hispeoplewestrand.org Bible Study ToolsBible VersionsJohnJohn 3John 3:5Compare Translations Compare Translations for John 3:5 Compare Translations John 3:5 ASV American Standard Version Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! Read John 3 ASV | Read John 3:5 ASV in parallel John 3:5 BBE Bible in Basic English Jesus said in answer, Truly, I say to you, If a mans birth is not from water and from the Spirit, it is not possible for him to go into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 BBE | Read John 3:5 BBE in parallel John 3:5 CEB Common English Bible Jesus answered, I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, its not possible to enter Gods kingdom. Read John 3 CEB | Read John 3:5 CEB in parallel John 3:5 CJB Complete Jewish Bible Yeshua answered, Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Read John 3 CJB | Read John 3:5 CJB in parallel John 3:5 RHE Douay-Rheims Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 RHE | Read John 3:5 RHE in parallel John 3:5 ESV English Standard Version Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Read John 3 ESV | Read John 3:5 ESV in parallel John 3:5 GW GODS WORD Translation Jesus answered Nicodemus, I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Read John 3 GW | Read John 3:5 GW in parallel John 3:5 GNT Good News Translation I am telling you the truth, replied Jesus, that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Read John 3 GNT | Read John 3:5 GNT in parallel John 3:5 HNV Hebrew Names Version Yeshua answered, Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cant enter into the kingdom of God! Read John 3 HNV | Read John 3:5 HNV in parallel John 3:5 CSB Holman Christian Standard Jesus answered, I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Read John 3 CSB | Read John 3:5 CSB in parallel John 3:5 KJV King James Version 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. Read John 3 KJV | Read John 3:5 KJV in parallel | Interlinear view John 3:5 LEB Lexham English Bible Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 LEB | Read John 3:5 LEB in parallel John 3:5 NAS New American Standard Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 NAS | Read John 3:5 NAS in parallel | Interlinear view John 3:5 NCV New Century Version But Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, unless one is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter Gods kingdom. Read John 3 NCV | Read John 3:5 NCV in parallel John 3:5 NIRV New International Readers Version Jesus answered, What Im about to tell you is true. No one can enter Gods kingdom without being born through water and the Holy Spirit. Read John 3 NIRV | Read John 3:5 NIRV in parallel John 3:5 NIV New International Version Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Read John 3 NIV | Read John 3:5 NIV in parallel John 3:5 NKJV New King James Version Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Read John 3 NKJV | Read John 3:5 NKJV in parallel John 3:5 NLT New Living Translation Jesus replied, The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Read John 3 NLT | Read John 3:5 NLT in parallel John 3:5 NRS New Revised Standard Jesus answered, Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. Read John 3 NRS | Read John 3:5 NRS in parallel John 3:5 RSV Revised Standard Version Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Read John 3 RSV | Read John 3:5 RSV in parallel John 3:5 DBY The Darby Translation Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 DBY | Read John 3:5 DBY in parallel John 3:5 MSG The Message Jesus said, Youre not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the wind hovering over the water creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - its not possible to enter Gods kingdom. Read John 3 MSG | Read John 3:5 MSG in parallel John 3:5 WBT The Webster Bible Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born of water, and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 WBT | Read John 3:5 WBT in parallel John 3:5 TMB Third Millennium Bible Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee, unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Read John 3 TMB | Read John 3:5 TMB in parallel John 3:5 TNIV Todays New International Version Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Read John 3 TNIV | Read John 3:5 TNIV in parallel John 3:5 TYN Tyndale Iesus answered: verely verely I saye vnto the: except that a man be boren of water and of ye sprete he cannot enter into the kyngdome of god. Read John 3 TYN | Read John 3:5 TYN in parallel John 3:5 WNT Weymouth New Testament In most solemn truth I tell you, replied Jesus, that unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Read John 3 WNT | Read John 3:5 WNT in parallel John 3:5 WEB World English Bible Jesus