Sunday, February 6, 2022

R. C. H. Lenski on John 3:3-5

  

3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Amen, amen, I say to thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. On the use of ἀπεκρίθη and the doubling of the verbs “answered and said,” see 1:48. Jesus saw what was in the man (2:25) and thus told him what he needed; and the two verbs show that this is highly important. When Jesus “takes the word” (ἀπεκρίθη) he does not begin with his own person although Nicodemus had put this forward. In due time Jesus will cover that point. Jesus begins with the kingdom of God and the entrance into that kingdom. And we must note that this kingdom and the coming of the Messiah belong together, for he is the King, and only where he is the kingdom is. Nicodemus, too, understood this relation and, like every serious Israelite, desired to see (ἰδεῖν) this Messianic kingdom, i.e., as a member entitled to a place in it. This is the background of Jesus’ statement. So he begins with the solemn formula, explained in 1:51, “Amen, amen (the assurance of verity), I say to thee” (the assurance of authority) and follows with a statement regarding what is essential in order to see the kingdom as one of its members.

 

This word of Jesus, as also its elaboration in v. 5 and 11, goes back to what the Baptist had preached when he declared the kingdom at hand and called on men to enter it by the Baptism of repentance and remission of sins, meaning the kingdom in its new form with redemption actually accomplished by the Messiah, the Lamb of God, i.e., the new covenant that would supersede the old. This grand concept βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ must not be defined by generalizing from the kingdoms of earth. These are only imperfect shadows of God’s kingdom. God makes his own kingdom, and where he is with his power and his grace there his kingdom is; whereas earthly kingdoms make their kings, often also unmake them, and their kings are nothing apart from what their kingdoms make them. So also we are not really subjects in God’s kingdom but partakers of it, i.e., of God’s rule and kingship; earthly kingdoms have only subjects. In God’s kingdom we already bear the title “kings unto God,” and eventually the kingdom, raised to the nth degree, shall consist of nothing but kings in glorious array, each with his crown, and Christ thus being “the King of kings,” a kingdom that has no subjects at all.

 

This divine kingdom goes back to the beginning and rules the world and shall so rule until the consummation of the kingdom at the end of time. All that is in the world, even every hostile force, is subservient to the plans of God. The children and sons of God, as heirs of the kingdom in whom God’s grace is displayed, constitute the kingdom in its specific sense. And this kingdom is divided by the coming of Christ, the King, in the flesh to effect the redemption of grace by which this specific kingdom is really established among men. Hence we have the kingdom before Christ, looking toward his coming, and the kingdom after Christ, looking back to his coming—the promise and the fulfillment to be followed by the consummation—the kingdom as it was in Israel, as it now is in the Christian Church, the Una Sancta in all the world, and as it will be at the end forever. It is called “God’s” kingdom and “Christ’s” kingdom (Eph. 5:5; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Pet. 1:11) because the power and the grace that produce this kingdom are theirs; also the kingdom “of heaven” or “of the heavens” because the power and the grace are wholly from heaven and not in any way of the earth. The Baptist preached the coming of this kingdom as it centers in the incarnate Son and his redemptive work.

 

Jesus tells Nicodemus the astonishing fact, “unless one is born anew” he cannot enter this kingdom. He makes the statement general, “one,” τίς, not singling out Nicodemus as though making an exceptional requirement for him. Not until v. 7 do we hear “thou,” although the application to Nicodemus personally lies on the surface throughout. The requirement of a new birth is universal. The form ἐάν with the subjunctive shows that Jesus counts on some entering the kingdom, i.e., that the new birth will be received by them. While ἄνωθεν may mean “from above” (place, local), here it must mean “anew” (time); for in v. 4 we have δεύτερον, “a second time,” in the same sense. Nor is ἄνωθεν the same as ἐκ Θεοῦ (in John’s First Epistle), for while God bestows this birth, the means by which he does so do not descend “from above” (Word and Sacrament), for which reason also what Jesus says of the new birth belongs to the ἐπίγεια, “earthly things” (v. 12). Not new and superior knowledge is essential; not new, superior, more difficult meritorious works; not a new national or ecclesiastical or religious. party connection that is better than the Pharisaic party; but an entirely new birth, the beginning of a newly born life, i.e., the true spiritual life.

