The Everlasting Gospel
John 3:1-36
A Visitor in the Evening
While alone in the evening, Jesus had a visitor—a certain Pharisee named Nicodemus.
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
- John 3:1-2 -
Later in John’s Gospel, we learn that Nicodemus belonged to the body of chief priests and Pharisees that governed the Jewish nation. This governing body, known as the Sanhedrin, had seventy-one members. Why Nicodemus came at night to see Jesus is uncertain. Perhaps during the day Jesus was always thronged by people and inaccessible. Or perhaps Nicodemus wished to interview Jesus secretly to minimize the risk to his own career.
From his later words advising the rulers to give Jesus a hearing, we may surmise that Nicodemus had by then become a follower of Jesus.
45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
- John 7:45-52 -
Indeed, after Jesus’ crucifixion Nicodemus joined Joseph of Arimathaea in the work of burying Jesus’ body.
38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
- John 19:38-40 -
So, when Nicodemus first visited Jesus, his acknowledgment that Jesus was a teacher come from God was surely more than flattery. He was expressing a personal conviction resting on the miracles that he had seen Jesus perform.
Yet the motive behind his first overture to the rabbi from Galilee may have been to forge a political alliance with a man who appeared to be on the threshold of power and kingship. Jesus did not furnish what he was seeking, however. Just as in His cleansing of the Temple He had fought to keep true religion untainted by business (John 2:16), He now refused to mix true religion with politics. Of course, He would someday assume kingship over all mankind, but His first coming to this world, rather than raising Him to power on a throne, would bring Him to death on a cross.
Jesus’ Strategy for Winning the Soul of Nicodemus
A reader of this account might be surprised at Jesus’ reaction to Nicodemus’s confession of belief in Jesus as a man from God. Jesus did not welcome this confession and immediately treat Nicodemus as another disciple. Why not? Because He knew that Nicodemus was a sinner as much as anyone else, and that unless he repented of his sin, he had no chance of salvation. Therefore, Jesus proceeded to bring this man under conviction that he was an evildoer in the sight of God.
How did He accomplish this? In His divine wisdom, He gave Nicodemus spiritual truth in a form normally indigestible by a self-righteous Pharisee. He said that a man must be born again before he can see the kingdom of God.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
- John 3:3 -
This shocking idea, wholly beyond any idea that Nicodemus himself had ever conceived, elicited frank unbelief with a tinge of scorn.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
- John 3:4 -
Jesus explained that He talking not about rebirth of the body, but about spiritual rebirth.
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.
- John 3:5-8 -
Yet Nicodemus responded with doubt verging on an accusation that what Jesus was saying was impossible.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
- John 3:9 -
Nicodemus’s foolish reaction gave Jesus an opportunity to put His finger on the man’s sin.
1. Jesus bluntly revealed that the man was guilty of pretension.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
- John 3:10 -
He made himself out to be (literally) “the master of Israel”1 and yet failed to comprehend basic truth.
2. Jesus went on to accuse him of unbelief.
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?
- John 3:11-12 -
3. Implicit in these two charges was another charge—that Nicodemus was separated from God by his pride. Pretension is merely a face of pride. All unbelief is rooted in pride. Nicodemus did not instantly accept what Jesus told him because he thought he was already an expert in spiritual matters.
Later, in dealing with the Samaritan woman—a poor sinner with no illusions that she was right with God—Jesus was gentle and indirect. But in dealing with Nicodemus—a proud religious leader who felt that he, if anyone, should enter the Kingdom—Jesus was stern. He rebuked and shamed the man openly.
Spiritual Rebirth
In asking, “Knowest not these things?”, Jesus implied that Nicodemus’s study of the Old Testament should have taught him the doctrine of rebirth by the Spirit. Where in the Old Testament do we find this doctrine? If I had a roomful of pastors here, I wonder how many could answer that question. Can you answer it? One of the problems plaguing the church today is lack of Bible knowledge. Ignorance of Scripture is one reason that fundamentalism in the last sixty years or so has fractured into a multitude of groups that no longer fellowship with each other. When you stand before God, He will ask you why you did not spend more time reading His Word. At that moment, you will not be so foolish as to claim that you were too busy. You will know as He knows that people find time for what is important to them.
