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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - John 3:9 - 3:13
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The witness from above:
v. 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?
v. 10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?
v. 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
v. 12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
v. 13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.
Nicodemus could not understand yet, and so proceeded to ask a human explanation of a divine phenomenon. He wanted to know how these things could be; he wanted a plausible exposition. His personal conviction was that it was impossible for God and His Spirit to accomplish such results, to make a man entirely different from what he was before, actually to regenerate him. Jesus begins His explanation with an exclamation of surprise at the bewilderment of the Pharisee. For Nicodemus was a teacher in Israel, he held the position of a scribe, who was supposed to be well versed in the Law. The subject of regeneration is treated so often in the Psalms and in the visions of the prophets that a teacher of the people should have been thoroughly familiar with its full import. Bad enough for the pupil, for the ordinary Israelite, to be so blind; what, then, shall be said of a master that shows such obtuseness! See Psa_51:12; Eze_11:19. The scribes anti Pharisees of the time of Jesus no longer understood the Scriptures. They clung to the outward letter, while the true sense was hidden from them. Most emphatically, therefore, the Lord declares that His case is not one of ignorance and denseness. He has a first-hand, thorough knowledge. He speaks such things as He knows; and what He has seen and is continually "seeing as the eternal, omniscient Son of God, that He bears witness of. He speaks with divine authority of the miracle of regeneration as well as of the inner mysteries of the Triune God. And Jesus knows in advance that His word will not be accepted, His witness will not be believed. Not only Nicodemus, but all men that are like him in their position toward divine revelation are so blinded by their reason that they cannot understand. Of things pertaining to this life challenging their attention Jesus had spoken, of regeneration and sanctification; and not even those did they credit, much less have faith in His words. But if they could not understand the easier, the more tangible, that which ought to engage their attention at once, what would be the result if Christ should begin to teach of matters not open to human observation and experience, things wholly in the unseen, the essence and purposes of God? Of those things He could speak and testify of His own personal experience. No human being has ever dwelt in heaven and thus gained a knowledge of heavenly things. One only has dwelt there and is able to communicate the true knowledge concerning God and all divine matters. The Son of Man, the God-man, in His great work of atonement, has come down from heaven to be a witness of heavenly things. And for this He is fully qualified, for He is still in heaven; He is in the closest, the most intimate connection with the two other persons of the Godhead, even though His body is walking the earth in weakness and humility. Christ here states expressly that He was in heaven from the beginning, for else He could not have come down; that He has now come down for the purpose of testifying of heavenly things; that He is still in heaven, also according to His human nature, as the Son of Man. See Joh_1:18. And finally, the time is coming when He will return to heaven, when His human nature will be finally and fully translated into the heavenly glory and majesty. "Flesh and blood cannot get to heaven; only He ascends up to heaven that came down from heaven, in order that the government over all may be in His hand. Whatever lives He can kill; and what is dead He can make alive; what is rich He can make poor. Thus it is here resolved, whatsoever is born of flesh does not belong into heaven. But this ascending into heaven and the coming down was done for our benefit, in order that we, who are carnal, might also get to heaven, but with this form, that the mortal body first be killed."