Sermon Outline John You Must Be Born Again
James J. Tissot, detail of 'The Interview between Jesus and Nicodemus' (1886-94), gouache on paper, 9-i/viii x 7", Brooklyn Museum, New York.
Celebrities often attract people for the wrong reasons. People want to be close to glamour and fame, hoping that some of it will rub off. People want to exist able to say they saw so-and-so, since it adds to their own status. And if the person is a performer, people are attracted by the act. In Jesus' instance, many were attracted past his deportment, his miracles, and, sadly, many went no deeper. This account is of one man who did go deeper.
Nicodemus the Pharisee (3:ane)
Jesus is still in Jerusalem during the Passover. While at that place, he receives a nocturnal visit from a very important homo.
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council." (iii:1)
"Nicodemus" is a Greek name (Nikodēmos, from nikos, "victorious" + dēmos, "public, people") that means "conquistador of the people." The name was establish amid both Jews and Greeks. Perhaps he was a member of the Greek-speaking synagogue that met in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9; 9:29). Nosotros simply don't know.[85]
Even so, we acquire several things nearly Nicodemus here and in the two other passages where he is mentioned. Commencement, he was a minor celebrity in his own right as one of the 70 Jewish rulers[86] who served on Jerusalem'south Swell Sanhedrin, the trunk that made decisions for the country -- under Roman rule, of course.[87]
He was also a Pharisee, that is, a strict observer of the law (7:50-51). What's more than, he was an expert in Jewish constabulary, a scribe, since Jesus calls him "Israel'due south teacher" (3:10). He was probably wealthy, both to be considered to be a member of the Sanhedrin and because he assisted Joseph of Arimathea in Jesus' burial, both physically and financially (nineteen:39).
Nicodemus the Seeker (3:ii)
But there is something dissimilar about Nicodemus from the other members of the Sanhedrin: he is spiritually hungry.
"He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were non with him.'" (3:two)
Twice, the Gospel of John tells united states that he came to Jesus at night (3:2; 19:39). Why the nocturnal visit? There are several possibilities:
- Fright. Nosotros're told that fellow Sanhedrin fellow member Joseph of Arimathea hadn't publicly identified himself with Jesus "because he feared the Jews[88]" (19:38). Was Nicodemus afraid as well? Perhaps, but he seemed bolder, since he stood upwardly for Jesus in a meeting of the Sanhedrin (7:51).
- Caution. Probably circumspection fits Nicodemus. He doesn't want to exist seen endorsing the teachings of this new Galilean instructor until he is sure. That's wise, it seems to me.
- Accessibility. Maybe the best reason for seeking out Jesus at dark is the power to engage him in a longer conversation and ask earnest questions without interruption.[89] Nighttime was probably a good choice for an earnest seeker.
Notice what this esteemed Bible scholar acknowledges when he meets Jesus.
i. Rabbi, which means in Hebrew, "keen one." Nicodemus acknowledges the legitimacy of Jesus' teaching role, though Jesus hasn't been educated in the finest schools under the best rabbis, as had Paul, for case (Acts 22:3). Jesus had, of course, impressed the temple teachers equally a boy of twelve (Luke 2:46-47), and had, no doubt, studied Hebrew and the Holy Scriptures under a local rabbi at his own synagogue when growing upwards. Nicodemus is impressed past him as a teacher, which is high praise coming from a well-known instructor like Nicodemus.
2. A instructor come from God. Unlike some of his fellow Pharisees who claimed that Jesus bandage out demons by the devil himself (Mark three:22), Nicodemus recognizes the divine origin of Jesus' miracles.
I used to recollect that Nicodemus was just being polite when he said: "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come up from God" (3:2a). But I recollect I was wrong. Nicodemus is but being honest. It is these miracles that make Nicodemus so curious.
Lots of people had seen Jesus' miracles and been attracted to him.
"While [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name." (2:23)
Nicodemus is one of these. He isn't a full believer yet, merely the miracles cause him to recognize that God is behind Jesus' miracles. I know that the first time I saw a phenomenon first-hand, it exploded my world-view. Unlike most of his swain Pharisees, instead of rejecting Jesus' miracles or signs, he sees them as an indication of God's hand. Now he has come to learn more.
Discerning the Kingdom of God (3:3-v)
At present Jesus begins to teach about the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God.
"3 In respond Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can run across[xc] the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'
4 'How can a man exist born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a 2nd fourth dimension into his mother'due south womb to be born!'
5 Jesus answered, 'I tell yous the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.'" (3:three-v)
I've always idea that Jesus' reply to Nicodemus' statement seems rather precipitous and off-topic. Nicodemus is talking about miracles and Jesus is discussing the Kingdom of God. Then I realized that Nicodemus' own presence that night with the phenomenon-worker is powerful testimony that he is seeking the Kingdom of God to which the miracles attest.[91] Nicodemus is hungry to see and understand the Kingdom.
James J. Tissot, 'Nicodemus' (1886-94), Watercolor, The Brooklyn Museum, New York.
