(Gospel of John 3:22- 3:36)
After this, Jesus left Jerusalem with his disciples and spent some time with them in the countryside of Judea, where he performed many baptisms. Meanwhile, John was also baptizing, in Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there and the people kept coming to him to be baptized. (This was, of course, before he had been imprisoned.)
A debate arose between some of John's disciples and a certain Judean concerning ritual purification. The disciples then came to John and told him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you across the Jordan, the one you pointed out to us as being the Messiah, he’s here, performing baptisms. Everyone is going to him."
John replied, "One can receive only what has been given to him by God. You are witness to my declaration, 'I am not the Messiah, but am only to herald his coming.' It is the groom who marries the bride. The best man is content to stand at his side and listen to him. He feels joy when he hears the voice of the groom speaking the wedding vows. Similarly, I now feel complete joy at his success. He must become more important and more popular, as I become less so."
He who has come to us from the spiritual realm is exalted above all. We are of the material world and can speak only of material things, while he who has come from the spiritual realm is greater than any of us. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one credits his testimony. But whoever does, may affirm the truth of God’s message. For the messenger sent by God speaks the words of God and has been endowed fully with his divine spirit. The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his charge. Anyone who believes in the Father's Son will enjoy everlasting life, while those who reject him will never do so, but will incur God's wrathful condemnation.
Notes
1. Aenon’s location is not specifically known; it was probably a place of many springs far enough west of the Jordan River that the presence of much water was necessary for baptisms. It would have been about half way between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, in Samaria, which lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, north of Judea and south of Galilee. Samaria, comprising the ancient Kingdom of Israel, was one of the semi-autonomous toparchies of the Roman province of Iudaea, the other being Galilee to the north and Judea to the south.
2. Both John the Baptist and Jesus are doing a land- office business baptizing people who come to them. The baptismal procedure is not here described, although obviously it consisted of immersion in water. Whether it involved any confession, profession of belief, or resolution to lead a reformed life is not clear. The large number of people coming to be baptized indicates that there must have been at that time widespread dissatisfaction with conventional religious practices.
3. John's disciples argue about ritual purification with a Judean or Judeans, but the substance of the disagreement is not given. The Judean (this is a more accurate translation than “Jew”) was apparently the one who informed them about Jesus being in the vicinity baptizing. There might have been some rivalry, even jealousy between the two baptists, but John, believing Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, cedes precedence. Aware of his role merely to herald the coming Messiah, he resigns himself to the inevitability of his waning importance and popularity.
4. We have a reiteration of a primary theme of the Gospel of John, that everlasting life is achieved through belief in Jesus the Messiah and that rejection of him results in divine condemnation. It asserts that Jesus is divine. Also emphasized is the authority given to Jesus by his Father, specifically the authority to grant everlasting life to believers.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
The Instruction of Nicodemus
(Gospel of John 3:1-3:21)
There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Jewish religious leader and a member of the Pharisee sect. He visited Jesus one evening after dark and said this to him, "Rabbi, I know that you must be sent by God to teach us, for you would not be able to perform the miracles you do without God's help."
Jesus replied, "I tell you truly that unless you are spiritually reborn, you cannot have experience of the spiritual realm."
Nicodemus disputed this, "How can an adult be reborn? Can someone reenter his mother's womb and be born again?"
Jesus answered, "I assure you, no one can enter the spiritual realm without being born of water and spirit. What is born in the physical world is merely physical, but what is born in the spiritual world will be spiritual in nature. Don't be surprised by what I'm telling you: all of you must be spiritually reborn. ... The wind blows where it wills. You may hear the sound of it, but you know not whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with all those who are spiritually reborn."
"How can these things be?" questioned Nicodemus.
"What? You're a respected teacher of the Jewish religion, and yet you don't possess an understanding of these things? ... I tell you with certainty of what we know and what we have seen, and yet your people dismiss the testimony. If you won't believe me when I speak of material things, how will you believe me when I speak of spiritual things? ... Indeed, no one has visited the abode of God, except he who departed there to come to earth -- the Son of Man. ... As Moses raised up the bronze snake on a pole when he was in the desert, so must the Son of Man be raised up in order that those who believe in him will, because of him, enjoy life everlasting."
Because God so greatly loved the world, he sacrificed to it his only son, so that those who believe in him may not die, but may achieve life everlasting. God did not send his only son to earth to condemn the world, but to furnish the means to save it. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but those who do not believe are already condemned, because they have refused to place their trust in the good name of God's only son. Such is the condemnation: Light has come into the world, but the people prefer darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil hate the light and, afraid that their deeds will become exposed, shun it. But whoever conducts his life honestly will come into the light, so his deeds, done in accordance with God’s will, can be clearly seen.
