Sermon II on Nicodemus (John 3:1-8)
Rev. J. Hugh Odhner
October 11, 2009
“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:1-8)
This is the second of a series of sermons on the Lord’s teachings to Nicodemus.
In the sermon last week, we mentioned that Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler and teacher of the Jews whose mind was not closed by strict adherence to religious traditions, scriptural literalism, and doctrinal fundamentalism. Because he was able to see that the signs and works which Jesus was doing were from God, he was open to the teachings of the Lord, and was able to recognize truth, even if he could not fully understand it.
Nicodemus represents the state of the church at that time in respect to its understanding of truths. He also represents a state of the Church with us. It is a state of spiritual darkness in which truths are mostly understood naturally and externally, and in which there is great difficulty comprehending truths spiritually or internally. We can see this reflected in Nicodemus inability to understand the Lord’s teaching about a man being born again. Understood representatively, Nicodemus stands for a state in which there is hardly any knowledge at all of spiritual rebirth or regeneration. While it is state of general ignorance about spiritual matters, yet there is present a willingness to seek and learn about such matters. He represents those of us seeking for something spiritual.
We can see this state reflected in our culture today. There are those in our culture today who are seeking something deeper, something spiritual, and who are open to learning such things. And the wonderful thing is, to those who are seeking spiritual truths, and who are open to receiving them, the Lord reaches out using ideas that are adapted or accommodated to their state, just as He did with Nicodemus.
If we are truly seeking, the Lord will give us spiritual truth that we can understand and put to use. He will give us the truths we need to grow spiritually by applying them in our daily lives. When we do this, we are prepared to receive more.
Because of the signs He did, Nicodemus recognized that the Lord was a teacher come from God. Nicodemus did not ask for anything. He did not ask for a miracle, or healing, or for any special truth. Yet in his approaching the Lord there was not only an acknowledgment of the Lord as coming from God, but also a seeking for something that Nicodemus needed. This the Lord knew and so in response to Nicodemus’s acknowledgment of faith, the Lord answered him saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Now this statement certainly had Nicodemus perplexed, and so he asked how a man could be born again when he is old. And to this question the Lord answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Many who have read the New Testament have observed that quite often the Lord did not directly answer a question that was asked. It appears that often He changed the subject, that He answered a question that was not asked. And often He did not answer a question clearly, that is, in such a way that those who were listening could grasp what He was talking about. Nicodemus certainly was perplexed by the Lord’s answer. And we may be perplexed as to why the Lord answered him in such a way. Why is the Lord not more clear in his explanations? Have you ever felt that way?
The Third Testament recognizes and speaks to this question. In reference to the passage from John 3:5 about being born of water and the Spirit, Apocalypse Explained 71 states that by water is here meant the truths of faith and by Spirit a life according to them. The passage then goes on to say,
“I know that some will wonder why "waters" are mentioned in the Word, and not the truths of faith, since the Word is to teach a person about his spiritual life; and since, if the expression the truths of faith had been used, instead of "waters," a person would have known that the waters of baptism and of washings contribute nothing to the purifying of a person from evils and falsities.
But it is to be known, that the Word in order to be Divine, and at the same time useful to heaven and the church, must be wholly natural in the letter, for if it were not natural in the letter there could be no conjunction of heaven with the church by means of it; for it would be like a house without a foundation, and like a soul without a body, for ultimates enclose all interiors, and are a foundation for them. Mankind also is in ultimates, and upon the church in him heaven has its foundations. For this reason the style of the Word is such as it is; and as a consequence, when a person from the natural things that are in the sense of the letter of the Word thinks spiritually, he is conjoined with heaven, and in no other way could he be conjoined with it.” (Apocalypse Explained 71)
The Lord answered Nicodemus the way he did for several reasons. First, the Lord needed to teach about spiritual rebirth or regeneration. Second, He needed to do this in such a way that Nicodemus and later others reading the New Testament could grasp. If the Lord were to speak to Nicodemus about being regenerated by a life according to the truths of faith, Nicodemus and many others would have had no idea what He was talking about. But the main reason was, as was said in the passage we quoted, that the words the Lord spoke needed to be useful to both heaven and the church for they were the means of conjoining heaven with the Church and so of the Lord with us. The words the Lord spoke needed to be clothed in ultimates, that is, in a natural literal sense, because we also are in ultimates in the world.
