John 3 - Introduction

Jesus Is Exalted As Savior John Three

In the third chapter of John we meet a man named Nicodemus. Even though his names appears only 5 times in our King James Bible he is still well know to Christians. All 5 references to the name "Nicodemus" are in the gospel of John. (John 3:1; John 3:4; John 3:9; John 7:50; John 19:39) He was a ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus was respected because of many good qualities in his life. We have no idea why he came to Jesus by night so we will not speculate and waste time on that discussion. Nicodemus became part of a most famous discussion where Jesus was exalted as the son of God. In this exchange we observe the most famous verse in the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) In this chapter John the Baptist also exalted Jesus as Lord. In two great statements John lifted Jesus up. He said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) In this discussion also we read the great statement, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36)