1ONE of the Pharisees, called Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Council,
2came to Jesus by night. “Rabbi,” he said, “we know that you are a teacher sent by God; no one could perform these signs of yours unless God were with him.”
3Jesus answered, “In very truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he has been born again.”
4“But how can someone be born when he is old?” asked Nicodemus. “Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?”
5Jesus answered, “In very truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit.
6Flesh can give birth only to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit.
7You ought not to be astonished when I say, ‘You must all be born again.’
8The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the Spirit.”
9“How is this possible?” asked Nicodemus.
10“You a teacher of Israel and ignorant of such things!” said Jesus.
11“In very truth I tell you, we speak of what we know, and testify to what we have seen, and yet you all reject our testimony.
12If you do not believe me when I talk to you about earthly things, how are you to believe if I should talk about the things of heaven?
13“No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15in order that everyone who has faith may in him have eternal life.
16“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not perish but have eternal life.
17It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved.
18“No one who puts his faith in him comes under judgement; but the unbeliever has already been judged because he has not put his trust in God's only Son.
19This is the judgement: the light has come into the world, but people preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil.
20Wrongdoers hate the light and avoid it, for fear their misdeeds should be exposed.
21Those who live by the truth come to the light so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all they do.”
22AFTER this Jesus went with his disciples into Judaea; he remained there with them and baptized.
23John too was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because water was plentiful in that region; and all the time people were coming for baptism.
24This was before John's imprisonment.
25John's disciples were engaged in a debate with some Jews about purification;
26so they came to John and said, “Rabbi, there was a man with you on the other side of the Jordan, to whom you bore your witness. Now he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him.”
27John replied: “One can have only what is given one from Heaven.
28You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah; I have been sent as his forerunner.’
29It is the bridegroom who marries the bride. The bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens to him, is overjoyed at hearing the bridegroom's voice. This is my joy and now it is complete.
30He must grow greater; I must become less.”
31He who comes from above is above all others; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and uses earthly speech. He who comes from heaven
32bears witness to what he has seen and heard, even though no one accepts his witness.
33To accept his witness is to affirm that God speaks the truth;
34for he whom God sent utters the words of God, so measureless is God's gift of the Spirit.
35The Father loves the Son and has entrusted him with complete authority.
36Whoever puts his faith in the Son has eternal life. Whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life; God's wrath rests upon him.
