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New Testament
Conversation of Jesus Christ with Nicodemus
Among the people amazed by the miracles of Jesus Christ and who believed in Him was a Pharisee Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. He came to Jesus Christ at night, secretly from everyone, so that the Pharisees and Jewish leaders, who did not love Jesus Christ, would know about it.
Nicodemus wanted to find out whether Jesus Christ really is the expected Savior of the world, and who He will accept into His Kingdom: what a person needs to do to enter His Kingdom. He said to the Savior: “Rabbi (teacher), we know that You are a Teacher who came from God; because no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with Him.”
The Savior, in a conversation with Nicodemus, said: “Truly I say to you, whoever is not born again cannot be in the Kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus was very surprised how a person could be born again.
But the Savior spoke to him not about an ordinary, physical birth, but about spiritual, that is, - that a person needs to change, to become completely different in his soul - completely kind and merciful, and that such a change in a person can only happen by the power of God.
The Savior said to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water (through baptism) and of the Spirit (which comes upon a person during baptism), he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”
The Savior explained to Nicodemus that a person, born only from earthly parents, remains as sinful as they are (which means, unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven). Having been born of the Holy Spirit, a person becomes pure from sins, holy. But how such a change takes place in the human soul, people cannot understand this work of God.
Then the Savior told Nicodemus that He came to earth to suffer and die for people, not to ascend to the royal throne, but to cross: “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert (i.e., he hung a copper serpent on a tree to save Jews bitten by poisonous snakes from death), so must the Son of Man be lifted up (i.e., Christ must also be lifted up on the tree of the cross) - Son of Man), so that everyone (everyone) who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God loves the world so much that for the salvation of people He gave His only begotten Son (to suffer and die), and sent Him into the world not for this not to judge people, but to save people.
The great feast of the Lord's Pascha was approaching - the first Pascha since Christ entered public ministry. Crowds of pilgrims from all over Palestine headed to Jerusalem to the majestic temple. Among these pilgrims, Christ and His disciples went to the holiday. The roads and valleys in those days were resounding with the joyful singing of ancient psalms. Many Jews who lived in dispersion also tried to come to Jerusalem in order to offer sacrifice to God at this sacred place. Therefore, local residents of Palestine brought herds of sacrificial animals to Jerusalem to sell them to pilgrims for a good price. In pursuit of the “golden calf,” people lost the fear of God and their favor towards the temple of the Lord. They drove the animals into the temple courtyard and conducted a noisy trade there. The temple turned into a large commercial enterprise. The holy place was filled with an indescribable noise: trade was going on as if in a market.
And at this time the Lord Himself appeared in the temple. At the sight of such blasphemy, Christ became jealous of the House of the Lord, made a scourge from ropes and drove all the traders out of the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers. Addressing the leaders of the temple, the Lord said: “My house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” The embittered leaders of the temple began to demand an answer from Him as to what authority He was doing all this. They demanded of Him: “How can You prove that You have the authority to do this?” In response, they heard from the Lord prophetic words that were not entirely clear to them. Christ said to them: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews did not understand that He told them about the Temple of His Body, which they would crucify on Calvary.
This is how Christ’s first clash took place with the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people: the petty formalist Pharisees and the godless Sadducees. And the more Christ brings Light into the dark kingdom of evil and untruth, the stronger the hatred of Him will flare up on the part of these sons of the devil.
But not all the Pharisees were hostile to Christ; there were also those who subsequently believed in His Messianic dignity. Among them was Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. He sincerely sought the Truth of God. When he saw Jesus of Nazareth in the temple, he secretly came to Christ at night to talk with Him about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Nicodemus, like many Jews, was then concerned about the most pressing religious question - the question of the time of the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah. The Jews, and above all the Pharisees, imagined this Kingdom as earthly, and the Messiah as a great conquering king who would conquer the whole world with Divine power, and make the Jews rulers of all nations. Every Jew, they believed, and especially the Pharisee, due to the fact that he was born in the flesh from Abraham, would unhinderedly enter the coming world kingdom. It is the pagan and sinner who needs to change his life in order to become a worthy citizen of the Kingdom of God; but what need does the son of Abraham, a real Israelite, a zealous Pharisee, need this?
It was with these thoughts that Nicodemus came to the One who laid the foundation of the Spiritual Kingdom on this earth - the Kingdom of truth, love and grace.
