NICODEMUS
The account of our Lord's dealing with Nicodemus is full of vital importance because He said to him the thing which is true of every one. It is the only occasion upon which it is recorded that He revealed this fact in speech. His utterance, however, shows its application to all men. "Except a man be born from above" is a general statement.
We often hear it said today that there are many excellent people in the world who make no profession of Christianity. Here we have a man, shall we say, of that order, particularly so on the intellectual side; and it is an arresting fact that it was to this man, not to the publican in the parable, not to the woman taken in the act of sin, not to the thief in his death agony, He declared the necessity for the new birth.
Nicodemus is introduced to us by John in such a way as to reveal him in certain aspects very clearly. He says, "There was a man of the Pharisees . . . a ruler of the Jews." That he was a Pharisee proves that he was narrow, dogmatic, and bigoted. The first two of these words reveal high standings in his society. The latter marks the point where high standing becomes failure. The fact that he was a Pharisee means also that his outlook upon religious matters was supernatural, rather than natural, and traditional and ritualistic. Moreover, as Pharisee, he belonged to that order which was characterized by its patriotism. Yet again, the statement that he was a "ruler of the Jews" shows that he stood in high position among the ruling class, for it means he was a member of the Sanhedrim. That fact is proved further in the history as we find him raising his voice in the Sanhedrim.
In the course of this conversation with him, our Lord said something to him which is certainly significant. Our old Version rendered a question the Lord addressed to him, "Art thou a teacher?" Our Revised has more accurately rendered it, "Art thou the teacher?" The employment at this point of the definite article very powerfully suggests at least that at this time Nicodemus was, to use the phrase of our own age, the popular teacher. Being a Pharisee, he would belong to the School of Gamaliel, as did Saul of Tarsus. At the time he was the teacher of that School to whom men were giving special attention.
There is, however, a revelation of the man which the very division of the Gospel into chapters may hide. The second chapter closes with the statement that there were many who believed on Jesus, in whom He did not believe; that is, He did not trust Himself to them. Chapter three, which in John's writing is of course a continuation, begins, "Now there was a man of the Pharisees." That little introductory word suggests at once continuity and contrast. There were people to whom Jesus could not commit Himself. Now, or But, there was a man named Nicodemus, to whom He could and did commit Himself.
Moreover, he was evidently a man of discernment. When he came to Jesus, he said: "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God; for no man can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with Him."
Signs had their place and their value to the crowd. Their very unusual nature was attractive. To Nicodemus they were proofs that the One doing them was One through Whom God was acting. Thus his discernment is clearly revealed. (Acts 14:3; Heb. 2:4)
Moreover, he was a man of caution. He came to Christ by night. It has become quite a habit to abuse him on this ground, and to say it was an act of cowardice. I do not so understand the account. Here was a man, convinced that this new Teacher was from God, and he had a desire to get to Him in a special way that He might receive teaching from Him alone. He came in the night for quietness and privacy. He was familiar with the messages of the past. He knew the Torah, the Nebiim, the Kethubim, but here was a new authentic Voice, and he desired to be alone with Him.
Yet once more, the account cannot be read without a conviction of the honesty of the man resulting. He was sincere as he challenged the things that Jesus said to him, with great respect, and with pre-eminent logical insight.
We have two subsequent glimpses of him in John. One is found in the seventh chapter when the Sanhedrim had sent officers to arrest Jesus, and they came back empty-handed. The voice of Nicodemus then said: "Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself, and know what he doeth?" In that question was revealed his passion for justice.
We meet him once more in the nineteenth chapter where he is seen carrying to the sepulcher "a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight." These were the gifts of love for the dead body of Jesus. Thus we see him as a man of emotional nature, and of a great heart. The whole survey shows a man of the finest type. There are three men in the New Testament who always seem to me may be placed in that class; Nicodemus, the young ruler, and Saul of Tarsus. Apart from Christ, they were of the same type, intellectual, honest, upright.
We come, then, to the question of utmost importance as to what Jesus has to say to such a man.
The first thing that impresses us is that upon which we have already touched, that our Lord trusted him. There were many that He could not trust, to whom He could not commit Himself; but the whole account of His dealing with Nicodemus is that of His yielding Himself to the man completely in the fullest and most wonderful way.
