Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
John 3:1-21, Born from above
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler, comes to Jesus at night. Jesus tells him that no one sees God's kingdom without being born from above, of water and Spirit, and speaks of the Son of Man lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness.
John 3:1-21, in every translation this tool compares.
Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee and council member, visits Jesus at night. Jesus tells him that entry into God's kingdom requires a new birth, from above and by the Spirit, and Nicodemus cannot follow. Jesus points to the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness: the Son of Man too must be lifted up, so that those who trust him receive eternal life, because God loved the world enough to give his Son.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/proselyte-baptism\/","n":"Ritual washing and convert immersion","s":"Jews washed often for purity, but one immersion happened only once: the bath a Gentile took on becoming a Jew. John's baptism and the church's took that shape.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/kingdom-of-god\/","n":"God's kingdom","s":"Kingdom meant God's reign, God becoming king in fact. It was the good news Isaiah promised, and in Jesus' day it was also a slogan.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/wilderness\/","n":"The wilderness","s":"The dry, empty country beyond the Jordan where John preached, Jesus was tested and a crowd was fed. It was hard ground, and it was where Israel's story with God began.","r":""}
Jewish sources know of a wealthy Naqdimon, or Nicodemus, in this period (Keener and his notes). The Greek word for again can also mean from above, a roundabout Jewish way of saying from God, and Wright reads both senses with the weight on from above (Keener and his notes; Wright). Jewish teachers said converts became like newborn children when they were immersed, much as a Roman adoptee left behind his old legal family, so a teacher of Israel should have caught the language of conversion (Keener and his notes). Wind and spirit are one word in both Hebrew and Greek, and Ezekiel 37 pictures God's Spirit as wind bringing Israel back to life (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; the ESV Study Bible). The lifted serpent is the bronze snake of Numbers 21:6-9 (Keener and his notes). Born of water and Spirit is read three ways: as conversion language drawn from the immersion of converts, or water meaning the Spirit (Keener and his notes); as the cleansing water and new heart of Ezekiel 36:25-27, not baptism (the ESV and CSB Study Bibles); or as John's water baptism into the kingdom movement together with the Spirit (Wright).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 3:1, 3:3-4, 3:5, 3:8, 3:14-15 and 3:16-18
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 3:1, 3:3, 3:5, 3:8 and 3:14
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on John 3:3-6 and 3:7-8
- CSB Study Bible, note on John 3:3
- N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part One, comment on John 3:1-13
