Among the Pharisees there was a man named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews; and he came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi! we know that you are a Teacher who has come from God, for no one can perform such miracles as you do, unless God is with him.

When Jesus was at the feast, some apparently believed in His name; but their faith was uncertain. For, heeding Christ for a time not as God, but as a God-bearing man, they again fell away from this most insignificant faith. And that they were such is evident from the following. Jesus Himself, it is said, did not entrust Himself to them and did not impart all His teaching, as to untrue believers, penetrating into their hearts (Psalm 93:11; Jeremiah 17:10) and knowing what was in them about Him. For it was not hidden from Him what was the thought in every man, apparently a believer. Almost so was Nicodemus. He also believed Jesus, and it seems that he spoke to the Jews in favor of the Lord, namely, that He should be judged by careful examination (John 7:50-51). And after the crucifixion at burial, he also showed a lot of care and generosity. However, he did not believe, as he should have. Still holding on to Jewish weakness, he comes to Jesus "by night" out of fear of the Jews (John 19:38, 39); He calls Him the Teacher, as a simple man, for he had such an idea of Him, wherefore he adds that no one can work such miracles unless God is with him. You see, he comes to Jesus as a prophet and a man loved by God. What about the Lord? He does not denounce him in a formidable manner, does not say, why do you come at night to the Teacher sent from God, why do you not have courage? He says nothing of the kind, but graciously talks to him about divine and lofty things. Note also that although Christ performed many miracles, the present Evangelist does not narrate any of them, either because they are spoken of by other Evangelists, or because they are higher than the detailed narration.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

It seems that the Lord's words to Nicodemus have nothing in common with the words of Nicodemus to Him. But for the attentive one, many similarities will be revealed. Since Nicodemus had a degraded concept of Christ, namely, that He is a Teacher and that God is with Him, the Lord says to him: "It is natural for you to have such an understanding of Me." For you have not yet been born "again," that is, of God, by spiritual birth, but still of the flesh, and the knowledge which you have of Me is not spiritual, but spiritual and human. But I say to you that you and everyone else will be outside the kingdom, unless you are born again and of God, and do not receive a proper understanding of me. For birth through baptism, by bringing light into the soul, gives it the opportunity to see or know the Kingdom of God, that is, His only-begotten Son. For the Son can be called both the wisdom of God and the Kingdom of God. But this kingdom, Nicodemus, no one can see or know, unless he is born of God. In the same way, because you have not yet been born spiritually, you do not see Me – the Kingdom of God, as you should, but you have a low understanding of Me.

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb another time and be born? Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus, hearing a teaching higher than that of man, is amazed and, according to the nature of human weakness, asks: How is this possible? This is a sign of unbelief. For where there is no faith, there are questions: how is this, why is this? The words of Nicodemus also seem ridiculous, because he did not think about spiritual birth, but remembered the bodily womb. When he heard that if someone is not born "again," he thought that it was used instead of "first," "again," a second time, and he understood the speech to mean "if someone is not born again," a second time. Wherefore he saith, How, being old, can he enter into his mother's womb? Two subjects were incomprehensible to him: one was spiritual birth, the other was the Kingdom. For the Jews had never heard the name of the kingdom of heaven. Now he is perplexed about the birth. Christ reveals to him more clearly the way in which the spiritual is born. For man, consisting of two parts, soul and body, also has a two-part image of birth. Water, visibly received, acts for the purification of the body, and the Spirit, invisibly united, for the rebirth of the invisible soul. If you ask how water can give birth, then I will also ask, how can seed, which is itself water-like, be formed into a man? Therefore, just as the grace of God does everything over the bodily seed, so at baptism water is offered, but everything is done by the Spirit and prayerful invocation, and especially by the presence of God. For in this water are made the signs and the image of burial and resurrection. Three immersions are a sign of a three-day burial; then a person rises (emerges) like the Lord, wearing a bright and pure garment of incorruption, and immersing corruption in water.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I said to you, "You must be born again." The Spirit breathes where it will, and you hear its voice, but you do not know whence it comes and whither it goes: so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The Lord, diverting Nicodemus' attention from the birth of the flesh, says: that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, that is, a person born of baptism becomes spiritual; for you must understand the word "spirit" instead of "spiritual." True, the one who is baptized does not become a divine spirit, but having received sonship, grace and honor by the Spirit, he is vouchsafed to be spiritual. Seeing that Nicodemus was still troubled, he said, "Do not be surprised." Then he tries to teach by sensual example. The Spirit, he says, breathes where he will, and you hear his voice, yet you do not know its direction, because it is irrepressible and unhindered, and by the force of nature it has a tendency in all directions. If it says, "It breathes where it will," it is not because the wind has the faculty of free choice and desire, but because it wants (as I have said) to indicate its natural movement and irrepressible force. But if you do not know where and how the wind breathes, this spirit that is subject to feeling, then how do you want to understand regeneration from the Spirit of God? If this spirit cannot be restrained, then how much more will the grace of the Holy Spirit not submit to the laws of nature. Let the Doukhobor of Macedonia and his predecessor Eunomius be ashamed. The former makes the Spirit a slave, but here he hears that the wind breathes where it will, and consequently the more so does the Spirit move autocratically and act where and how it wills. And Eunomius, having previously sinned in the same thing and calling the Spirit a creature, stretched out his insolence to such an extent that he seemed to know God as well as himself. Let him hear that he does not know the movement and striving of the wind; how, then, do you dare to appropriate to yourself the knowledge of the Essence of God?

Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can this be? Jesus answered and said to him, "You are a teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak of what we know, and bear witness of what we have seen; but you do not accept Our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about heavenly things?

Nicodemus still remains with Jewish infirmity; therefore he asks again: how can this be? Wherefore the Lord, showing him that he asks thus out of simplicity, saith, Thou art a teacher of Israel; if you remember the glorious miracles performed in the Old Testament, beginning with the creation of man and onwards, namely, how he was created (Gen. 2:7. 21:22), how the woman was created from the rib, how the signs were performed in Egypt, how in the Red Sea (Exodus 7:8, 9, 14), how the barren gave birth (1 Samuel ch. 1), and so on, if you understand this, as the teacher of Israel, you will also believe what I am saying now. Moreover, I speak of what I know and what I have seen, that is, I know exactly. For by the word "seen" He does not mean bodily sight, but the most accurate knowledge. But you do not accept the testimony of "ours," that is, mine. The Lord does not say this to Nicodemus alone, but extends it to the whole race of Jews who remained in unbelief to the end. If I have told you about earthly things, and you do not believe, that is, if I have told you about the regeneration that takes place in baptism, and you have not accepted, but have asked, "How?" (He calls this birth "earthly" because it is performed on earth for the benefit of people living on earth; although it is heavenly by grace and dignity, we are baptized while on earth); Therefore, if I have spoken of this "earthly" birth, and have found you not believing, how will you believe if you hear of the ineffable heavenly birth, by which the only-begotten Son was born of the Father?

And some understood by "earthly" the example of the wind, so that the speech is presented in this sense: If I have given you an example of earthly things, and you are not convinced by it, how can you learn more exalted things?

No one ascended into heaven except the Son of man, who came down from heaven, who is in heaven.

And this, apparently, has nothing to do with the previous one. But if anyone looks attentively into the thought of the Lord, it turns out that this too is close to the previous one. Since Nicodemus called the Lord Teacher and Prophet, He says: Do not consider Me to be a prophet who is from the earth, sent by God to teach, but consider Me to have come down from above, as the Son, and not from the earth. None of the prophets ascended into heaven, but I alone have to ascend, as I descended. When you hear that the Son of Man came down "from heaven," do not think that the flesh came down from heaven. In fact, Apollinaris thought that Christ, having a body from heaven, passed through the Virgin as through a canal. But since Christ, consisting of two natures, was one Hypostasis or one Person, the names of Man are applied to the Word, and again the names of the Word are applied to Man. So it is said here that the "Son of Man" came down from heaven, because He is one Person and one Hypostasis. Then, so that when you hear "he who has descended," you do not think that he who has come down is no longer in heaven, he says: "He who is in heaven." Therefore, when you hear that I have come down, do not think that I am not there; but here also I am bodily present, and there I sit with the Father according to the Divinity.