The account recorded in John clearly reveals a three-fold movement in our Lord's dealings with Nicodemus. Glancing over it quite mechanically, observe these things. In verses one and two, "Nicodemus . . . said." Verse three, "Jesus answered." Verse four, "Nicodemus saith." Verse five, "Jesus answered." Verse nine, "Nicodemus answered and said." Verse ten, "Jesus answered and said." If we examine this conversation we find very distinctly that there are three movements; and in order to follow them we may state them thus. In the first we see Jesus and Nicodemus face to face (verses 2-3). Then we see them mind to mind (verses 4-8). Finally we see them heart to heart (verses 9-21).
As we see them face to face we first hear Nicodemus' estimate of Christ: "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with Him."
That is how Nicodemus saw Christ.
In Christ's answer we have His estimate of Nicodemus, as placing him on the level of all human beings, treating him as representing man He said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
That was His estimate of Nicodemus. In these words He told him that his knowledge, which was quite correct as he had stated, "We know that Thou art a Teacher come from God," was discounted, because it did not carry him far enough. In order to clear vision, to correct apprehension of the Kingdom of God, it was necessary that man receive a new life, a life which in its essence, comes from above. He declared that investigation on the earth level would never lead a man into the Kingdom of God. That result could only be obtained by revelation and illumination, resulting from a new life element. Thus Jesus said to him in effect, Though I be a Teacher come from God, man cannot understand My teaching until he is born from above. He needs a new life principle. Thus our Lord uttered to Nicodemus His high message to the world, which runs counter to the pride of the human intellect, that no man can understand the Kingdom of God until he is born from above.
Immediately preceding. we find Nicodemus and Jesus mind to mind.
"Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
These words need very careful consideration. The question Nicodemus asked was a tremendous question. We first observed that in it he tacitly admitted the wonder of the idea. He did not dismiss it, declaring that there was no necessity for such a birth. What he did say in effect was that such a thing was not possible. "How can a man be born when he is old?" This means, if perhaps, a man could go back to the beginning, and live in the power of a new life, he might have his opportunity; but, said Nicodemus, How can this be? The question revealed his sense of the meaning of personality having arrived at maturity. It was as though he had said to Jesus, I am today the result of all I was yesterday, and the day before, and all the yesterdays since the day of my birth. I am not merely what I was when I was born. What I am today is the result of the accumulation of the experiences of the running years. Now this is true of every human being, and the question arises as to how these things which have become woven into personality can be dealt with. How can a man be born when he is old? Then with daring, Nicodemus employed the physical to illustrate the whole fact of personality as he said: "Can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
That second question was not intended to be complete, for man is more than physical. It was intended to illustrate. In the realm of the physical, can a full grown man be pressed back into embryonic stage in his mother's womb and be born? The involved argument was that if it was impossible in the realm of the physical, it was equally so in the realm of the mental and spiritual. I repeat, it was a great question.
Now let us carefully observe our Lord's reply. He first repeated His declaration in fuller form.
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
In considering this statement we must remember that Nicodemus was certainly familiar with the preaching of John, and knew that John had said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I . . . He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
The baptism of water was the symbol of repentance, the human condition necessary to the remission of sins. The baptism of the Spirit was the fact of regeneration, the Divine answer to the fulfillment of the human condition.
Thus our Lord declared that in order to enter the Kingdom of God there must be on the part of man repentance, and also on the part of God the regeneration of the spirit of the man.
Then our Lord referred to the illustration which Nicodemus had used in the realm of the physical, as He said: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The one possible for man and the other only possible by God.
The intention of the statement was to show that what is impossible in the realm of the flesh is possible in the realm of the spirit.
Continuing, our Lord made use of His great illustration of the wind, introducing it by the charge: "Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born from above."
This charge called upon Nicodemus not to allow his intellect to hinder him. The illustration in itself shows that there are things beyond the grasp of the intellect as to explanation, which nevertheless are apprehended as facts, and must be acted upon.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Thus our Lord recognized a mystery beyond the understanding of the intellect, but a fact so obvious as an activity of the power of God that the only rational attitude is that of accepting and yielding to the fact, while postponing the interpretation of the mystery.
Then we come to the final movement.
"Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?"
