How To Study The Bible
Vern Peterman · Jul 7, 2002
How to Study Bible (2001-02), No. 40
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/482622443959

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

And I'm paraphrasing because I don't have it in front of me, but Wyss translates it that this birth that's of water and birth of the Spirit is of the same source. And in two different places he puts that in there. And I have not been able to find that, you know, confirmed or echoed anywhere else so far. So, anyway, it's something I'm looking into, but real curious because there's no... I can't seem to get any insight from anything else in terms of This other guy says that, and here's why. But apparently, as much explanation as I've been able to get from him, and he doesn't go into more detail, there are two different words for again. And one of those words has to do with just simply a repeated action with no other implication as to its source. This word anothen, which we say is born again from above, Weiss is saying implies that this, again, has the same source in each case.

Isn't that interesting? So that's something I had never heard of before. I have not been able to get independent confirmation of it. So that's something I'm looking into. She's gone for a couple of Sundays and I told her, well, we could talk about this Sunday, but I What I'll do is keep looking and a couple of weeks from now when she's back, hopefully I'll have some kind of an answer. But so far in anything I've looked at, I've not been able to get, you know, where did he get this, you know.

Source in which way? I mean, certainly. Apparently the same source. In other words, it is implying that God is the source of both. Well, I suppose you could say that in the physical, after all, he was a creator. Yeah, I mean, it makes some sense, but is that actually implied in the word? And Wiest seems to draw that out. I don't see that because he's drawing not a parallel, he's drawing this, this.

Yeah, the one critique I would have of Wiest is at times he appears to try to make the Greek accomplish more than it's capable of. And so that's why with anybody, you know, if somebody says, well, the Greek says this, I always want to check it out in several places and really find out if it's true. Because there can be a bias like that. There can also be instances, and I've seen it recently, where somebody says something that is true so far as the Greek, but then when they extend beyond that, They say something that is unfounded or based on some other... And so I want to distinguish what is simply statement of truth from the Greek and what is this person's extrapolation or where is he drawing in something else.

Okay, let's take a look at this. We've been going through, believe it or not, this is the 14th week on this passage. And we just sort of finished verse 8. Although with Joanne's question, we're back into the beginning. So anyway, what we started taking a look at last time was verse 9, and here's the way verse 9 comes across there.

Here's Nicodemus answered, and this word, you know, the translated answered, I almost, the Greek allows for, and I think it might even be a better way of saying it, responded, because sometimes the answers aren't directly corresponding to what was said or the question asked. But at any rate, Nicodemus answered and said unto him, who's him? Jesus. Okay, how can these things be? Okay, now, is Nicodemus getting it?

Yeah, I see Tom mouthing a big no. Yeah, he's still thinking of the physical, he can't get it. It's like, I was hearing last night that they got portions of the old I think it was the Oregon Trail, where you can see the old trail now, and the wagon wheel ruts are as much as four feet deep. And he's kind of like that. He's got a rut that's four feet deep. And his wheel isn't pulling out of this very easily, right? So he's having a tough time pulling out of this. Jesus is trying to lay it out.

What is amazing is if we compare the Pharisees and the Sadducees, The Pharisees believed in a resurrection, and they believed in spirituality in that general sense, obviously much more than Sadducees, and yet they were very physical, material, earthly-oriented in their thinking. They didn't think in terms of God's interaction with human beings at all. Their thinking was very much along the lines of Here's my genealogy.

Here's what I've got to do. And that's it. And so here he comes, you know, after Jesus has come up with these different things and responded, and they've had this little back and forth, Nicodemus is still asking questions, and his question isn't, alright, I understand a little bit, now give me more insight. His question is, he just isn't moved anywhere. Right?

There are some things that come out of this set of verses, and even this one here, that don't come out in the English, and I want us to take a look at them. One thing, how can these things be? This word things, it's interesting, there are two words for things.

Remember how we talked about Another has, there's both of the same kind and there are, there's another of a different kind, remember that? It's alos is another of the same kind and heteros another of a different kind, okay? And it even showed up in last week's passage and it'll show up again in next week's passage in the main service.

This has a similar meaning. where there's things, these are, how can these things of a similar kind is implied in this? There's another word for things that he could have used if these things were all sort of, you know, disparate, dissimilar. And so he's, how can these, how can these things that are all kind of gathered together under one category? See that? So here's a similar principle. Okay, and then the next thing, this is not the usual word for be, in this sense. You might think you're saying, how can these things exist? How can this be the present state of things? But here's the word that he chooses. The word that he chooses there, how can these things be He doesn't use the word that just means exist.

