Nicodemus asked
Nicodemus is introduced in John 3:1 as a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. His name, of Greek origin, means "victory of the people." As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been well-versed in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish traditions. His approach to Jesus by night (John 3:2) suggests a cautious curiosity, possibly due to fear of reprisal from his peers. His questioning attitude reflects a genuine desire to understand Jesus' teachings, representing those who seek truth amidst the constraints of established religious systems.

Can he enter his mother's womb a second time to be born?
This rhetorical question reveals Nicodemus' confusion and literal interpretation of Jesus' statement about being "born again." The Greek word for "womb" is "κοιλίαν" (koilian), which refers to the belly or the innermost part of a person. Nicodemus' question is almost incredulous, emphasizing the impossibility of physical rebirth. This highlights the necessity of spiritual rebirth, a concept that Jesus is about to explain further. The imagery of re-entering the womb underscores the radical transformation required to enter the kingdom of God, a transformation that is not of human effort but of divine intervention.

When he is old does not necessarily apply to Nicodemus himself. It is the most difficult special case coming under the general term, "a man." In Philo's artificial division of the lifetime, based on that of Hippocrates, the "old man" (?????) is one more than fifty-six years (De Mund. Opif. ? 36). If we understand this of Nicodemus personally, it will make the identification with Nak'dimon (Note on John 3:1) barely possible.

(4) The proper meaning of the word rendered "sound" (????) is articulate "voice." It is used in fifteen passages in this Gospel only, and everywhere translated "voice" except here. Let the reader substitute the one meaning for the other in any of these passages, e.g., John 1:23; John 3:29; John 5:25; John 5:28; John 10:3-5; John 10:16, and he will find that they are not interchangeable. . . .

(1) Nicodemus saw a grave and amazing difficulty in the idea of a second birth of a man old, like himself, in years, prepossessions, habits of thought, ways of acting, social ties, ancestral and traditional customs, and in venerable ideas consecrated by long usage. He might have known the language of the prophets concerning circumcision of heart (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4) and concerning a new heart and right spirit (Ezekiel 36:26, 27; Psalm 51:10; Psalm 86:4); but the full bearing of these prophetic ideas were beyond and different to the almost drastic form of Christ's call for spiritual change and "birth from the beginning." There is no necessity for us to accuse him either of "narrowness" (Meyer) or of imbecility (Reuss, Lucke), or to make such a charge react upon the spirit or temper of the evangelist in delineating him. It is enough that Nicodemus should have seen a grave difficulty; and Thoma here is justified in referring to the language of the apostles, when the narrow entrance into the kingdom was set forth under the image of the camel and the needle's eye; and to Mary, when she cried, "How can this thing be?" Moreover, the same perplexity, after eighteen hundred years of Christian experience, still encumbers this utterance of the Master.

(2) Nicodemus did not, by the form of his question, put such query to the Lord in any literal baldness or insolent worldliness. Surely such a view ignores all the tropical methods of speech current in the rabbinical schools. He virtually said," Birth such as you speak of is as impossible as the second physical birth of an old man, as preposterous as would be re-entrance into the womb of his mother for the purpose of a second birth." Christ had spoken of a fundamental change - one going right down to the very sources and beginnings of life. The Lord had used this difficult image, and propounded his view in a term capable of various interpretation. Nicodemus simply expresses his alarm and incredulity in terms of the image itself. It is little more than the language of the prophet, "Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots?" Are you not proposing a natural impessibility? Must not the kingdom of God, which we thought we saw in thy advent and mighty deeds, be on this understanding hopelessly veiled from human vision? The "being old" shows that Nicodemus had gone through the metaphor to the condition of mind of which it was the subject. There was no greater physical difficulty in an old man re-entering his mother's womb than for a boy of twelve to do so; but being probably, not necessarily, an old man, and belonging to a society of grave, reverend elders, with the inveterate habits, practices, traditions, of long lives behind them, how impracticable and impossible does the notion of so complete a change appear to him! Hence his question. Westcott says admirably, "The great mystery of religion is not the punishment, but the forgiveness of sins; not the natural permanence of character, but spiritual regeneration."

Parallel Commentaries ...