Jesus was referring to two passages close to each other in the Book of Ezekiel, the first in Ezekiel 36.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
- Ezekiel 36:24-28 -
Notice that the spirit that God will place in His people is “my spirit”; in other words, the Spirit of God. This chapter in Ezekiel speaks of events at the beginning of the Millennium. Every Jewish survivor of the Tribulation will enter the earthly kingdom of Christ, but only after he receives the Holy Spirit and undergoes spiritual rebirth—in other words, only after he has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
The other passage that Jesus was referring to appears in the following chapter of Ezekiel.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
- Ezekiel 37:12-14 -
This passage is speaking about the future resurrection of Old Testament saints. Whereas every Jew who receives Christ at the end of the Tribulation will enter the earthly kingdom of God, every resurrected Old Testament saint will enter the eternal kingdom of God. The former will receive the Holy Spirit and be born again as soon as he receives Christ as His Savior, but the latter will not receive the Holy Spirit and be born again until he has been raised from the dead. Previously, he was justified but not regenerated. Regeneration is a work of the Spirit that unites a believer with the body of Christ, and in Old Testament times His body had not yet been presented as a sacrifice for sins. If Old Testament saints were already indwelt by the Spirit and born again, Pentecost was meaningless. Yet for a believer in the Church Age, regeneration and possession by the Spirit accompany salvation.
When comparing physical birth and spiritual rebirth, Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6). In other words, physical birth produces a being of flesh, whereas rebirth through a work of the Holy Spirit produces a spiritual being. The New Testament regards a saved person as a new creature, as a new man with a renewed spirit.
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
- Ephesians 4:22-24 -
To further explain the concept of spiritual rebirth, Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind.
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.
- John 3:8 -
The wind cannot be seen, only its effects. Likewise, no one can see the Spirit or detect His workings to change a man’s heart. Yet we can see the end result—a changed life. A man born of the Spirit exhibits the effects of a hidden internal influence.
Baptism
Jesus’ statement in John 3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” has provoked endless controversy. Some cite this text to justify their claim that salvation requires baptism. Yet there are several orthodox interpretations of this saying, and none is friendly to the notion that baptism is required for salvation. The best interpretation recognizes that Jesus is giving Nicodemus a clue as to where Scripture teaches the doctrine of regeneration. The only Old Testament text that juxtaposes water and spirit is the following.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
- Ezekiel 36:25 -
This text describes spiritual regeneration as a twofold process with a negative aspect and a positive aspect. The first is a sprinkling with clean water to remove the filthiness of sin. The second is a giving of God’s Spirit to create a new heart, willing to serve and obey God. These same two steps are described by Paul.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
- Titus 3:5 -
He teaches that salvation is accomplished firstly by “washing of regeneration” and secondly by “renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Does Scripture intend us to equate this washing with physical baptism? No, on the authority of such texts as the following, we can say that this washing must be understood metaphorically.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
- 1 Peter 3:21 -
The washing at salvation refers to the change that takes place in the heart as a result of believing the gospel. The agency that produces the change is not the material substance known as water, but the Word of God. As Paul says,
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
- Ephesians 5:25-27
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- Romans 10:17 -
This change in the heart is called a cleansing because with repentance and faith comes a complete forgiveness of sins.
If John thought baptism was required for salvation, surely he would have mentioned this requirement somewhere in his Gospel, which is devoted mainly to teaching us about salvation. But even here in John 3 he does not actually use the word “baptism.”
The Gospel of Salvation
Nicodemus’s first reaction to Jesus’ description of true salvation was to express doubt that Jesus’ words could be true.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
- John 3:9 -
In reply, Jesus rebuked Nicodemus.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
- John 3:10 -
He told him that his ignorance was inexcusable for someone regarded as a religious leader of the Jewish people.
Then Jesus proceeded to identify Himself in language that Nicodemus must have found shocking as well as surprising.
