--- title: "John 3 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary" description: "Read John 3 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou a" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/john/3)[ Commentary](/study/john/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/john/3) Audio 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and *of* the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you *of* heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, *even* the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 ¶ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 ¶ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 22 ¶ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 ¶ And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 ¶ Then there arose a question between *some* of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all *men* come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I *must* decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. 33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure *unto him*. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. [John 2](/study/john/2) [John 4](/study/john/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 *NICODEMUS* ‘There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.’ [John 3:1](/kjv/john/3/1) The accounts given us in Holy Scripture of Nicodemus are, in many respects, of peculiar interest. **I. A night visitor**.—Of the early years of Nicodemus we know nothing. We first hear of him in this third chapter of John. It may be asked, Why did Nicodemus go to our Lord *by night?* The answer, no doubt, is, He was afraid to go by day. We are not told how long the visit lasted, but we may be sure that the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth could never be forgotten by Nicodemus. Very precious in after years must have been the memory of that personal and private converse at such a time, and in such a place, with the Son of God Most High. **II. A defender of Christ**.—Now let us turn to the next occasion on which we read of Nicodemus ( [John 7:50](/kjv/john/7/50)). The time soon came when the Pharisees and Chief Priests became so jealous of our Lord’s power and influence that they determined to silence Him. For this purpose officers were sent to apprehend Him; but they did not, for, said they, ‘Never man spake like this Man.’ Then do we read of Nicodemus making a stand on our Lord’s behalf. We notice that he is still timid and cautious, but he does try to throw His shield over our Lord, and appears to stand alone in so doing, thereby exposing himself to the taunts of the most blind and ignorant prejudice. **III. A lover of Christ**.—Once more do we read of Nicodemus. After the sad scene was ended at Mount Calvary, Joseph of Arimathea came and begged the body of Jesus and took it and laid it in his own new tomb in the adjacent garden. ‘And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night.’ How careful John is to identify Nicodemus and prevent our mistaking him for anybody else! ‘And brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight.’ There is something very touching in this pious act of Nicodemus. All His disciples had forsaken Him in the hour of His deepest need. And now the faithful women and Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus gather round the sacred remains and perform the last sad offices of love. The humiliation and reproach of the Cross had intensified rather than lessened their feeling of reverence and love, and so to them was allowed the holy privilege, never to occur again, of committing the Sacred Body to the tomb. We know nothing more of Nicodemus, but we may gather from his simple story that our Lord does not reject a weak faith, provided it is sincerely directed towards Himself, and gives proof of its vitality by its growth. **Illustration** ‘If Christ reveals to Nicodemus great fundamental truths, it must have been because He saw in His hearer some fitness to receive these thoughts. “He knew what was in man,” and He recognised in His visitor one upon whom transcendental conceptions would not be thrown away, but in whose mind they would rest and germinate and “bring forth fruit.” We have here the introduction of the Gospel to a religious philosopher, who was certainly no stranger to the remoter depths of theological thought, who well understood the use of figurative language, who could see the substance behind the metaphorical drapery, and could himself use such drapery to veil his meaning. He was no fisherman upon the Sea of Galilee, no country peasant, no publican called straight from a dishonourable seat of custom, but one of the religious élite, trained in a famous school of interpretation, occupying a high position.’ ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3","name":"John 3 - Study King James Bible with the church pulpit commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read John 3 with the church pulpit commentary commentary. 1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary","name":"the church pulpit commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john","name":"John"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-church-pulpit-commentary/john/3","name":"3"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```