John 3:1-17

Introduction

This is a well-known passage full of well-known phrases, and yet reading and meditating on the text continues to offer fresh understandings and applications. John 3:1-17 is the account of Nicodemus’s visit to Jesus under the cover of night. This account comes right on the heels of John the Evangelist’s declaration that “Jesus himself knew what was in man.”

Nicodemus is one example of Jesus’ intimate knowledge of the human heart. Two more examples will come up in the following two chapters when Jesus interacts with the Samaritan woman at the well and the man by the pool of Bethesda. Through these meetings, Jesus shows that he knows them, understands them, and takes the time to speak truth to them.

This passage is all about…