The Lord, deeply grieving that even the teachers of the Israeli people were infected with false ideas about the Messiah and His Kingdom, taught Nicodemus true teaching about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of the Messiah is, first of all, a spiritual Kingdom; it is radically different from the kingdom of this world. This is the Kingdom where God Himself reigns - the God of love, peace, goodness and grace. Therefore, in order to enter this Kingdom of the Spirit, a radical rebirth of man is necessary. A person, no matter what his origin, must throw off the old, sinful person and put on a new - spiritual person, in which selfishness, evil, untruth will not dominate, but in which love, truth and goodness will reign. It is possible to be reborn into a new spiritual person only through repentance with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit given in baptism. Therefore, the Lord answers Nicodemus’s bewilderment: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised at what I said to you: you must be born again. The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit.”
But Nicodemus, even after such explanations from Christ, remained perplexed and asked Him: “How can this be?” Then Christ, with some sadness and reproach, said to Nicodemus: “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?”
Deeply regretting that the Israeli people were led by spiritually blind leaders, the Lord, of course, could not let go of Nicodemus with his false ideas about the coming Kingdom of God. He opens it to him the mystery of the coming of the Messiah into the world. The true Messiah, the Son of God, came into the world not to conquer it with sword and fire, but in order to give His life for humanity perishing in sins and with His sacrificial love to turn the hearts of people to the Heavenly Father. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up... For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
In a conversation with Nicodemus, Christ explained that in order to enter the Kingdom of God it is necessary to be spiritually reborn, re-educate oneself and, with God’s help, become someone else—a spiritual person. To do this, one must not be lazy, but exert all one’s strength, for “the Kingdom of God is taken by force” and only those who work and work on themselves will enter it.
Nicodemus was so amazed by the unexpected outcome of the conversation with the Teacher, who came from God, that he subsequently believed in Christ and openly confessed Him on Calvary, at a time when the apostles, out of fear for the sake of the Jews, abandoned their Lord.
Tradition says that Nicodemus, having taken part in the burial of Christ, could no longer hold his high position, and, having openly sided with the Savior’s disciples, he was soon persecuted and executed for his faith in Christ.
Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, an expert in Scripture and, apparently, a teacher.
For his zeal for spiritual enlightenment, the Savior reveals to Nicodemus secrets about the Kingdom of Heaven:
· About being born again, from the Spirit
· About Himself as the Son of God, as the Redeemer (so-called objective reasons for salvation)
· About the conditions of salvation on the part of man and about the reasons for faith and disbelief in Him. (so-called subjective reasons for salvation).
Nicodemus was no stranger to false representatives about the Messiah. But at the same time he was one of the best Pharisees, he was kind and strived for the truth. Why did Nicodemus come to the Savior at night? It is unlikely that in this case he followed the custom of the rabbis to talk at night. Nicodemus was afraid of disclosing the fact of his conversation with Jesus.
St. Kirill of Alexandria : «… evil shame and human glory; motivations, convictions of conscience (miracles amazed). And remain in honor among your own people and please God.He confessed openly when Christ was taken down from the Cross.(John 5) : “How can you believe that you receive glory from one another, but do not seek glory from God?”
Ep. Mikhail (Luzin) : "In the position of Nicodemus it is excusable. Caution as a virtue"
Nicodemus, without having time to ask a question, receives an exact answer from the Lord. The Lord said exactly what worried Nicodemus, that is, He revealed His omniscience.
O necessity of being born again: "How can one be born again, enter the mother's womb when old, etc."Interpreters put forward different hypotheses about the reason for the repeated question:
1) In Aramaic the words over And again are used as synonyms. So Nicodemus asks again.
2) Spiritual primitiveness is determined by Nicodemus by the priority of sensory ideas. Nicodemus does not understand the Lord’s words about the second birth at all.
3) This is feigned misunderstanding in order to provoke the Lord into a more detailed explanation. This hypothesis seems to us the most plausible. Nicodemus was cunning, otherwise he would not have come at night.
Being born again is baptism. In the Greek text the word spirit here it is used without an article, i.e. this refers to the spiritual realm as a whole. The presence of the article would dictate a completely different meaning: it would mean the Holy Spirit Himself, the Third Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. Such texts (for example, a conversation with the Samaritan woman) require scrupulous philological analysis to clarify their true dogmatic content.