We're often then eager to empathise what it means to be "born once more" that we miss what Jesus is saying about the Kingdom. The prevailing Jewish expectation was that the Messiah would come equally a armed services leader to deliver them from Roman oppression, perhaps in the way that Judas Maccabeus and his family unit had led a rebellion to deliver Israel from the control of the pagan Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes less than two centuries before.
Jesus tells us ii things nearly the Kingdom:
- The Kingdom is spiritually discerned, that is, y'all can't see information technology or grasp information technology spiritually unless you are "born from higher up," unless God enables you to see it.
- The Kingdom is spiritually entered, that is, you can't enter into the Kingdom, which is a synonym for inheriting eternal life, unless y'all are changed spiritually.
Call back with me a couple of verses. Jesus has this dialog with Pontius Pilate:
"Pilate ... summoned Jesus and asked him, 'Are you the male monarch of the Jews?'
... Jesus said, 'My kingdom is non of this earth. If it were, my servants would fight to forestall my abort by the Jews. Just now my kingdom is from another identify.'
'You are a king, then!' said Pilate.
Jesus answered, 'You are right in proverb I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the earth, to testify to the truth....'" (18:33, 36-37)
And another teaching, this time about the hiddenness of the Kingdom.
"No ane knows the Son except the Father, and no 1 knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew xi:27)
"No one tin can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." (John 6:44)
The parables of the Kingdom are hidden from the unbelievers, too.
"The disciples came to him and asked, 'Why practise you speak to the people in parables?'
He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, simply not to them. Whoever has will exist given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, fifty-fifty what he has will exist taken from him.'" (Matthew xiii:ten-12)
The Kingdom of God is subconscious from unbelievers.
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the lite of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (2 Corinthians 4:iv)
Unbelievers tin meet that the Kingdom might be nowadays from the signs or miracles that result, and this may cause them, like Nicodemus, to search further. But unaided, they tin can't see or discern the Kingdom, much less enter it. Information technology is God's prerogative to reveal.
At one level, this may not seem quite off-white. Later all, seeing spiritual things is a correct, isn't it? No! We are blind, unless God graciously rescues united states of america, saves u.s.. At that place is a spiritual war going on. Conservancy is costly. And then costly that it can only be a gift.
Does this sound similar the sovereignty of God and predestination? Yes, that is what it is. But as we'll run into shortly, there is something that human being tin and must practise to prepare himself to receive the gift.
Q1. (John iii:3, 5) What does Jesus teach here about the nature of the Kingdom of God? Exercise yous think Nicodemus understands him? Why or why not?
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Begotten or Born? (iii:3-5)
Now let'southward explore this heavenly birth that Jesus teaches:
"3 In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no 1 can run into the kingdom of God unless he is born over again.'
4 'How tin a human be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a 2d fourth dimension into his mother's womb to be born!'
five Jesus answered, 'I tell y'all the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is built-in of water and the Spirit.'" (3:3-5)
The word "born" is gennaō, "get the parent of, beget" by procreation.[92] The passive tin can mean either, "born," as by a mother, or "begotten," as past a father.[93] Nicodemus takes the word in its feminine sense of existence in one's mother's womb. Just elsewhere, the thought seems to be "beget" in the masculine sense:[94]
Expect at places where this concept of being born/begotten is used elsewhere in the New Testament.
"Nonetheless to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the correct to get children of God -- children built-in not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a hubby's will, only born of God." (ane:12-13)
"No 1 who is built-in of God will continue to sin, because God's seed (sperma [95]) remains in him; he cannot go along sinning, considering he has been born of God." (1 John three:ix)
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is built-in of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his kid also." (one John 5:1)
"For yous accept been born once more, not of perishable seed (spora [96]), but of imperishable, through the living and indelible give-and-take of God." (i Peter 1:23)
"Once more" or "from Above" (3:3, v, seven)
There's some other issue to examine as we attempt to understand Jesus' teaching as accurately as possible. The adverb modifying "born/beget" in verses 3 and 5 is anōthen. The Greek word can accept both the meaning "from higher up" (which is most common) as well equally "again, afresh" (less common).[97]
1. Statement for "from above"
About mod commentators[98] take the primary pregnant here every bit "from above," since that is how the adverb is used iii other times in this gospel (3:31; 19:eleven, 23). In addition, John's writings contain the thought of "built-in of God" in several verses, which is the aforementioned thought as "built-in from above" (equally seen in the previous paragraph -- 1 John iii:ix; 4:7; 5:1, 4; 5:18). A.T. Robertson observes that though Nicodemus took the word in the sense of "again," "the misapprehension of Nicodemus does not prove the meaning of Jesus."[99] The translation "from to a higher place" is contained in the NRSV and NJB.
ii. Argument for "once more, anew"
I believe a potent example can be made for the translation "again, anew." First, the possibility of two meanings of the discussion is possible in Greek merely, not in the Aramaic that Jesus would have spoken.[100] Second, Nicodemus clearly took it in the sense of "once again" when he pictured a person itch back into his mother's womb "a second time"[101] to be built-in. 3rd, Jesus seems to have taught something similar in Matthew:
"I tell y'all the truth, unless you change[102] and get similar fiddling children, you will never enter the kingdom of sky." (Matthew eighteen:3)
We as well clearly see the idea of being "born anew" elsewhere in the New Attestation:
"He saved the states, not because of righteous things nosotros had done, just considering of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth (palingenesia [103]) and renewal (anakainōsis [104]) by the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5)
"In his dandy mercy he has given u.s.a. new nativity (anagennaō [105]) into a living promise...."
