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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - John 3:1 - 3:1
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Now (de). So often in John de is explanatory and transitional, not adversative. Nicodemus is an instance of Christ’s knowledge of men (Joh 2:25) and of one to whom he did trust himself unlike those in Joh 2:24. As a Pharisee “he belonged to that party which with all its bigotry contained a salt of true patriotism and could rear such cultured and high-toned men as Gamaliel and Paul” (Marcus Dods).
Named Nicodemus (Nikodēmos onoma). Same construction as in Joh 1:6, “Nicodemus name to him.” So Rev 6:8. It is a Greek name and occurs in Josephus (Ant. XIV. iii. 2) as the name of an ambassador from Aristobulus to Pompey. Only in John in N.T. (here, Joh 7:50; Joh 19:39). He was a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, and wealthy. There is no evidence that he was the young ruler of Luk 18:18 because of archōn (ruler) here.