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 3:11-13 -
John does not tell us Nicodemus’s immediate reaction to Jesus’ claim that He had come down from heaven. Nicodemus was apparently willing to set doubt aside and fully consider Jesus’ instruction, or else Jesus would not have continued teaching him. In fact, Jesus began to revise and elevate the Pharisaical worldview of Nicodemus. He accomplished this purpose by stressing three foundational truths.
1. He showed Nicodemus that the Messiah expected by the Jews would be man’s redeemer from sin, and that to achieve this purpose He would have to die.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
- John 3:14 -
Nicodemus probably expected the Messiah to lead a rebellion against Rome, then assume the throne and live forever. Perhaps a false expectation of this kind was the reason why He sought to ally himself with Jesus. But Jesus revealed to him that the Son of man must be lifted up, just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness.
4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
- Numbers 21:4-9 -
An examination of this incident during the wilderness wanderings of Israel finds it to be a richly meaningful picture of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. After the Israelites had again offended God by their complaining, He sent a plague of fiery serpents among them. Some time after being bitten, a person died. In a turnabout from their behavior in former years, the people of Israel repented and admitted that they had sinned. So, God instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and to raise it on a pole. If anyone bitten by a serpent looked at the pole, he would live.
The fiery serpents represented sin, because sin came into the world through a serpent’s temptation of Eve. As a result of sin, we die.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Romans 6:23 -
The pole represented the cross where Jesus would be executed. Just as an Israelite bitten by a serpent could escape death by looking at the pole, so the remedy for our sin is to look at the cross. The brass serpent that Moses hung on the pole represented the sins of mankind that Jesus bore in His own body.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
- 1 Peter 2:24 -
The serpent on the pole was brass and therefore lifeless because it had no power to bite Jesus Himself, who was sinless. Before His death, Jesus said,
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
- John 14:30 -
Why in the incident of fiery serpents during the time of Moses was there no representation of Christ? Because the Second of the Ten Commandments had forbidden the Israelites to make any graven image of deity.
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
- Deuteronomy 5:8-10 -
2. Jesus then proceeded to teach Nicodemus a second foundational truth. It was that a man gained heaven by believing in God’s only begotten Son.
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.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: . . . .
- John 3:15-18a -
Again, what Jesus taught contradicted the Pharisees. They believed that they gained salvation through righteous works.
3. To present a third foundational truth, Jesus corrected the title that Nicodemus had given Him. Nicodemus had addressed Jesus as a rabbi come from God (v. 2). In fact, He was the only begotten Son of God (v. 16). Lest Nicodemus fail to understand that this title implied deity, Jesus made the astounding claim that He had come down from heaven and that He was, at that moment when He was speaking to Nicodemus, still “in heaven” (v. 13). Such feats were possible only for a Being who was both preexistent and omnipresent; that is, only for God Himself.
The doctrine that Christ would be God in the flesh is found in the Old Testament.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9:6 -
Yet the Pharisees, no doubt including Nicodemus, were ignorant of this doctrine. Jesus came to His people at a time when there was much religion based on the Bible, but little understanding of what the Bible teaches. In our day we have entered another time of Biblical ignorance, and we can see three evil effects.
1. Conservative Christianity is fading away. When I was a young man, my father worked at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. The support that Moody enjoyed came from across a wide range of churches. The reason is that all these churches still embraced the doctrines and standards seen as fundamental to genuine Christianity. Today, many of these same churches as well as Moody itself have departed from the religious movement known as fundamentalism.
2. Many churches today are not growing. A church is a nursery for spiritual babes, yet these are entrusted to them by God only if they are doing a good job of childcare. What is their proper function? It is primarily feeding the little ones, which requires teaching at two levels, both basic and advanced. Today, many churches are dying because they have replaced feeding with empty rituals or with entertainment.
3. For Bible teachers in a traditional sense, it is becoming hard to find a platform for their work. One reason is that in today’s world, a common reaction to it is that it is too hard, or too boring, or too much at odds with having friends and having fun.
Jesus’ purpose in challenging Nicodemus’s false ideas was to prepare him for the gospel. This appears where Jesus brings His appeal to a climax in verse 16, the most famous verse in the Bible. “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.” It is famous no doubt because it presents the gospel in a form that is outstanding both for succinctness and clarity. God’s plan of salvation is here distilled into five elements, each expressed in just a few words.