(1 Peter 1:3)
"For you lot have been born again (anagennaō), non of perishable seed, merely of imperishable, through the living and indelible word of God." (i Peter 1:23)
For these reasons, I retrieve that the translation "born afresh" reflects Jesus' meaning hither.[106] Indeed, a number of commentators back up this view.[107] The NIV and ESV translations use "born anew/once more." Jesus intends this to be understood as not a repetition of a previous birth, merely clearly a "new" kind of birth brought most by the Spirit.
Having said that, commentators hold that John deliberately used the ambiguous adverb anōthen and so that both ideas of "anew" and "from higher up" would exist considered, since the spiritual nascency is both "anew" and "from to a higher place."
Q2. (John 3:3-five) What does "entering the Kingdom" take to practise with being "born afresh"? Which do you lot remember is the best translation here: "born again," "built-in anew," or "born from above"? Defend your reasoning.
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Born of Water and Spirit (3:5-7)
Jesus has explained the concept of being "built-in anew." Nicodemus responds with a repetition of one's concrete nascence. Information technology'south not clear whether Nicodemus is making fun of the idea or only struggling to grasp information technology. But Jesus continues on instructing the earnest man.
"5 Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, only the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should non be surprised at my proverb, "You must exist born again."'" (three:five-7)
It's pretty clear that Jesus is differentiating this equally a spiritual nativity in stardom from a physical birth (as Nicodemus had understood it). What isn't so clear is what he ways by "born of h2o and the Spirit." We understand the idea of being born of the Spirit in the sense of Jesus' conception (Matthew ane:twenty). But it's the reference to the water that is confusing to us.
Morris recites the various interpretations of water in the passage.
- Christian Baptism. John must have known that water would be associated by his readers with Christian baptism. Indeed, some groups have used this passage to teach a doctrine of baptismal regeneration, that a person cannot exist saved without existence baptized. Notwithstanding, Nicodemus could not have understood such a reference to a not-yet-real sacrament. This explanation doesn't brand sense to me.
- Procreation. Since Jesus contrasts physical birth with spiritual birth, some see the water as a reference to either semen or the handbag of waters in the womb. Though such ideas may seem offensive to mod ears, there are many references in Rabbinic, Mandaean, and Hermetic sources that use terms like "h2o," "rain," "dew," and "drop" in the sense of male semen. Moreover, Hellenistic mystery religions made apply of the terminology of rebirth.[108] I run into water as referring to procreation as a possibility.
- Repentance and Purification. Dipping in water naturally suggests washing and cleansing. If nosotros look at the context of John's Gospel every bit far as chapter 3, the merely water we've seen is the water of John's baptism and the water that Jesus turned to wine in Cana. Therefore, I think the near natural interpretation is to take "water and Spirit" to refer to the ministry of John the Baptist who preached "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Marking 1:4). His baptism with water was also assorted with the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:viii; John 1:33).
As we saw earlier, since John'south baptism was probably viewed in the light of a baptism required of Jewish proselytes in the first century, it would have a real centre of humility for a Jew to submit to information technology, especially those who already considered themselves religiously pure, such as the Pharisees. Many of Nicodemus' colleagues bristled at the thought of them being baptized. Luke reports,
"The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized past John." (Luke seven:thirty)
We don't need to be apple-pie similar some new proselyte, they would assert proudly. We are Abraham'south directly descendants! John the Baptist'south response was sharp. He chosen them a brood of vipers:
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And practise not recall you lot can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can enhance up children for Abraham." (Matthew 3:eight-ix)
And then, in this context, I believe Jesus is saying to Nicodemus: You must be born anew by your own repentance and humbling yourself earlier God and the Holy Spirit'southward divine regenerative work within you. You tin't enter the Kingdom of God past your own attempt. You lot must surrender yourself to God! Just God can bring about this new cosmos in you.
Q3. (John 3:5-7) What does it mean to be "born of h2o and the Spirit"? What do you think "water" refers to? Why have you come up to this conclusion? How, then, would you paraphrase "born of water and the Spirit" to best bring out the full significant?
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The Wind of the Spirit (3:8)
Jesus reinforces this by emphasizing that the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated. He is out of human being's command and entirely directed past God:
"The current of air (pneuma) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, only you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Then it is with anybody born of the Spirit (pneuma)." (three:8)
"Wind" is pneuma, the breath of God, the same discussion that is translated "Spirit" at the cease of the verse. People who have been born of the Spirit, Jesus is saying, are motivated and moved by an unseen but powerful force across themselves. The life of the Spirit is a new level of spiritual being, a different plane entirely. Only people who have been born of the Spirit tin can perceive and enter the Kingdom of God.
