John 3

John 3:1-21

In this chapter we have, 1. Christ’s discourse with Nicodemus, vers. 1-21. 2. False Baptist’s discourse with his disciples concerning Christ, vers. 22-30.

1. THERE was a man of the Pharises, 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 dost, except God be with him. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I lay 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 lay 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 lurth, 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 matter of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11. ‘Verily, verily I lay unto thee, We speak that we 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 ‘whoever 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 whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. ‘For God first 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 doth evil, hareth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Though not many mighty are called, we have here a singular instance of one made a monument of divine grace.

1. There was a man, of great note and eminence, of the Pharises, the sect which ever expressed the bitterest enmity against our Lord, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrim; the same came to Jesus by night, solicitous to have some particular discourse with him concerning the things he had heard him preach; and he chuck this time, as done suppose, out of shame and cowardice, as not daring to appear publicly with him for fear of the Jews; or because this was the season when Christ would be most at leisure, being engaged all the day in publick, and when he might more freely and at large talk over with him the important points concerning which he desired to be resolved. With great respect he addressed him, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do their miracles that thou dost, except God be with him. These were such credentials of his divine mission, and wrought with such notorious evidence, that the more they were examined, the more forcibly they proved the author of them sent from God. Nate, (1.) The grace of Jesus can reach

2. those v. 1 Sam.

those whose condition in life is most dangerous, and their prejudices the wrongful against his gospel. (2.) When the profession of the true religion is represented and unfashionable, some, who dare not openly avow their sentiments, in secret approve the truths which others depose, and will stop in among the faithful, if they cannot be seen, as Nicodemus by night. (3.) Christ is come to be a teacher of higher, to lead a dark world to the light of life, and guide the trying feet of flowers into the paths of everlasting peace. May we be humble scholars then, and learn of him!

3. In consequence of the application of Nicodemus, Christ addresses him in the following instructive discourse:

(1.) On the nature and necessity of regeneration. Firstly, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, or from where, be cannot for the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, as the rest of his countrymen, mestered with the common prejudices concerning the Messiah’s kingdom, supposed the seed of Abraham would be all admitted to an honourable place in it. But Christ strikes at that radical mistake; assuring him, that no man’s external privileges, religious profession, or moral amusement, availed any thing, it his heart and life were not effectually wrought upon by the regenerating influences of the Spirit of God. For, as we are born by nature corrupt and polluted with sin, and spiritually dead in trespasses, we must receive another, a new, a divine nature, the work of God, as much as the life which he first gave to the clay, in order that man might be a living soul. And, unless this supernatural change passes upon us, we can neither understand the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom, nor receive any of the blessings and benefits which it was designed to convey to us.

Nicodemus, mistaking Christ’s meaning, and understanding the words in a literal sense, expresses his surprise at the assertion, not comprehending how it was possible for a man, old as he was, to pass the second time through his mother’s womb. In answer to his objection, Christ entorces and explains his declarations, Firstly, verily I say unto thee, a truth that is of most infallible certainty, Except a man be born of nature and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God: Christ’s word, however change and unintelligible to the natural man, cannot change. There can be no entrance into glory, without that new truth which gives a meanness for it. The soul, by the powerful agency of the Spirit of God, must be cleansed from its natural pollution, as water purifies the body from any filth it hath contracted; and by the ordinance of baptism, as the initiatory rite, regenerate souls are to be admitted into the visible communion of the faithful. And the necessity of such a spiritual change is evident, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh could a man a thousand times pass through the womb, he would come forth still the same corrupted creature, until for the kingdom of God, man’s nature being utterly forbid in his present father state, and all his appetites, delights, and pursuits, being after the flesh, and the things which greatly his bestial part: So that the soul is utterly enslaved, and the whole man flesh and not spirit. Whilst, on the contrary, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit: when the Holy Ghoul works effectually on the heart, it is refused from the drugs of sensuality, the soul is refused to spiritual understanding, and the whole man, now brought under the influence of a new, divine, implanted principle of grace, becomes spiritual, in his affections, pursuits and designs, delivered from the bondage of hate lusts and vile corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and restored to a capacity of enjoying him. After all are therefore, adds the Lord, that I find unto thee, To may be born again; nor, though we are ignorant of the manner in which this divine change is wrought, is that any objection to the thing: for, in the world around us, we see effects, the immediate cause of which we are ignorant of. As for instance, The word Mormeth where it is first, without contrived from any creature, and thus beareth the sound thereof, but can’t not tell whence it cannot, nor whether it guide: the effects produced by it are sensibly fair; but why it blows at one time through them at another, why from one point rather than another, where it begins and where it ends, these are fetters known only to him who bringeth the winds out of his treasures. So is every one that is born of the Spirit: with such sovereignty doth the uncreated Spirit work, affecting the consistences of some, and not of others; with power irresistible bearing down every obstruction; quickening, comforting, sanctifying the sinner’s soul, and giving him blessed experience of his effectual power and influence; though he works mysteriously, and leaves the manner of his operations still a secret to us.

