The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 249

EXPOSITION. supreme Di vine perfections of their MaRtcr OHAPTER ill, (cf. eh, i. 49; iv. 17; vi. 6·1; xi. 1, H; This is tho first of tho eleven discouracs xiii. 11; xxi. 17; o.nrl also I,ev. ii. 2, !), rn, recorded by thi.e evangelist, e.nd for the most etc.). "The man of the Pho.risces" fur- nishes (Gorlet) a test for determini"g the po.rt adclressed to the cultivated, hierorehical authenticity of the narrative. If the lines pe.rty in J crusalem, who questioned him in e.n of the following discourse, which move from unfriendly spirit. On the sources of these the first fundamental conditions of ad- records, and the degree to which John's mission into 1he kin~,lom of God t.o the subjectivity colourecl hie recorcl of them, see deepest principles of Divine character, and the grounds and consequences of recon- Introduction. ciliation with Goel, are such e.s meet tho Ver. 1.-Bnt there was a man of the standpoint and COITect the deductions of the Pharisees. Is this narre.tive introduced, as Pharisee, we have, then, all but demon- Baur thinlcs, to give a specimen of wrongly strative eviclence that this conversation di,! directed faith, to which Christ did not en- not evolve itself out of the consciousness trust himself? and was tho evangelist busy of the second centruy. The Pharis2.ic party at once on his grellt mission of undervaluing was excited by the ministry of John (eh. i. the Jewish parties and nation? Certainly 2!), ancl throughout the early ministry of not. We have a clear proof that, in the Jesus in Galilee followed him, with sus- case of the genuine inquirer, Christ did open picious, malicious suggestions, even plans his very be:ut; and to a" ruler of Jews," too. for his rnppression. 'fhe name Nicodem119, "Pharisee," to a " teacher of Israel," he if Hebrew in etymology from dam and naki, deigned (because he knew what was in the may have meant "Innocent blood;" it man, and required nobody's help) to unveil Greek, as is more probable, seeing that the the deepest realities of tho kingdom of God plan of bearing Greek as well as Hebrew and of the salvation of man. Baur is not names was not uncommon, it wonld signify correct in mal.-ing Nicodemus out t::> l•e o. "Conqueror of the people." Tradition se.ys specimen of unbelieving Juclaism and Ullilus- that he was baptized by Peter and John, ceptible Pharisaism, seeing that the later and deposed from his position in the San- notices of this Sanhedrist show that he be- hedrin, but supported by his kinsman, came a disciple of Jesus, if secretly. Nicode- Gamaliel. Each reference to him (eh. vii. mus was attracted, as others had been, by the 50 and xi.s:. 89) implies a certain t.imiclity, "signs" which Jesus had wrought; but he and perhaps unworthy reticence. These had gone fw·ther and deeper than they, and o.re relative terms. Much moral courage Jesus "knew it." A controversy bas nrisen must have been required for o. rnler of tha on the point-Did our Lord, by these pene- Jews (a phrnse only applicable to a man trative glances, manifest his Divine nature, of high ecclesiastical rank) to have clreamed assume a Divine prerogative, or exercise a of doing what he is reported to have done lofty, penetrative humcm gift? Westcott, here and elsewhere. The Talmud mentions on the philologico.l ground of the contrast a Nicodemus ben Gorion, who was also in moaning between ;,,,,c!,,,.,ce111 and eloJv,u, 1 called Bonai, o. ilisciple of Jesus, of great urges that the former word, used here, repre- weo.lth nnd piety, who survived the destruc- sents knowledge 11cquired by processes of tion of Jerusalem, and therein lost n\J Ids inquiry ancl perception, as distinct from the fortune (Lightfoot, in loc.; Dclitzsch, latter, which is reserved for absolute nnd 'Zoitsch. Luth. Theol.,' 185!). The hint settlecl knowledge. Godet, on theological that he was an old man in this year (A.u.c. grounds, urges that the phrase refers to the 781, or A.D. 29) renders his survival till A.D. hume.n faculty of observation rather than to 70 improbable, but not impossible by any the Divine prerogative of heart-searching. means. The identification is not complete. There a.re, however, mo.ny other indications The 'fa.lmud does not speak of him as :i. of this same thought-mastery, whioh the Sanheclrist, though it gives curious detaili, evangelists appear to regard 11s proofs of which imply that ho must have been a Divine power; so tho.t I think the real sig- priest in the temple, and had the charge of nificance of the passage is an asoription to providing the water-supply for the pilgrims Jesus of Divine power. The supernatural (Geik:i.e, i. 58¼; Winer, • Rea.I.,' ii. 152). in mind, the superhuman mental processes Ver. 2.-This me.n came to him 1 by night, of Jesus, are part of the proof we havo tlmt, though he wns Ma.n, he created the ine- 1 The rending a.uTbv, insteo.,l of -rd 11 sistible impression that he was more than •1 71 ,,.oiiv of T.R, 1s tho best attested, nnd i~ mo.n. Thus N atho.uaol and Thoroo.s founcl adopted by modern editors. It gi.ves addi- those to be tho most irresistible proofs of the tional reason for believing tho.t the previous 112 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. ( OH, III. 1· •-36,