Yochanan 3:12

12 If I told you [pl.] about things of the Olam Hazeh and you have no emunah, how will you have emunah if I tell you about the things of the Olam Haba?

Yochanan 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

John 3:12

If I have told you earthly things
Not that the doctrines he delivered were earthly ones; for he was not of the earth, but from heaven, and above all, and so spake not of the earth, but of heaven, ( John 3:31 ) ; and this doctrine of regeneration was an heavenly doctrine; and the thing itself required supernatural power, and grace from above: but either they were the more easy doctrines of the Gospel; or were delivered in a plain and easy style, and illustrated by similes taken from earthly things, as from human birth, from the water, and from the wind:

and ye believe not;
i.e. those things; ye do not receive them, nor give credit to them; or "me", as the Ethiopic Version adds, who relate them on the best evidence, having fully known, and clearly seen them:

how shall ye believe;
give credit to me, or receive my testimony:

if I tell you of heavenly things?
of the more sublime doctrines of the Gospel, such as the descent of the Messiah from heaven; the union of the two natures, human and divine, in him; his being the only begotten Son of God; his crucifixion and death, signified by the lifting up of the serpent on a pole in the wilderness; and the wonderful love of God to the Gentile world in giving Christ to, and for them; and the salvation, and eternal happiness of all that believe in him, whether they be Jews or Gentiles; and these delivered in language suitable to them, without figures, or natural similes, which help the understanding, and convey ideas of things more easily to it.

Yochanan 3:12 In-Context

10 In reply, he said to him, You hold the teaching office of rabbi, of moreh b’Yisroel and of these things you do not have da’as?

11 Omein, omein, I say to you, that of which we have da’as we speak, and of that which we have seen, we give solemn edut (testimony), and the solemn edut of us you [pl.] do not receive.

12 If I told you [pl.] about things of the Olam Hazeh and you have no emunah, how will you have emunah if I tell you about the things of the Olam Haba?

13 And no one has ascended into Shomayim except the one having descended out of Shomayim, the Ben HaAdam [Dan 7:13-14; Prov 30:4; Dt 30:12].

14 And as Moshe lifted up the nachash in the wilderness [Num 21:8-9], so it is necessary for there to be a hagbah (lifting up) of the Ben HaAdam [Ps 22; Isa 53].