The Witness of the Son of Human being (iii:9-13)
Nicodemus is mystified. He hasn't heard anything like this earlier. He asks a somewhat arrogant question: How can this be truthful if I don't know about it?
"nine 'How can this be?' Nicodemus asked.
x 'You are Israel's teacher,' said Jesus, 'and do yous not understand these things? xi I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and nosotros prove to what we take seen, only still y'all people do non have our testimony.'" (3:9-11)
Jesus responds to Nicodemus with a gentle rebuke. In his reply you encounter a couple of cardinal words that appear again and again in John's Gospel -- testify/testimony and truth. Jesus is challenge to be an bystander to heavenly things. Now he makes an amazing merits:
"12 I accept spoken to you of earthly things and you lot practice non believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has e'er gone into sky except the one who came from heaven -- the Son of Human being.'" (3:12-13)
Equally we discussed previously, Jesus' self-descriptive title of "Son of Homo" is taken from a passage in Daniel that discusses the heavenly nature of this effigy:
"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented earlier him. And to him was given rule and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall non pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." (Daniel seven:13-14)
When Jesus made claim to be the Son of Man quoting this passage at his trial (Mark xiv:61-64), the High Priest declared the argument blasphemy. Nicodemus, the strict Pharisee, the "teacher of State of israel," must have pondered these words deeply.
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up (three:14-xv)
James J. Tissot, detail of 'The Brazen Serpent' (1896-1904), watercolor, The Jewish Museum, New York City, NY.
Now Jesus now refers to a curious image from the Old Attestation.
"14 Just as Moses lifted upwardly the ophidian in the desert, and so the Son of Human must exist lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may take eternal life." (3:xiv-15)
Jesus is pedagogy Nicodemus virtually the relationship of organized religion and life. Jesus calls attention to an incident that took place during the Israelite's sojourn in the desert later the exodus from Egypt. Many of them had been bitten by poisonous snakes, and Moses asked God what to exercise.
"The LORD said to Moses, 'Brand a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten tin can look at information technology and live.' So Moses fabricated a bronze snake and put it upwardly on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten past a ophidian and looked at the bronze serpent, he lived." (Numbers 21:8-ix)
A bronze ophidian was lifted up on a pole[109] for people to await at in faith, and in looking they were healed.
Jesus is saying that in the aforementioned way that people looked with belief upon the bronze snake that was lifted up, and then must they look with belief upon the Son of Homo, who will be lifted up. Nicodemus tin can't know what this ways fully, but in retrospect nosotros see that Jesus was lifted up on the cross, raised from the dead, and finally ascended to glory.
This phrase "lifted up" is found three times in John.
"Merely as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may accept eternal life." (3:14-15)
"When you have lifted up the Son of Human being, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be]...." (eight:28a)
"'But I, when I am lifted upwards from the world, will draw all men to myself.' He said this to testify the kind of death he was going to dice." (12:32-33)
Even early in his ministry, Jesus knew that information technology would end on the cantankerous, the forerunner to the resurrection.
For God So Loved the World that He Gave (3:xvi)
What we've been discussing is the context for the most famous verse in the Bible:
"For God and then loved the earth that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall non perish but have eternal life." (three:xvi)
Let'due south examine the verse phrase past phrase and then we tin understand it fully. The speaker[110] attributes ii deportment to God: God loved and God gave. Both are in the Aorist indicative tense, which indicates a item point in past time that God so loved and therefore gave (presumably, gave on the cross):
"Loved" is agapaō, the give-and-take used in the New Testament for the highest form of love, "to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish, have affection for, love."[111] "Loved" is modified by the adverb "so," which indicates an intense degree of dear.[112]
The object of love is "the earth," the kosmos, a broad give-and-take that here refers to "humanity in general, the world."[113] This poetry doesn't limit God's honey only to the Jewish people or to believers, but to all of humanity.[114] Thus he loved us while were still his enemies (Romans 5:8). In his first letter of the alphabet, John writes:
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but too for the sins of the whole world (kosmos)." (1 John 2:2)
"God was reconciling the world (kosmos) to himself in Christ, non counting men's sins against them." (ii Corinthians 5:19)
"We have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe." (i Timothy 4:10)[115]
Gave in John three:sixteen is the common verb didōmi, "to give." Information technology echoes the related verb paradidomai in Isaiah 53:12 (Septuagint), "He was given up for their sins." The verb in 3:16 isn't "sent," only "gave," emphasizing the idea of cede.[116]
Jesus, God's Unique Son (monogenēs)
Let'southward pause hither to consider how the speaker describes Jesus equally God's "1 and just Son" (NIV), "merely Son" (NRSV, NJB), "only begotten Son" (KJV, NASB). The discussion modifying Son is monogenēs (which we saw in 1:14, xviii), "pertaining to existence the merely one of its kind or grade, unique (in kind) of something that is the but example of its category."[117] This compound word is formed from monos, "sole, unmarried" + genos, "kind." Brownish comments, "Although genos is distantly related to gennaō, 'to afford,' there is little Greek justification for the translation of monogenēs as 'only begotten.'"[118]
This poetry points clearly to Jesus every bit God's unique Son, one of a kind. Nosotros go sons and daughters of God by spiritual birth or adoption (depending upon which analogy you choose). Praise God! What a privilege this is! However, though nosotros resemble Jesus, he is unique in his relationship to God, since he is the Son from eternity, the Second Person of the Trinity.
