(5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God.
(6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
(7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
(8) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
(9) Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
(10) Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
(11) Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive
not our witness.
(12) If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
(13) And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man
which is in heaven. ‖ (John 3:3-13)
Now the way that Nicodemus responded to Y‘shua has been missed too many times. Notice what
Nicodemus says: ―How can a man be born again when he is old‖ Now, the way this text is expounded by so
many preachers is that Nicodemus does not understand anything about what Y‘shua says. That is not the
problem that Nicodemus has. He does understand something about the expression ―born again‖ because it
is a very important expression in rabbinic theology. His problem is: ―How can a man be born again when he
is old?‖ If the question was merely how can a man be born again, what difference does the age make?
Nicodemus‘ problem is not the lack of understanding what it is to be born again; but rather, how can it
happen when one is old?
In Pharisaic Judaism, there are six different ways a man can be born again. Nicodemus qualified for four of
them and did not qualify for two of them.
The first one he did not qualify for was when a Gentile converted to Judaism. Since Nicodemus was a Jew,
this was not an option for him.
The second way he did not qualify for was when a man was crowned king of Israel. Nothing in this text says
anything about the membership of Nicodemus in the house of David; and if he was, it would have been
significant enough to mention. And even supposing that he was a member of the house of David, with the
Jews under Roman domination there was no possibility of him being crowned king. So, this was not an
option for him either.
The four ways that were open to him he had already accomplished. When a Jew was Bar Mitzvahed at the
age of thirteen, he was said to be born again. Nicodemus was clearly well past the age of thirteen; and
therefore, was already born again in that way.
A second way that was open to him was when a Jew was married he was considered to be born again. Now,
nothing was said about his wife; so how do we know that he was married? We are told that he was ―ruler of
the Jews‖ which meant that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. One of the prerequisites for membership in
the Sanhedrin was that you had to be married. A single man could not be a member of the Sanhedrin.
The third way that was available to him was when one was ordained as a Rabbi. Since he was a ruler of the
Jews and a Pharisee, this tells us that at some point he was ordained a Rabbi.
The last way that was available to him was to be appointed to the head of a rabbinic academy. One who was
merely a Rabbi was given the title ―Rav‖, meaning a teacher. One who was the head of a rabbinic academy
was given the title ―haRav‖, meaning ―the teacher‖. The fact that Y‘shua calls him ―the master (teacher) of
Israel‖ tells us that he was the head of a rabbinic academy.
So, Nicodemus had used up every way that he thought was available to him to be ―born again‖ according to
his theology. That is the reason he phrased his question, ―How can a man be born again when he is old?‖ It
was not that he did not understand the term, but he simply felt that he had already used up his options.
Y‘shua was about to add another option for him that would be available to everyone; regardless of race,
gender or creed.
(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 in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life‖. (John 3:14-16)
He mentions here the serpent of brass. We have a reference to this in the Babylonian Talmud Rosh
haShannah 3:8, ―Is it possible for the serpent that killed to make alive? No! But, the case is that when the
Israelites looked upward for help and subjected themselves to the will of their Father in Heaven, they were
healed. When they did not, they perished‖. Y‘shua was using this example to let the people know that they
could look to him for healing and salvation.