The analogy with the copper serpent makes us understand Jesus’ words about the ascension as about the ascension specifically to the cross. To teach heavenly things in the midst of the darkness of a corrupt world is the prerogative of the Son of Man.
John 3:12-15. If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man, who is in heaven, who came down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life
St. John Chrysostom : Apparently, there is no connection with the previous word about baptism, however, about rebirth through baptism, he also indicated the reason for purification and rebirth - the cross, that is the connection. The Passion of Christ as a manifestation of God’s love for man, eternal life. Must be ascended to be saved. He suffers for slaves who are not grateful, which no one would do for a friend.
Modern biblical scholars argue about the identity of the words (John 16:21): are these the words of the Lord or is this an addition of John? The Ancient Fathers recognized this fragment as the words of Christ Himself. Why would the Evangelist finish and confirm the words of the Lord with his own words?
Blzh. Theophylact : What does it mean: he who believes in the Son is not condemned? Is it really not sued if his life is unclean? Very litigious. For even Paul does not call such people sincere believers. They show, he says (Titus 1:16), that they know God, but by their deeds they deny Him. However, here he says that he is not judged by the very fact that he believed: although he will give the strictest account of evil deeds, he is not punished for unbelief, because he believed for once. “And he who does not believe is already condemned.” How? Firstly, because unbelief itself is condemnation; for to be out of the light - this alone - is the greatest punishment. Then, although here it is not yet given over to Gehenna, here it has combined everything that leads to future punishment; just as a murderer, even if he was not sentenced to punishment by a judge’s verdict, was condemned by the essence of the case. And Adam died on the same day that he ate of the forbidden tree; although he was alive, according to the verdict and the merits of the case, he was dead. So, every unbeliever is already condemned here, as undoubtedly subject to punishment and not having to come to judgment, according to what has been said: the wicked will not rise to judgment (Ps. 1:5). For no account will be required from the wicked, any more than from the devil: they will rise not to judgment, but to condemnation. So in the Gospel the Lord says that the prince of this world has already been condemned (John 16:11), both because he himself did not believe, and because he made Judas a traitor and prepared destruction for others. If in parables (Matthew 23:14-32; Luke 19:11-27) the Lord introduces those who are subject to punishment as those who give an account, then do not be surprised, firstly, because what is said is a parable, and what is said in parables is not necessary accept everything as laws and rules. For on that day everyone, having an infallible judge in his conscience, will not require any other reproof, but will go away bound from himself; secondly, because the Lord introduces those who give account not of unbelievers, but of believers, but uncompassionate and unmerciful. We are talking about the wicked and unbelievers; and some - wicked and unbelieving, and others - unmerciful and sinful. - “The judgment is that light has come into the world.” Here the unbelievers are shown to be deprived of all justification. This, he says, is the judgment, that the light came to them, but they did not rush towards it. They sinned not only by not seeking the light themselves, but, worst of all, by the fact that it came to them, and yet they did not accept it. That is why they are condemned. If the light had not come, people could plead ignorance of good. And when God the Word came and delivered His teaching to enlighten them, and they did not accept it, then they were already deprived of all justification. - Lest anyone say that no one would prefer darkness to light, he also sets forth the reason why people turned to darkness: because, he says, their deeds were evil. Since Christianity requires not only a right way of thinking, but also an honest life, and they wanted to wallow in the mud of sin, therefore those who do evil deeds did not want to go to the light of Christianity and obey My laws. “But he who acts in truth,” that is, leading an honest and godly life, strives for Christianity as for light, in order to further succeed in goodness and so that his deeds according to God may be evident. For such a one, believing correctly and leading an honest life, shines for all people, and God is glorified in him. Therefore, the reason for the unbelief of the pagans was the uncleanness of their lives. Perhaps, another will say, well, aren’t there any vicious Christians and pagans who are approving in life? That there are vicious Christians, I will say this myself; But I cannot say decisively that good pagans will be found. Some may be found “by nature” to be meek and kind, but this is not a virtue, and no one is good “from deeds” and exercises in goodness. If some seemed good, then they did everything because of glory; he who does it for glory, and not for the good itself, will willingly indulge in an evil desire when he finds opportunities for it. For if with us the threat of Gehenna, and any other care, and the examples of countless saints barely keep people in virtue, then the nonsense and vileness of the pagans will keep them in goodness even less. It’s great if they don’t make them completely evil.
