John 3 starts with a rendezvous between a Pharisee named Nicodemus and Jesus. This episode is recorded right after Jesus' trip to Jerusalem during the first Passover of His ministry. Therefore we can gather that this one-on-one encounter with Nicodemus happened in Jerusalem.
There are a few things about Nicodemus in this passage of Scripture that gives us some indication from where he was coming.
1) He was a Pharisee, i.e., a word meaning "separated one". The Pharisees were a deeply religious group of never more than 6,000 individuals who were committed to observing every detail of the law as interpreted by the Scribes and teachers of the Law of Israel. To the Pharisees, it was not sufficient to keep the commandments as laid down by Moses in the first five books of the Bible. They wanted each commandment specifically defined and made into a rule. The Scribes wrote sixty-three volumes called the Talmud to explain and define such laws and rules for the Israelites to keep. For example is walking from one place to another on a Sabbath day considered as a walk? They concluded that it could be considered a walk up to a certain distance and they defined that distance. A Sabbath day's journey as determined by the Scribes was 2,000 cubits (one thousand yards). The definition or interpretation of the law is human but were given the same importance as the commandments from which they originated.
2) Nicodemus was not an ordinary Pharisee, one among the 6000, but rather he was one of the seventy members that made up the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the ruling Supreme Court of the Jews, having jurisdiction over every Jew in the world.
3) Among the 70 members of the Sanhedrin Jesus refers to him as the teacher. This Scripture referring to Nicodemus as Israel's teacher has a definite article in the Greek language indicating that Nicodemus was the highest ranked teacher in the nation. More than likely, he had many Scribes that looked to him for answers to many of the little rules that one had to keep to be considered righteous as a Pharisee.
Later on we will discover this very Nicodemus questioning the trial of Jesus as well as providing the spices to preserve His body during burial. Apparently it took him witnessing the unfair trial and crucifixion to accept Jesus as the fulfillment of the scriptures he so earnestly studied.
Immanuel
Now 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 him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:1-3
Nicodemus accepted that God was with Jesus. However being a Pharisee it was not possible for Nicodemus to see that God was in Jesus rather than with Him. Nonetheless he believed in the signs and not in Jesus. He came from the same mindset as the rest of the Jews who demanded signs to establish His authority. Jesus comments on his blindness to what truly is happening. Nicodemus knew the scriptures but failed to acknowledge its fulfillment. He could not see the coming of the Kingdom of God as he had not been born again.
Born Again
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 3:4-6
Jesus, in the next few verses emphasizes the importance of water and the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. This has been used time and time again to establish the involvement of water in the different modes of baptism that are practiced in the churches. Whether it is baptism by immersion or sprinkling, water is an essential part of it. Even the Catholic Church holds that among the three types of baptism by which one can be saved the foremost is sacramental baptism (with water). The earliest church saw the importance of water in the spiritual rebirth. The baptism of John inevitably required water and as such established a norm followed later on by Jesus and the Church.
