John 3:1,2 - We know that you are a teacher

3:1

We now come to one of the most famous passages in Jesus’ life, His meeting with Nicodemus. (It does have to be said that there are, of course, numerous famous incidents in His life). In fact we now come to a series of meetings that Jesus has with various people,and each of these reveals deep theological truths. Theology and life go together. In fact, one might even say that if theology becomes just dull academic stuff then it isn’t really theology. That isn’t to say that there is no place for the hard slog of careful textual analysis etc, but these things only become to true value when they help us know and understand the word of God. The incidents also show that gaining understanding involves more than academic study.

It is probably time for another of my reminders that the chapter and verse numbers are not part of the actual text. So what we read here follows on from the end of chapter 2, and perhaps illustrates something of what was in men’s hearts. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus was a fairly common Greek name. So he was a respected Jew and a qualified teacher, yet one who still had much to learn!

3:2

He came at night. There are various theories on the significance of this. Some say it was because he wanted to meet Jesus secretly. Others see it as being symbolic of his lack of understanding (i.e. he was in the dark). On the other hand, it may just have been the time of day when he came to see Jesus! Nicodemus addressed Jesus as “Rabbi”, the use of this term probably meant more from the mouth of Nicodemus than it did when used by the disciples in John 1:38. Moreover, he describes Jesus as “a teacher who has come from God”. This does not imply that he appreciated the full significance of this, only that He was inspired by God in some way. The Jewish leaders were aware of the miracles that Jesus was doing. They recognised that this indicated that God was with Jesus. Of course, later the Pharisees seemed to forget this! Nicodemus says “we know”. This could indicate that he is there on behalf of the Pharisees, some even suggest that a group of Pharisees were with him, though this seems unlikely. I think the more likely case is that Nicodemus was there purely in an individual context. The later discussion would seem to be consistent with this.