Historians tell us that there were only 6,000 Pharisees living in Judea during the time of Christ, a very small sect with an influence greater than their numbers would suggest. When reading the Gospels, they seem to be everywhere, but this is because they were interested in derailing the prophet from Nazareth.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to visit the Lord Jesus by night. He had three important distinctions: he was a Pharisee, he was a ruler of Israel, and he was a teacher of Israel. He came by night because as an important member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council, visiting with Jesus could hurt his reputation and standing among his colleagues (12:42–43). Besides, there were always crowds surrounding the Galilean Rabbi. Nicodemus thought, “A quiet evening chat, one-on-one with Him, may answer my questions.” People had seen the signs Jesus did and believed, but it was not a saving faith (2:23–25). Nicodemus was one of them: “You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus was sincere, he was not a hypocrite like many of his sect, and he was a seeker. However, acknowledgment of “signs,” and believing that Jesus was a prophet of God were not enough; he “must be born again” (3:5–8). He asks, “How can these things be?” But he should have known this as “the teacher of Israel” (v. 10). The words of Ezekiel 36:25–27 and 37:9–10 were clear enough. The “wind” (the Spirit) and the “water” (the Word) would enable Israel to see and enter the kingdom, and for us today too. It is not by rebirth as he supposed (Jn. 3:4), but by new birth. How? It is by receiving Christ (1:12).