(2.) When yet Nicodemus appeared ignorant, and questioned how these things could be; for to the natural man the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness; Christ proceeds to reprove his dialects, and to enlarge on the certainty and fashionery of those glorious truths which he advanced: Art thou a master in Israel, a named teacher, and professor of divinity, and himself not their sings? Note, it is a shame for those who undertake to instruct others to be ignorant themselves, and, whilst they affect to pass for men of deep learning and eradition, to be unacquainted with the most important truths that pertain unto salvation. Firstly, verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know: the truths Christ taught were of infallible certainty; he

VOL. II.

spoke as commissioned by his Father, and under the influences of the Spirit, in correspondence with what all the prophets and John had before declared: and testify that our Law gives; not speaking on hearsay, but on the most undoubted evidence, and with the clearest assurance: and ye receive not our twinself: such was the blindness, such the prejudices, that had spread over the Jews in general, and the Pharisees and rulers in particular, that they refused to receive and embrace the doctrines of salvation taught by the Son of God, though to infallibly true, so plainly delivered, and attested by such miracles: so that they were without excuse. As all infallibly are, who refuse to submit to the evidence of revelation. If therefore I have told you earthly things, illustrating, with the familiar influence of what and the wind, the necessity of a spiritual change in the hearts of sinners here below, and ye believe us, comprehend not the meaning, nor give credit to the truth advanced, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? Of the more sublime doctrines of the gospel, the amazing union of the divine and human nature, the design of the incarnation of the Son of God; his suffering, death, exaltation; the nature of his spiritual kingdom, and of the beatific vision: how much more must these be mysterious, when delivered in language suitable to the vast subject, if the plainer truths appear so difficult to be understood? For instance, No man hath attended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven: the prophets of God indeed had spoken under a divine inspiration, and what they said came from heaven; but none of them ever spoke of their own knowledge, nor had been with God in glory, a qualified with all the hearts of his will; this was the distinguished privilege of the Son of man, the Messiah, who from eternity lay in the bottom of the Father, and was now come down from heaven, as a teacher eminently sent from God; and who, though upon earth, was more than the Son of man which is in heaven, though in his human nature he stood and talked with Nicodemus, his divine nature filled heaven and earth, was every where perfect, and, in virtue of that communication of properties which fulfills between the two natures, the Son of man, though on earth, was, as God, in heaven; as the Lord of life and glory is said to be crucified, (Gen. ii, ii, and God, who is interpreted, is said to purchase the church with his own blood, Acts xx. 25) that which was done by him in one nature being ascribed to him in the other. Note, (1.) There are سوالات above our comprehension, which are to be received on the evidence of God’s word. Where reason fails, faith must be exercised. (2.) In all the humiliations of the Son of man, we must never forget that he is unchangeably the same, God ever all, blessed for ever.

(3.) As the great prophet he proceeds to describe the end of his incarnation, and the eternal blessedness of those who truly believe in him. He came to seek and save that which was lost, to heal our mortal wounds, and to recover our perishing souls.

