John 3

Evangelical Heritage Version

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above,^[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above.^{[b] 8} The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? ¹¹ Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.^[c]

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but^[d] have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. ²¹ But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”

Jesus and John the Baptist

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.

²³ John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, ²⁴ for John had not been thrown into prison yet.

²⁵ Then an argument broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew^[e] about purification. ²⁶ His disciples came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John answered, “A man cannot receive a single thing, unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves are witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”

³¹ The one who comes from above is superior to everyone. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in a way that belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is superior to everyone. ³² He testifies about what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. ³³ The one who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. ³⁴ In fact, the one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, for God^[f] gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. ³⁶ The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.