There is also confusion regarding (John 3:8) " The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit.". Different interpreters see in these words an indication either of the Third Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, or of the wind as an object mentioned in parables.
The expulsion of the merchants from the temple and the miracles performed by the Lord in Jerusalem had such a strong effect on the Jews that even one of the “princes” or leaders of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin (see John 7:50) Nicodemus came to Jesus. He came at night; obviously, he really wanted to hear His teaching, but was afraid of incurring the anger of his comrades who were hostile to the Lord. Nicodemus calls the Lord “Tavvi,” that is, teacher, thereby recognizing His right to teach, which, according to the view
scribes and Pharisees, Jesus could not have without graduating from rabbinical school. And this already shows Nicodemus’s disposition towards the Lord. He goes on to call Jesus “a teacher come from God,” acknowledging that He performs miracles with His inherent divine power. Nicodemus speaks not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of all the Jews who believed in the Lord, and perhaps even on behalf of some members of the Sanhedrin, although, of course, for the most part these people were hostile to the Lord.
The entire subsequent conversation is remarkable in that it is aimed at defeating the false fantastic views of Pharisaism about the Kingdom of God and the conditions for man’s entry into this Kingdom. This conversation is divided into three parts: Spiritual rebirth as the main requirement for entry into the Kingdom of God; The redemption of humanity through the sufferings of the Son of God on the cross, without which it would be impossible for people to inherit the Kingdom of God; The essence of judgment over people who did not believe in the Son of God.
The type of Pharisee at that time was the personification of the narrowest and fanatical national particularism: they considered themselves completely different from all other people. The Pharisee believed that just because he was a Jew and, especially, a Pharisee, he was an indispensable and worthy member of the glorious Kingdom of the Messiah. The Messiah himself, according to the Pharisees, must be a Jew like them, who will free all Jews from the foreign yoke and create a world kingdom in which they, the Jews, will occupy a dominant position. Nicodemus, who obviously shared these views common to the Pharisees, in the depths of his soul, perhaps felt their falsity, and therefore came to Jesus, about whose remarkable personality so many rumors had spread, to find out whether He was the expected Messiah? And so he himself decided to go to the Lord to make sure of this. From the very first words, the Lord begins his conversation by destroying these false Pharisee claims to being chosen: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Or, in other words, it is not enough to be a Jew by birth, a complete moral rebirth is needed, which is given to a person from above, from God, and one must, as it were, be born again, become a new creature (which is the essence of Christianity). Since the Pharisees imagined the Kingdom of the Messiah as a physical, earthly kingdom, it is not surprising that Nicodemus understood these words of the Lord also in the physical sense, that is, that to enter the Kingdom of the Messiah a second carnal birth is necessary, and expressed his bewilderment, emphasizing the absurdity this requirement: “How can a person be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born?” Then Jesus explains that we are not talking about a carnal birth, but about a special spiritual birth, which differs from the carnal birth in both causes and fruits.
This is birth "of water and the Spirit." Water is a means or instrument, and the Holy Spirit is the Power that produces new birth, and the Author of new being: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” “What is born of the flesh is flesh,”- when a person is born from earthly parents, he inherits from them the original sin of Adam, which nests in the flesh, thinks carnally and pleases his carnal passions and lusts. These shortcomings of carnal birth can be corrected by spiritual birth: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The one who has accepted rebirth from the Spirit himself enters into spiritual life, rising above everything carnal and sensual. Seeing that Nicodemus still does not understand, the Lord begins to explain to him what exactly this birth from the Spirit consists of, comparing the method of this birth with the wind: "Spirit[in this case the Lord means by in spirit wind] He breathes where he wants, and you hear his voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit.” In other words, in spiritual rebirth only a change is observable for a person, which
occurs within himself, but the regenerating power and the way in which it acts, as well as the paths along which it comes, are all mysterious and elusive to man. We also feel the action of the wind on ourselves: we hear “its voice,” but we do not see and do not know where it comes from and where it rushes, so free in its aspiration and in no way dependent on our will. Similar to this is the action of the Spirit of God, which revives us: obvious and tangible, but mysterious and inexplicable.