answered, Most assuredly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cant enter into the kingdom of God! Read John 3 WEB | Read John 3:5 WEB in parallel John 3:5 WYC Wycliffe Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to thee, but a man be born again of water, and of the Holy Ghost, he may not enter into the kingdom of God. Read John 3 WYC | Read John 3:5 WYC in parallel John 3:5 YLT Youngs Literal Translation Jesus answered, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God; Read John 3 YLT | Read John 3:5 YLT in parallel John 3 Commentary - Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise) Chapter 3 Christs discourse with Nicodemus. (1-21) The baptism of John of Christ Johns testimony. (22-36) Verses 1-8 Nicodemus was afraid, or ashamed to be seen with Christ, therefore came in the night. When religion is out of fashion, there are many Nicodemites. But though he came by night, Jesus bid him welcome, and hereby taught us to encourage good beginnings, although weak. And though now he came by night, yet afterward he owned Christ publicly. He did not talk with Christ about state affairs, though he was a ruler, but about the concerns of his own soul and its salvation, and went at once to them. Our Saviour spoke of the necessity and nature of regeneration or the new birth, and at once directed Nicodemus to the source of holiness of the heart. Birth is the beginning of life; to be born again, is to begin to live anew, as those who have lived much amiss, or to little purpose. We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. By our first birth we were corrupt, shapen in sin; therefore we must be made new creatures. No stronger expression could have been chosen to signify a great and most remarkable change of state and character. We must be entirely different from what we were before, as that which begins to be at any time, is not, and cannot be the same with that which was before. This new birth is from heaven, ch. 1:13 , and its tendency is to heaven. It is a great change made in the heart of a sinner, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It means that something is done in us, and for us, which we cannot do for ourselves. Something is wrong, whereby such a life begins as shall last for ever. We cannot otherwise expect any benefit by Christ; it is necessary to our happiness here and hereafter. What Christ speak, Nicodemus misunderstood, as if there had been no other way of regenerating and new-moulding an immortal soul, than by new-framing the body. But he acknowledged his ignorance, which shows a desire to be better informed. It is then further explained by the Lord Jesus. He shows the Author of this blessed change. It is not wrought by any wisdom or power of our own, but by the power of the blessed Spirit. We are shapen in iniquity, which makes it necessary that our nature be changed. We are not to marvel at this; for, when we consider the holiness of God, the depravity of our nature, and the happiness set before us, we shall not think it strange that so much stress is laid upon this. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is compared to water. It is also probable that Christ had reference to the ordinance of baptism. Not that all those, and those only, that are baptized, are saved; but without that new birth which is wrought by the Spirit, and signified by baptism, none shall be subjects of the kingdom of heaven. The same word signifies both the wind and the Spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth for us; God directs it. The Spirit sends his influences where, and when, on whom, and in what measure and degree, he pleases. Though the causes are hidden, the effects are plain, when the soul is brought to mourn for sin, and to breathe after Christ. Christs stating of the doctrine and the necessity of regeneration, it should seem, made it not clearer to Nicodemus. Thus the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural man. Many think that cannot be proved, which they cannot believe. Christs discourse of gospel truths, ver. ( 11-13 ) , shows the folly of those who make these things strange unto them; and it recommends us to search them out. Jesus Christ is every way able to reveal the will of God to us; for he came down from heaven, and yet is in heaven. We have here a notice of Christs two distinct natures in one person, so that while he is the Son of man, yet he is in heaven. God is the HE THAT IS, and heaven is the dwelling-place of his holiness. The knowledge of this must be from above, and can be received by faith alone. Jesus Christ came to save us by healing us, as the children of Israel, stung with fiery serpents, were cured and lived by looking up to the brazen serpent, ( Numbers 21:6-9 ). In this observe the deadly and destructive