Jesus Talks with Nicodemus.

  12 If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? [Jesus here divides religious phenomena into two divisions--earthly and heavenly. The earthly phenomena are those which have their sphere regeneration is an earthly thing; for though it has a heavenly origin, its manifestations are among the daily sights and experiences of our earthly life. Religion has also its heavenly phenomena, such as the ordering of God's celestial household; the experiences of those who pass into the divine presence; the propitiation, or the changes wrought in the attitude of God toward man by the sacrifice of Christ; the powers and limitations of Christ's priestly intercession, etc. These things have their sphere far removed from earth, and transcended the comprehension of Nicodemus. Now, if Nicodemus would not believe Jesus when he told him of things which he himself partially knew, how would he believe when Jesus spoke of that which was utterly unknown to him?]

  13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. [Nicodemus is here informed that Christ alone can teach concerning heavenly things. Jesus can so teach, for he did not begin on earth and ascend to heaven, but he came from heaven to earth, and returned thence (afterwards) to heaven. Jesus speaks of himself as being present in heaven, because his divine nature was in constant communication with the powers of heaven. If we conceive of heaven as a locality (a proper conception), Jesus was upon the earth; but if we conceive of it as a present communion with the presence of God (also a proper conception), then Christ was in heaven as he talked with Nicodemus-- John 8:29 .]

  14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;

  15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.

[Jesus here indicates the prophetical character of the Old Testament. The extent of Christ's indorsement of the Old Testament becomes apparent when we consider on how many occasions he revealed himself under the same symbolism which the Old Testament used to reveal him. At John 2:19 he revealed his resurrection under the symbolism of the destroyed and restored temple. At Matthew 12:40 the same event is revealed under the symbolism here his crucifixion is likewise partially veiled and partially disclosed under a symbolic reference to the brazen serpent. The account of the brazen serpent will be found at Numbers 21:4-9 . The lesson of the brazen serpent will be found in its main points of resemblance to the crucifixion of Christ. When the people were bitten by fiery serpents, something made to resemble a serpent was hung upon a pole, and the people who looked to it in faith through it healing and life. Such is the epitome of Christ's gospel. When the world was perishing because of sin, Jesus, made to resemble sin ( Romans 8:3 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21 ) was hung upon the cross, that those who look unto him in faith ( Isaiah 45:22 ) may find life through him-- 1 John 5:11-13 .]

  15 that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.

  16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. [Luther calls this verse "the Bible in miniature." It is a lesson as to God's love: 1. Its magnitude--he gave his only begotten Son. 2. Its reach--he gave it to a sinful world ( Romans 5:8 ). 3. Its impartiality--he gives it to whomsoever; that is, to all alike ( Matthew 5:45 ; Revelation 22:17 ). 4. Its beneficial richness--it blesses with life eternal. 5. Its limitations--it is nowhere said that God so loves that he will save unbelievers. Love is the mutual and binding grace between God and man; it may almost be said that in Christ it made God human and man divine. John uses the word "eternal" seventeen times in his Gospel and six times in his first Epistle. He always applies it to life. The synoptists use it eight times, applying it to life, and also to fire, punishment, damnation, and habitation.]

  17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. [Christ's first mission to the world was for salvation rather than for judgment. His second mission will be for judgment, but a judgment-hour wherein he will be able to save those who have accepted the means of grace which he established by his first coming. But the first coming of Christ incidentally involved judgment ( John 9:39 ), This judgment, however, was not the principal object of Christ's coming, but was an inevitable result of it. Jesus here speaks of it as a self-executed judgment. It was a necessary result of the revealed presence of Christ ( Luke 2:35 ). That Christ is at present a Saviour, and not a judge, is a truth which needs to be emphasized. Catholics are taught to fear Christ and flee to the Virgin; and many ignorant Protestants are disposed to look upon him as a prosecutor rather than as an advocate.]

  18 He that believeth on him is not judged; he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. [The name "Jesus" means Saviour; to disbelieve this name is to reject Christ as Saviour. and 1:1 Luke 15 require belief in Jesus as the Son of man. This verse requires belief in him as the Son of God. Belief in this dual nature of Jesus is essential to salvation. Unbelief is the world's crowning sin; and belief is, humanly speaking, the source of its justification. The verse teaches that God's judgments are in a state of perpetually present enactment. The believer is saved now ( Acts 13:39 ), and the unbeliever rests already under that condemnation which he fears the Son of God may some day pronounce against him.]

  19 And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.

  20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

  21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

[These verses show that when God judges a man by his faith, the judgment is not arbitrary and irrational. Men believe according to the secret aspirations and desires of their nature. Christ, as the example and model of life, shines out as the light of the world; those who approve and love such a life are drawn to him and constrained to believe in him. Spiritually, they abide in his presence, that they may compare their lives with his, and that they may be assured that their wrought under the renewing and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, who is sent of Christ. But one whose desires are evil shrinks from Christ, and struggles to disbelieve in him: he seeks to know as little of Christ as possible, because such knowledge exposes the wickedness and depravity of his own sinful nature.]

  20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved.

  21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.

* From this (Bro. McGarvey's) construction of verse 8 I dissent, and hold that the Revisers have given us the true reading in the text. The question has been fully discussed in Lard's Quarterly, Vol. III, p. 337; Benjamin Franklin's Sermons, Vol. I, p. 281; Millennial Harbinger, 1832, p. 604; 1833, p. 24; 1869, pp. 317, 478, 522, 688. I take this passage to mean that the process by which a man is regenerated by the Spirit of God is no more mysterious than other operations in the natural world, of which operations the blowing of the wind is taken as an example.--P.