Notes
1. Nicodemus, a religious leader and a Pharisee (a sect that advocated meticulous conformity to Old Testament traditions); he probably held a seat on the Sanhedrin, a ruling council that advised the Roman occupiers. He visits Jesus, but only after it is dark. This suggests that his visit is in secret and that he is fearful his recognition of Jesus as a someone sent by God would not meet with the approval of his colleagues. (It is interesting that Nicodemus believes that Jesus is divinely inspired not because of his message, his teachings, but because of the miracles he is able to perform.) The evening call might have a symbolic interpretation as well, that Nicodemus is coming from a place of ignorance, the darkness. This is very likely since the analogy of light and darkness is picked up later.
2. Jesus introduces the concept of spiritual rebirth (being born again) as a requisite for entering the spiritual realm (the Kingdom of Heaven, a vague and ambiguous translation I have eschewed). Born of water refers to the natural, physical birth. He tells Nicodemus that even his people, the religious leaders, must be reborn of spirit. But what constitutes spiritual rebirth is not yet articulated. On this matter Jesus makes no effort to enlighten the obtuse Nicodemus, who is still stuck on the idea of rebirth as something purely physical. --- The metaphor of the wind is a play on words, the Greek word pneuma meaning both spirit and wind, (perhaps more appropriate than in English, where "spirit" in the plural refers to hard liquor).
3. Nicodemus, very literal-minded for a man of religion, seems clueless in understanding the concepts of spirituality that Jesus touches upon in their conversation. Jesus is rightly appalled by his ignorance. There is an untold back story here. Apparently Nicodemus' colleagues, the Pharisees, or perhaps the entire Jewish religious establishment, have already rejected the message that Jesus and his disciples are bringing. Jesus is obviously more than a little miffed by the rejection. He complains that they won't believe or try to understand anything he has to say, even about non-spiritual matters.
4. The teachings conveyed to Nicodemus do not seem really part of a single argument, but discreet thoughts. Therefore, for clarity, I have separated them with dots.
5. The abode of God (I am avoiding the term heaven, whose meaning is imprecise -- sometimes it means the sky.) is a place that no man has visited. Only the Son of Man, that is, Jesus, has been there, because that is his place of origin (as Logos). The commonly held Christian view that good Christians go to Heaven after death is hardly consistent with this statement by Jesus.
6. Jesus alludes to his crucifixion by saying that he must be raised up as Moses raised up a bronze snake on a pole. The raising up is probably also metaphorical, an exaltation. This raising up (crucifixion) and exaltation is necessary so that his believers can achieve everlasting life.
7. I prefer the term everlasting life to eternal life. "Eternal" means existing in the eternity of the past as well as the future, while "everlasting" suggests existence only from a certain point onward, the future eternity, but not necessarily the past. --- Jesus is promising everlasting life on the condition of belief; no other condition is yet imposed.
8. Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and becoming incarnated as a man is not to save the world per se, but to furnish the means (his death and martyrdom) by which the world, that is, its people, may be saved and not condemned (presumably to death). Those who will not believe (as opposed to those who merely do not believe) are condemned, or rather, they have condemned themselves.
9. The analogy of light and darkness is again presented, but awkwardly. One expects the light that comes into the world to be spiritual revelation, which is rejected by evil doers who prefer ignorance, darkness. The metaphor here does not quite have this meaning. In this analogy, the light is not revelation, wisdom or even goodness, but rather the kind of enlightenment that allows one to appraise clearly human actions, to see people and the world as they really are. The good conduct their lives openly and honestly and, therefore, welcome the light that allows everyone, even God, to see and judge their actions, while the evil must act in secret, in darkness, to hide their evil deeds.
10. Many translations have the last paragraph of this chapter as a part of Jesus' dialogue, but it seems evident that this is the author of John speaking and not Jesus himself.
There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Jewish religious leader and a member of the Pharisee sect. He visited Jesus one evening after dark and said this to him, "Rabbi, I know that you must be sent by God to teach us, for you would not be able to perform the miracles you do without God's help."
Jesus replied, "I tell you truly that unless you are spiritually reborn, you cannot have experience of the spiritual realm."
Nicodemus disputed this, "How can an adult be reborn? Can someone reenter his mother's womb and be born again?"
Jesus answered, "I assure you, no one can enter the spiritual realm without being born of water and spirit. What is born in the physical world is merely physical, but what is born in the spiritual world will be spiritual in nature. Don't be surprised by what I'm telling you: all of you must be spiritually reborn. ... The wind blows where it wills. You may hear the sound of it, but you know not whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with all those who are spiritually reborn."
"How can these things be?" questioned Nicodemus.