But let us look at another passage in the Third Testament that addresses the meaning of these words of the Lord in John 3:5. We read:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit breathes (wind blows) where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the Spirit. John 3:5,6,8.
The meaning of these words is revealed if correspondences are used to explain them; for they contain the arcana of heaven. By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truth of faith, which is clearly perceptible within the natural. 'The Spirit' means Divine Truth which flows in from the Lord by way of a person's internal into his external or natural, and from that Truth springs the life of faith which the person who is being regenerated possesses. 'Flesh' is the person's proprium, which is nothing but evil. 'The Spirit breathes where it wishes' means that in His mercy the Lord imparts new life by means of Divine Truth. 'You hear its voice' means that this life is perceptible in the external or natural man, …' You do not know where it comes from or where it goes away to' means that a person does not know how his regeneration is accomplished, for the Lord accomplishes it in hidden ways that are countless and beyond description.” (Arcana Coelestia 10240)
Now from this passage from the Arcana Coelestia, we have an explanation of what those words in John mean. And this is the way it is with most of the Old and New Testaments. Without the explanations given in the Third Testament, we would have no understanding of correspondences or what most of the stories in the Old and New Testaments are really talking about. (By themselves they often appear as histories, prophecies, strange stories, and parables.) We rely upon what Lord revealed to us in the Third Testament in order to understand or make sense out of the other Testaments.
However, just because we can read the Third Testament and from it get some understanding of what the Old and New Testaments mean does not mean that we are in or have a genuine understanding of the internal sense of any of the Testaments. To apply that teaching from Apocalypse Explained 71 to the truths of the Third Testament, we can see that in order for it “to be Divine, and at the same time useful to heaven and the church, (it also) must be wholly natural in the letter, for if it were not natural in the letter there could be no conjunction of heaven with the church by means of it; for it would be like a house without a foundation, and like a soul without a body, for ultimates enclose all interiors, and are a foundation for them.”
We also are in ultimates, and upon the church within us heaven has its foundations. For this reason the style of the Third Testament is such as it is; and as a consequence, when we from the natural things that are in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament think spiritually about them, we can be conjoined with heaven.
Note that the Word says that we can think spiritually about, or based upon, the natural things are in the sense of the letter of the Word. How do we do this?
Is it done by reading the Word, studying it, and comparing many passages in the Word?
Is it done by meditating upon the passages in the Word?
Is it done by praying to the Lord and asking for enlightenment in the things of this Word?
The answer is yes to all of these. For by study and comparing passages, meditating, and praying to the Lord for enlightenment, we can receive some spiritual ideas concerning the natural things that are in the sense of the letter. However, if this is all we do, we cannot be held in them for a long. In fact, over time we will be inclined to misuse them for our own purposes.
What is the purpose of understanding anything in the Word?
The Word is given to us for the purpose of conjoining us with the Lord and with heaven. It is given for our instruction so that we may be able to be conjoined with the Lord and with heaven. We are born natural, but with the ability to become spiritual. We become spiritual by means of truths from the Word, and, most importantly, by a life according to them. And how can we ever become spiritual, unless we are first instructed about the Lord, about heaven, a life after death, faith, and love, and other things which are the means of salvation, and then living according to the means of salvation?
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God" (John 3:5).
By water is signified the truths of faith, and by spirit, a life according to them.
The knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life in agreement with them, that’s what makes us spiritual: and when we have been made spiritual we can be gifted with angelic wisdom from the Lord, together with eternal happiness. (see AE 126) Amen
Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 37:1-14 John 3:1-13 Conjugial Love 525:2, 3