may be clearly seen as having been done in God (John 3:18-21).