Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? 11 Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
Nicodemus is still struggling to understand what Jesus has told him about being born from above and born of water and Spirit. In this part of the conversation, Jesus moves from Nicodemus’s question to the deeper truth about who He is and how eternal life will be given.
Nicodemus asks, “How can this happen?” (v. 9). His question is honest, but it also shows that he has not yet grasped what Jesus is saying. Jesus answers, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?” (v. 10). Nicodemus is not just any listener. He is ‘the teacher of Israel’ (v. 10), a man expected to know the Scriptures and to help others understand them. Because of that, he should have recognized that God had already promised a time of inner cleansing, a new heart, and the gift of His Spirit (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2 [2:28-29]). Jesus is showing that this teaching is not foreign to God’s plan. It is the fulfillment of what God had already begun to reveal.
Then Jesus says, “we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen” (v. 11). The point is clear. Jesus does not speak as someone guessing about God. He speaks with direct knowledge and divine authority. He is giving true testimony. Yet Jesus also says, “you people do not accept our testimony” (v. 11). The problem is not that the truth has not been spoken or heard. The problem is that the testimony has not been accepted. That remains a human struggle as a consequence of Original Sin, which wounds our minds and wills, makes faith harder and still leaves us responsible for accepting the truth God reveals (Gen. 3:1-24; Jer. 17:9; Mk. 7:21-23; Rom. 7:15-23; Eph. 4:17-24; Jas. 1:13-15).
Jesus continues, “If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” (v. 12). The “earthly things” are not worldly or unimportant matters. They are the saving realities of God already at work among human beings, including the new birth that God gives. If Nicodemus cannot believe God’s saving work when it is explained in terms close to human experience and confirmed by Jesus’ works, he is not yet ready to receive fuller teaching about the heavenly mystery of the Son.
That leads directly to Jesus’ next statement: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man” (v. 13). Jesus is saying that He alone can speak fully about heavenly things because He alone has come from heaven. He is not simply a teacher sent by God in the way prophets were sent. He is the Son of Man who has come down from heaven. Here ‘the Son of Man’ also recalls Dan. 7:13-14, where one like a son of man comes from God’s presence and receives everlasting dominion. In John’s Gospel, this points to Jesus’ unique origin, authority, and mission. He reveals God because He comes from God.
Then Jesus gives an image from Israel’s history: “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (v. 14). This refers to Num. 21:4-9. When the people were suffering because of their sin, God instructed Moses to raise up the bronze serpent, and those who looked upon it in faith received healing. Jesus now applies that event to Himself and foretells that He will be lifted up on the cross. John’s wording also points to the glory that will follow. The lifting up of Jesus includes His crucifixion and the saving victory bound up with it. What God showed in that event during Israel’s journey through the wilderness reaches its full meaning in Jesus, who is lifted up to bring healing and life.
Verse 15 gives the purpose: “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Eternal life here means more than unending existence. It is the life that comes from God, the life of communion with Him, the life that begins through faith and reaches its fullness in His presence. Jesus does not merely teach the way to that life. He gives it through His being lifted up.
So this passage brings several truths together. Jesus speaks with divine authority because He has come down from heaven. He reveals the heavenly mystery that no human teacher could discover by his own power. He points ahead to His cross as the means by which healing and life will be given. And He calls for faith, because eternal life is given to those who believe in Him (v. 15).
This passage also helps us see that faith is not a vague religious feeling. Faith means receiving the testimony of Jesus, trusting who He is, and looking to Him for the life that only He can give. Nicodemus begins with confusion. Jesus leads him toward the truth that salvation is found in the Son who came from heaven and was lifted up for the world. John’s Gospel suggests that these words were at work in Nicodemus. He later speaks in Jesus’ defense (Jn. 7:50-52) and then honors Him at His burial (Jn. 19:39-42), showing that this nighttime conversation was not without effect.
Lord Jesus Christ, you came down from heaven to reveal the Father and to give us eternal life. Teach us to receive your testimony with faith, to look to you with trust, and to live by the life you give. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. John 3:9-15 and notes on John 3:14-15.
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 166.
- The Navarre Bible: St. John. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1999, 373.
- Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 955-56, para. 51-53.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1127.
- John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. 3rd fully rev. ed. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022, 1393-94.
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