John 3 - ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible

3:1–15 Under the cloak of darkness, Nicodemus learned of a birth from above. As an old man, he needed new life—eternal life, life in the kingdom of God. But apart from the work of Jesus, he (no different than we) could not even see the kingdom of God, much less enter it. Becoming a Christian is a supernatural act of God’s generosity. We, like Nicodemus, are just as dependent upon God for our second birth as for our first birth. To be born of “water and the Spirit” is to receive the new heart and the sin-cleansing washing God promised for the age of the Messiah (Ezek. 36:24–35).

As someone steeped in the Old Testament, John had a great appreciation for the symbolism of water. Just as Jesus created the headwaters that flowed through the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10–14), so he is the source of the life-giving river promised in Ezekiel’s vision of the end-time temple (Ezekiel 47). At his second coming, Jesus will “un-dam” the river of life and it will course its way through the new Jerusalem forever (Rev. 22:1–3). But even now, at his first coming, Jesus offers the firstfruits of living water to those who will bring their thirsty hearts to him (John 4:3–42; 7:37–39).

Jesus freely gives us new life by the supreme offering of his costly death—an event Nicodemus would witness firsthand (19:38–40). When Moses lifted the bronze serpent (representing God’s punishment for his people’s sin) in the wilderness (Num. 21:4–9), it was to rescue the Israelites from God’s judgment as they looked in faith to God’s provision for healing. When Jesus was lifted onto the cross (representing God’s punishment for his people’s sin), it was to enter the wilderness of God’s judgment for us, and those who look to him in faith for spiritual healing will also experience God’s provision.

3:16–21 The greatness of God’s love is measured in terms of its unsearchable riches as well as in terms of its unimaginable reach. The “world” spoken of in verse 16 is the rebellious world of God’s image-bearers. God loved rebels, fools, and idolaters so much that he gave his only Son, Jesus, to redeem them—to actually purchase a pan-national, trans-generational family for himself (Rev. 7:9–10). Everyone the Father gives to Jesus will be saved (John 6:37–40; 10:14–18). There is no other way. There is no greater love.

For John, eternal life is a quality of life before it is a quantity of life. Eternal life is defined in the Bible as knowing God and his Son (17:3)—a sharing of the life and intimacy of the Godhead. It is earthly entry into the everlasting and ever-blessed life of the age to come, the age of the Messiah—the fullness of covenant life. Through Jesus this promised age arrived, and at our rebirth we are ushered into the initial stages of that eternal life. Indeed, the movement from deservedly condemned sinner to perfectly justified believer is instantaneous and complete.

3:22–36 The transition from the era of anticipation to the age of fulfillment continued as John the Baptist helped his disciples shift their focus even more expressly onto Jesus. The apostle John cites John the Baptist’s testimony in terms that will become one of the apostle’s favorite metaphors for describing the rich relationship Jesus establishes with his people: as Messiah, Jesus is the perfect bridegroom who came from heaven to make a most unlikely, unworthy bride (the church) his wife. Jesus did this by taking upon himself the wrath we deserve in order to give us the favor we could never earn (Eph. 5:22–33).

It is important to note that those rescued from wrath are granted eternal life because they believe, while those who are condemned experience wrath because they disobey (John 3:36). The basis of God’s judgment is his just sentence for sin; the basis of our salvation is God’s grace toward those who put their faith in his Son’s provision for them. Disobedience alone results in wrath. Faith alone results in salvation.