Who was Nicodemus in the Bible?
Nicodemus appears only in John's Gospel, and only three times — a night visit, a cautious word in council, and a load of spices at a tomb. Those three scenes trace one man's move from secrecy to open identification with a crucified Christ.
Position and rank
He was no ordinary inquirer. One writer lists what the Gospel tells us about his standing, and links each detail to the passage it comes from:
C E StuartA Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and so a member of the Sanhedrin (7:50), and a teacher of Israel (3:10), sought out the Lord, but by night. Reputation might have suffered, we suppose he feared, had he visited Him by day.
The Sanhedrin was the ruling Jewish council. So Nicodemus sat among the very men who would later condemn Jesus.
What brought him by night
The timing of his visit has been read as a mix of real interest and real fear:
William KellyIt was a chief man from among the most orthodox in the chosen people; sufficiently in earnest to seek Jesus for truth, and still valuing the world enough to fear its condemnation and scorn. So he came by night to Jesus.
Others read the same visit as evidence of an unsatisfied heart, and see in him a type of religious people today:
W. T. P. WolstonHe was brought by the distinct sense in his own soul that, whatever he was and whatever he possessed, he could not meet the claims of God; he desired something better than he had. He is a picture of thousands and tens of thousands of religious people today. Although they have a great amount of religion they are not satisfied, the heart is not happy, the conscience is not purged, they are not at rest.
The limits of his opening words
Nicodemus began by calling Jesus a teacher sent from God, on the evidence of the miracles. Commentators point out how far that reasoning could and could not carry him:
Hamilton SmithIt was so far a just conclusion which the human mind is capable of reaching, but, if nothing more than the result of human reason, leaves the soul at a distance from God and without any sense of the need of Christ.
His name and rank, one writer adds, tell us less than we imagine:
The Christian's FriendWe learn only half the truth when we answer, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; for in fact this tells us nothing beyond his name and official rank, and these things have no weight before God, and no significance for the seeking soul.
The teacher who was taught
Jesus did not return the compliment. He answered with the new birth, and then asked how a teacher of Israel could be ignorant of it:
Hamilton SmithNicodemus still marvels at truths so entirely contrary to his natural reason. He enquires, "How can these things be?" The Lord suggests that, as a teacher, he should have been acquainted with these things. Had not the prophet Ezekiel spoken of the "water" and the "spirit" working in men in order that they might be cleansed from their filthiness and have a new heart (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
The rebuke lands on his job description. What he was paid to teach, he had missed.
A cautious word in the council
Years later the council moved to condemn Jesus unheard, and Nicodemus objected on legal grounds — and was mocked for it:
Hamilton SmithNicodemus, though at this time making no confession of Christ, ventures to raise a word on behalf of law and order. The law forbad the condemnation of a man before evidence is produced as to what he has said and done. At once Nicodemus exposes himself to the sneer that he also is one of His followers from Galilee.
Open at the burial
His last appearance is the boldest. With Joseph of Arimathea he claimed the body of Jesus and buried it, when the Lord's closest followers had scattered:
William KellyNicodemus, longer known, but with no happy reputation for moral courage at the first, though afterwards venturing a remonstrance to the haughty yet unjust Pharisees, joins in the last offices of love with an abundant offering of myrrh and aloes. The cross of Christ, so stumbling to unbelief, exercises and manifests his faith; and the two, growing valiant by grace, fulfil the service the twelve failed to render.
His three scenes have been read as one rising light:
W. T. P. WolstonThere came a moment when he saw the Son of Man hanging upon a tree, crowned with thorns, and with all the world against Him, and then he came forward boldly, saying, I am on His side now. I do not care what the world thinks, what the world says, or what the world does. I am on his side. It was "daylight" in his soul.
Summary
- Night. A Pharisee, a ruler on the Jewish council, and a recognised teacher came to Jesus after dark, because being seen would have cost him his reputation.
- Half-light. His opening confession rested on miracles — a conclusion human reason can reach, yet one that leaves the soul at a distance from God.
- Rebuke. Told he must be born again, he asked how it could be, and was pointed back to Ezekiel's water and Spirit, which a teacher of Israel should have known.
- Twilight. In the council he risked only a legal objection, no confession of Christ, and was met with a sneer.
- Daylight. At the cross he came out openly with a hundred pounds of spices, doing for the body of Jesus what the twelve did not.