Nicodemus is only mentioned by John (yet some Ger- man rationalists have sought or rather forced a compar- ison with the rich young man of Mark x, 17-24), who narrates his nocturnal visit to Jesus, and the conversa- tion Avhich then took place; at this the evangelist may himself have been present. A.D. 26. The high sta- tion of Nicodemus, and the avowed scorn under which the rulers concealed their inward conviction (.John iii, 2) that Jesus was a teacher come from God, are suffi- cient to account for the secrecy of the interview. A constitutional timidity is discernible in the character of the inquiring Pharisee, which could not be overcome by his vacillating desire to befriend One whom he knew to be a Prophet, even if he did not at once recognise in him the promised jMessiah. Thus the few words which he interposed against the rash injustice of his colleagues are cautiously rested on a general principle (John vii, .50), and betray no indication of his faith in the (ialilican whom his sect despised. Even when the power of Christ's love, manifested on the cross, hail made the most timid disciples bold, Nicodemus did not come for- Avard with his splendid gifts of afifection until the ex-
NICODEMUS, GOSPEL OF 11 NICODEMUS, GOSPEL OF
ample had been set by one of his own rank and wealth, and station in society (xix, 39). See Hase, Leben Jesu, p. lOG sq. ; Volbeding, hidex Programmatum, p. 32.
In these three notices of Nicodenuis a noble candor and a simple love of truth shine out in the midst of hes- itation and fear of man. But Nieraeyer (Charakt. i, 113 sq.) has endeavored to show that the apparent ti- midity of Nicodemus was but reasonable prudence. We can easily believe the tradition that after the resurrec- tion (which would supply the last outward impulse nec- essary to confirm his faith and increase his courage) he became a professed disciple of Christ, and received bap- tism at the hands of Peter and John. All the rest that is reported of him is very uncertain. It is said, how- ever, that the Jews, in revenge for his conversion, de- prived him of his office, boat him cruelly, and drove him from Jerusalem; that Gamaliel, who was his kins- man, hospitably sheltered him until his death in a coun- try house, and finally gave him honorable burial near the body of Stephen, where Gamaliel himself was after- wards interred. Finally, the three bodies are said to have been discovered August 3, A.D. 415, which day was set apart by the Romish Church in honor of the event (Phot. Bihlioth. Cod. p. 171 ; Lucian, De S. Steph. inveiiHone),
If the Nicodemus of John's Gospel be identical with the Nicodemus ben-Gorion of the Talmud (see Delitzsch in the Ztitschr. f. luth. Thcologie, 1854, p. 643 sq.), he must have lived till the fall of Jerusalem, which is not impossible, since the term ykpiov, in John iii, 4, may not be intended to apply to Nicodemus himself. The argu- ments for their identification are that both are men- tioned as Pharisees, wealthy, pious, and members of the Sanhedrim {Taanith, f. 19, etc.); and that the original name (altered on the occasion of a miracle performed by Nicodemus in order to procure rain) is said to have been "'J'S, Bonay, which is also the name of one of five rabbinical disciples of Christ mentioned in Sanhed. f. 43, 1 (Otho, s. V. Christus). Finally, the family of this Nico- demus are said to have been reduced from great wealth to the most sciualid and horrible poverty, which, however, may as well be accounted for by the fall of Jerusalem as bj" the change of fortune resulting from an acceptance of Christianity Smith.
NICODEMUS, Gospel of (Ernngelium Nicodemi), sometimes called the Acts of Pilate {Acta Pilati), an early forgery which circulated in the 3d and 4th centuries [see Apockypha], is composed of the two oldest narratives of the (iospel history belonging to the category of the apocrypha, and not tainted with heresy. They are called the " Protevangel of James" and the "Acts of Pilate." The latter consists of two distinct parts : the one treats of the scenes in the prajtorium, the other describes the descent of Jesus into hell. These two parts do not bear the same date ; the first is earlier than the second, though both belong to a remote Christian antiquity. They were subsequently put together under the name of the " Gos- pel of Nicodemus." The " Acts of Pilate" come before the " Descensus ad inferos." The two writings are al- waj's separated in old ]\ISS. The same facts are dif- ferently narrated in them. The words of the thief upon the cross are not the same in both (Tischendorf, P7-o- legomena, p. 50). The name of Nicodemus, given to the completion of these two writings, dates from the Middle Ages. We have two editions of the " Acts of Pilate." The first is the oldest. Justin IMartyr quotes from it di- rectly (/I ;wZ. i, 35; i, 48. See also TertuUian, yl^w^. 21). The " Protevangel of James" narrates the circumstances which preceded the birth of Marj', the mother of Christ. The narrative is a parody on the birth of John the Bap- tist. Joachim and Anna, two pious Israelites advanced in years, are made, by the special favor of God, fruitful in their hoary age (Proteraiiff. Jacohi, c. 6). This miracle is the foreshadowing of the liigh destiny awaiting the child, who is none other than Jlary. She grows up like a lily beneath the shadow of the altar, in the midst