Ah familiar territory here…John 3:16 and all that. For God so loved…are we comfortable?
What’s been happening?
Our NT passage this week is John 3:14-21. Nicodemus has just had a discussion with Jesus in the middle of the night. We know that Nicodemus is a ‘man of the Pharisees’ (John 3:1) and given the title ’ruler of the Jews’. Who Nicodemus represents is certainly not clear. The author, representing the Johannine community, may be seeking to refer to the ruling religious Jews, referred to in the text as Ioudaioi. The Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) suggest no more detail. Nicodemus is said to be a Pharisee [1], and although the term ‘Pharisees’ is used sixteen times, its usage may be incorrect prior to the Jewish War, only to become one of the leading group of Jews post 70 CE [2]. Furthermore, the Sadducees are not mentioned, giving Nicodemus a timeframe after the destruction of the Second Temple. The Acts of Pilate, states that Nicodemus was one “capable of speaking to the elders of the Jews, priests and levites in their assemblies” [3]. Therefore, Nicodemus is typically portrayed as a man of influence and of power, despite doubt in his historicity.
Nicodemus arrives at a meeting at night, that he appears to initiate with Jesus, either as an interested individual or as a spokesperson for the assembly. He leads the chat but leaves possibly as Jesus chides Nicodemus’ on his lack of understanding. For God so loved…are we comfortable?
Moreover, we are not afforded how or when Nicodemus physically leaves as the verbs and pronouns change to the second person and continues with Jesus explaining the discourse, utilising the “Amen, Amen” as a prominent marker of an imminent theological soundbite.
He’s fictional?
It might appear that Nicodemus was merely a literary device to articulate an aspect of the Johannine theology; moreover, some state that Nicodemus is a “Johannine construction”[4] as Nicodemus is not ever present within the Synoptics. Whether Nicodemus was historical or not, the underlying message is still important.
Nicodemus, in association with Joseph of Arimathea, enters the scene later upon Jesus’ death with an excessive amount of burial supplies of aloes and myrrh, reinforcing an argument that he was one of financial substance. Nevertheless it could also confirm that Nicodemus still held true to current beliefs regarding death, and not one of resurrection. Here’s an academic perspective of that belief of Heaven then.
So what did they say?
This all occurs directly after the turning tables at the Temple. I’m sure the Temple Authorities, including the local Pharisees would be more than a bit agitated, so meeting up with Nicodemus was quite problematic – ah that’s why it was by night. Nicodemus is willing to listen to Jesus, who he says is a ‘teacher who has come from God’ – were there more teachers Nicodemus has been listening to as well?
Our passage starts with an obscure reference to Moses and a snake (Numbers 21:4-9). How can this be related? As the snake is lifted, let’s watch the scales fall… This response in John 3:14-15 is an answer to Nicodemus question from John 3:9 – which probably Nicodemus has already forgotten he had asked – he is that confused. The key is in the expression ‘lifted up’ In Palestinian Aramaic and in Syriac, that verb has a special meaning (explained at the link) of ‘to be crucified’.[5] It is in the belief in this crucified ‘Son of man’ that we may tenet into the ‘Kin_dom of God’ or ‘eternal life’.
Did you think that the ‘Kin_dom of God’ (here on Earth) and ‘eternal life’ were different or one of the same?
It is the first occasion in this Gospel of ‘eternal life’. The same expression is used in Mark 10:30 for the ‘life of the coming age’. For God so loved…are we comfortable?
John speaks in the first person
“For God was so filled with wrath against the world, that he sent his only begotten son to take the beating that we all deserved. That if anyone would want to escape eternal suffering, and would raise their hand and repeat this prayer after me, they would escape this horrible wrath. For the son was not sent into the world to change our minds about God, but to change God’s mind about us. So now that Jesus has taken the punishment for us, God can now finally love us, and forgive us.”
“For God So Hated the World” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/2018/11/for-god-so-hated-the-world/
Agreed, this is not what is written in the passage, but consider it from an understanding that Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Where is the crucifixion in the verse we normally read?
So from Verse 16 onwards John is speaking in the first person… John 3:16 is not probably quoting Jesus.
What is key in the following verses is that:
- Love is of cardinal importance.
- The Word is the creation of God (John 1:9)
Why is this? So that the World, whom God loves, will be saved. Ah Judgement time… Yes, but the judgement is not from God, but by the unbelievers decision. The judgement so many fear is by ourselves, deciding upon which course to take. For God so loved…are we comfortable?
Deeds
There is plenty of what are known as dualities listed here (John 3:18-21). The author of the Gospel uses: Spirit and World; Light & Dark; Life & Death; Truth & Wickedness; and believers and unbelievers. Given the context when the Gospel was written (90-100 CE), the context of the followers of Jesus as depicted in this Gospel, the talk against the ruling authorities of the Temple and those believers who wouldn’t put their head above the parapet, (as above) this may well have strengthened the resolve of those choosing to be identified as a follower. Verse 21 starts with ‘But the one ‘doing the truth’, which I understand is as clumsy in Greek as it is sounds in English, means behaving honestly.
It was an open inclusive invitation to join. Here we have a distinction between belief and action, not separate but a mark ‘in the sand’ as one flows into the other.
Prayer is a verb. Our faith leads us into action.
A personal faith, kept to oneself, is one that has no where to go.
For God so loved…are we comfortable?
[1] Cornelis Bennema, Encountering Jesus, (Minneapolis : Fortress, 2014) , p. 77.
[2] Barnabas Lindars SSF., John, (Sheffield : Sheffield Academic Press, 1990, 1994, 1996), p. 52.
[3] Rutherford. H. Platt, Jr., The Lost Books of the Bible, (Kindle : Global Grey Ebooks, 2016), Loc.1375 of 9589. Gospel of Nicodemus, Chapter 5, Verse 1.
[4] Raymond F. Collins, These Things Have Been Written : Studies on the Fourth Gospel, (Leuven : Peeters Press, 1990), p. 58.
[5] Sanders Mastin., A Commentary on the Gospel According to St John, (London: Black, 1977), p. 128ff