John 3 Truth or Consequences

[HKHaugan]

First, we want to look at the background for Chapter 3 that will give us a foundation for the rest of John's Gospel.

Pharisees (Hebrew---'separated ones.'). Basically the fundamentalists of their day. They were the opposite of the Sadducees. As to origin, probably back to the Maccabean revolt in 2nd century BC. Politically, the Pharisees were the religious conservatives and the Sadducees were liberal and less spiritual, therefore more willing to compromise with external powers. Sociologically, Sadducees were concerned with their economic standing and especially conscious of their relationship with Rome, not wanting to rock the boat. The Pharisees on the other hand were very open about their hatred of Rome. This made for a rocky truce between the two groups since both were in the ruling council.

These two parties along with the high priest as moderator numbered seventy composed of elders, scribes and teachers all of whom had to be pure Jews. This is why they also had cautious dealings with the ethnically questionable and vindictive Herod (Edomite - descended from Esau) who wanted to be counted as thoroughly Jewish which accounts for his lavish spending to rebuild the Temple.

The Pharisees were more of a fraternal order than a sect. Consequently they held the mastery over religious intellect. The heart of Pharisaism was the devotion to and practice of the Torah (Gen.-Deut.). They believed very strongly they had the spiritual depth to understand Scripture and saw themselves as its sole interpreter and guardian. The result was a severe legalism and a bloated sense of theological, cultural and nationalistic superiority. Pride rested at the core of their activity. All of this made them a far cry from the prophetic nature of God's initial calling of the Hebrew people. Thus their conflict with Jesus. The mission God gave the Hebrew people was spiritual preparation for the coming Messiah. The Pharisees changed that into a backward looking obsession with man-made traditions they introduced to build a fence around the Law and the bloodline. The wall they built in attitude and practice was the spiritual barrier that prevented them from seeing the Messiah. John recorded that when he said, “He came unto His own and His own received Him not (John 1:11).”

In practice it was the Law that the Pharisees worshiped, not God. This led them to be consumed with the preservation of political and social power, the hijacking of authority over Scripture their method. A rabbi friend described it jokingly as the Jewish tendency to over-think a concept. He said that wherever there are two Jews you'll find three opinions.

The exception to the above was Nicodemus whose name meant victor over human nature (nikei, victor---demas, a human body or a people, thus my interpretation being 'nature'). He was Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body (Gk. synedrion, council). Just the fact of his willingness to meet with Jesus shows he is spiritually open. He wants to understand where Jesus is coming from. Later he will come to Jesus' defense in a meeting of the Sanhedrin (Jn.7:25) and then as one who brings spices to embalm the body of Jesus (Jn.19:38).

Now to the meat of chapter 3, spirituality (vs.1-21) and its practice (vs.22-36) and actually the subject matter of John's record of Jesus.

3:1-2 Nicodemus recognizes something different about Jesus. It's not just His actions which are signs of good behind them. They must be of God. John has told of two, the changing of water into wine and the cleansing of the Temple. There were unnamed others as well (vs.11).

vs.3-8 Jesus' reply seems rather brusque but necessary since Nicodemus needs to know the reality of why Jesus could perform these signs. The truth is spiritual, personal and direct from God. This is not about physical birth but spiritual birth. What you see in Jesus is the result of His having been born in flesh by the Spirit. Jesus could perform these acts because He was born of the Holy Spirit. In order to really do God's will, to do good as God defines it, one must be born the way Jesus was born, of the Spirit. Until we receive Jesus we cannot be spiritually born because He is the only one we can receive who can give us the Spirit. In the Spirit we can discern the real problem, which is sin, turn to the One who does the miraculous, be forgiven and then follow His lead. Being spiritually born is to look forward to what He is calling us into, a life growing in Him.

vs.9-15 Nicodemus asks how this can be. Jesus has five rejoinders.

First, Israel's teacher ought to be able to understand.

Second, Jesus says that He knows what He is speaking about.

Third, He has spoken of earthly things and the Pharisees didn't believe Him so how can they
understand when He speaks of things heavenly?

Fourth, entry into Heaven can only happen for the One who came from Heaven. It is a spiritual entry.

Fifth, Jesus uses the image of Moses lifting up the snake in the desert (Num.21:8), a foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice. The snake is a symbol of the devil and his evil which bite us. But when Jesus conquers the devil by being lifted on the Cross we can be healed of sin by repenting and receiving Him.

vs.16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The key word here is 'perish.' It means to erode, disintegrate, fall into ruin, fritter away. The frivolous use of the life we have been given can catch up with us. It is like smoking, or excessive drinking or drug usage. They take you through a process where you may thingk you are enjoying something but they creep slowly into habitual use and can't be shaken. Then one day the body comes to a screeching halt and life is gone. Wherever any of us are on the spectrum of misuse we can recover spiritually by receiving Jesus and the power of His Spirit. Recovery is guaranteed at the moment of reception.

vs.17-21 This is commentary on verse 16.
There are key words here that describe the consequences of our infatuation with the world. Greek words precede the English: Phos-light, skotos-darkness, krisis-judgment-separating, ponera-evil. Jesus, the light, came into the world of people to save all of them, not judge them negatively as in condemnation. Light overcomes darkness but men have loved darkness rather than light because their evil deeds preceded their being exposed in the light. Men have rationalized their behavior and justified it apart from God. That process is self-judging, self-condemning. Genesis 3 is the starting point to understand the basic ingredients of darkness.

What sin, the power of darkness, invites is thought, motivation and behavior that all take place in the darkness. Darkness is the privacy that comes in the night when physical vision is impaired or in a state of separation from God within where morality is what I feel, choose and trust to act upon without external reference. Darkness is also what I choose to hide in or behind. Do I cloak my real self in cultural trends?