John 3:10

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, ART THOU A MASTER, [ su (G4771) ei (G1487) ho (G3588) didaskalos (G1320)] - rather, 'Art thou the teacher.' Perhaps this means only, 'Dost, thou occupy the important post of the teacher,' or doctor of the law; not, as some good critics understand it, 'Art thou the well-known,' or 'distinguished teacher,' "of Israel, and knowest not these things?" The question clearly implies that the doctrine of regeneration was so far disclosed in the Old Testament as to render Nicodemus' ignorance of it culpable. Nor is it merely...

10._Thou art a teacher of Israel. _As Christ sees that he is spending his time and pains to no purpose in teaching so proud a man, he begins to reprove him sharply. And certainly such persons will never make any progress, until the wicked confidence, with which they are puffed up, be removed. This is, very properly, placed first in order; for in the very matter in which he chiefly plumes himself on his acuteness and sagacity, Christ censures his ignorance. He thought, that not to admit a thing to be possible would be considered a proof of gravity and intelligence, because that man is accounted. foolishly credulous who assents to what is told him by another, before he has fully inquired into the reason. But still Nicodemus, with all his magisterial haughtiness, exposes himself to ridicule by more than childish hesitation about the first principles. Such hesitation, certainly, is base and...

1-8 Nicodemus was afraid, or ashamed to be seen with Christ, therefore came in the night. When religion is out of fashion, there are many Nicodemites. But though he came by night, Jesus bid him welcome, and hereby taught us to encourage good beginnings, although weak. And though now he came by night, yet afterward he owned Christ publicly. He did not talk with Christ about state affairs, though he was a ruler, but about the concerns of his own soul and its salvation, and went at once to them. Our Saviour spoke of the necessity and nature of regeneration or the new birth, and at once directed Nicodemus to the source of holiness of the heart. Birth is the beginning of life; to be born again, is to begin to live anew, as those who have lived much amiss, or to little purpose. We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. By our first birth we were corrupt, shapen in s...

Verse John 3:10. _ART THOU A MASTER OF ISRAEL_, c.] Hast thou taken upon thee to guide the blind into the way of truth and yet knowest not that truth thyself? Dost thou command proselytes to be baptized with water, as an emblem of a _new birth_; and art thou unacquainted with the _cause, necessity, nature_, and _effects_ of that new birth? How many masters are there still in Israel who are in this respect deplorably ignorant; and, strange to tell, publish their ignorance and folly in the sight of the sun, by writing and speaking against the thing itself! It is strange that such people cannot keep their own secret. "But water baptism is this new birth." No. Jesus tells you, a man must be born of _water_ and the _Spirit;_ and the water, and its effects upon the body, differ as much from this Spirit, which it is intended to represent, and the effects pro

A MASTER OF ISRAEL - A “teacher” of Israel; the same word that in the second verse is translated “teacher.” As such a teacher he ought to have understood this doctrine. It was not new,” but was clearly taught in the Old Testament. See particularly Psalms 51:10, Psalms 51:16; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26. It may seem surprising that a man whose business it was to teach the people should be a stranger to so plain and important a doctrine; but when worldly-minded men are placed in offices of religion when they seek those offices for the sake of ease or reputation, it is no wonder that they are strangers t

EXPOSITION This is the first of the eleven discourses recorded by this evangelist, and for the most part addressed to the cultivated, hierarcical party in Jerusalem, who questioned him in an unfriendly spirit. On the sources of these records, and the degree to which John's subjectivity coloured his record of them, see Introduction. JOHN 3:1 BUT THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES. Is this narrative introduced, as Baur thinks, to give a specimen of wrongly directed faith, to which Christ did _not _entrust himself? and was the evangelist busy at once on his great mission of undervaluing the Jewish parties and nation? Certainly not. We have a clear proof that, in the case of the genuine inquirer, Christ did open His very heart; and to a "ruler of Jews," to a "Pharisee," to a "teacher of Israel," he deigne

JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM,.... Upbraiding him with his continued and invincible ignorance, which was aggravated by his dignified character: ART THOU A MASTER IN ISRAEL? or "of Israel", as all the Oriental versions render it, as it literally may be rendered he was one of the חכמי ישראל, "wise men", or "doctors of Israel" r, so often mentioned by the Jews. One of the Jewish doctors was answered, by a boy, just in such language as is here used; who, not understanding the direction he gave him about the way into the city, said to him, אתה הוא חכם של ישראל, "art thou he, a doctor", or "master of Israel?" did not I say to thee so? c. s. He was not a common teacher not a teacher of babes, nor a teacher in their synagogues, or in their "Midrashim", or divinity schools, but in their great sanhedrim; and the article before the word used will admit it to be rendered, "that master", doctor,...

John 3:1. _There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God._ There must be a new birth because a new name is absolutely necessary for the discernment of spiritual things. The natural man cannot comprehend spiritual things, they must be spiritually discerned. The new birth is therefore necessary that we may have a spirit within us which can see or understand the kingdom of God; but until a man is born again, «he cannot see the kingdom of God.» John 3:4. Nicodemus saith u

A MASTER Literally, Art thou the teacher of Israel, etc....

II. ETERNAL LIFE IMPARTED: What it is and What it Includes Chapter 2:23-17 The second part of this Gospel contains the blessed teachings the Son of God gave concerning eternal life, how it is imparted and what it includes. Everything in these Chapter s is new. The story of Nicodemus, the woman at Sychar's well, the healing of the impotent man, the discourses of our Lord, etc., are not reported by the synoptic Gospels. There is not a word of the Sermon on the Mount reported by John; the many miracles, so significantly arranged in Matthew, are omitted (except the feeding of the 5000); nor do we find a single parable concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. The progressive revelation concerning eternal life will be brought out in the annotations. As already stated the teachings begin with the new birth, in which eternal life is imparted, and end with the destiny of those who are born again. This...