 

This rebirth is misconceived when the Baptist and Jesus are separated and it is thought that the former was unable to bestow the Spirit. On this subject compare the comments on 1:26. The Baptist’s requirement is identical with that which Jesus makes. The Baptism of repentance and remission of sins bestows the new birth even as it is and can be mediated only by the Spirit. Jesus is not telling Nicodemus, “Go and be baptized by John and then wait until the Messiah gives thee the Spirit (how would he do that?), and thus thou wilt be reborn.” True repentance, the Baptist’s μετάνοια, consists of contrition and faith; and these two, wrought by the Spirit, constitute conversion which in substance is regeneration. All these focus in Baptism: every contrite and believing sinner whom the Baptist baptized was converted, was regenerated, had the Spirit, had forgiveness, was made a member of the kingdom, was ready for the King so close at hand to participate in full in all that the King would now bring. The Baptist stressed repentance and forgiveness in connection with his Baptism because these mediated the great change; in this first word to Nicodemus Jesus names only the great change itself and its necessity, “born anew.” In a moment Jesus, too, will name the means.

 

Jesus’ word regarding the new birth shatters once for all every supposed excellence of man’s attainment, all merit of human deeds, all prerogatives of natural birth or station. Spiritual birth is something one undergoes not something he produces. As our efforts had nothing to do with our natural conception and birth, so, in an analogous way but on a far higher plane, regeneration is not a work of ours. What a blow for Nicodemus! His being a Jew gave him no part in the kingdom; his being a Pharisee, esteemed holier than other people, availed him nothing; his membership in the Sanhedrin and his fame as one of its scribes went for nought. This Rabbi from Galilee calmly tells him that he is not yet in the kingdom! All on which he had built his hopes throughout a long arduous life here sank into ruin and became a little worthless heap of ashes. Unless he attains this mysterious new birth, even he shall not “see” (ἰδεῖν) the kingdom, i.e., have an experience of it. This verb is chosen to indicate the first activity of one who has passed through the door of the kingdom.

 

4) Nicodemus says to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? He certainly cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? These questions of Nicodemus have sometimes been misunderstood. This is not mere unspiritual denseness that is unable to rise above the idea of physical birth; nor rabbinical skill in disputation that tries to make Jesus’ requirement sound absurd, which Jesus would never have answered as he did; nor hostility to the requirement of Jesus. Nicodemus simply puts the requirement laid down by Jesus into words of his own; and by doing this in the form of questions he indicates where his difficulty lies. He thus actually asks Jesus for further explanation and enlightenment, and Jesus gives him this.

 

When Nicodemus says γέρων ὤν he is thinking of himself, although his question would apply to one of any age, even to a babe. This touch indicates both that the conversation is truly reported, and that one who saw the old man when he said “being old” remembered and wrote it down. The second question elucidates the first. We must note especially the interrogative μή, which indicates that in the speaker’s own mind the answer can only be a no. This completely exonerates Nicodemus from the charge that he understood Jesus’ words only as a reference to physical birth; or that he tried to turn those words so that they referred only to such a birth. The fact is that he does the very opposite as if he would say, “I know you cannot and do not mean that!” or, “That much I see.” He clearly perceives that Jesus has in mind some other, far higher kind of birth. But “how can such a birth take place?” He might also have asked, “What is this birth?” and the “what” would probably have explained also the “how.” He did the thing the other way, he asked, “How,” etc., and the manner, too, involves the nature—“how” one is thus born will cast light on “what” this being born really is. As in the word of Jesus, Nicodemus also retains the passive, here two infinitives, γεννηθῆναι, the second after δύναται. The term κοιλία denotes the abdominal cavity and thus is used for “womb.”