However, Nicodemus continues to remain in misunderstanding, and in his next question "How can it be?" both distrust of the words of Jesus and Pharisaic pride with a claim to understand everything and explain everything are expressed. It is this Pharisaic arrogance that the Lord strikes in His answer with such force that Nicodemus later does not dare to object to anything and in his moral self-abasement little by little begins to prepare the soil in his heart on which the Lord then sows the seeds of His saving teaching: "You - teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” With these words, the Lord denounces not so much Nicodemus himself, but the entire arrogant Pharisaic teaching, which, having taken the key to understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, neither entered into it itself nor allowed others to enter. How could the Pharisees not know the teaching about the need for spiritual rebirth, when in the Old Testament there was so often the idea of the need to renew a person, about God giving him a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone (Eze 36:26). After all, King David also prayed: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”(Ps 50:12).
Moving on to the revelation of the highest secrets about Himself and His Kingdom, the Lord, in the form of an introduction, notes to Nicodemus that, in contrast to the Pharisee teaching, He Himself and His disciples proclaim a new teaching, which is based directly on the knowledge and contemplation of the truth: “We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony.”- that is, you Pharisees are the imaginary teachers of Israel.
Further, in words: “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, - How will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”- under earthly The Lord implies the teaching of the need for rebirth, since both the need for rebirth and its consequences occur in man and are known by his inner experience. And speaking of heavenly, Jesus had in mind the sublime mysteries of the Divine, which are above all human observation and knowledge: About the eternal council of the Trinity God, about the taking upon Himself of the redemptive feat for the salvation of people by the Son of God, about the combination in this feat of Divine love with Divine justice. What happens in a person and with a person, perhaps the person himself knows partly about it. But which of the people can ascend to heaven and penetrate into the mysterious region of Divine life? No one except the Son of Man, Who, having descended to earth, left heaven: “No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man, who is in heaven, who came down from heaven.” With these words, the Lord reveals the secret of His incarnation, convinces him that He is more than an ordinary messenger of God, like the Old Testament prophets, as Nicodemus considers Him, that His appearance on earth in the form of the Son of Man is a descent from a higher state to a lower, humiliated state , because His true, eternal existence is not on earth, but in heaven.
Then the Lord reveals to Nicodemus the secret of His redemptive deed: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Why must the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross to save mankind? This is exactly what it is heavenly, which cannot be comprehended by earthly thought. The Lord points to the copper serpent lifted up by Moses in the desert as a prototype of His deed on the cross. Moses erected a copper serpent before the Israelites, so that when they were slain by the serpents,
received healing by looking at this serpent. Likewise, the entire human race, stricken with the plague of sin living in the flesh, receives healing by looking with faith to Christ, who came in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3). At the heart of the feat of the cross of the Son of God is God’s love for people: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Eternal life is established in a person by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and people receive access to the throne of grace (Heb 4:16) through the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees thought that Christ's work would consist of judging the nations of other faiths. The Lord explains that He is now sent not for judgment, but for the salvation of the world. Unbelievers will condemn themselves, for with this unbelief their love for darkness and hatred for light, which stems from their love for dark deeds, will be revealed. Those who create the truth, honest, moral souls, themselves go to the light, without fear of exposure of their deeds.
Among the Pharisees there was someone named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to Him: Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born? Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised at what I said to you: you must be born again. The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered Him: How can this be? Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man, who is in heaven, who came down from heaven. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
Before us is a long conversation with Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a well-known Pharisee, teacher of the law, comes to Christ “at night.” This night meeting immerses us in a mysterious atmosphere. Truly, we are all in the night before God. We are all like Nicodemus - those who seek Christ in the middle of the night.
But the fact that Nicodemus comes at night has another meaning. He came at night; it was not enough for him to listen to Christ among the crowds of people. He needed to meet the Lord alone. It was better for him to deprive himself of a night's rest than not to hear the hidden word of Christ. When others slept, he gained saving knowledge.
Or maybe he did this out of fear and cowardice. He was afraid or ashamed that he would be seen with Christ, and therefore came at night. But although he came at night, Christ received him with love, giving an image to his servants to support good undertakings, no matter how weak they were. Although he has now come by night, the time will come when he will openly confess Christ. Grace can be just a mustard seed at first, and then grows into a big tree.
We know,- says Nicodemus, obviously on behalf of many, - that You are a Teacher who came from God: for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him. How different his view is from many of his fellow tribesmen, especially those invested with spiritual power, those who, seeing the works of Christ, were inflamed with envy and hatred of the Lord. And how we must learn to see the most important thing in miracles! And the main thing in Christ’s conversation with Nicodemus is the need for a new spiritual birth for man. It is not enough to be amazed at the miracles of Christ - you must be born again. Nicodemus is waiting for the imminent arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. But Christ says that we will not be fit for him unless we change spiritually, that is, we are not born again. Birth is the beginning of life. We must have a new nature, new principles, new goals. We must be born again and again. This new birth is given from heaven, it is intended for the Divine and heavenly life.