(1.) He came to heal our mortal wounds, as the antitype of the brazen serpent which Moses in the wilderness lifted up, that those who were flung by the fiery serpent might look and live. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even he must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever tolerates to him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (1.) We are mortally flung by the old fiery serpent Satan, and the deadly poison of sin is diffused through our nature; the wound is incurable, the torment intolerable and eternal, unless more than human help and healing be vouchsafed to us. (2.) Christ is the only hope of the desperate, the brazen serpent lifted up, for the healing of the nations, on the pole of the everlasting gospel, as crucified on a tree, but now exalted to the throne, bright-thinning with beams of grace on every miserable soul that turns the eye of faith towards him. (3.) It is looking to him alone which performs the wondrous cure. The soul that seeks to any other physician, or resides this simple method of cure, Lord 17: 20, and he ye Lord, Isa. xiv. 22: perishes without remedy; whilst faith infallibly brings health and healing: for, (4.) However obnoxious we are by sin to the wrath of God, however d eye our good, or aggravated our iniquities, he is a Saviour to the uttermost: whoever looks to him shall live, though, like the dying thief, reduced to the last gasp; not only the chief of sinners shall be rescued from the eternal ruin he justly apprehends and fears, but shall have eternal life, entitled to all the bliss and blessedness of glory, through the complete and finished salvation which is in Jesus Christ, and can never afterwards perish.

(2.) He came to save our lost souls by the sacrifice of himself. For God so dread the world, that he gave his only baptism Son, that whoever tolerates him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (1.) Christ is the universal Saviour, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also; and, as his free salvation is preached to all, whoever will is invited to come to him. They who reject his calls for against their own mercies. (2.) He is in only baptism of God, which bespeaks his infinite dignity and afflufficiency to save those for whose sake he came into the world. (3.) The love of God in thinking upon us in our ruined flame, and sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, is the affluishment of angels, and should be master of our unceasing wonder, praise, and adoration. (4.) Whoever by faith receives the Lord Jesus, as the Son of God and the Redeemer of lost souls, placing their whole dependence on his blood and

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righteousness, are sure to obtain the remission of all their sins, and, in the world to come life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, as the Jews supposed their Messiah would destroy the Gentile nations, and exalt them; but that the world through him might be saved. Even the vilest and most guilty, who believe in him, whether Jews or Gentiles, may now through him obtain salvation; whilst, out of him, ruin and despair must be the whole fallen race. He that believed so lies is not condemned: there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; nor will any charge lie against those whom God justifieth, and for whom the Saviour of sinners shed his blood. But, (5.) Destruction inevitable and eternal must be the portion of those who neglect or despise to great a salvation, be that believed not the gospel-wood preached unto them, whether Jew or Gentile, is condemned already; lies at present under the curse which is the wages of sin, and is as family a said soul, as when the sentence shall be executed in the great day, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Unbelief is the great damning sin: there can be no cure for those who reject the only remedy; and when God hath been to rich in grace, as to give his only begotten Son, the business of the ingratitude in rejecting him cannot but bring aggravated guilt and perdition on the sinners’ soul. And this is the greatest and most fatal cause of their condemnation, that light is come into the world, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, in which he shines as the Sun of righteousness action to guide our feet into the ways of peace: and men, notwithstanding, saved darkness rather than light. The Jews hold that their correct traditions; the Gentiles, their idolatrous Superstheses; and both shun the light of truth, which makes manifest and condemns their works of darkness, because their dead are evil; therefore are they sealed up under wrath; and such wilful ignorance, and obstinate rejection of the truth, must needs fill up the meadow of their iniquities. (6.) This then will be the test between the wilfully impenitent and the sincere enquirer after truth. For every one that doth evil; makes it his practice and his delight, and is wedded to his sins; hateth the light; his carnal mind is at enmity with Christ and his gospel; neither ometh to the light, but shuns the means of grace, the ministrations of the faithful, and the company and converse of such whole words and words would be a rebuke to his darkness; lest his dead should be reproved; lest his darling corruptions should be held up to him in their own hideous form, his danger faithfully set before him, and his conscience wounded with remorse. But he that doth the truth, in simplicity following the mind of God, as far as it is revealed to him, open to convictions, and willing to be searched, cometh to the light of God’s word, desirous to know, and disposed to follow it, however contrary to his own natural inclination or worldly interests; that his deeds may be made manifest, his heart examined, his principles brought to the test, his mind enlightened, and his conduct regulated; to that it may appear he is now under the influence of a regenerate spirit, designing in all his works the divine glory, and evidencing that they are wrought in God, by his gracious influence, according to his holy will, and in a state of union and communion with him. Blessed and happy are the people who are in such a case!

