The Gospel Of John Chapter 3:1-21
I. Outline: I. Jesus And Nicodemus: 3:1-21 A. The New Birth: 3:3-13 B. Believers And Unbelievers: 3:14-21 II. John’s Testimony Of Jesus: 3:22-36
II. Commentary On Chapter 3:1-21: John 3:1 ‘Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;’ ‘Now there was a man’-Nicodemus was a real person, this chapter isn’t some kind of allegory. Nicodemus, like many others in Jerusalem had beheld the miracles that Jesus had been performing (John 2:23).
‘of the Pharisees’-The word ‘Pharisee’ means ‘separated’. This religious party among the Jews had arisen during the period that preceded the Maccabean wars. Apparently it was a reaction to the secular ideas being introduced among the Jewish people through Greek culture. Hendriksen writes, ‘During the second century B.C. those people who abhorred the idolatrous customs of the Greeks and who, during the fierce religious persecution led by the monstrously wicked Antiochus Epiphanes, stood firm and refused to abandon the faith, were called “hasidhim” (Pietists or Saints). They were the forerunners of the Pharisees (Separatists), who began to appear under that name during the reign of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.C.).’ (pp. 130-131) Points To Note: 1.
Of all the various Jewish parties, the Pharisees probably taught the most truth (Matthew 23:3; Acts 23:8). 2. This party produced some very fine individuals (Gamaliel, Paul, Nicodemus). 3. But they made a wrong turn, when they began to exalt oral and written traditions over what the Word of God had prescribed (Matthew
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