Here let us not think this is the question he had already asked. Neither has it the same significance. The verb employed in the question, "How can a man be born when he is old" is not the verb employed when he said, "How can these things be?" The question now asked may accurately be rendered, How can these things come to pass? His first question revealed a conviction at the moment that the suggestion of Jesus as to a new birth, was impossible of realization. Now, having received from the Lord the admission of a mystery, and the appeal to action, his perplexity was caused as to the method by which such a thing could come to pass. For the answer to that question all the rest of the statement of Jesus is necessary, and what a marvelous answer it is.
First, with tender satire, Jesus, looking at Nicodemus with all his intellectuality and all his strength, recognizing his popularity as a teacher, and certainly recognizing his sincerity, said to him: "Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things . . . If I told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?"
He had told him the earthly things, the necessity for the new birth. Now He asked if Nicodemus had not believed that, how could he believe if He answered his question as to how these things could be; in other words, if He told him the heavenly things. Yet let it be carefully noted that He did tell him the heavenly things. He began on the level where Nicodemus would be familiar, that is, his knowledge of the Scriptures.
"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in Him have eternal life."
As we read these words the question naturally arises in the mind as to whether Nicodemus at the moment perfectly understood the illustration. I do not think he did, but I think the very form of it, the very language of it did indicate to him that death was somehow referred to, and that the death of the Teacher was involved, the Son of man must be lifted up. The probability is that Nicodemus never understood until he wound the cloths around the dead body of Jesus, and left Him lying amid the myrrh and the aloes. And even then it is not likely that he understood. The final illumination would come to him when he found Him risen from among the dead. The lifting up of the Son of man was not merely His placing on the Cross. It included that resurrection. When at the last Jesus said to His disciples: "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all men unto Myself," we find the interpretation of His word to Nicodemus, including as it did, death and resurrection. At the moment, therefore, He suggested to this questioning soul the idea of a death that should provide life. This was the first of the heavenly things.
Then our Lord passed to the heavenly fact which lay behind that.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Thus He declared the heavenly truth that life should come through the lifting up of the Son of man, as the result of the love of God in thus giving His only begotten Son.
Continuing, He said: "This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light."
As we read, we catch a remarkable mingling of great things, and so of great thoughts. They are those of life and love and light. Nicodemus had asked, how can these things be brought to pass? and the reply summarized may be thus stated, They can be brought to pass by the liberation of life when the Son of man is lifted up, which lifting up results from the love of God for humanity; and in the light of this revelation men, walking and obeying it, come into the possession of life. These were indeed the heavenly things which answered the second "How" of Nicodemus.
When we turn to consider the result of this conversation we find that Nicodemus went back to his place in the Sanhedrim. For this we have no right in any sense to condemn him. Christ did not call him to travel with Him. He did not need him in that way or He would have so called him. He passed back, as the majority of people have to do, to his ordinary position in life. At this point, as we have seen, we find his voice raised on behalf of justice for Jesus, and then at last we see him joined with Joseph of Arimathea in the fulfillment of the last offices of love.
Looking at that final scene it is impossible not to be impressed with a certain aspect of it. When Jesus was dead, when His body was laid in the tomb, all the other disciples for the moment had forsaken Him and fled. Then two secret disciples blazed into confession of love, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, and wrapped the cloths of death around that dead body, amid the aloes and the myrrh and the spices. At any rate as we watch that scene we are warned against undervaluing men who might seem to us to lack something in the matter of open and public confession. It may be that in some hour of crisis, such men will manifest a heroism greater than those who have made the loudest profession.
As we close the article we ask what are the lessons the account teaches us? The first that suggests itself to my own mind is that Christ will always give Himself to honesty. If a man in his approach to the Lord, will state his difficulties, Christ is forever ready to receive him, and to commit Himself to that man. In proportion as such an one remains honest, there will come to him growingly, revelations, illuminations, and deliverances.
It is impossible, moreover, to read the account without seeing Christ's emphasis upon the limitations of the merely intellectual. He does not undervalue the intellect. His answers prove that. But He made it perfectly clear that in order to apprehend spiritual things, there must be something more than mere intellectual activity.
He reveals, moreover, the fact that the necessity is that a man should be born from above. It is only in the illumination that comes from this birth that there can be escape from darkness, and the realization of life.
Finally, we have in all the teaching of Christ here a revelation that the way of life for man is the result of the love of God, placing it at human disposal as men come to, and walk in the light.
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