He uses a word that has to do with birth and beginning. Ginnomai, this root here, we'll talk in a little bit about the Greek word ginosko. So there's a related word. We have in English even our word like gynecology, similar root. The idea is this word doesn't mean simply exist. It has a strong implication of going back to the beginning.

How could it even start this way? You see that? So it isn't just saying how could it right now exist this way, what you're saying. He's saying, how could this even begin to be this way? How could this even start to be this way? How could it be this way from the beginning? You see the implication there? He's not just saying, how can this be right now? How can it exist this way right now? He's actually saying, how can this be with a view back to the start? How can it ever have been this way? He really doesn't get it. See that? See the difference? So this word is coming out here, and it's even there. How can it come to pass? How can it be done this way?

So he is deeply puzzled. He is very puzzled. He's not just looking at the present. He's looking at how can what you're saying from the very beginning have been the way things are. That's just an amazing statement. He does not get it from the start. That's what he's saying. From the very beginning, Jesus, I don't get it.

Wow! Have you ever talked to somebody and you felt like you've explained something and explained something and explained something and they just don't get it? Tom? I guess another way to say it is, huh? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's complete incomprehension. It doesn't compute. It just doesn't matter. Sometimes halfway through what you're saying is you can tell by looking at the person that they're not getting it. Yeah, yeah. These people aren't getting it. This isn't getting across. It's not happening. Not communicating. They're not receiving this.

Now before we just totally give up on Nicodemus, we have the advantage of being able to read ahead and look up the guy's name in a concordance. So we know that eventually what happens. But he does get it. Eventually he does. And how do we know that? How do we know that he does get it? His name comes up several times.

And the last time that we read of him, as Cheryl has mentioned here, the last time is we read he is one of the two that are named specifically from the Sanhedrin, from this Jewish council. that go and take the body of Christ once he's crucified and prepare him and place him in this tomb.

And Nicodemus is next mentioned in a place where he's actually defending Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin and they kind of come down on him. So eventually Nicodemus does get it, but in fact Nicodemus starts to fade from the scene, even in this passage, and we don't, in this specific passage, get anything that tells us, hey, I've got this thing, now I'm starting to climb onto this train. He's still not getting it, and the last indication we have here in verse 9 is he doesn't understand anything Jesus has talked about. He's not in the least bit getting it. There's nothing in what Nicodemus says that implies that, okay, I've got this much. Tell me, explain this part. He doesn't do that. It's all, I don't get it. I'm sorry, what? He went home and thought it over.

Yeah. It's one of those things where it just takes time to absorb. I don't know about you, but I'm one of these people that a lot of times I got to think about things a lot, you know. I think the disciples were the same way. Excellent observation. It is almost a pattern, isn't it? Let's think about this.

How long was Jesus telling them the Son of Man is going to have to go up and be crucified? Basically, as the time got closer, more and more frequently, but he had been telling them for a while. They hadn't gotten it. After he was crucified, did they get it?

No. They were mourning, weeping. Yeah, and they were like, oh no! They were in absolute disarray. They thought everything we're trying for here has been lost. Then he resurrected and what were they thinking? Oh, here we go. Now we're back on the track here. I thought we were totally derailed. And now we're back on track.

And so then they ask him in Acts 1.6, is now the time when you're going to set up your kingdom? What's that? Next stop, the kingdom? Yeah! Is now the time when you're going to set up the kingdom? Okay. Are we ready? Are we back on track now? I mean, I thought we were derailed, but now, Bo, we can really go. I mean, we really can do it. And you've come back from, you know, death And boy, you're just unstoppable.

Yes. And didn't He say earlier, Hey, we're going to judge the twelve tribes of Israel? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, I mean, to them, boy, they're ready to go. And He says, You know, the times and the seasons, you know, He says, all that is not ours to call. Huh? Ten years... Okay, that's verse 6, right? Acts 1-8.

He says, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And for ten years they thought that meant to all the Jews in Jerusalem, Judea, you know. So that was their perspective, you know. It took ten years for them to catch up to what that verse meant.

