We are introduced to Nicodemus for the first time in chapter three. He is an important Pharisee with a well known reputation. Driven by his desire for truth, yet fearful of losing his position with the Sanhedrin, he comes to Jesus by night. “Rabbi we know you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these works unless God is with him.”
We hear for the first time the term born again. “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John3:3).
We understand Jesus’ words from our advantage point of looking back, but to Nicodemus, these were strange words. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4).
We do not again become physical babies, but we are nevertheless born again. God changes us so completely that he refers to what happens to us as a new birth.
