Smoodock's Blog

Reading John 3 causes me to pause and revisit John 1:12-13 to consider its meaning once more. Nicodemus (John 3:1) was a very religious man, who followed the Law of Moses meticulously. In fact, as a Pharisee, he also followed another law—the Oral Law. Traditionally, it is supposed to have been handed down from Moses, but its source is probably among the traditions brought back from Babylon following the captivity.

The Jews had to develop a way of life among the nations that would hold them together as a people—a people without a country, and a people without their Temple. The synagogue and the Oral Law among other traditions came out of this period. The Oral Law was developed as a hedge around the Law of Moses. It was believed, if one practiced this more strict code, one would be far from breaking the holy Law of Moses. This, of course, was not true, but even if it were, living by the Law cannot make one a child of God.

Nicodemus came to Jesus saying, “We know you are a teacher from God, because no one could do these miracles, if that weren’t true” (John 3:2). John tells us in John 3:1 that Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. That is, he was a member of the Sanhedrin court in Jerusalem. He was saying that **we** know—that is, the rulers of the people had been discussing what Jesus had been doing. They had already concluded that Jesus was sent by God!

Think about what Nicodemus had just said and done. Jesus, just a short while ago, had cleared out the Temple, during the Passover season. Josephus tells us that during the Passover season at the outbreak of the Jewish war with Rome in the 60s AD, that about one million pilgrims had come to worship and celebrate the deliverance of God from Egypt. Even if we assume only a few hundred thousand Jews celebrated this particular Passover season in Jerusalem, that is quite a number to witness Jesus’ turning over the moneychangers’ tables and casting the profiteering businessmen out of the Temple compound. Word spread rather quickly. The rulers asked for a ‘sign’—notice, they never accused Jesus of doing wrong—their only complaint seemed to be that their own authority had been usurped! They were getting their own cut from the profits, and Jesus’ righteous act was cutting into a sizable share of the booty that came out of the annual Passover festivities. The rulers never questioned whether the act was lawful or unlawful; they questioned Jesus’ authority to remove what they should not have permitted in the first place.

Nicodemus came to Jesus saying **we** know… They had asked for a sign, and, though the official sign would be Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus remained in Jerusalem after the Passover, working many miracles among the people (John 2:23). “We—the rulers who asked for a sign—know you are a teacher from God!” Yet, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night! He came seeking Jesus under the cover of darkness, risking his reputation and place as a ruler of the people. He wanted answers, but the other rulers were more interested in their own authority and how they could benefit from that authority. They **knew** but they were not about to abdicate their own authority in favor of Jesus’ righteous claim to authority before God.

One cannot become a child of God by simply being born to Christian parents. Knowing Jesus is sent from God doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, as far as becoming a child of God is concerned, unless one is willing to relinquish his own authority over his own life in favor of letting Jesus be that authority. These men were born into the lineage of Abraham, but they were far from being lovers of God. It takes more than the correct bloodline to become a child of God (John 1:13).

Some, like Nicodemus, sought to earn the right to be God’s children, by living the best way they could think of—living out by sheer will power—a more strict code of ethics than the demands of the Law of God, itself. Yet, Jesus told Nicodemus, a blameless ruler of the Jews, who believed Jesus was come from God, that even he lacked what was necessary to be a part of God’s kingdom. One could say, “I am a good Catholic,” or “I am a church going Lutheran,” or “I am a born-again-Bible-thump’n Baptist!” but, it takes more than righteous living or a godly discipline to become a child of God (John 1:13).

When an American graduates from one of our armed forces’ military academies and becomes an officer, he is pronounced a ‘gentleman’ through an act of Congress. Similar things are done in other countries to grant titles of authority and influence to people who had no right to those titles, until they were granted by the king or queen or the leader of that nation. This is not true for the Kingdom of God. No one can become a Christian by an act of man—no matter how lofty a position the authority figure may hold. Children of God simply do not become so by the authority of men. No minister or priest can make one a Christian. It can’t be done through baptism or by standing up, sitting down or coming forward to answer a call of man. None of these things, of and by themselves, have the power to make you or me a child of God (John 1:13).

Unless we can enter God’s Kingdom some other way, **we**—all of us—have no hope of ever becoming his child and entering his Kingdom. But, there is hope, and John 1:12-13 shows us our hope is found in Jesus, and in my next study in John’s Gospel we’ll talk about that.