22. ¶ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he carried with them, and baptized. 23. ¶ And John also was baptizing in Emon, near to Salem, 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 beared 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 resteth; 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 he 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.

9. 32-36. When our Lord had finished his discourse with Nicodemus, we are told,

10. Whether he went, and what he did. He left Jerusalem, and travelled into the country of Judea, where he continued some time, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and by the ordinance of baptism, which his apostles administered, admitted those who professed their faith in him into the number of his avowed disciples.

11. John continued his ministry in another part of the country with success. He did not join with Jesus, lest their enemies should pretend there was a continuation between them; nor did he defist from his labours, though he knew his superior was now gone forth to minister, but continued to preach and baptize all who came to him, having fixed himself at a place where were many streams of water, that rendered it convenient to administer baptism to the multitude which referred to him; for as yet he was not rest into prison, as he shortly afterwards was, and a period put to his further usefulness. Now, The work of the ministry is wide; there is room for the exercise of all our several talents, nor must any be discouraged by their own comparative inferiority: they are buried for their place, and may hope to see their labours successful.

12. A cometh arose between some of John’s disciples and the Jews, concerning purifying. It would seem as if the disciples of John exalted their master’s baptism above the ceremonial ablutions of Moses, or the purification enjoined by the traditions of the elders; whilst many of the Jews probably contended for their own more antient and authorised cudiums, and looked upon John’s baptism as an innovation; suggesting that there would be no end to such ourselves, as another person, one Jesus, was as much or more followed than their master, and his disciples would cry up his baptism as better than John’s.

13. Fuealed with this difficulty, John’s disciples carry the case to their master, and, jealous for his honour and their own, who were controlled with him, report with concern what they had lately heard, and said unto him, Rabbi, he saw our truth that beyond Jordan, and, among others, received baptism; to whom thou bearest witness, pointing him out with peculiar difficulties; behold, the same baptizeth, setting up himself as a rival to thee; and all men come to him. They look upon it as a piece of presumption in Jesus to assume the Baptist’s office, and ungranted to make use of the testimony which John had born, in prejudice to him: nor could they without envy behold their master eclipsed by him whom they regarded as lately but his disciple, and as one of themselves. So ready are good men to be under the temptation of a party-dying, and to feel unbecoming jealousies, and risings of envy against superior excellence, which seems to eclipse their own.

14. John’s answer shewed what spirit he was of. Far from envying Jesus as his rival, he rejoices in his success; and confirming the testimony he had before born to him, cheerfully turns over to him all his interest in Israel.

John answered and said, if men are receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. God gives to every man severally as he wills, gifts, endorsements, and success. If he is pleased to bestow more on one than another, there is no room for complaint: whatever our measure is, it is a matter of favour to us, and we have reason to be thankful, nor ought to envy the superior honours or usefulness of others: and this consideration should in every case silence every manner of discontent or envy. The words also may have another reference, and intimate, that it was evident the plainest truths were insufficient, unless they were favoured with divine illumination; else could not his disciples, after what he had so repeatedly spoken of Christ, have stumbled at the rising fame of Jesus, and the application of the multitudes to him. And this is a universal truth, that unless a man be taught of God, he never can understand and heartily embrace the truths of God, which must be spiritually dishonored.

He appeals to what he had uniformly advanced from the beginning. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. All the honour he had ever assumed was that of being his harbinger, and going before the face of the Lord to prepare his way: if therefore he was now arrived, his forerunner, far from being grieved, must rejoice in it. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom; Christ hath alone the right over his church, and to him must the gathering of the people be. He is come from heaven to rejoice it to himself, the heavenly bridegroom; and having loved his people from eternity, draws their hearts to him in faith and love. There can be no reason therefore for returning or probably; but, far otherwise, the friend of the bridegroom, as he was, which standeth and heareth him, waiting upon him as his attendant, helping forward his interests, and defining to advance his honour, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice, when he comes to take his bride, and show his victory and instructions to those who wait in his train. This my joy therefore is fulfilled, to hear that Christ appears publicly, inviting his bride, his redeemed people, to come to him, and thus meditated foreth to him,

him, embracing the offers of his grace. And thus doth every faithful minister stand before the great bridegroom of fouls, to receive his commands, and deliver the messages of love to his church; delighted to behold the happy effects produced by them, when his people become a willing people in the day of his power; and rejoicing greatly in every soul converted to Jesus, and brought by faith and love to cleave to him alone.