nature of sin. Ask awakened consciences, ask damned sinners, they will tell you, that how charming soever the allurements of sin may be, at the last it bites like a serpent. See the powerful remedy against this fatal malady. Christ is plainly set forth to us in the gospel. He whom we offended is our Peace, and the way of applying for a cure is by believing. If any so far slight either their disease by sin, or the method of cure by Christ, as not to receive Christ upon his own terms, their ruin is upon their own heads. He has said, Look and be saved, look and live; lift up the eyes of your faith to Christ crucified. And until we have grace to do this, we shall not be cured, but still are wounded with the stings of Satan, and in a dying state. Jesus Christ came to save us by pardoning us, that we might not die by the sentence of the law. Here is gospel, good news indeed. Here is Gods love in giving his Son for the world. God so loved the world; so really, so richly. Behold and wonder, that the great God should love such a worthless world! Here, also, is the great gospel duty, to believe in Jesus Christ. God having given him to be our Prophet, Priest, and King, we must give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. And here is the great gospel benefit, that whoever believes in Christ, shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and so saving it. It could not be saved, but through him; there is no salvation in any other. From all this is shown the happiness of true believers; he that believeth in Christ is not condemned. Though he has been a great sinner, yet he is not dealt with according to what his sins deserve. How great is the sin of unbelievers! God sent One to save us, that was dearest to himself; and shall he not be dearest to us? How great is the misery of unbelievers! they are condemned already; which speaks a certain condemnation; a present condemnation. The wrath of God now fastens upon them; and their own hearts condemn them. There is also a condemnation grounded on their former guilt; they are open to the law for all their sins; because they are not by faith interested in the gospel pardon. Unbelief is a sin against the remedy. It springs from the enmity of the heart of man to God, from love of sin in some form. Read also the doom of those that would not know Christ. Sinful works are works of darkness. The wicked world keep as far from this light as they can, lest their deeds should be reproved. Christ is hated, because sin is loved. If they had not hated saving knowledge, they would not sit down contentedly in condemning ignorance. On the other hand, renewed hearts bid this light welcome. A good man acts truly and sincerely in all he does. He desires to know what the will of God is, and to do it, though against his own worldly interest. A change in his whole character and conduct has taken place. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, and is become the commanding principle of his actions. So long as he continues under a load of unforgiven guilt, there can be little else than slavish fear of God; but when his doubts are done away, when he sees the righteous ground whereon this forgiveness is built, he rests on it as his own, and is united to God by unfeigned love. Our works are good when the will of God is the rule of them, and the glory of God the end of them; when they are done in his strength, and for his sake; to him, and not to men. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a subject to which the world is very averse; it is, however, the grand concern, in comparison with which every thing else is but trifling. What does it signify though we have food to eat in plenty, and variety of raiment to put on, if we are not born again? if after a few mornings and evenings spent in unthinking mirth, carnal pleasure, and riot, we die in our sins, and lie down in sorrow? What does it signify though we are well able to act our parts in life, in every other respect, if at last we hear from the Supreme Judge, Depart from me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity? Verses 22-36 John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. He also knew that Jesus would increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets, but in all fulness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them. John 3 Commentary - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible CHAPTER 3 John 3:1-21 . NIGHT INTERVIEW OF NICODEMUS WITH JESUS. 1, 2. Nicodemus--In this member of the Sanhedrim sincerity and timidity are seen struggling together. 