 

Although Jesus’ word must have struck Nicodemus hard, being uttered, as it was, by a young man to one grown old and gray as an established “teacher” (v. 10), Nicodemus shows no trace of resentment. He neither contradicts nor treats Jesus’ statement as extravagant and ridiculous. He takes no offense although he feels the personal force of what Jesus says. He does not rise and leave saying, “I have made a mistake in coming.” He quietly submits to the Word. This attitude and conduct, however, is due to the Word itself and to its gracious saving power. Changes were gradually going on in this man’s heart, some of them unconsciously; not he but a higher power was active in producing these changes. He was not as yet reborn, nor do we know when that moment came. Enough that Jesus was leading him forward, and Nicodemus did not run away.

 

5) Jesus answered, Amen, amen, I say to thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In no way does Jesus rebuke or fault Nicodemus—clear evidence that he who knew what is in a man (2:25) regards the questions of this man as being wholly sincere. Jesus explains his former word—again evidence that Nicodemus really has asked for an explanation. Jesus repeats his former word exactly, adding only one phrase and substituting “enter” for “see,” a mere explanatory detail, for only they who “enter” “see” the kingdom. The preposition ἐκ denotes origin and source. The exegesis which separates ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, as though Jesus said ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ ἐκ Πνεύματος is not based on linguistic grounds; for the one preposition has as its one object the concept “water and Spirit,” which describes Baptism, its earthly element and its divine agency. The absence of the Greek articles with the two nouns makes their unity more apparent. The making of two phrases out of the one is due to the preconception that the Baptist’s Baptism consisted only of water and that figuratively the Messiah’s bestowal of the Spirit can also be called a Baptism—yet leaving unsaid how and by what means the Messiah would bestow the Spirit. The fact that Jesus thus also postpones the very possibility of the new birth for Nicodemus (and for all men) into the indefinite future, when he and others may already have been overtaken by death, is also left unsaid.

 

In the Baptist’s sacrament, as in that of Jesus afterward, water is joined with the Spirit, the former being the divinely chosen earthly medium (necessary on that account), the latter being the regenerating agent who uses that medium. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, the latter could understand only that the Baptist’s sacrament was being referred to. This was entirely enough. For this sacrament admitted to the kingdom as completely as the later instituted sacrament of Jesus. Therefore Jesus also continued to require the Baptist’s sacrament, 3:22 and 4:2, and after his resurrection extended it to all nations by means of his great commission. No need, then, to raise the question as to which Baptism Jesus here had in mind, or whether he also referred to his own future sacrament. It was but one sacrament which was first commanded by God for the use of the Baptist, then was used by Jesus, and finally instituted for all people. Tit. 3:5 thus applies to this sacrament in all its stages. Jesus tells Nicodemus just what he asks, namely the “how” of regeneration. How is it possible? By Baptism! But Jesus cuts off a second how: How by Baptism? by using the description of Baptism, “water and Spirit.” Because not merely water but God’s Spirit is effective in the sacrament, therefore it works the new birth.

 

Jesus here assumes that Nicodemus knows about the preaching as well as about the baptizing of John. In passing note that the Holy Spirit is here mentioned, and that Nicodemus accepts this mention and all that follows regarding the Spirit without the slightest hesitation, as though he knew this Third Person of the Godhead; compare 1:32. Thus this reference of Jesus to Baptism is not understood by Nicodemus as an opus operatum, a mere mechanical application of the earthly element with whatever formula God had given the Baptist to use, but as being in the Baptist’s entire work vitally connected with μετάνοια or “repentance.” Strictly speaking, this repentance (contrition and faith) itself constitutes the rebirth in all adults yet not apart from Baptism which as its seal must follow; for the rejection of Baptism vitiates repentance and regeneration, demonstrating that they are illusory. (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Gospel [Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961], 231-38)

 

Further Reading


Baptism, Salvation, and the New Testament: John 3:1-7

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