Okay? Tom? And Paul had to do some fun. Yeah. Well, Peter was the first one to introduce the gospel to the Gentiles, right? And he goes back to the church, and what happens? They're grilling him. They're calling him on the carpet, so to speak. So, you're exactly right, Cheryl. This is not some sort of an unusual pattern.

A lot of what we see in scripture is taking a long time to get it, but eventually coming around. From this event until the time when Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are dealing with Jesus' body, about how much time is likely taking place? How much time is passing? Yeah, probably at least two years. So Nicodemus has taken a while to grind this thing over and think about this.

There may have been other conversations besides what's recorded too, right? Isn't that possible? But at least at this point in time, He's being slow to get it. It's not like Jesus lays it out and all of a sudden, there it is. Instead, it's a, okay, I think I heard you, let's take some time, let's think about this, and, you know, he finally catches on after a while, after he thinks about it, after his time to contemplate it. Okay, so here's Nicodemus who's tipping his cards and saying, I haven't got a clue.

Okay? I haven't got a clue what you're talking about. So, verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto him, and boy, that's amazing, this is, other than replacing names, it's just the same statement, okay? And then, Jesus comes back with a question to him, okay? master of Israel, and knoweth not these things." Okay?

You know, there are times when somebody is an expert, supposed to be in the know, and we find them surprised. I mean, that's happened at various times. And people ask me the question, you know, aren't you the person that's supposed to know of everybody? You know? And so Jesus is just coming back with a question. Aren't you the teacher and you don't know?

Yeah, Tom? I keep thinking it was someone being able to put down Mr. Wizard, the amateur scientist. Wait a minute, you're supposed to be so smart. What happened? Yeah, that's right. This is a real question mark. You are the one I would expect to know, and yet you haven't got a clue. Well, that was the four-foot rut that he was in. He was still relying on what he thought he knew. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. The four-foot rut.

Just kept him thinking, how do I, with the perspective that I have, and with what I know, adjust to what Jesus is saying? And the bottom line is you can't. You have to realize that you don't have the full set of information. You don't have the perspective. That was the problem. Nicodemus was trying to take everything that he had lived by, known, and understood, and trying to force what Jesus was saying into that mold, and it wouldn't go.

Look at this. Let's walk our way through this. Now, this is, you know, we talked about this word to be is really more referring back to beginning or the start and things come to pass. This one is the one here. You notice a different word that has more to do with, you know, exist. Are you right now existing? And look at this. It's present indicative. So what is that? I'll tell you, what's the usual sense of present indicative? Right here, right now, good you. Yeah, right now continuing to be or presently continuing to be, okay? So read that, are you presently continuing to be, okay? At this moment, are you right now? And then is this thou, that's just you, okay?

And here's one we want to take a look at. A master And there's a couple of reasons why I want to take a look at it. This word, this actually word pair, amaster, I want us to take a look at that. There's a couple of reasons why I want to take a look at it. What's one thing you notice here? See what that is? What does that tell us? What is the ART code there? Pardon?

It's a definite article. Yes, it has a definite article. How has it been translated here in the King James? A. So really the King James does not reflect the full meaning of the original text, because the original text should come across as what? The Master. And many of the more recent translations have caught that.

And so Jesus isn't saying, aren't you a teacher? You're not just one of many. Aren't you THE teacher of Israel? See that? Yeah, Tom? Yeah, this is specifying something. He's the apex. He is the top. Aren't you like the teacher of teachers? Aren't you the A number one, top drawer, cream of the crop guy that teaches? So that's one thing that comes out, is that he's very specific, and he's actually kind of, you know, aren't you THE teacher, Nicodemus?

And there's something else that comes out. This word is translated master in the King James. Let's take a look at the word that's behind that. It's a word that's used elsewhere in the New Testament numerous times. Gidaskalos. We have a word that is based on this root didactic, and this word didaskalos is used elsewhere for teacher, like the gift of teaching, or someone who teaches in the New Testament among the church, and so it's not a word specific to the church per se, but it's a word, basically, this is a person who teaches, who lays out the truth. What we see is the word sometimes called instructor, master, or teacher. I would say this, that when we say master, sometimes that can shift over into meaning kind of a master slave thing or somebody in charge.

And so I would not generally be inclined to translate it with the word master because in fact, Jesus is not talking about authority in the sense of just you call the shots, but he's saying authority in terms of who lays out what's true. You see the difference there? So the word teacher, if you put the definite article in front of it, really lays across the Greek sense. Aren't you THE Teacher, with a capital T, of Israel? See that? of all of Israel. I mean, here is the nation of Israel. And let's look at one other thing. He says, the teacher of Israel. What was Israel with regards to the rest of the nations?