2. came to Jesus by night--One of those superficial believers mentioned in John 2:23 John 2:24 , yet inwardly craving further satisfaction, Nicodemus comes to Jesus in quest of it, but comes by night (see John 19:38 John 19:39 , 12:42 ); he avows his conviction that He was come from God--an expression never applied to a merely human messenger, and probably meaning more here--but only as a teacher, and in His miracles he sees a proof merely that God is with Him. Thus, while unable to repress his convictions, he is afraid of committing himself too far. 3. Except, &c.--This blunt and curt reply was plainly meant to shake the whole edifice of the mans religion, in order to lay a deeper and more enduring foundation. Nicodemus probably thought he had gone a long way, and expected, perhaps, to be complimented on his candor. Instead of this, he is virtually told that he has raised a question which he is not in a capacity to solve, and that before approaching it, his spiritual vision required to be rectified by an entire revolution on his inner man. Had the man been less sincere, this would certainly have repelled him; but with persons in his mixed state of mind--to which Jesus was no stranger ( John 2:25 )--such methods speed better than more honeyed words and gradual approaches. a man--not a Jew merely; the necessity is a universal one. be born again--or, as it were, begin life anew in relation to God; his manner of thinking, feeling, and acting, with reference to spiritual things, undergoing a fundamental and permanent revolution. cannot see--can have no part in (just as one is said to see life, see death, &c.). the kingdom of God--whether in its beginnings here ( Luke 16:16 ), or its consummation hereafter ( Matthew 25:34 , Ephesians 5:5 ). 4. How, &c.--The figure of the new birth, if it had been meant only of Gentile proselytes to the Jewish religion, would have been intelligible enough to Nicodemus, being quite in keeping with the language of that day; but that Jews themselves should need a new birth was to him incomprehensible. 5. of water and of the Spirit--A twofold explanation of the new birth, so startling to Nicodemus. To a Jewish ecclesiastic, so familiar with the symbolical application of water, in every variety of way and form of expression, this language was fitted to show that the thing intended was no other than a thorough spiritual purification by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, element of water and operation of the Spirit are brought together in a glorious evangelical prediction of Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 36:25-27 ), which Nicodemus might have been reminded of had such spiritualities not been almost lost in the reigning formalism. Already had the symbol of water been embodied in an initiatory ordinance, in the baptism of the Jewish expectants of Messiah by the Baptist, not to speak of the baptism of Gentile proselytes before that; and in the Christian Church it was soon to become the great visible door of entrance into the kingdom of God, the reality being the sole work of the Holy Ghost ( Titus 3:5 ). 6-8. That which is born, &c.--A great universal proposition; That which is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it [OLSHAUSEN]. flesh--Not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by birth, the entire man; yet not humanity simply, but in its corrupted, depraved condition, in complete subjection to the law of the fall ( Romans 8:1-9 ). So that though a man could enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born, he would be no nearer this new birth than before ( Job 14:4 , Psalms 51:5 ). is spirit--partakes of and possesses His spiritual nature. 7. Marvel not, &c.--If a spiritual nature only can see and enter the kingdom of God; if all we bring into the world with us be the reverse of spiritual; and if this spirituality be solely of the Holy Ghost, no wonder a new birth is indispensable. Ye must--Ye, says Jesus, not we [BENGEL]. After those universal propositions, about what a man must be, to enter the kingdom of God ( John 3:5 )--this is remarkable, showing that our Lord meant to hold Himself forth as separate from sinners. 8. The wind, &c.--Breath and spirit (one word both in Hebrew and Greek) are constantly brought together in Scripture as analogous ( Job 27:3 , 33:4 , Ezekiel 37:9-14 ). canst not tell, &c.--The laws which govern the motion of the winds are even yet but partially discovered; but the risings, failings, and change in direction many times in a day, of those gentle breezes here referred to, will probably ever be a mystery to us: So of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the new birth. 9, 10. How, &c.