1. The verse states the destiny that all men deserve. Apart from God’s intervention, the only possible future for all men is to “perish;” that is, to pass from life in this world into eternal death. The reason for their sad future is clearly implied in the preceding verses. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, they are incorrigible rebels against God.
2. The verse states the motive behind God’s work of salvation. It is, “God so loved the world.” The world in this sense is not the physical earth or human society. Nor is it the world intended when the Bible says that we should love not the world.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 1 John 2:15 -
This verse is referring to all the evil practices that are pervasive in our world. Rather, in John 3:16 the world is the world of individual people. When seen collectively, mankind is not very lovable. Many people are on a foolish path that will make a mess of their own lives. And many people are guilty of abominable mistreatment of other people. Vile wickedness is pervasive in human society. Yet when God looks at us as individuals, He loves us. Once when I shared the gospel with a child, I personalized the gospel by bringing John 3:16 down to his level. I said, “Jesus told the Father, ‘Don’t punish Johnny. Let me take his punishment.’”
3. The verse states also the means of salvation—“that he gave His only begotten Son.” “So loved that He gave” implies cost or sacrifice. Sacrifice is the proof of love. If your husband or wife is sick, you make sacrifices to take care of them. In the context of v. 14, which says, “even so must the Son of man be lifted up,” the giving in v. 16 can only refer to Jesus’ sacrificial death on a cross. The Son that God gave was the Only Begotten. One truth affirmed by this name is that the Father has communicated His own nature to the Son so that He bears His likeness in every respect, whereas we, as sons of God, bear His image only as a distant likeness.
4. The verse states the requirement for salvation—“that whosoever believeth in him.” Believing in the Son involves “receiving” Him, as we learn in John 1:12.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
- John 1:12 -
From John 3:16 we also learn that to receive Him means that we believe on His name, which affirms His true identity as our Lord and Savior. But we can view Him as our Savior only if we recognize ourselves as sinners unworthy of heaven. So, the belief required for salvation involves a correct view of ourselves as well as a correct view of Jesus.
5. Finally, the verse states the benefit in salvation. It is that we “should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The eternal life we gain by faith is an unending life rich both in service for God and in fellowship with God. Some people imagine that heaven will be a dull place where we sit on clouds strumming harps. But this fantasy is far removed from reality.
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
- Psalm 16:11 -
The truth is that whatever you enjoy on earth, you will enjoy in heaven at a much higher level of gladness—whether it is music, socializing with others, exploration, or reading books. Perhaps we will even be able to engage in gardening, carpentry, and gourmet cooking. Each of us will have his own “mansion” (John 14:2). Maybe we will have animals as pets.
In contrast to all who believe in Jesus, all who refuse to believe in Him will perish.
18 . . . : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
- John 3:18-21 -
Since they were born in sin, they lived under the sentence of condemnation even before they decisively rejected Christ. The ultimate reason why any man turns from the truth is that he wishes to remain in sin. Yet divine grace can overcome even the natural tendency of the human heart to hate the light of God. God can so work in a man’s heart that he will seek truth and come to the personification of truth, who is Christ.
Excuses of Unbelievers
On the authority of this passage we can say with complete confidence that all the excuses people give for staying out of church and rejecting God are a smokescreen for sin.
1. They may claim that church people have mistreated them. But what is the reason we should go to church—to be treated right or to worship God?
2. Another common excuse is that church people are hypocrites. Yes, there may be some hypocrites in church. But should I reject salvation in Christ and go to hell just because some church member is also going to hell?
3. Many people stay home because they claim that they do not need church or religion. Why? Perhaps they doubt there is a God. Or perhaps they feel that even if He exists, they are not so bad that He would condemn them.
Well, there is a God. The universe did not spring into being out of nothing. Modern scientists have not discovered any set of natural causes that is sufficient to explain either the origin or the properties of the wonderfully complex and beautiful universe which is our present home. Therefore, since science is the search for adequate causes, atheism is egregiously unscientific.