It's a tiny little spot. You're correct. But what else was true of them and that made them special? They had a corner on the truth. Yes. Here was this tiny little group of people. At times, even as the time they moved into Canaan, being a few million people, and yet here, these were people that were chosen, as Paul says in Romans, here these people have been given the scriptures, they've been, you know, the ones given the covenants, the ones given the promise. All these things were directed on them, so are you the teacher of this elect special gifted nation of Israel. It's like, here's Israel, which is so far above all the rest of the nations in what you've been gifted with in the way of truth, and you are the teacher among all those.

It's like you're on top of the world, Nicodemus. But guess what? You don't get it. You see that? Here you are of all the nations selected. and you're the one who is teaching this select group of people and you don't understand this. Wow! I mean, is this, is Jesus getting too hard here? Is he getting too harsh, Tom? Not necessarily, because in other areas it talks about blessing, are you Lord, for you to receive, reveal these things to babes and not to the people who are supposed to be in the nether. Yeah.

Nicodemus was part of a group, Jesus didn't, didn't permanently condemn them, but he certainly condemned a lot of the behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives that the Pharisees held, didn't he? And, uh, yeah, it's like, you know, you should have gotten this. Nicodemus recognized Jesus as a, as a teacher upon God. Ah, yeah, right, yeah.

So, coming back to Nicodemus and getting his attention by saying that, you know, virtually it's the same thing, only he doesn't get it. But I think he's trying to say, look, you should know this. And based on the fact that you just called me a teacher and come from God, you're a master also. That was Jesus quoting, that was Jesus himself. Blessed are you, Father, for you receive these things today, for so it pleases you. Now, there is, let's go back to this. Here's something Here's something else to take a look at.

Are thou a master, or we said probably more, or most correctly, the teacher? The teacher of Israel, and we could go into all the explanations of what Israel is. Go to the Romans 9-11 passage where Paul talks about all the privileges that Israel has. And are you the teacher of this highly spiritually privileged nation of Israel? and you don't know these things?

Now, what does this word know mean? What kind of know is that? How should he have known? Should he have known by experience, by learning? Heidi? He's been taught and he's been teaching now for decades. Yes, very good point. And Tom? Certainly that's missing. Well, we have to ask. He doesn't take it to heart because he doesn't have a clue what Jesus is talking about, right? He can't take it to heart.

But what's that word, no? Because remember, we use the word no and we learn from the context what that means. The Greeks had specific words for no, and some of them meant one thing, and some of them meant another. This particular one, notice that here's the code, 1097, okay? It's gnosko, okay? It means to understand or comprehend, but notice something else. You see the root there? And this other word, well I got Greek on Greek here, but here's ginosko, ginomai, it's what the root's the same. They keep talking about born, because that's what this is about. So, let's get back to what this is talking about. To know in a beginning or a completed sense. In other words, from the beginning. To know from the beginning. From the very start. This means to know or to comprehend from start to finish. To know or to comprehend from start to finish.

And he even references John 3.10. Now, let's go back to this one.

And you notice that word born keeps being brought up too. They keep using words that relate to that idea of being born and beginning. It almost sounds like he's saying knowledge comes from somewhere else. In this passage there are meanings underlying things that don't jump out in the English. Some of those, for example, these things are not mixed things of different kinds but things of the same kind. Spirit and breath and wind, these are all similar related words. Here is another one where related words are being brought out and English just passes on it and yet they keep going back to beginning and beginning and beginning.

But he says, and do you know, and that word know means, do you understand it from beginning to end? So let's expand this. Are right now, you, the teacher of that elect nation of Israel, and you don't even begin to comprehend. And what's this right here? That's the same verb tense. What is it? You are not right now continuing to comprehend the end from the beginning. These things. So there's patterns in there. Now, we've seen the pattern of repetition. You see that. And we've seen that pattern, but one of the things we're going to get into, you notice that?

