Jesus · c. AD 27
Chapter 14
Nicodemus
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For parents
A short look back at Numbers 21 tells how the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people of Israel in the wilderness, and many died. Those who had been bitten and looked at the bronze snake Moses set on a pole lived (Numbers 21:6–9).
There was a man named , one of the and a ruler of the Jews. He came to at night. “,” he said, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, because no one could do the signs you do unless God was with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
Nicodemus said to 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?”
Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must all be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
“How can these things be?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and you don’t understand these things? I tell you for certain, we speak about what we know and tell what we have seen, and you don’t accept what we say. If I told you about things of the earth and you don’t believe, how are you going to believe if I tell you about things of heaven? No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down out of heaven, the , who is in heaven.”
Long before, in the wilderness, the Lord had sent venomous snakes among the people of Israel. They bit the people, and many died. The people came to and said, “We have sinned,” and Moses prayed for them. As the Lord told him, he made a snake of bronze and set it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten and looked at the bronze snake lived.
“As Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness,” Jesus said, “the Son of Man has to be lifted up in the same way, so that whoever believes in him won’t perish, but will have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
“God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world would be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged. The one who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he hasn’t believed in the name of God’s only born Son.
“This is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and that people loved the darkness better than the light, because the things they did were evil. Anyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, so that what he does won’t be exposed. But anyone who does what is true comes to the light. He comes so that the things he does come out into the open, where it can be seen that they have been done in God.”
After this, Jesus went with his into the land of . He stayed there with them and people.
was baptizing too, at near , because there was a lot of water there. People came and were baptized. John had not been thrown into prison yet.
So John’s disciples got into an argument with some Jews about .
They came to John. “Rabbi,” they said, “the man who was with you across the , the one you spoke about, look: he’s baptizing, and everyone is coming to him.”
Across the Jordan, when and had come from to ask John who he was, he had told them plainly that he was not the . And when he saw Jesus coming to him, he had said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John answered, “A person can’t receive anything unless heaven has given it to him. You yourselves are witnesses to what I said: ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of him.’
“Whoever has the bride is the . But the bridegroom’s friend stands there and hears him, and he is filled with joy at the sound of the bridegroom’s voice. So my joy is full. He must increase, but I must decrease.
“The one who comes from above is over all. Whoever is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. The one who comes from heaven is over all. He tells about what he has seen and heard, and no one accepts what he says. Whoever does accept it has put his on this: God is true.
“The one God has sent speaks the words of God, because God doesn’t measure out the Spirit he gives. The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life. Anyone who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but God’s anger stays on him.”