Results and Purposes of God's Love (3:16)
We've been moving discussion by word through John 3:16. At present nosotros're at the 2nd half. Accept another expect:
"For God so loved the earth that he gave his 1 and merely Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but accept eternal life." (3:xvi)
Notice the two "thats" in the poetry:
- Result. The starting time "that" (hōste [119]) indicates issue in verse 16a. God'due south intense beloved resulted in him giving/sacrificing his Son.
- Purpose. The 2nd "that" (hina [120]) indicates purpose in poetry 16b. God's dearest resulted in giving or sacrificing his Son for the purpose of (a) preventing us from perishing, but rather (b) having eternal life.
Not Perish (three:16b)
God's purpose is for us who believe to accept eternal life. Only to clarify this, nosotros are given both the positive purpose, to have eternal life, and the flip side, the negative fashion of stating the same affair, to avoid perishing.
In our day, there's a lot of resistance to the thought of hell. Even Evangelical Christians seem to be moving towards the Jehovah'southward Witness position that hell is a sudden extinguishing of life into pettiness, not eternal punishment in the fires of hell. Afterwards all, how could a God of dear allow people to endure, even wicked people?
What does it mean to perish? The verb is apollymi, "to cause or experience destruction." In the middle voice as hither, it means, "perish, be ruined." This give-and-take encompasses dying by storm at bounding main, by the sword, killed by snakes, and especially of eternal death.[121] This Greek word is frequently used of missing out on eternal life -- both in the Old Testament Greek Bible (the Septuagint)[122] equally well as in the New Testament.[123] , [124] New Attestation scholar Albrecht Oepke concludes, "In view is not just physical destruction only a hopeless destiny of eternal death."[125]
Jesus' Teaching on Hell
Though in John'southward Gospel words for "hell" don't appear[126], in the Synoptics, Jesus uses ii Greek words that have been translated "hell" in the KJV.
Hadēs , "(originally a proper substantive, god of the underworld), then the nether globe, Hades as place of the dead."[127] Jesus taught that unbelievers would "go downwards to the depths" (Matthew 11:23; Luke ten:fifteen), identified the "gates of Hades" (Matthew sixteen:18) as the enemy of the church, and the opposite of Abraham'south bust, a place where the rich man asks to have Lazarus "dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire" (Luke 16:23-24).
Gehenna , "Valley of the Sons of Hinnom," a ravine south of Jerusalem. In that location, according to afterward Jewish pop belief, God's final judgment was to take place.[128]
In the Gospels, Ghenna is the place of punishment in the side by side life, "hell."[129] Jesus speaks of the "burn of hell" (Matthew 5:22: 18:9), being "thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29-30), the place "where the fire never goes out" (Marking 9:43, 45, 47), "condemned to hell" (Matthew 23:33).
Some of the virtually graphic images of hell are in the last book of the Bible, beingness "thrown into the lake of burning sulfur ...tormented day and dark for ever and ever" (Revelation twenty:10).
Finally, Jesus also talked about being "bandage out into outer darkness" where "there shall exist weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12; cf. 13:42, 50; 22:13, 51; 25:30).
Of course, these descriptions are all symbolic rather than literal -- aren't they? And if they are symbolic, the reality must be terrible beyond anything we can imagine.
Why practise we ruin the give-and-take of such a pretty verse as John iii:16 by talking about a literal hell? Because, if we don't understand what it means non to perish, we don't understand the greatness of the alternative -- everlasting life.
But Have Everlasting Life (three:16b)
"Eternal life" (NIV, NRSV, NASB), "everlasting life" (KJV) is fabricated upwards of two words:
- Zōē (from which we go our words, "zoo" and "zoology") ways, "life," specially "transcendent life."[130] In the New Testament, it is the word used for eternal life, rather than the other give-and-take for life, bios (from which we go our word "biology"). Bios refers specially to life in its appearance and manifestations, distinguished from zōē, the condition of beingness live.[131]
- Aiōnios , from the noun aiōn, "an extended period of time, age." Aiōnios means here, "pertaining to a period of unending duration, without finish."[132]
"Eternal life" was used in the Judaism of Jesus' time as a synonym of entering or inheriting the Kingdom of God. Y'all can come across these terms used as synonyms in Jesus' meet with the rich immature ruler, who asks what he must do to "inherit eternal life" (Marker 10:17, cf. poetry 30). When the rich young ruler is unwilling to obey the Principal, Jesus says to his disciples, "How hard information technology is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" (poetry 23).