Also, anyone outside any church or religion who imagines that he is good enough for heaven if it exists is deluded. No one in his own moral character deserves eternal life. Each of us is enough of a sinner that if we were given the power and glory of a heavenly being, we would soon be a menace to others. Although you may think that your sin is not very bad, God sees it otherwise. Whatever sin you possess, it is rebellion against God’s law. Therefore, in His eyes you are a rebel, and no king is inclined to give a rebel any favors. Neither will God give you heaven. So do not tell yourself that you do not need church or religion even if there is a God. As John says, what you are doing is hiding from the light lest your sins be exposed.
Ministry Undertaken by Jesus and His Disciples
After Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration in AD 30, He and His disciples remained in Judea for some time, while John the Baptist was still baptizing. Jesus’ disciples began to baptize also.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
- John 3:22 -
Jesus refrained from personally baptizing anyone, however.
1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
- John 4:1-2 -
Why did God ordain that no believer in Jesus would undergo baptism by Jesus Himself? Perhaps He did not want anyone to misplace his faith in a ritual that Christ had performed on his behalf rather than in Christ’s saving work on the cross.
Testimony of John the Baptist
After baptizing Jesus, John continued his own ministry in the wilderness.
23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
- John 3:23-24 -
When some of John’s disciples heard about Jesus’ ministry in Judea, they brought the news to John.
25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
- John 3:25-26 -
The Jews who informed John’s disciples about the work of Jesus apparently argued that many people were going to Jesus for baptism because what He provided had a more purifying effect on their souls.2
The answer given by John was to exalt Jesus in their eyes.
27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
- John 3:27-30 -
Again, he lowered himself in comparison with Jesus. He rated himself as merely Jesus’ forerunner (v. 28). He called himself only a friend of the bridegroom who has the bride, meaning the Church (v. 29). He said that he must decrease while Jesus increased (v. 30).
Many commentators close the Baptist’s speech at verse 30. The rest of the chapter, they say, gives us the thoughts not of John the Baptist, but of the Gospel writer himself. Their judgment rests on the assumption that the Baptist could not have possessed the high conception of Jesus that we find in verses 31 to 36. But no transition marks a division between verses 30 and 31. Thus, the final verses of chapter 3 provide solid evidence of what the Baptist believed.
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
- John 3:31-36 -
The Baptist admitted that he was earthly, but Jesus was heavenly and above all (v. 31). Moreover, he exalted Jesus so far as to place Him in the Trinity—in that exalted state of perfect union with the Father and the Spirit where He possessed the Spirit without measure (v. 34) and received all things from the Father (v. 35). Such relationships with two persons of the Godhead could not be attributed to a mere man. We are limited in how much of the Spirit we can possess and in how much we can receive from the Father. To possess all of the first and receive all from the second would require that we be more than finite. The only Being who is capable of these relationships is another person of the Godhead—namely, God the Son.
Application
Let us all make John the Baptist’s wish our own—“He must increase, but I must decrease” (v. 30). Self is the great enemy of growth and usefulness in the Christian life. It is the load holding us back when we should go forward. It is the filter straining out truth from our perceptions. It is the mask over our sins. It is the flame inciting evil ambitions. The remedy is to crucify self and accept Christ as our way, our truth, and our life.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
- John 14:6 -
As our way, He guides us so that we need not follow the way of self.
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
- Proverbs 16:25 -
Therefore, we must rely on Christ to be our Shepherd through each day. As our truth, He must be our source of true wisdom and knowledge, so that we will not be fooled by any of the lies that self wants to believe.
24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- 1 Corinthians 1:24-25 -
As our life, He is the provider of life to the new man in us, destined to replace the old man full of corruption.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
- Galatians 2:20 -
There is nothing I wanted at age thirty, when I was away from Christ, that I want today, now that I have returned to Him. Then I wanted to know everything. Now I want to know Him and His Word. Then I wanted to reform society. Now I want to join Him in heaven. Then I wanted to be famous. Now I want to be good. Then I wanted to be wealthy. Now I want to gain heavenly rewards.