What's different? Even before you look it up, it's a different word for no. Ah, okay. So we need to be careful as we're going through these, assuming that, oh, no, no, must be the same thing, no. That's one of the values in going through this is we begin to look closely and we start saying, ah, different words for no. So not only are there some things that are tied together that the English doesn't immediately reveal, but there are also some distinctions, some differences that the English doesn't immediately reveal as well, and this is one of them. This one is to know or comprehend, beginning to end. How about this one, 1492? Let's take a look here and see if we can figure out what that is. Did you look it up Donna? What do you get? Ah, do you see the difference?

The English word know comes across. But this one is to understand the end from the beginning, and this one has to do with perception. Ah, interesting insight. Tom, you start to raise your hand. I guess that's one way to look at it. That way you can lock it in in your thinking here. This has to do with knowing and comprehension. This has to do with knowing by perception. Different word for know.

And we've already been through this phrase, verily, verily, I say unto thee. Whenever you hear that, Jesus is making an absolutely certain, true, pivotal statement. Lots of true things could be said, but this is especially true and pivotal. When he puts that, verily, verily I say unto you, or truly, truly, or however it comes across in the English. But that's what he's communicating. He says, Nicodemus, I told you lots of things, but I want you to hinge your thinking on this statement. Okay? So that's the preface that he's making.

We speak that we do know. And this knowing is not this previous knowing, but it's perception, how I perceive. And notice it's got the present active indicative again. What we are right now continuing to know. What we are right now continuing, and to put the word in there, perceive. We're right now perceiving it. We're getting the inputs right now. in testify that we have seen. Okay, when we see this word testify, what does that mean? When you hear the word testify, what is that talking about? Pardon? Witness. When we hear the word testify and when we hear the word witness, what connotation does that have in your mind? Typically, there are two different ways that most people think of it. One is in a legal sense, and the other is in a religious sense. Okay? The Jews put those together because their legal system was religiously defined. Okay?

So when Jesus said, testify, it's not just some sort of, okay, here's the organ peel, you know, and now we're going to get real religious. Oh, we're testifying. or whatever religious experience that is. This is instead Jesus saying, okay, we're speaking of something spiritual, but it is a statement that carries legal weight. We understand, because, let's think of this, what was, how was a Jew to testify? Yes, in other words, in a legal situation, they would testify under oath, and what did that mean? Yes, they must tell the truth. As a matter of fact, what would happen if they did not? That's right. This was not a, oh, bad boy. This was, oh, bad boy, and you're dead. Okay? So this was serious business. Okay?

Furthermore, when you testified you couldn't condemn somebody with just one witness, right? You had to have... Two or more. Yes, you had to have multiple. So they'd say two or three, and the implication of two or three is two or more. The idea is you could have more, but you definitely don't want to condemn somebody with just one witness. So this testifying is something they took very seriously. And notice, we have singular or plural on the we. Huh? We have a plurality there on the testifying.

So what he's saying is, We have a, by the Mosaic Law, a fully legitimate legal basis for stating what we have perceived. This passes every requirement of the law for us to say this. And what we're saying is true by every measure that you Nicodemus know to be the law's requirement.

And that we means probably John the Baptist. And that's the good question, because he doesn't spell it out right there, but you have to look at what's the material he's talking about? Who's the we? Let's back up. Did Nicodemus come up with this we statement? And what did Nicodemus mean when he said we? Yeah, Nicodemus didn't spell it out either. Now notice what Jesus does. switches to a we.

And what does he mean? That's your assignment for next week. What does we mean? Who's we? Look at the context. Look at what they're talking. What's the subject material? And let's think of what are some of the options. You'd start to mention them, Heidi. Is this the Trinity that's testifying? Is this this group of disciples? Or is it something else? Check that out. Look that up. Because that's what we're going to look at this next week. Who is this we? Who is we? Dig into that. Look at the passage carefully. What's he talking about? What is the material they're testifying about? Because that's going to matter, isn't it? It's going to help you decide who's we. You get that? See that? See the question? Who is we?

And Nicodemus was vague, but does Jesus give enough indication here about the subject to indicate what he means by we? So check that out, look it up, we'll talk about it next time because we're out of time now. And we'll stop there. Alright, let's pray. Lord, we look at Nicodemus and we can easily shake our heads and say, boy, he sure didn't get it.

But in truth, Lord, we're in the process of learning. And the very fact that we're looking at your word this morning is not based on just everything we know, but it's based on desiring to have your perspective and desiring to learn of you. We come to you now, Lord, just asking that you would be the teacher of us, and that we would learn not just in our minds, but in our understanding and in our experience. We just thank you for the truth of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.