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Part two of a series. Read part one.
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As Nicodemus came under conviction, he opposed his fellow Pharisees by demonstrating his willingness to give Jesus a fair hearing.
Was This Perhaps Nicodemus?
Immediately after John's account of Jesus' meeting with Nicodemus, we find this preface to John the Baptist's great testimony concerning the person and authority of Jesus Christ:
Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified - behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" (John 3:25-26)
Commentator Warren Wiersbe points out that
John 3:25 can be translated: "There arose a question between some of John's disciples and a Jew concerning ceremonial purification" (emphasis mine). Could this Jew have been Nicodemus, still searching after truth? Like many people today, Nicodemus was confused about baptism and religious ceremonies. Perhaps he thought "born of water" meant baptism or some Jewish purification rite. Note how John the Baptist pointed this Jew to Christ. If baptism were necessary for salvation, then this is the place for the Bible to say so; but nothing is said. Instead, the emphasis is on believing (verse 36).1
If indeed Nicodemus was the specific man mentioned, or was one of those who then came to John the Baptist as a result of the dispute, Nicodemus would have heard the truth of the Gospel yet again, this time from the mouth of John:
John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.
He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:27-36)
Giving Christ a Fair Hearing
Whether or not Nicodemus was present to hear these words, we do find evidence of the beginnings of a change in Nicodemus' heart in John chapter 7, beginning at verse 31:
And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him....
Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"
Here the officers who were sent to arrest Jesus, but refused to do so, echoed Nicodemus' own words in John 3:2, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." But the legalistic Pharisees scoffed at them:
Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."
Clearly, Nicodemus, who was a leader of the Pharisees, had not yet come to the point of publicly declaring himself a believer in Christ. But the convicting work of the Spirit had clearly begun, as we read in the next verse:
Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"
Nicodemus' words divided him from the rest of the Pharisees:
They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee." And everyone went to his own house. (John 7:31-32, 45-53)
Warren Wiersbe comments that here we see Nicodemus "in the dawn of conviction, willing to give Christ a fair hearing."1
Next - Nicodemus: A Man Converted
References:
1. Quotations in this series of articles are from Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1992).
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