The Son of Man Descended From Heaven

A study of John 3:9–13

“Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-These Things: “outos”, “οὗτος”; pronoun — this, these, etc.

-Teacher: “didaskalos”, “διδάσκαλος”; masculine noun — of teachers of the Jewish religion.

-Understand: “ginōskō”, “γινώσκω”; verb — to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of.

-Truly: “amēn”, “ἀμήν”; particle indeclinable — An adverb by which something is asserted or confirmed; at the beginning of a discourse, surely, of a truth, truly; so frequent in the discourses of Christ in the gospels. The repetition of the word (ἀμὴν, ἀμήν), employed by John alone in his Gospel (twenty-five times), has the force of a superlative, most assuredly.

-I say: “legō”, “λέγω”; verb — with the dative of the person to whom anything is said: followed by direct discourse; to declare to one.

-We Speak: “laleō”, “λαλέω”; verb — to speak.

-We Know: “eidō”, “εἴδω”; verb — to know of anything.

-Testify: “martyreō”, “μαρτυρέω”; verb — to testify of a thing, bear witness to (of) anything.

-Receive (Accept): “lambanō”, “λαμβάνω”; verb — to admit or receive into the mind; to believe the testimony.

-Testimony: “martyria”, “μαρτυρία”; feminine noun — what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge or other people.

-Earthly Things: “epigeios”, “ἐπίγειος”; adjective — things done on earth.

-Believe: “pisteuō”, “πιστεύω”; verb — of the credence given to God’s messengers and their words.

-Heavenly Things: “epouranios”, “ἐπουράνιος”; adjective — the things that take place in heaven, i.e. the purposes of God to grant salvation to men through the death of Christ.

-Has Ascended: “anabainō”, “ἀναβαίνω”; verb — to go up, move to a higher place, ascend. As respects John 3:13, Christ brought this knowledge with Him from heaven where He dwelt prior to His incarnation.

-Heaven: “ouranos”, “οὐρανός”; masculine noun — the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings.

-He Who Descended: “katabainō”, “καταβαίνω”; verb — to come down, as from the temple at Jerusalem, from the city of Jerusalem; also of celestial beings coming down to earth.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After being told a second time that everyone, including the religious, Jewish leaders, must be born again to enter God’s Kingdom, Nicodemus asks Jesus, “How can these things be?”. Jesus responds by questioning Nicodemus how it is that a teacher of the Jewish religion like Nicodemus does not understand. Then Jesus essentially asks Nicodemus how he could possibly hope to understand more of what He speaks of in relation to heaven if he will not believe testimony about earthly things.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

Jesus first told Nicodemus one must be born again to see the Kingdom of Heaven in verse 3. Nicodemus did not fully comprehend His meaning, so Jesus explained further in verses 5–8 that spiritual rebirth and new spiritual life in and by the Spirit of God for all people is what He meant. Now, Nicodemus understands what Jesus is saying a little bit better, but it still baffles him. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that even faithful, Law following Israelites like him need to be born again into God’s Kingdom. Their identity as ethnic Jews does not constitute the new birth Jesus is speaking of. The Jewish religious scholars and leaders like Nicodemus knew everything about the Old Testament Law and the Prophets, but their understanding was incomplete. They thought OT prophecy about rebirth had already happened for them and the other God fearing people of Israel. They knew nothing of their own need for the Spiritual rebirth and regeneration which Jesus came to give. They thought they were all good because they had been born Jewish. For this reason, even though Nicodemus is now understanding exactly what Jesus is saying, he is confused and baffled because his worldview is being challenged.

This is why Nicodemus asks Jesus, “How can these things be?” in verse 9. He understands at this point what “these things” Jesus is saying mean, but he is wrestling against his own previous, wrong understanding of Israel’s status in God’s eyes. Jesus is telling him, his ethnicity and adherence to the Law will not save him. Even religious leaders like Nicodemus, the “cream of the crop” in Israel, must be born again to enter God’s Kingdom. Understanding this we can almost hear and feel the confused exasperation in Nicodemus’s voice as he asked Jesus this question: “How can these things be?”.

Graciously, Jesus continues to explain things. Although, Jesus will use language which carries a gentle reprimand as He responds to Nicodemus’s question with another question, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?”. Apparently, Nicodemus was not only part of the ruling Sanhedrin, he was also a prominent religious teacher in Israel. Jesus is mildly rebuking Nicodemus as one who had studied the Old Testament and should have better understood what he studied and taught. He and the other Jews of his day by and large did understand there was a need for rebirth, but they also wrongly thought that it had already happened for them. Jesus is telling Nicodemus here, in response to his bafflement, that he should have known better. From his years of study he should have seen that this rebirth had not happened yet. Jesus is essentially saying, “Don’t look at me like I have two heads. This is plain to see in the Scripture and you should understand this already. Believe what I am telling you (Truly truly…).”