Our passage in John 3 begins with Jesus' statement that a spiritual nascency is necessary to "enter the kingdom of God" (3:five). Here faith is required to receive eternal life (3:16).
Q4. (John 3:16) Why is this poesy so famous? What does it teach us about God? What does it teach usa about conservancy? Since "entering eternal life" is a synonym for "entering the Kingdom of God," what does this verse teach u.s. about our destiny?
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Not to Condemn, but to Relieve (iii:17-nineteen)
Our passage concludes with two sayings, the get-go nigh condemnation and the second about light.
"17 For God did not send[133] his Son into the world to condemn the globe, but to save the world through him. xviii Whoever believes in him is not condemned, only whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the proper noun of God's one and merely Son." (3:17-19)
This passage helps fill out the meaning of verse 16:
- "to salvage the earth" (verse 17) corresponds to "have eternal life" (verse xvi)
- "to condemn the world" (verse 17) corresponds to "perish" (verse sixteen)
Note that "has not believed" is perfect tense, indicating a standing disbelief. This is not a momentary lapse, simply a determined unbelief.
Drawn to the Light of the Gospel (3:nineteen-21)
John concludes this section with a teaching about light and darkness:
"19 This is the verdict: Lite has come into the globe, simply men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. xx Everyone who does[134] evil hates the light, and will not come up into the light for fright that his deeds volition be exposed.[135] 21 But whoever lives past the truth comes into the light, and then that it may be seen plainly[136] that what he has done has been done through God." (3:19-21)
Nosotros outset saw this conflict between the lite and darkness at the start of John'south Gospel.
"4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (1:4-v)
Why do evil people prefer darkness rather than light? Why do they try to hide their sinful actions? Because when not-believers meet degradation and corruption with clarity, they will probable condemn it. No wonder Jesus developed enemies, because he shed a strong calorie-free on hypocritical, unethical, and downright wicked practices -- and because of his light, they could no longer hide. When we live skillful, honest, and righteous lives -- even when we don't loudly criticize others' lifestyles -- our lives frequently crusade a negative reaction in those who don't believe, since our righteousness casts a light on their unrighteousness. Jesus said, "No servant is greater than his main. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you lot also" (John xv:twenty).
Lessons for Disciples
This passage tells us some very bones things about the Kingdom of God.
i. It is a spiritual kingdom. The very finest religious person doesn't have a clue what the real Kingdom of God is nigh unless he has been born by the Spirit of God. Remember your parents saying, "When you lot're older you'll understand"? You couldn't understand so because you lacked the basic life feel and understanding that was needed to decipher what you were seeing. The Kingdom is spiritually discerned.
two. Eye belief in Jesus is the key to this spiritual kingdom. Sometimes we confuse new nascence with a radical conversion feel. Oft conversion is sudden and radical, but sometimes it is gradual. Sometimes we confuse the new nascence with proverb the "sinner's prayer." That'south an entry door for many, simply many have prayed that prayer from unprepared hearts and come up away with hearts still unlit by the Spirit. It comes back to our attitude towards Jesus. Do nosotros "believe in him"?
3. All men and women are lost and demand rescuing. This truth cuts very clearly beyond a culture that desperately resists absolute truth, absolute right and incorrect, and vocally attacks whatever kind of judgment on its lifestyle. "Human being is basically proficient, and just needs a piddling moral direction." No! To testify this, all you demand to do is wait at the environs, economical disparity, the blah consciences of the privileged, and the mess that many have fabricated of their lives. Jesus teaches in this passage that man is basically blind, and lost, and perishing. The Kingdom is essentially God's rescue mission to a doomed planet.
"For God then loved the globe that he gave his 1 and just Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (3:16)
Nicodemus came seeking truth from Jesus i night and got more he bargained for. Nosotros have no record of a conversion that dark. Simply on reckoning 24-hour interval, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, cached the King as best they could. Out of the fog of Nicodemus' agreement, the shape of Jesus began to emerge and and then acuminate in focus. I day, Nicodemus would come to believe in Jesus and then much, that where a prudent leader would distance himself from an executed criminal, Nicodemus instead cradled Jesus in his artillery, done his body, and tenderly anointed and wrapped it for burial. Did he believe in the end? O aye, he believed. He could now see the Kingdom across the grave.
Prayer
Thank you, God, for your patience with united states of america. And so often we have been as well busy to heed, too self-captivated to recognize you. Cheers for coming to rescue the states from our blindness. For taking us by the hand, and education us, and opening our eyes to your Kingdom, and flooding us with your Spirit. Thank y'all, Rex Jesus. Amen.
