John 3
This chapter is one of the most renowned chapters in the bible. There are millions of people that have never even opened the Good Book, but they have heard or seen one of the most repeated verses ever to come from it in the book of John.
Before we get to that, let’s visit what else this chapter lays out for us.
Nicodemus is a highly educated, church-going leader. He pulls Jesus aside to affirm that He is who He is because no one else could fake such things He has done. Jesus says how, unless you are born again, then you can’t see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus at first is assuming this in the literal sense and is confused. Jesus proceeds to explain it further, just having knowledge of God is not the same thing as knowing God.
Aren’t there routes that some of us take and can get lost on? It’s not, nor has ever been about just reading the bible, attending Sunday sermons or choosing a lesser of two evils in our decision making. It has always been about truly knowing Him and walking the path alongside Him. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” It is about the belief in God, the trust in Him, understanding that He didn’t send advice, rules, or a moral upgrade, He sent Himself. Jesus goes on to clarify why people reject Him. It’s the uncomfortable truth that none of us want to speak out loud. People often avoid Jesus not because of lack of evidence, but instead because the light exposes the things that we don’t want to change. It is not always disbelief, sometimes it is simply our resistance.
Further reading you hear that John’s followers worry that Jesus is getting more attention. They haven’t quite grasped it. This is the way it is meant to be. John explains to them that none of this was ever about him(John), his job was solely to point the people to Jesus. Jesus wasn’t sent down to condemn the already broken person; He came to save us.
At the end of the day, YOU don’t need to become better – you need to become new, and only God can do that through faith in Jesus.
What John 3 still does to us in 2026:
- It contests self-made spirituality
- It strips down religion as a performance
- It proposes hope without pretending we are fine
- It says it starts with God, not us