"What? You're a respected teacher of the Jewish religion, and yet you don't possess an understanding of these things? ... I tell you with certainty of what we know and what we have seen, and yet your people dismiss the testimony. If you won't believe me when I speak of material things, how will you believe me when I speak of spiritual things? ... Indeed, no one has visited the abode of God, except he who departed there to come to earth -- the Son of Man. ... As Moses raised up the bronze snake on a pole when he was in the desert, so must the Son of Man be raised up in order that those who believe in him will, because of him, enjoy life everlasting."
Because God so greatly loved the world, he sacrificed to it his only son, so that those who believe in him may not die, but may achieve life everlasting. God did not send his only son to earth to condemn the world, but to furnish the means to save it. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but those who do not believe are already condemned, because they have refused to place their trust in the good name of God's only son. Such is the condemnation: Light has come into the world, but the people prefer darkness to light because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil hate the light and, afraid that their deeds will become exposed, shun it. But whoever conducts his life honestly will come into the light, so his deeds, done in accordance with God’s will, can be clearly seen.
Notes
1. Nicodemus, a religious leader and a Pharisee (a sect that advocated meticulous conformity to Old Testament traditions); he probably held a seat on the Sanhedrin, a ruling council that advised the Roman occupiers. He visits Jesus, but only after it is dark. This suggests that his visit is in secret and that he is fearful his recognition of Jesus as a someone sent by God would not meet with the approval of his colleagues. (It is interesting that Nicodemus believes that Jesus is divinely inspired not because of his message, his teachings, but because of the miracles he is able to perform.) The evening call might have a symbolic interpretation as well, that Nicodemus is coming from a place of ignorance, the darkness. This is very likely since the analogy of light and darkness is picked up later.
2. Jesus introduces the concept of spiritual rebirth (being born again) as a requisite for entering the spiritual realm (the Kingdom of Heaven, a vague and ambiguous translation I have eschewed). Born of water refers to the natural, physical birth. He tells Nicodemus that even his people, the religious leaders, must be reborn of spirit. But what constitutes spiritual rebirth is not yet articulated. On this matter Jesus makes no effort to enlighten the obtuse Nicodemus, who is still stuck on the idea of rebirth as something purely physical. --- The metaphor of the wind is a play on words, the Greek word pneuma meaning both spirit and wind, (perhaps more appropriate than in English, where "spirit" in the plural refers to hard liquor).
3. Nicodemus, very literal-minded for a man of religion, seems clueless in understanding the concepts of spirituality that Jesus touches upon in their conversation. Jesus is rightly appalled by his ignorance. There is an untold back story here. Apparently Nicodemus' colleagues, the Pharisees, or perhaps the entire Jewish religious establishment, have already rejected the message that Jesus and his disciples are bringing. Jesus is obviously more than a little miffed by the rejection. He complains that they won't believe or try to understand anything he has to say, even about non-spiritual matters.
4. The teachings conveyed to Nicodemus do not seem really part of a single argument, but discreet thoughts. Therefore, for clarity, I have separated them with dots.
5. The abode of God (I am avoiding the term heaven, whose meaning is imprecise -- sometimes it means the sky.) is a place that no man has visited. Only the Son of Man, that is, Jesus, has been there, because that is his place of origin (as Logos). The commonly held Christian view that good Christians go to Heaven after death is hardly consistent with this statement by Jesus.
6. Jesus alludes to his crucifixion by saying that he must be raised up as Moses raised up a bronze snake on a pole. The raising up is probably also metaphorical, an exaltation. This raising up (crucifixion) and exaltation is necessary so that his believers can achieve everlasting life.
7. I prefer the term everlasting life to eternal life. "Eternal" means existing in the eternity of the past as well as the future, while "everlasting" suggests existence only from a certain point onward, the future eternity, but not necessarily the past. --- Jesus is promising everlasting life on the condition of belief; no other condition is yet imposed.
8. Jesus' purpose in coming to earth and becoming incarnated as a man is not to save the world per se, but to furnish the means (his death and martyrdom) by which the world, that is, its people, may be saved and not condemned (presumably to death). Those who will not believe (as opposed to those who merely do not believe) are condemned, or rather, they have condemned themselves.
9. The analogy of light and darkness is again presented, but awkwardly. One expects the light that comes into the world to be spiritual revelation, which is rejected by evil doers who prefer ignorance, darkness. The metaphor here does not quite have this meaning. In this analogy, the light is not revelation, wisdom or even goodness, but rather the kind of enlightenment that allows one to appraise clearly human actions, to see people and the world as they really are. The good conduct their lives openly and honestly and, therefore, welcome the light that allows everyone, even God, to see and judge their actions, while the evil must act in secret, in darkness, to hide their evil deeds.
10. Many translations have the last paragraph of this chapter as a part of Jesus' dialogue, but it seems evident that this is the author of John speaking and not Jesus himself.
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