2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

June 18, 2025

John 3:7-36

1. John 3:7-9. Introduction: A few weeks ago, we were introduced to a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again. Nicodemus doesn’t understand what being born again is and he questions Jesus about entering his mother’s womb a second time. Jesus then tells Nicodemus that flesh gives birth to flesh but spirit gives birth to Spirit. Jesus was alluding to the idea that our first birth was a physical birth, but the kingdom of God requires a spiritual birth. Spiritual transformation is what is needed to be considered born again. Jesus told Nicodemus that he should not be surprised by what Jesus was saying since he was a teacher of the law. A teacher of the law should have been familiar with Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6, Ezekiel 11:18-22, 36:25-27 and Jeremiah 4:4. Jesus’s discussion on spiritual matters should not have been an unusual topic for the teacher of the Old Testament. In verse 8, Jesus compares the natural characteristics of the wind to the Spirit of God. We can’t see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind on what moves. The people who are born again will display the effect of the Spirit on them. People who are really born again, move and act different due to the power of the Spirit moving in them.

2. Verses 9-13. Nicodemus asked Jesus how this could be possible. How could a person be born again? Jesus then tells Nicodemus that if he was a teacher he would understand these things. Jesus knew that Nicodemus didn’t understand. That was the whole point, the teachers of the Law didn’t really understand the law (scriptures) they so proudly taught. The religious leaders understood some of the surface level meanings of the scriptures, but they were clueless to the deeper and far-reaching meanings of the scriptures. Jesus told Nicodemus that if the teachers had a difficult time understanding basic earthly things Jesus taught, how could they possibly understand spiritual things. Their disbelief blocked them from seeing spiritual truths. They were blinded by their pride and could not see the truth that was before them. Hebrew scriptures were filled with stories that required faith to believe, and the teachers didn’t question any of those stories. Jesus wants Nicodemus to see that believing Jesus was the Messiah wasn’t even as hard to believe as some of the Old Testament stories.

3. Verses 13-15. Jesus mentions a story found in Numbers 21:4-9 that points to seeing and believing. This story was used to illustrate the need for faith in God’s method of salvation even when the method seems beyond our imagination. The ancient Hebrew people were punished for complaining and God sent snakes to afflict them with bites. When the people repented, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. God told Moses to tell the people if they look at the snake they can live. Their physical lives were spared by believing that looking at a snake statue would heal them. The symbol of the thing that was used for judgement would heal them. The judgement and the grace came through the same means. That is a remarkable story. How could their snake bites be cured by looking at a bronze snake on a pole. It took faith to believe that story. And that is the point Jesus is making. God often requires faith and faith when it doesn’t make sense. Jesus then tells Nicodemus that the snake was a foreshadowing of something that would happen with Christ. Jesus alludes to his crucifixion, but Nicodemus would not have known what Jesus was referring to. The point would be the same, faith in Christ would lead to eternal life.

4. Verses 16-21. Jesus breaks down all that he was saying to Nicodemus so he could understand. He tells him that because God is so loving that he is extending salvation to all who believe. This idea that God loved all people and wanted all to be saved was not a new thought. The Hebrew scriptures alluded to it (Isaiah 49:6, 56:3-8). Salvations was not to the Jews by birth or heritage, but to all who believe. Jesus is disrupting the entire religious views that the Jews had that they were recipients of salvation by their natural births. Natural birth didn’t mean one had eternal life, eternal life came by faith. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that if anyone wanted eternal life, all they needed to do was to believe in the one God sent. The SON. God sent the SON so that all would believe and be saved. God sent the SON to save us and grant us eternal life. God did not send the SON to condemn the world, but to save the World. The only reason people rejected Jesus is because they love darkness. Jesus calls us to the light. Jesus calls us to leave our old ways and join him in the light. The problem is that people love darkness.

5. Verses 22-26. Our setting changes to Jesus in the Judean countryside. Jesus has gathered some of his disciples and began to baptize them. This caused some to question why Jesus was doing the same thing John was doing. This period when John and Jesus were baptizing people at the same time was a very short period. Were they in competing ministries? NO. Jesus would take up where John left off. John was placed in prison shortly after this time for speaking out against Herod. Jesus beginning while John was active allowed for a seamless transition of the ministry. The text says a certain Jew came to John, to stir up strife, and questioned John about Jesus baptizing more people than he was. Notice how they choose to refer to Jesus. They do not call Him by name (Jesus), nor do they refer to Him as the Messiah, though that is the way John refers to Him. They speak of Jesus as “the one who was with you, ... the one about whom you testified.” John had told his disciples that Jesus was the lamb of God. SO it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that folks were going to Jesus.

6. Verses 27-30. John responds to the certain Jew with a marvelous analogy about his role and the role of Jesus. John uses the role of the best man at a wedding to explain his role with regards to Jesus. Jesus is the groom, and John is the best man (friend of the groom) who prepares the wedding reception for the guests of the bride and groom. John says that the best man has a very prominent role prior to the arrival of the groom, but when the groom arrives, all eyes shift to the groom from the friend of the groom. John declared that he had to step back so that the light would be on the one he was preaching about. John says he is joyful that the Messiah (groom) has arrived. John gives a great mindset for ministry. We are simply friends of the Messiah (groom). Our job is to prepare people to meet the Lord. We are not the Messiah; we are just the ones that introduce folks to the Messiah.

7. Verses 31-36. Notice that John tells his disciples the same thing Jesus told Nicodemus. John points to the fact that Jesus was sent from above and is above all. This is a faith statement. John says he is from earth, but Jesus is from heaven. Jesus’s testimony is greater because he is above John. John declared that it was imperative to believe Jesus. Jesus was the one sent from heaven so we might have eternal life. John understood what the teachers of the Law did not.

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