--Though the subject still confounds Nicodemus, the necessity and possibility of the new birth is no longer the point with him, but the nature of it and how it is brought about [LUTHARDT]. From this moment Nicodemus says nothing more, but has sunk unto a disciple who has found his true teacher. Therefore the Saviour now graciously advances in His communications of truth, and once more solemnly brings to the mind of this teacher in Israel, now become a learner, his own not guiltless ignorance, that He may then proceed to utter, out of the fulness of His divine knowledge, such farther testimonies both of earthly and heavenly things as his docile scholar may to his own profit receive [STIER]. 10. master--teacher. The question clearly implies that the doctrine of regeneration is so far disclosed in the Old Testament that Nicodemus was culpable in being ignorant of it. Nor is it merely as something that should be experienced under the Gospel that the Old Testament holds it forth--as many distinguished critics allege, denying that there was any such thing as regeneration before Christ. For our Lords proposition is universal, that no fallen man is or can be spiritual without a regenerating operation of the Holy Ghost, and the necessity of a spiritual obedience under whatever name, in opposition to mere mechanical services, is proclaimed throughout all the Old Testament. 11-13. We speak that we know, and . . . have seen--that is, by absolute knowledge and immediate vision of God, which the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father claims as exclusively His own ( John 1:18 ). The we and our are here used, though Himself only is intended, in emphatic contrast, probably, with the opening words of Nicodemus, Rabbi, we know., &c. ye receive not, &c.--referring to the class to which Nicodemus belonged, but from which he was beginning to be separated in spirit. 12. earthly things--such as regeneration, the gate of entrance to the kingdom of God on earth, and which Nicodemus should have understood better, as a truth even of that more earthly economy to which he belonged. heavenly things--the things of the new and more heavenly evangelical economy, only to be fully understood after the effusion of the Spirit from heaven through the exalted Saviour. 13. no man hath ascended, &c.--There is something paradoxical in this language--No one has gone up but He that came down, even He who is at once both up and down. Doubtless it was intended to startle and constrain His auditor to think that there must be mysterious elements in His Person. The old Socinians, to subvert the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ, seized upon this passage as teaching that the man Jesus was secretly caught up to heaven to receive His instructions, and then came down from heaven to deliver them. But the sense manifestly is this: The perfect knowledge of God is not obtained by any mans going up from earth to heaven to receive it--no man hath so ascended--but He whose proper habitation, in His essential and eternal nature, is heaven, hath, by taking human flesh, descended as the Son of man to disclose the Father, whom He knows by immediate gaze alike in the flesh as before He assumed it, being essentially and unchangeably in the bosom of the Father ( John 1:18 ). 14-16. And as Moses, &c.--Here now we have the heavenly things, as before the earthly, but under a veil, for the reason mentioned in John 3:12 . The crucifixion of Messiah is twice after this veiled under the same lively term--uplifting, John 8:28 , John 12:32 John 12:33 . Here it is still further veiled--though to us who know what it means, rendered vastly more instructive--by reference to the brazen serpent. The venom of the fiery serpents, shooting through the veins of the rebellious Israelites, was spreading death through the camp--lively emblem of the perishing condition of men by reason of sin. In both cases the remedy was divinely provided. In both the way of cure strikingly resembled that of the disease. Stung by serpents, by a serpent they are healed. By fiery serpents bitten--serpents, probably, with skin spotted fiery red [KURTZ]--the instrument of cure is a serpent of brass or copper, having at a distance the same appearance. So in redemption, as by man came death, by Man also comes life--Man, too, in the likeness of sinful flesh ( Romans 8:3 ), differing in nothing outward and apparent from those who, pervaded by the poison of the serpent, were ready to perish. But as the uplifted serpent had none of the venom of which the serpent-bitten people were dying, so while the whole human family were perishing of the deadly wound inflicted on it by the old serpent, the Second Man, who arose over humanity with healing in His wings, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. In both cases the remedy is conspicuously displayed; in the one case on a pole, in the other on the cross, to draw all men unto Him ( John 12:32 ). In both cases it is by directing the eye to the uplifted Remedy that the cure is effected; in the one case the bodily eye, in the other the gaze of the soul by believing