The third chapter of the Gospel of John is one of the best examples of spirituality versus religion. The passage tells about a time when Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to visit Christ.
John 3:16 is often used by Christians as a mantra directed to the world with attempts to save all mankind.
However, this verse is an excerpt from a private conversation between Yeshua and a religious leader.
Therefore, if these words can be spoken to anyone, they should be directed toward one who is bound up in religion, one who is spiritually deafened to the voice of God.
In order to understand their conversation, a few background pieces of information are crucial. They involve a prophesy given by Isaiah, the Hebrew and Greek words for servant, and exactly what John the Baptist and Christ’s disciples were doing when they performed a baptism.
The prophesy can be found in Isaiah 42 in the Hebrew Bible. In this passage, Isaiah saw a vision of the Messiah and wrote a word from the Lord.
This is My servant whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight. I have put My spirit upon him, He shall teach the true way to the nations…
…The Lord desires his servant’s vindication that He may magnify and glorify His teaching.
Next, is the Greek word pais, which is used for the word son. However, it is derived from the Hebrew word ebed, which means servant.
When the Christian Bible was composed in 400 AD by Roman Bishops who spoke Greek, they took the liberty to put son when the word servant was found in the original text when pertaining to Christ.
Lastly, what was the purpose of the baptism performed by John the Baptist and the disciples of Christ in the Jordan River?
They were performing a mikvah, which is a Jewish purification ritual immersion to cleanse one from blood.
The baptism was a public act for people to confess that they were accepting the message that John and Yeshua were delivering. They were instructing people to wash themselves clean from the blood-sacrificial temple religion and spiritually walk in the kingdom of God.
So, that night, Nicodemus came to see Yeshua. Why at night?
Because he did not want his fellow religious leaders to see that he was associating with Yeshua. Nevertheless, Nicodemus was polite in his greeting.
He said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him.”
Christ was not swayed by Nicodemus’s flattering exhortation, because Christ knew that he was not just “a” teacher from God—He knew that he was the teacher from God, the chosen one that Isaiah wrote about in chapter 42.
After the greeting, Yeshua answered, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.“
Here, Christ is speaking in spiritual terms with a supposed spiritual leader. Nicodemus should have been able to understand, but no.
Nicodemus responded, “how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?“
Christ answered, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.“
This passage is loaded, because Christ was calling him out.
All the religious leaders had heard John and Yeshua’s message of the kingdom of God and the call to do a mikvah in order to publicly renounce blood-sacrificial temple religion, but Nicodemus was not about to do that.
No, Nicodemus just wanted to sneak over at night and talk pleasantries, gushing that he supposedly believed Christ was a teacher from God.
Yeshua knew that if Nicodemus’s word, “believe” was sincere, then Nicodemus would have followed Christ’s instructions and he would have done the mikvah (born of water) in plain sight of all men.
Thus, renouncing the blood sacrificial religion publicly, and by following Christ’s instructions, Nicodemus would have been showing his belief that Yeshua was teaching the true way to connect with God.
Then, Yeshua continued, “that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, that you must be born again.“
“The wind blows where is will, and one can hear the sound of it, but you can’t tell where is comes from or where it goes. The same is true about everyone that is born of the Spirit.“
Nicodemus responded and asked, “how can these things be?
Christ responded, “You are a master of Israel, and you don’t know these things?“
“We speak of what we know, and testify the things we have seen, but you don’t receive our witness.“
Nicodemus had heard Yeshua speak and had seen the miracles that he had done. However, Nicodemus didn’t abide in the teachings of Christ. Why?
Because, the real issue was that Nicodemus didn’t want to lose his place in his religious hierarchy. He was a ruler of the Jews. He had too much to lose to follow Christ’s instructions to shed religion and enter an invisible kingdom that was so foreign to his thinking.
The rest of the passage can be paraphrased, as Yeshua let Nicodemus know just who he was.
Christ was referencing Isaiah 42 when he said that no man ascends up to heaven, but God has come down and put his spirit upon me.
And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so I must be lifted up, and whoever follows me will find the pathway to eternal life.
This last passage is symbolic because Moses lifted up his staff with a brass serpent mounted to it in order to prevent the deaths of the Children of Israel who had been bitten by serpents. When they looked up at the staff, they were healed from the venomous bites.
Christ often referred to the religious leaders as serpents.
What he was saying to Nicodemus is that, if he/his teachings are lifted up or glorified, as Isaiah put it, and people look to him; thus, follow his instructions, they will find life.
They will be healed from the venomous affect of being bitten by the serpent of religion, which causes spiritual death.
Christ continued, “for God so loved the world that he sent his chosen one and whosoever believes in me will find everlasting life.”
“God did not send his servant into the world to condemn it, but rather, so the world could find life.”
Christ is clearly talking about the religious world here and he did not want Nicodemus to be condemned, he wanted him to do the mikvah and wanted him to follow in his words on how to enter into the spiritual kingdom of God.
Yeshua’s heart was heavy as he looked at Nicodemus and said, “and this is the condemnation, that light came into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light of God, because their deeds are evil.”
“They hate the light and won’t come to it because they would have to give up their evil deeds, which they love.”
And, in his closing statement to Nicodemus, Yeshua looked him in the eyes and said,
“If you really want to follow the truth, Nicodemus, then you will come to the light and display your deeds openly, and only then will you be right in the site of God.”