Whoever is not born again will not be able to see the Kingdom of God, will not be able to understand what kind of Kingdom we are talking about, and will never accept its consolation. This rebirth is absolutely necessary for earthly life, especially for eternal life, because it is impossible to taste bliss, to be truly happy, without being a saint.
How can a person be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born?– Nicodemus asks in bewilderment. What Christ speaks about spiritually, he perceives carnally. But his desire to know the truth is great! When we encounter difficulties in understanding Divine mysteries, we should not retreat from the Lord. That which is born of the flesh is flesh,- says the Lord. And if a person could be born from his mother’s womb hundreds of times, this would not change the essence of the matter. Sin has corrupted our very nature. For I was conceived in iniquity– we confess every day in the penitential psalm. And we should not be surprised that we must be born again. The Lord speaks of birth from water and the Spirit, meaning the sacrament of baptism. But we are also called through personal experience of grace—by the Holy Spirit—to find out what kind of birth Christ is talking about. The action of the Holy Spirit is mysterious - where, when, to whom and to what extent He deigns to communicate Himself. But His breath cannot remain hidden from those granted this mercy. The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear His voice and do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
How can it be?- asks Nicodemus. There is something that is beyond our natural understanding. But because he cannot comprehend the word of Christ with his mind, he does not give up the search for truth. How many people arrogantly believe that it is impossible to believe what cannot be seen with bodily vision. “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” - says Christ. We hear here the word of the Lord’s rebuke to those who undertake to teach others spiritual things, but themselves have little understanding of it. Those who spend time only in external study of the Scriptures, and external observance of everything, and neglect the very essence. “You can be a well-deserved doctor of theology,” says Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov), “but if trouble happens to this theologian, he looks confused: does God exist?” “And where does the light come from,” adds the saint, “from this darkness?”
We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen,- says Christ - and not only about Himself, but about all who are His. Therefore, from Sunday to Sunday, from century to century, the Church sings: Having seen the Resurrection of Christ...
He came down from heaven, and at the same time He is the Son of Man. Now, when He speaks to Nicodemus as a Man, He is on earth, but as God, He is in heaven. So great is His love for us that He was lifted up on the Cross for our sins, like the serpent by Moses in the desert, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life, Eternal Easter, which is already given to many as a new birth.
Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)
In. 3:1-21
I am asked to explain the conversation of the Lord Jesus Christ with Nicodemus. The conversation is mysterious, the conversation is extremely important and not understandable to everyone. Let's delve into it.
“Among the Pharisees there was a certain man named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to Him: Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him.”
One of the prominent members of the Sanhedrin, pure in heart, struck by the depth of His teaching and believing in Him, came to Him for a conversation. But how did you come? At night, secretly, so that other members of the Sanhedrin would not find out. This, of course, is not good, this is cowardice; this confuses us, for we know that he was a pure man, that together with Joseph of Arimathea he buried the Body of Christ taken from the Cross.
Why did he come at night, why didn’t he openly confess his faith in Christ? Fear for the sake of the Jews: he was afraid of other members of the Sanhedrin, he was afraid of excommunication from the synagogue. Do we dare to condemn him for this, we who have so much fear, no longer Jewish? We, Christians, baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, we, who have received the Body and Blood of Christ many times, don’t we often act like Nicodemus, don’t we hide our faith in Christ, don’t we secretly confess Him, even reaching such shame that we hold icons in the wardrobe, and open only during prayer. This is a shame, a deep shame. It’s better to completely remove the icons than to hide them. It will be better, more honest, than keeping them in the closet. Nicodemus came to Jesus and said to Him: “We know that You are a Teacher come from God.” He spoke not on his own behalf: “ We know“, - all the people know and understand. And undoubtedly, many of his fellow Pharisees also knew that He was a Teacher who came from God: “For no one can do such miracles unless God is with him.” This was a great truth: of course, only with God, of course, only with whom God is it possible to perform such miracles.
