02/27/2026
DATE: March 1, 2026
OCCASION: Lent 2
HYMNS: 453, 249, 444, 332
READINGS: Genesis 12:1-8
Romans 4:1-5,13-17
John 3:1-17
TEXT: John 3:1-17
THEME: Born From Above
PARTS: 1) Baptism’s blessings (vv.1-8)
2) Jesus must be lifted up (vv.9-17)
Pastor Jim Heffner
Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
This morning our sermon text comes to us from the Holy Gospel appointed for the second Sunday of Lent, John chapter 3 reading verse 16 again:
Dear friends as we continue to live lives of repentance and forgiveness,
As I was studying this text, it dawned on me that some of our doctrines are confirmed by the Greek and may not be as apparent as it does in the English. We will talk more about this as we go verse by verse but there can be no question why Luther called the languages the sheath of the Holy Spirit. When you have the languages to stand on that hold your doctrine true you are standing on solid rock.
Another interesting point that we will get to, especially in verse 16 and 17, is that Greek has no quotations marks. Did Jesus speaks the words of verses 16 and 17 and until the next section or was this part of John’s commentary?
This is such a powerful text, and long, let’s get right to it with verse one. Nicodemus is an interesting person. He is a Pharisee but not in the typical sense. Certainly he likely believed in his own righteousness. But what does God say about the person that says, “I believe and because I do I no longer have any sin to repent of”? The Apostle John writes in his first letter, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.” If we say we don’t sin daily, we are calling God a liar. No one can become the perfect person until we die. One more thing we should say about Nicodemus – he knew the Scriptures well because his job description basically says he needed to know them well.
The interesting thing about verse two is that he came to Jesus at night. “At night” is important to note because he didn’t want anyone to know that he was talking to Jesus. In a Pharisee’s mind, Jesus was a friend of “sinners” and was basically no better than “sinners.” Nicodemus was rather open-minded as Pharisees go because he recognized that the miracles that Jesus had performed and were performing were evidence that, at the very least, Jesus is a prophet like the prophets of old.
I love how Jesus cuts right to the chase. He doesn’t respond to what Nicodemus says but immediately begins teaching. It is also interesting that the Greek says “born from above” and not “born again.” To translate “born again” takes a little stretching of the Greek, not beyond the limit, but pretty close. The NIV, and maybe a lot of other translations might say “born again” but this is clearly showing the Baptist-Evangelical influence on those translations. My response to them, “Learn Greek please!” Jesus says that if a person is not born from above they will not see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus is thinking of natural birth and Jesus is talking spiritually. Jesus is always talking spiritually because that is what is most important. Not that the physical counts for nothing because at the final judgment we will receive perfect, physical bodies. You would think that a “spiritual leader,” like Nicodemus was, would naturally think spiritually. But, anyone who thinks they are righteous right now doesn’t need anything else – he thinks he is the perfect man who always follows God’s laws.
Verse five gets us talking about Baptism. We practice baptism and infant baptism for three reasons: children are sinful at birth, a child born in a nation of part of Jesus’ command to gather disciples from all nations, and infants can believe in Jesus. The Greek construction of water and the Spirit makes it impossible to take the Spirit out of the water. When the correct words are used at a Baptism the Spirit is there creating faith. It is a means of grace. The Holy Spirit chooses to use means to create and strengthen faith. He doesn’t have to but he does. We practice Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as means of grace, not as a command that we have to follow. Whenever the gospel is, there is the Spirit doing what he does.
Jesus says that flesh gives birth to flesh and that means anyone born of physical flesh is not ever good. The person born of the Spirit realizes this and lives a life of daily repentance for not living up to God’s demand for perfection. The Spirit gives birth to spiritual things like faith, strengthening of faith, and leading a life or repentance. The Holy Spirit is also the one who convinces us of the truth that Jesus has paid for all of our sins.
Nicodemus should have understood that spiritual birth is necessary. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Believing is not a physical act, it is a spiritual one. Jesus says that Nicodemus should not be surprised when he said that he must be born from above. If we have life only for life on earth, we are to be pitied more than all men.
When it comes time to preach a funeral sermon you always want to point to a person’s fruits of the Spirit. We can’t see the Spirit descend on a baby as it did at Jesus’ baptism. The Spirit doesn’t come and talk to us apart from the gospel in Word and Sacrament – the means of grace. But we do see results of the Holy Spirit. Over the years some catechism students tell me they are there because their parents are making them go. You know what my response always is? Good for them! Parents showing fruits of the Spirit. Church attendance, helping out where needed, making sure your children grow in faith through Sunday School and Catechism are all fruits of the Spirit
In verse 11 Jesus is talking about the New Testament era that basically began with John the Baptist and now Jesus and after him the disciples teaching and gathering disciples. “You people” are the Pharisees, the experts in the law, the people who should know better. The people that should have read the Old Testament Scriptures before forming a certain belief and then twisting the Scripture to fit their beliefs. Doesn’t that sound all too familiar today? The testimony of New Testament Christians is about repentance and forgiveness of sins. Because we daily continue to sin, repentance and the forgiveness of sins should also be a daily activity.
Nicodemus is struggling with earthly things so how could he ever understand heavenly things? This is almost a case of walking before you run. I know children sometimes appear to go from crawling to running but there is at least a couple of walking steps first. The interesting point that we have in the text is that it appears that Nicodemus listen to Jesus’ words, believed them, and reread his Old Testament Scriptures. Nicodemus is there for the burial of our Lord.
When you read your Bibles, Jesus always refers to himself as the Son of Man as he does here in verses 13 and 14. Jesus does speak of his divinity in verse 13 but he doesn’t call himself God’s Son. Jesus makes a reference to the bronze snake. The rebellious people of Israel received venomous snakes for their disobedience and when they asked for the snakes to be taken away the LORD commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and if someone was bitten they could look at the bronze snake and live. Jesus says that he, the Son of Man, must be lifted up so that when we are daily “bitten” by sin we can look to him and be saved.
Verse 16 is where things really get interesting. As I was typing this I could hardly wait to put my two cents in on translations, including the EHV extend this quote through verse 21. I believe the quote should end at verse 15 and the rest of these verses are John’s commentary. Jesus does not ever call himself the Son of God, it is always the Son of Man. He never denied it if others asked if he was God’s Son but he never declared, “I am the Son of God.” While this is true it makes sense that John would comment on this whether or not the quotes should go through verse 21.
Jesus came to save the world. When he returns he will come to judge the world. May he find us using our spiritual fruit for the good of his daily, proclaiming repentance and forgiveness, AMEN.
Now may the peace of God that transcends all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