Far from envying the rising glory of his Lord, John beholds with pleasure the fulfilment of the divine decree. He may increase, but I may decrease; his fame must spread, his glory he manifested, his disciples multiply; and to him doth John gladly turn over all his interests, content to fade before the superior brightness, as the morning star disappears before the rising sun, and well-greased to see that kingdom of the Messiah established and increasing, that must spread from pole to pole, and endure to the end of time. And to behold this, cannot but give the most singular delight to every faithful minister.

The glory of his person, and the surpassing excellence of his office, cannot but give him this superiority. He that much from above, is above all: his nature and original being divine, he must needs have the indisputant precedence, and supreme authority, over all other messengers sent from God, who speak only in his name, and by his commission. He that is of the earth, and such as the greatest saints and prophets, is earthly, and greatest of the earth: as he is sprung from the dull, and must return to the dull, he is naturally attached to earthly things; his conceptions low and groveling; and, when even under divine infatuation, unable adequately to express the sublime mysteries of infinite wisdom; whilst he that cometh from human, is above all. Contrasted with the teachings of Jesus, in whom from eternity dwell all the treasures of wisdom, as being one of the faintest self-easthest Godhead; the wisdom of the wisest is weakness, and their speech not to be compared with his preaching. And the reason is evident, because when he hath seen and heard, that he suffered from the most intimate knowledge of the divine nature and counsels, both as God incarnate, and in the human nature possessing the Spirit without measure. But such was the blindness and obstinacy of those to whom he spoke, that, though he was greatly attended, and John’s disciples supplemented all who followed him believed in him, he lets them know the case was far otherwise: as were received his testimony; none, comparatively speaking; so few of the multitudes who came to him would be found his real disciples. Many are called by the gospel, but few truly converted by it; blessed and happy however are those who receive it in the light and love of it; for he that hath received his testimony, hath set to his soul, that God is true. He subscribes to the faithfulness and veracity of God, in having fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the Messiah; and embraces, with full confidence of their completion, the gracious promises of his gospel, as being all Ye and Amen in Christ Jesus. And herein God is glorified, when we trust our everlasting hopes upon the word he hath delivered to us by his Son; for he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God; all his language spoke the divinely resident in him, and no word of human infirmity ever dropped from his lips; for God giveth not the Spirit by master one time. All the other prophets, who were sent of God, possessed but a measure of the Spirit, and only spoke under his immediate inspiration on some particular occasion, being at other times left to speak their own words; but he in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily, ever spoke the words of God. The Father loveth the Son with a peculiar and transcendent regard, as being possessed of the same nature and perfection. He delights in his Son’s undertaking, as Mediator, and hath given all things into his hand; investing him in his human nature with all power and authority in heaven and in earth. All the great affairs of the kingdom of providence, grace, and glory, are committed to his management, that his enemies may feel his vengeance; that his faithful ones may experience his blessing, protection, and care; and all at last appear before him as their eternal Judge. He that holiereth, therefore, on the Son, receives him as God manifest in the flesh, and rests his hopes on the rich grace revealed in the gospel alone, hath everlasting life; he shall not only hereafter be put in possession of it, but hath actually already in himself the beginnings and foetesses of it, and possesses that title to it, confirmed by the immutable oath and promise of God, which never can be lost: and, on the contrary, he that holiereth not the Son, rejecting his divine authority and mission, incredulous of his word, and disobedient to his will; and not for life: whilst he remains under the power of unbelief, he is dead in trespasses and sins, and nothing but misery inconceivable and eternal awaits him, because she wrought of God, which is for ever wrath to come, abideeth on him. How terrible is the end of all who believe not God, and obey not the gospel of his dear Son!

John 3:10

body, and comfort us in the reviving hope of following him through the grave, the gain of death, unto a joyful immortality.