John 3 - NLT Student Life Application Study Bible

3:1-21 A New Teaching Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council (called the Sanhedrin). Most Pharisees were intensely jealous of Jesus because he undermined their authority and challenged their views. But Nicodemus was searching, and he came to Jesus to be taught. This is a great way to come to Jesus—with an open mind and heart so he can teach us the truth about God.

3:5-6 Water and the Spirit When we put our trust in Jesus, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit. “Being born of water” might refer to physical birth or to Christian baptism, which is a symbol of receiving new life through faith. This water may also represent the cleansing action of God’s Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Nicodemus undoubtedly would have been familiar with God’s promise to give his faithful people a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Jesus was explaining the importance of a spiritual rebirth, saying that people enter God’s Kingdom only by receiving a new life from him. (See more on the Holy Spirit.)

3:14-15 Saved by Faith The mention of the bronze snake alludes to an episode during the Israelites’ time of wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9). During a plague of poisonous snakes, people who had been bitten by the snakes could be healed by obeying God’s command to look up at the elevated bronze snake replica Moses had made, believing that God would heal them. Similarly, we are saved from our sin when we look up to Jesus—who was “lifted up” on a wooden pole—believing that he will save us.

3:16 The Good News in Brief The message of the Good News comes to a focus in this verse. God’s love reaches out and draws others in. When you love someone dearly, you are willing to give to them freely, to the point of self-sacrifice. With his own life, God the Son paid the highest price he could pay. Jesus took on our punishment, paying the debt for our sins, and now he offers us the new life he has bought for us. To believe in him is more than to intellectually agree that Jesus is God. It means to put our trust and confidence in him and the fact that he alone can save us. If we do this, the promise of everlasting life will be ours.

3:31-35 The Son of God The heartbeat of John’s Gospel is the dynamic truth that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, the Messiah and the Savior, who existed from the beginning and will continue to live forever. Your whole spiritual life depends on your answer to the question Who is Jesus Christ? If a person accepts Jesus as only a prophet or teacher, they have to reject what he actually taught, because he claimed to be God’s Son—to be God himself. In his life on earth, Jesus was always filled with and empowered by God’s Spirit and totally connected to the heart and mind of the Father. Now he has invited us to accept him and live with him eternally. When we truly understand who Jesus is, believe what he said, and turn away from our sin and toward him, we will be transformed by the Holy Spirit and demonstrate that truth by how we live.