in Him, as in that glorious ancient proclamation--Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, &c. ( Isaiah 45:22 ). Both methods are stumbling to human reason. What, to any thinking Israelite, could seem more unlikely than that a deadly poison should be dried up in his body by simply looking on a reptile of brass? Such a stumbling-block to the Jews and to the Greeks foolishness was faith in the crucified Nazarene as a way of deliverance from eternal perdition. Yet was the warrant in both cases to expect a cure equally rational and well grounded. As the serpent was Gods ordinance for the cure of every bitten Israelite, so is Christ for the salvation of every perishing sinner--the one however a purely arbitrary ordinance, the other divinely adapted to mans complicated maladies. In both cases the efficacy is the same. As one simple look at the serpent, however distant and however weak, brought an instantaneous cure, even so, real faith in the Lord Jesus, however tremulous, however distant--be it but real faith--brings certain and instant healing to the perishing soul. In a word, the consequences of disobedience are the same in both. Doubtless many bitten Israelites, galling as their case was, would reason rather than obey, would speculate on the absurdity of expecting the bite of a living serpent to be cured by looking at a piece of dead metal in the shape of one--speculate thus till they died. Alas! is not salvation by a crucified Redeemer subjected to like treatment? Has the offense of the cross yet ceased? (Compare 2 Kings 5:12 ). 16. For God so loved, &c.--What proclamation of the Gospel has been so oft on the lips of missionaries and preachers in every age since it was first uttered? What has sent such thrilling sensations through millions of mankind? What has been honored to bring such multitudes to the feet of Christ? What to kindle in the cold and selfish breasts of mortals the fires of self-sacrificing love to mankind, as these words of transparent simplicity, yet overpowering majesty? The picture embraces several distinct compartments: THE WORLD--in its widest sense--ready to perish; the immense LOVE OF GOD to that perishing world, measurable only, and conceivable only, by the gift which it drew forth from Him; THE GIFT itself--He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, or, in the language of Paul, spared not His own Son ( Romans 8:32 ), or in that addressed to Abraham when ready to offer Isaac on the altar, withheld not His Son, His only Son, whom He loved ( Genesis 22:16 ); the FRUIT of this stupendous gift--not only deliverance from impending perdition, but the bestowal of everlasting life; the MODE in which all takes effect--by believing on the Son. How would Nicodemus narrow Judaism become invisible in the blaze of this Sun of righteousness seen rising on the world with healing in His wings! ( Malachi 4:2 ). 17-21. not to condemn, &c.--A statement of vast importance. Though condemnation is to many the issue of Christs mission ( John 3:19 ), it is not the object of His mission, which is purely a saving one. 18. is not condemned--Having, immediately on his believing, passed from death unto life ( John 5:24 ). condemned already--Rejecting the one way of deliverance from that condemnation which God gave His Son to remove, and so wilfully remaining condemned. 19. this is the condemnation, &c.--emphatically so, revealing the condemnation already existing, and sealing up under it those who will not be delivered from it. light is come into the world--in the Person of Him to whom Nicodemus was listening. loved darkness, &c.--This can only be known by the deliberate rejection of Christ, but that does fearfully reveal it. 20. reproved--by detection. 21. doeth truth--whose only object in life is to be and do what will bear the light. Therefore he loves and comes to the light, that all he is and does, being thus thoroughly tested, may be seen to have nothing in it but what is divinely wrought and divinely approved. This is the Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile. John 3:22-36 . JESUS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE BAPTIST--HIS NOBLE TESTIMONY TO HIS MASTER. 22-24. land of Judea--the rural parts of that province, the foregoing conversation being held in the capital. baptized--in the sense explained in John 4:2 . 23. Ænon . . . Salim--on the west of Jordan. (Compare John 3:26 with John 1:28 ). 24. John not yet cast into prison--Hence it is plain that our Lords ministry did not commence with the imprisonment of John, though, but for this, we should have drawn that inference from Matthew 4:12 and Marks ( Mark 1:14 ) express statement. 