Key Verses
"I tell you the truth, no one tin can see the kingdom of God unless he is built-in again." (John 3:iii, NIV)
"I tell you the truth, no 1 can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of h2o and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives nascency to spirit. You should non be surprised at my saying, 'You must be built-in again.'" (John 3:5-7, NIV)
"For God then loved the world that he gave his one and just Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but accept eternal life." (John iii:16, NIV)
Endnotes
[85]TalBab Taanith 20a speaks of a wealthy and generous man in Jerusalem prior to lxx Advert named Naqdimon ben Gurion (or Bunai), but he probably isn't the aforementioned person (Brownish, John 1:130).
[86]Nicodemus was an archōn, "1 who has administrative authority, leader, official." Archōn, BDAG 140, 2a.
[87]The Jewish Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish governing body in Palestine, was "made upwardly of priests (Sadducees), scribes (Pharisees) and lay elders of the aristocracy. Its seventy members were presided over by the high priest" (Chocolate-brown, John 1:30). See more in Appendix 3. "Religious Leaders in Jesus' Solar day."
[89] Beasley-Murray, John, p. 47.
[90]"Meet" is eidōn, an obsolete course of the present tense, of horaō, "to catch sight of." Here it is used figuratively in the sense of "to be mentally or spiritually perceptive, perceive" (BDAG 719, 4).
[91] Edersheim (Life and Times, 1:383) put it this style: "His errand was soon told: i sentence, that which admitted the Divine Teachership of Jesus, implied all the questions he could wish to ask. Nay, his very presence in that location spoke them."
[92]Gennaō, BDAG 194, 1a.
[93]The aforementioned meanings are possible for the Hebrew root yld (Brown John,1:130).
[94]"Despite the fact that the Spirit, mentioned in vs. v as the agent of this birth or bearing, is feminine in Hebrew (neuter in Greek), the principal significant seems to be 'begotten'" (Dark-brown, John 1:130).
[95]Sperma, "'seed,' male person seed or semen" (BDAG 937, 1b).
[96] Spora, "primarily 'the activeness of sowing' and figuratively 'procreation,' then by metonymy, 'that which is sown, seed'" (BDAG 939). We go our word "spore" from this word.
[97]"In extension from a source that is to a higher place, from above" ... "at a subsequent signal of time involving repetition, again, anew" (BDAG 92, one and 4).
[98]Brown, John 1:130-131; C.K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John (2d Edition; Westminster Press, 1955, 1978), p. 206; Beasley-Murray, John, p. 45.
[99]A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures, in loc.
[100]Brown (John ane:130) observes, "Such a misunderstanding is possible but in Greek; nosotros know of no Hebrew or Aramaic discussion of similar meaning which would have this spatial and temporal ambiguity."
[101]Deuteros, "second" ... "for the second time" (BDAG 220, 2).
[102]Strephō, "turn around," here figuratively, "to experience an inwards change, plough, change" (BDAG 948, 5), "be converted" (KJV).
[103]"Rebirth" (NIV, NRSV), "regeneration" (KJV) is palingenesia, from palin, "again, over again, anew" + genesis, "birth," significant "experience of a complete alter of life, rebirth" of a redeemed person (BDAG 752, two).
[104]Anakainōsis, "renewal" (BDAG 64) is found here and in Romans 12:2, "the renewal of your minds." It is a compound word from ana-, "repetition, renewal" (equivalent to denuo, 'afresh, over once more," Thayer p. 34) + kainos, "new, fresh."
[105]Anagennaō, " beget over again, cause to exist born over again" (BDAG 59).
[106]Edersheim (Life and Times, 1:384) explains that the term "new-born" was used in rabbinical literature to refer to both Gentile proselytes, as well as "the bridegroom on his marriage, the Chief of the academy on his promotion, the male monarch on his enthronement.... The expression, therefore, was not only common, simply, so to speak, fluid...."
[107]Morris (John, p. 213, fn. 13) cites Edwin A. Abbott, Johannine Grammar (London, 1906); Strack and Billerbeck 2:420f; and Brook Foss Westcott, The Gospel co-ordinate to St. John (Grand Rapids, 1954) 1:136. Rudolf Bultmann (Das Evangelium des Johannes (Göttigen, 1956), p. 135) likewise favors this view (as cited by Beasley-Murray, John, p. 45).
[108]H. Odeberg (The Fourth Gospel Interpreted in Its Relation to Contemporaneous Religious Currents in Palestine and the Hellenistic-Oriental World (Uppsala, 1929)) argues that the water stands for the celestial waters, viewed in mystical Judaism as corresponding to the semen of the fleshly being. Thus to be born of h2o and the Spirit ways a rebirth by means of spiritual seed as in 1 John 3:9.
[109]Nēs, "standard, ensign, signal, sign," then "standard," as pole. (BDB 652, two). This "standard-bearing pole," is literally the discussion for "sign" both in the Masoretic text and in the Septuagint (Brown, John one:133).
[110]Some scholars see a change of speakers at poetry xiii or verse sixteen considering the final "you" is in poetry 12 and there is shift to the third person in verses thirteen and post-obit. But this is not unusual in John's Gospel and there is no indication that Jesus has stopped speaking. Brownish rejects this theory of a change in speakers. He says: "All Jesus' words come to us through the channels of the evangelist's understanding and rethinking, but the Gospel presents Jesus as speaking and not the evangelist" (Brownish, John one:149).
