And the Pharisees said unto them, Have ye also been deceived? Did any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believe in Him? But this people are ignorant of the law, they are cursed. Nicodemus, who came to Him by night, being one of them, said to them, "Does our law judge a man, if they do not first hear him and know what he is doing? Why do the Pharisees address the servants not with anger, but with meekness, and so gently say: "Are you also offended?" Because they were afraid that they would completely separate themselves from them and cling to Christ. Wherefore they say to them very meekly and affectionately: Have you also been offended, who are wiser than the rest, and are always with us, who are experienced in the law? Then they try to convince them by example, but very unwisely. Did any of the rulers, they say, believe in Him? But who is to blame? Christ or those who did not believe? Without a doubt, those who do not believe are subject to condemnation. "The people are called cursed because they believed, while they themselves are worthy of innumerable curses both for their unbelief and for hindering others from believing. Why does the Evangelist remark about Nicodemus that he came to Jesus at night and that he was one of them? In order to detect their lies. They said that none of the rulers believed in Him; and he shows that they are lying in this case as well. For here is Nicodemus and the ruler, and one of them, and he believed in Christ. "What does Nicodemus notice to them?" He says, "Does our law condemn a man without hearing him first?" By this he shows that they did not read the law, nor did they fulfill its requirements, although they dreamed much of legality. For if the law does not command anyone to be killed without first being judged, and they had zeal for it without hearing it first, then they are evidently transgressors of the law. He also said, "And if they do not know what he is doing." By this he showed that it is necessary to listen not simply, but very attentively, in order to learn how to act, and not to condemn in this way without ascertaining the matter.

And they said to him, Are you not also of Galilee? Look, and you'll see that there doesn't come a prophet from Galilee. And they all went home.