Jn 3

Who is Jesus: The Savior lifted up by Moses for all who believe

Warm-up: Have you ever sought a counselor, and if so, how did you approach him/her? What made you trust that person?
Background:  An encounter of the Jewish leader Nicodemus with Jesus, and a dialogue about the teaching by John the Baptist are the setting in this chapter to explain why no one can be saved other than by believing Jesus, and how already the Old Testament showed this.
 
Read: John 3:1-36
 
1) How many stories are in this chapter?
  • Do they have anything in common?
2) Chapters 1 – 7 in John focus on the question of who is Jesus. What did John the Baptist say about that? vv28-35
  • v36: What are the implications if the Baptist was right?
  • How did his words answer the question in v25 of those who discussed about “purification” (and whose disciples got it right, cf Jn 4:2)?
3) v1: “There was a man named Nicodemus…”: Did he agree with John the Baptist?
  • If not, what did he want of Jesus? What do you think was his unspoken question?
  • As a Pharisee*, what did Nicodemus believe about what it takes for anyone to be “pure” even in God’s eyes? cf Mk 7:3-4; Mt 23:25-26
  • => What was his view of Jesus? v2
  • How did his view of Jesus fall short of what it should have been?**
4) How did Jesus answer Nicodemus? Why did Jesus talk about unbelief to Nicodemus?
  • Why did he did he steer the conversation to “the kingdom of God” and who can or cannot “see” it?
  • Why is this kingdom invisible (i.e. entirely impossible to see) to everyone without exception, unless they are “born again”? Jn 18:36; cf Lk 17:20-21
  • vv11+32: Why did Jesus call this teaching a testimony? How does one accept or reject it?
  • v20: How is hatred of the light recognized as such?
  • v36: In what ways does unbelief reject the Son?
  • What is the consequence of unbelief? Jn 3:3, 5, 16, 18, 36
  • What is promised to those who do believe? vv3.5.8b.16.18.36
5) vv11-12: The door to see God’s kingdom and become one of its citizens is to ‘believe His testimony’: What is that testimony?
  • on ‘earthly things’ (cf Gen 2:7, i.e. about human nature): What did Jesus testify about that? vv3, 19, 31
  • on ‘heavenly things’, i.e. of the nature of the Spirit (v8), of Christ (v13) and of God (vv16-17), and of regenerated people (v6): What are Christ’s testimony about those?
6) How does v14 explain the hallmark of such saving faith?
  • Read Num 21:4-9 => Of what ‘disease’ did the Israelites need a cure at that point?
    • So why was Moses told to erect a snake as the means of salvation? What did this symbolize? cf 2Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13
  • What did Jesus mean by “being lifted up”? cf Jn 12:32-33 (Jn 8:28)
  • Read Dan 7:13-14. By calling himself the Son of Man, what did Jesus claim to be (also in Jn 1:51)?
  • v15: What is the effect of believing in him? cf Num 21:8-9
    • v36: Why did John the Baptist describe this outcome as ‘eternal life’?
7) What did Jesus mean by “being born again”, i.e. what is meant by again? [Strong’s lexikon: gr. anothen {an’-o-then}: From above, from the first, from the beginning; from above, from a higher place; of things which come from heaven or God; from the first, from the beginning, from the very first;  anew, over again]
  • v4. “By the Spirit; not by the flesh”: How would you describe the difference between the two? cf Jn 1:13
  • v5. “Born of water and the Spirit”: What does water symbolize in general, and in ceremonial laws of the  Old Testament? Jn 3:23+25 (cf Ez 36:25-27); Jn 7:38-39
  • v8: Both pneuma (in Greek) and ruach (in Hebrew) mean breath, wind, as well as spirit. How did Nicodemus here resemble someone who “hears the sound” of the wind/Spirit, but without understanding its direction?
  • v8b: Did Jesus teach here that everyone who is “born of the Holy Spirit” will remain as ignorant of the work of the Spirit as Nicodemus? Why not? * =>
  • vv9-10: Why did Jesus question Nicodemus for being ignorant about this foundational truth on spirituality?
8) Personal & application
  • What can we learn from this passage about the way into the kingdom of God? By comparison, if we were merely reincarnated, do you think this would profit anyone?  Why or why not?
  • What is our contribution to this process of a ‘second birth’?
    • What does the metaphor of a new birth say about that ?
    • i.e. what is God’s part in converting us, and what does that say about God’s character and power?
  • What hinders you to believe in Jesus? What made (or makes) you hesitate to believe in him – believing in the sense of trusting and obeying?
  • What do you find attractive about Jesus in this passage? What makes him worthy of our belief, i.e. of our trust and commitment?

* If needed: Ask pairs of people to explain the terms below to the others:

a. Pharisees
  • What view did the Pharisees have of themselves? Lk 18:9-14
  • Why did Jesus disagree with them? cf Lk 11:37-44.
  • What was their general disposition towards Jesus? Jn 8:6
b. Kingdom of God, Son of Man
c. Condemnation

** Given that the subsequent verses 9&10 question even Nicodemus for it, ignorance or mere hearsay of the Holy Spirit and his work is unlikely endorsed as normal for followers of Jesus. Indeed, without intimately knowing this “wind” as the one who fills our sail to carry us home to our Father, one cannot be a Christian (Ro 8:9). To genuine born-again Christians, it is instead guaranteed to become like this Spirit in how they too will be misjudged as disoriented and lawless and hence treated like Him as nothing but noise, especially by the Nicodemuses and others who instead vainly trust in themselves as God’s bulwark against immorality. Further explaining this work of the Spirit, John alludes to the encounter with Nicodemus again towards the end of his book. There, an overtly chiastic mirroring of the line of thought points the readers to Joseph of Arimathea as an illustration of how the Spirit led a man to overcome even his fear of martyrdom and do for Jesus more than what any law could have “commanded”, simply and purely out of genuine inspired love, see Jn 19:38.

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