John 3
3
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1A Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was one of the Jewish leaders, 2came to see Jesus one night. He said, “Rabbi, we know that you’re a teacher who has come from God, because no one could do the signs you’re doing unless God was with them.”
3Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they’re born again.”
4“How can someone be born when they’re old?” Nicodemus asked. “They can’t go back inside their mother and be born a second time!”
5Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they’re born of water and the Spirit. 6People give birth to people, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you, ‘You must all be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it wants to. You hear the sound it makes, but you can’t tell where it’s coming from or where it’s going. It’s the same with everyone who’s born of the Spirit.”
9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10Jesus answered, “You’re Israel’s teacher, but you don’t understand these things? 11Truly I tell you, we speak about what we know, and we’re witnesses about what we’ve seen. But you people still don’t accept our testimony. 12I’ve spoken to you about earthly things, and you haven’t believed. So how will you believe if I speak about heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the Son of Man who came from heaven. Just as 14Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up 15so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that anyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. 17God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18Anyone who believes in him is not judged, but anyone who doesn’t believe is already judged, because they haven’t believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light because they were doing what was wrong. 20Everyone who does wrong hates the light and doesn’t come into the light, because they’re afraid that what they’re doing will get them in trouble. 21But anyone who lives by the truth comes into the light so that it will be clear that they’re doing what God wants.
John Is a Witness About Jesus Again
22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the countryside of Judea. They spent some time together there and baptized people. 23John was also baptizing, at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there and people were coming to be baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25An argument about special washings broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jewish man. 26The disciples came to John and said, “Rabbi, everyone is going to that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River. You were a witness about who he was, and now he’s here baptizing people.”
27John replied, “A person can receive only what is given to them from heaven. 28You yourselves heard me say, ‘I’m not the Messiah, I was sent ahead of him.’ 29The bride belongs to the groom. The friend who helps the groom waits and listens for him, and he’s filled with joy when he hears the groom’s voice. That joy is mine, and now it is complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.”
31The one who comes from above is above everything. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks like someone from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above everything. 32He is a witness to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says. 33Anyone who does accept it acknowledges that God is true. 34The one that God has sent speaks God’s words, because God gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever who does not obey the Son will not see life, because God’s anger remains on them.
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