25, 26. between some of--rather, on the part of. and the Jews--rather (according to the best manuscripts), and a Jew, about purifying--that is, baptizing, the symbolical meaning of washing with water being put (as in John 2:6 ) for the act itself. As John and Jesus were the only teachers who baptized Jews, discussions might easily arise between the Baptists disciples and such Jews as declined to submit to that rite. 26. Rabbi, &c.--Master, this man tells us that He to whom thou barest such generous witness beyond Jordan is requiting thy generosity by drawing all the people away to Himself. At this rate, thou shalt soon have no disciples at all. The reply to this is one of the noblest and most affecting utterances that ever came from the lips of man. 27-30. A man, &c.--I do my heaven-prescribed work, and that is enough for me. Would you have me mount into my Masters place? Said I not unto you, I am not the Christ? The Bride is not mine, why should the people stay with me?? Mine it is to point the burdened to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, to tell them there is Balm in Gilead, and a Physician there. And shall I grudge to see them, in obedience to the call, flying as a cloud, and as doves to their windows? Whose is the Bride but the Bridegrooms? Enough for me to be the Bridegrooms friend, sent by Him to negotiate the match, privileged to bring together the Saviour and those He is come to seek and to save, and rejoicing with joy unspeakable if I may but stand and hear the Bridegrooms voice, witnessing the blessed espousals. Say ye, then, they go from me to Him? Ye bring me glad tidings of great joy. He must increase, but I must decrease; this, my joy, therefore is fulfilled. A man can receive, &c.--assume nothing, that is, lawfully and with any success; that is, Every man has his work and sphere appointed him from above, Even Christ Himself came under this law ( Hebrews 5:4 ). 31-34. He that, &c.--Here is the reason why He must increase while all human teachers must decrease. The Master cometh from above--descending from His proper element, the region of those heavenly things which He came to reveal, and so, although mingling with men and things on the earth, is not of the earth, either in Person or Word. The servants, on the contrary, springing of earth, are of the earth, and their testimony, even though divine in authority, partakes necessarily of their own earthiness. (So strongly did the Baptist feel this contrast that the last clause just repeats the first). It is impossible for a sharper line of distinction to be drawn between Christ and all human teachers, even when divinely commissioned and speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. And who does not perceive it? The words of prophets and apostles are undeniable and most precious truth; but in the words of Christ we hear a voice as from the excellent Glory, the Eternal Word making Himself heard in our own flesh. 32. what he hath seen and and no man receiveth, &c.--Johns disciples had said, All come to Him ( John 3:26 ). The Baptist here virtually says, Would it were so, but alas! they are next to none [BENGEL]. They were far readier to receive himself, and obliged him to say, I am not the Christ, and he seems pained at this. 33. hath set to His seal, &c.--gives glory to God whose words Christ speaks, not as prophets and apostles by a partial communication of the Spirit to them. 34. for God giveth not the Spirit by measure--Here, again, the sharpest conceivable line of distinction is drawn between Christ and all human-inspired teachers: They have the Spirit in a limited degree; but God giveth not [to Him] the Spirit by measure. It means the entire fulness of divine life and divine power. The present tense giveth, very aptly points out the permanent communication of the Spirit by the Father to the Son, so that a constant flow and reflow of living power is to be understood (Compare John 1:15 ) [OLSHAUSEN]. 35, 36. The Father loveth, have the delivering over of all things into the hands of the Son, while here we have the deep spring of that august act in the Fathers ineffable love of the Son. 36. hath everlasting life--already has it. shall not see life--The contrast here is striking: The one has already a life that will endure for ever--the other not only has it not now, but shall never have it--never see it. abideth on him--It was on Him before, and not being removed in the only possible way, by believing on the Son, it necessarily remaineth on him! Note.--How flatly does this contradict the teaching of many in our day, that there neither was, nor is, anything in God against sinners which needed to be removed by Christ, but only in men against God! Receive FREE Newsletters from BibleStudyTools! 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Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:31:58 +0000
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