As Jesus continued He also said, “We speak of what we know…”. The “we” here refers to the testimony of Him and those who had begun to follow Him. These are the testimonies Nicodemus and all of Jerusalem had been hearing after Jesus cleansed the temple, taught people, and performed many miraculous signs of healing and so forth. But also, Jesus tells him, in spite of this, “…you do not receive our testimony.” This is reminiscent of John 1:11 where John told us of the coming of the eternally existent, all-creating “Word” or “Logos” in the Ancient Greek of the original language the text was written in. In John 1:11 we read that when Jesus, God Himself, the eternally existent all powerful and all creating Word came into the world He created, the world did not know Him, and His own people (Israel) “did not receive Him.” But in John 1:12 we also read to those who “did receive Him” He gave the right to become children of God, who are born of God.

From this we see how high the stakes are for Nicodemus. If he receives the testimony of Jesus, he can be born again. But if he does not receive it, or in other words, rejects in disbelief the testimony of Jesus, he will not be born again. And again, if this is true for Nicodemus, a ruling religious leader from God’s chosen people of Israel, it is true for all of us as well.

Then Jesus asks another question of Nicodemus in verse 12. The question is: if after all Jesus had just told him in the previous verses, and all he had heard and seen of Jesus life, power and witness, could not convince Nicodemus of his and the faithful people of Israel’s need for Spiritual rebirth and regeneration, then what more could be said? Jesus is saying, “If you still do not see the truth of my words as they have been plainly stated, how could you possibly believe when I tell you more about why and how this works? How can you move on to Algebra when you refuse to learn basic arithmetic?”

Does this sound familiar? Where do we refuse to believe or obey the clear words of Jesus because we do not yet understand other more complicated concepts? Is there anywhere in our lives where we are not receiving and obeying the commands of Christ because we have more burning questions? Questions are welcome with Jesus, but we must not pridefully hold back from belief or obedience because we, in our small, finite understanding, have not had every single question answered to our satisfaction. We must abide in and live by the Truth of God’s Word, and humbly wrestle with the questions we still have. There will always be some level of mystery about God because He is infinite and we are finite. He is far beyond our ability to fully comprehend, so we need to be humble as we receive and believe His clearly stated Words, and continue, in faith, to accept the mystery of what we do not understand fully.

This does not mean we do not pursue growing in knowledge and understanding of God, but it does mean we must not let gaps in our understanding keep us from trusting in Him. Just as we do not need to understand every last detail about a life saving operation in an emergency situation to agree to undergo it, we do need to understand every last aspect of the eternal rescue mission of Christ to believe and receive it. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you,” (1 Peter 5:6).

Lastly for this passage, in verse 13 by saying, “No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”, Jesus makes it clear He has authority to speak of “heavenly things”. He is the Word who “became flesh and dwelt among us.” He is the Son of God and the Son of Man, fully God and fully human. He has descended from heaven to reveal His glory to all mankind and make known the path to salvation found only in Him, and after His resurrection, He ascended back into heaven where He reigns over all the earth right now.

While the unbelief of Nicodemus at this point is a problem, we can learn a lot from him. Nicodemus brought these questions to Jesus. Even at what might have been great risk because of the opinions of the other Pharisees, and in spite of his incomplete understanding of God’s Word, Nicodemus still came to Jesus with his questions. We see also that when Jesus gives answers that challenge and perhaps even offend Nicodemus’s view of himself, he does not walk away. He is willing to be offended and wrestle with these concepts of his own need for rebirth. Are we willing to be offended by the Truth of Jesus’ Word in order to be cleansed of our sin and born again to new life in Him? Or we will pridefully hold to our erroneous preconceived notions about who we are and what our status in God’s eyes is?

Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to bring our questions to Jesus and to stay and wrestle with the answers we get even if they are offensive. Whatever we think we know about life and spirituality that contradicts what Jesus says must be left behind. He is the one true God. He descended from heaven as the Light of the world to illuminate our darkened minds with Truth and Grace. We may not understand every aspect of salvation and how God rules the universe, but we know what we need to know.

As we press on in faith, we will also grow in knowledge and understanding. Being born again is an important phrase. It is literally true that Christians are born to new life in God’s family and this also means that upon receiving salvation we become like new born children. We should not expect to understand everything right away. Knowledge and wisdom come with time and they are gifts God gives to us through the abiding presence of His Spirit of whom we have been born. Even as we grow in the faith, we will always be children compared to our infinite and majestic Father in Heaven. This means there will always be an element of mystery, but what we do not know never changes what we do know about God. He is loving, perfectly just, all-knowing, all-powerful and incomparably good. He is worthy of our trust and devotion at all times, no matter what we do not understand.

Self Reflection:

Am I holding back from belief in or obedience to God’s Word in any way because of my finite understanding of Him or something He has told me in His Word that I am struggling to accept?

What does the fact that Jesus left the splendor of heaven to reveal His grace and truth to us, and die to save us, tell me about His nature and His love for me?

Have I received the testimony of Jesus? If yes, how can I grow in graciously sharing this testimony? If no, why not?