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
It’s like an unexpected answer, an answer that’s not to the point. It would seem that He should have answered: “Yes, you were not mistaken: yes, I came from God, I am the Messiah.” He doesn’t say this, he gives a completely, completely different answer: “Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Why did He answer like that?
You are looking for the Kingdom of God, you see in Me a Prophet, a Wonderworker, so you need to know what the path to the Kingdom of God is. Isn’t this the right answer, isn’t it the most necessary one for Nicodemus? Of course yes. What is the power of this answer? Gotta be born again; This is completely incomprehensible to Nicodemus, these words are inaccessible to him, for he answered like this: “How can a person be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born? »
He did not understand Christ’s words at all. Why didn't you understand? Why didn’t he understand that Christ was not talking about physical birth, which is impossible a second time, but about spiritual birth? Why didn't he understand this?
Because he, like all the Pharisees, considered himself the son of Abraham, pleasing to God; believed that he knew all the laws of Moses, perceived the complete and deep truth; considered himself righteous. What other new spiritual birth could there be for him? He is spiritually born, enlightened by the true knowledge of God. That’s why he answered so strangely, because he didn’t understand that the Lord was speaking about a completely different birth, about a new birth, a spiritual one.
Jesus answered: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
The Lord explains what He was talking about: about the new birth from water and the Holy Spirit, in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Without this, without being born again in this mysterious way, it is impossible to enter the Kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” What is born of the flesh is only flesh, not spirit. “And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And a person must be born of the Spirit in order to be not only fleshly, but also spiritual. “The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear His voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is the case with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Understand these words of Christ! Who are these people born of water and the Spirit? Those who in this new birth have gained spiritual strength to follow the path of Christ have gained the ability to become friends of Christ. They, the saints, understood these words of Christ well, for they often, often felt the breath of the Spirit in their hearts. They clearly felt the action of God's grace. And they heard the voice of God - they truly heard it, believe it. Believe me, you can hear the voice of God not in the same way as we hear the people around us, but differently, completely differently. The voice of God unexpectedly, as if suddenly born, resounds in the hearts of the saints, words form themselves, and whole phrases are formed from words. And in this way a person hears God’s answer to his prayer.
This is known to all the saints, they heard the Holy Spirit, not knowing where He comes from and where He goes, for He will come and go. This happens to everyone born of the Holy Spirit, to all saints.
Nicodemus did not understand this, he lived by the mind of the Old Testament, the teaching of Christ was unknown to him, incomprehensible. He didn't understand how this could be.
“You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this? Truly, truly, I say to you: We speak of what we know, and we testify of what we have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony.”
“We say” - this is how He spoke about Himself, spoke in the plural, for even the kings of the earth in their decrees do not call themselves by a pronoun “ I", and the pronoun " We" So Christ, in this sublime, deeply solemn speech, called Himself “ We" - " We are speaking... "
I know an infinite amount. I, the Omniscient God, testify to what I saw with My Father, what I saw before the creation of the world. But you, Pharisees, do not accept this testimony. High words, extraordinary words, holy words.
“If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man, who is in heaven, who came down from heaven.”
He is the One Son of Man, who Descended from heaven and is in heaven, continuing to dwell in heaven, living in human form on earth, He alone ascended into heaven, He alone ascended into heaven after His resurrection.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” This is how He should be lifted up on the Cross. “That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This is why Christ was ascended to the Cross, so that all who believe in Him would not perish.
“For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God.”
Remember this: non-believers condemn themselves. “The judgment is that light has come into the world; but the people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
Only the good ones, only those whose souls are pure and kind, who love the light. And those who do evil deeds love darkness, because evil deeds require darkness, the cover of night. “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, because they are evil; but he who does righteousness comes to the light, so that his deeds may be revealed, because they are done in God.”
Here is a conversation with Nicodemus. And you see, in this conversation, our Lord Jesus Christ reveals to Nicodemus all the deepest, all the most important things that he needed to know: he revealed that there is a birth from above, a birth by water and the Spirit; that it is impossible without this to enter the Kingdom of God.
The Lord also revealed to him the great secret of the salvation of the world, saying that God loved the world so much that he gave his Only Begotten Son to save the sinful world. Prophetically revealed the secret of His suffering on the Cross, the secret of the redemption of the human race.
Let us give glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, who so enlightened the Pharisee Nicodemus who came to him secretly, and through him all of us. Let us give glory to God the Father, who did not spare His Only Begotten Son for the salvation of the world.
