Joh 3:1-36 chiastic structure:
1a.1) Joh 3:1-13, The ministry of the Spirit + the testimony of heaven;
1) Joh 3:1-10, The ministry of the Spirit;
1a) Joh 3:1, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
1b) Joh 3:2, Nicodemus: We know You are come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him;
1c) Joh 3:3, Jesus: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;”
central axis) Joh 3:4, Nicodemus: “How can a man be born when he is old/ enter a second time into his mother’s womb?”
2c) Joh 3:5, Jesus: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God;”
2b) Joh 3:6-8, Jesus: Born of the Spirit/ the ministry of the Spirit;
2a) Joh 3:9-10, Nicodemus: How can these things be?/ Jesus: “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
2) Joh 3:11-13, The testimony of heaven;
1) Joh 3:11, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness;
2) Joh 3:12, If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
3) Joh 3:13, No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven;
1a.2) Joh 3:14-21, The ministry of the Son: salvation for all who believe in Him;
1a) Joh 3:14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
1b) Joh 3:15, That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life;
central axis) Joh 3:16a, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son;
2b) Joh 3:16b, That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life;
2a) Joh 3:17-21, It is not the Son who condemns the world, but who saves it;
1a) Joh 3:17, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved;
shim1b) Joh 3:18a, He who believes in Him is not condemned;
shim2b) Joh 3:18b, But he who does not believe is condemned already;
2a) Joh 3:19-21, The condemnation: the light has come, and men loved darkness rather than light;
1b) Joh 3:22-26, Jesus + His disciples baptizing in Judea, and all coming to Him/ John baptizing near Salim;
1c) Joh 3:27, John answered: “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven;”
central axis) Joh 3:28, “You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him;’”
2c) Joh 3:29, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom/ the friend of the bridegroom rejoices for him;”
2b) Joh 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease;”
2a.1) Joh 3:31-34, The testimony of heaven + the ministry of the Spirit;
2) Joh 3:31-33, The testimony of heaven;
3) Joh 3:31a, He who comes from above is above all;
2) Joh 3:31b, He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth;
1) Joh 3:32-33, What He has seen + heard He testifies/ no one receives His testimony (but he who does, certifies that God is true);
1) Joh 3:34, For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure;
2a.2) Joh 3:35-36, The ministry of the Son: salvation for all who believe in Him.
In the 1a.1 structure, this pairing occurs:
1b) Joh 3:2, Nicodemus: We know You are come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him;
2b) Joh 3:6-8, Jesus: Born of the Spirit/ the ministry of the Spirit;
At first glance they seem to not pair, but think about it: Nicodemus knew that Jesus was come from God because of the signs He did – which, by the way, are done only by the power of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who circumcises our heart, who gives us the new heart prophesied by Ezekiel and Jeremiah, that transforms our nature and causes us to be born again. This is the new birth in the Spirit. When Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God;” He was not talking about a baptism of water, then a separate baptism of the Spirit. He was talking about the birth of water – the natural birth, when a baby is born from his mother’s womb, by water, when the amniotic sac breaks; and then a separate spiritual birth which is of the Spirit, when the heart is circumcised toward God and he is born again.
For everyone whose heart is circumcised toward God, being born of the Spirit, is baptized in the Spirit, and given the ability to do the signs that Jesus did, for a witness to the earth that He is Messiah and has come that the world might be saved through Him. Some don’t do the signs because they have been taught they cannot and should not do the signs by men – but that is not what the Scripture teaches us. ♥
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