[111]Agapaō, BDAG 5, 1bα.
[112]"So" is the adverb houtō, " here a marker of a relative high degree, "and then." Before a verb, it intensifies the verb, "so intensely," hither and in ane John 4:xi, "Dear friends, since God so loved usa, we also ought to love one some other" (BDAG 742, 3).
[113]Kosmos, BDAG 562, 6b.
[114]I know that 5-point Calvinism limits Christ's atonement to the elect only, simply John iii:xvi doesn't support such an interpretation.
[115]Strict Calvinists affirm a doctrine called the "Limited Atonement" (the L in TULIP), which says that Jesus died for only the elect. I find this doctrine both opposite to the spirit of the verses cited here, and somewhat unnecessary. Of course, Jesus died that the elect might be saved! But his heart is the salvation of "all men," of "whosoever believes," of "the world." Every bit St. Peter put it, "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, simply everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter iii:ix).
[116]Vincent, Word Studies, in loc.
[117]Monogenēs, BDAG 658, 2.
[118]Brown, John one:13. He says, "Monogenēs describes a quality of Jesus, his uniqueness, not what is called in Trinitarian theology his 'procession.'"
[119]"That" is hōste, which introduces a dependent clause of the actual result, "so that" (BDAG 110, 2aα). "The result clause is in the indicative.... The classical utilise of this construction is for the purpose of stressing the reality of the effect: 'that he really gave the only Son'" (Dark-brown, John 1:134).
[120]Hina is a mark to announce purpose, aim, or goal, "in society that, that," in the terminal sense (BDAG 475, 1).
[121]Apollymi, BDAG 110, 1bα.
[122]Psalms ix:five-six; 37:20; 68:two; 73:27; 83:17; Isaiah 41:11.
[123]John 3:16; ten:28; 17:12; Romans 2:12; 1 Corinthians 1:xviii; eight:11; fifteen:18; 2 Corinthians two:15; 4:three; 2 Thessalonians two:10.
[124]Apollymi is often translated "lost" in the New Testament. This discussion is at the core of Jesus' education on his mission to "the lost sheep of the house of State of israel" (Matthew 10:6; xv:24), as well every bit Jesus' Parables of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-fourteen; Luke 15:iii-7), the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10), the Lost Son (Luke 15:xi-32).
[125]Albrecht Oepke, apollumi, ktl., TDNT 1:394-397.
[126]Hadēs does appear in Revelation one:eighteen; 6:8; xx:thirteen-14, where you also find the concept of "the lake of burn" (Revelation 20:xiv).
[127]Hadēs, BDAG 19.
[128]Here, in the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, children had been burned to decease every bit sacrifices to the false god Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3). "The burn" was identified early with the Valley of Hinnom. It was too a identify where the prophets Jeremiah pronounced terrible curses of God'south judgment and slaughter of the wicked (Jeremiah vii:31-32; 19:1-6). Isaiah saw the judgment of the wicked in terms of called-for: "And they will go out and expect upon the expressionless bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor volition their fire exist quenched, and they will be loathsome to all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24). By the second century B.C., the Valley of Hinnom had come to be equated with the hell of the last judgment (Joachim Jeremias, gehenna, TDNT i:657-658). There is some evidence that the Valley of Hinnom was the refuse dump of Jerusalem. The Prophet Jeremiah identifies the location of the Valley of Hinnom as "virtually the entrance of the Potsherd Gate" (Jeremiah xix:ii), that is, the identify where broken pots were discarded. New Testament scholar Joachim Jeremias observes, "Information technology was still in modern times the place for rubbish, feces, and all kinds of refuse" (Jerusalem, p. 17). Jeremias also cites an ancient Jewish certificate that identifies the Dung Gate every bit leading to the Valley of Hinnom (Jerusalem, p. 310). It is logical, then, that information technology was a identify where garbage burned continually. Both David John Wieand ("Hinnom, Valley of," ISBE 2:717, citing Lightfoot) and Leon Morris (Matthew (Eerdmans, 1992), p. 115) meet this equally a possibility.
[129]Gehenna, BDAG 190-191.
[130]Zōē, BDAG 430, 2bβ.
[131]Bios, BDAG 176.
[132]Aiōnios, BDAG 33, 3.
[133]"Sent" (apostellō) is parallel to "gave" in verse 16. Both are in the Aorist tense. Apostellō means, "to acceleration someone for the achievement of some objective, send away/out" (BDAG 120, 1b).
[134]Prassō, "do, achieve" (BDAG 860, 1a). It carries the thought of "to practise" in the nowadays tense.
[135]Elenchō, "to scrutinize or examine carefully, bring to light, expose, set up forth" (BDAG 315, 1).
[136]Phaneroō, "reveal, expose publicly," here, "become public knowledge, exist disclosed, get known" (BDAG 1048, 2aβ).
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Source: http://www.jesuswalk.com/john/06_born_again.htm
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