streets; and no one would see him as at that hour he ascended the outside steps that led up
to the Aliyah. His errand was soon told: one sentence, that whic h admitted the Divine
Teachership of Jesus, implied all the questions he could wish to ask. Nay, his very
presence there spoke them. Or, if otherwise, the answer of Jesus spoke them. Throughout,
Jesus never descended the standpoint of Nicodemus, but rather sought to lift him to His
own. It was all about 'the Kingdom of God,'14 so connected with that Teacher come from
God, that Nicodemus would inquire.
12. St. John iii. 8.
13. I cannot agree with Archdeacon Watkins, who would render it, 'The Spirit breathes ' -
an opinion, so far as I know, unsupported, and which seems to me ill-accordant with the
whole context.
14. The expression, 'Kingdom of God,' occurs only in iii. 3 and iii. 5 of the fourth Gospel.
Otherwise the expression 'My Kingdom' is used in xviii. 36. This exceptional use of the
Synoptic term, 'Kingdom of God,' is noteworthy in this connection, and not without its
important bearing on the question of the authorship of the fourth Gospel.
And yet, though Christ never descended to the standpoint of N icodemus, we must bear in
mind what his views as a Jew would be, if we would understand the interview. Jesus took
him straight to whence alone that 'Kingdom' could be seen. 'Except a man be born from
above,15 he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' It has been thought by commentators, that
there is here an allusion to a Jewish mode of expression in regard to proselytes, who were
viewed as 'new-born.' But in that case Nicodemus would have understood it, and
answered differently - or, rather, not expressed his utter inability to understand it. It is
indeed, true that a Gentile on becoming a proselyte - though not, as has been suggested,
an ordinary penitent16 - was likened to a child just born.17 It is also true, that persons in
certain circumstances - the bridegroom on his marriage, the Chief of the Academy on his
promotion, the king on his enthronement - were likened to those newly born. 18 The
expression, therefore, was not only common, but, so to speak, fluid; only, both it and
what it implied must be rightly understood. In the first place, it was only a simile, and
never meant to convey a real regeneration ('as a child'). So far as proselytes were
concerned, it meant that, having entered into a new relation to God, they also entered into
new relationship to man, just as if they had at that moment been newly born. All the old
relations had ceased - a man's father, brother, mother, sister were no longer his nearest of
kin: he was a new and another man. Then, secondly,19 it implied a new state, when all a
man's past was past, and his sins forgiven him as belonging to that past. It will now be
perceived, how impossible it was for Nicodemus to understand the teaching of Jesus, and
yet how all- important to him was that teaching. For, even if he could have imagined that
Jesus pointed to repentance, as that which would give him the figurative standing of 'born
from above,' or even 'born anew,' it would not have helped him. For, first, this second
birth was only a simile. Secondly, according to the Jewish view, this second b irth was the
consequence of having taken upon oneself 'the Kingdom;' not, as Jesus put it, the cause
and condition of it. The proselyte had taken upon himself 'the Kingdom,' and therefore he
was 'born' anew, while Jesus put it that he must be born again in order to see the
Kingdom of God. Lastly, it was 'a birth from above' to which reference was made.
Judaism could understand a new relationship towards God and man, and even the