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We do not know whether Nicodemus had himself attended John's baptism, but some
of the Pharisees had been baptized, and later many of the Rulers became secret believers,
but Nicodemus is warned by the Lord of the futility of trusting to anything accomplished
on, in, or by, the flesh, even though it be an ordinance of divine origin. Therefore before
the evangelical note of aionion life is sounded, divine and spiritual begetting is shown to
be absolutely necessary ("Ye must") for admittance into the Kingdom of God.
The utter repudiation of the flesh in John 3: 6, is somewhat veiled by the A.V.
translation, a fault not rectified by the R.V. A literal rendering of the verse is:--
"That which hath been begotten out of the flesh, is flesh; and that which hath been
begotten out of the Spirit, is spirit."
The perfect tense gives the thought "That which has been and remains", like Pilate's
"What I have written, I have written", an emphatic statement which carries home its
message even to those unacquainted with the niceties of grammar.
The word "flesh" has three shades of meaning in John's gospel.
(1)
The sinless humanity of the Son of God (John 1: 14, etc.).
(2)
Mankind, "Power over all flesh" (John 17: 2).
(3)
The flesh as representing fallen human nature and opposed to spirit.
The reference, "Which were born not of the will of the flesh" (John 1: 13) may be
referred to either (2) or (3), or both.
"It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6: 63).
"Ye judge after the flesh" (John 8: 15).
These two references have in view fallen, erring, man. The flesh in Nicodemus was
identical with the flesh of the common and despised fellaheen. The attitude of mind that
characterized the Pharisees and the Rulers of the time is expressed in John 7: 48, 49:
"Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But this people who
knoweth not the law are cursed."
It was the same attitude of mind that led the Jews to marvel and to say: "How
knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (John 7: 15). But all the lore and
learning of the law must be put aside as unprofitable, the pride of the Pharisee must be
humbled, and the Apostle Paul's testimony that there is "no difference", either in the
matter of sin or of salvation, must be accepted.
Much of what the Lord taught him should have been known by Nicodemus. He was a
teacher of Israel, if not "the teacher of Israel", as the presence of the article may indicate,
but the Lord says he was "ignorant of these things", yet he might have gathered the
necessity of the spiritual begetting from Ezek. 11: 19, 20.