'The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know
that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles
that Thou doest, except God be with him.'—JOHN iii. 2.
The connection in which the Evangelist introduces the story of
Nicodemus throws great light on the aspect under which we are to regard
it. He has just been saying that upon our Lord's first visit to
Jerusalem at the Passover there was a considerable amount of interest
excited, and a kind of imperfect faith in Him drawn out, based solely
on His miracles. He adds that this faith was regarded by Christ as
unreliable; and he goes on to explain that our Lord exercised great
reserve in His dealings with the persons who professed it, for the
reason that 'He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of
man, for He knew what was in man.'
Now, if you note that reiteration of the word 'man,' you will
understand the description which is given of the person who is next
introduced. 'He knew what was in man. There was a _man_ of the
Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.' It would have been
enough to have said, 'There was a Pharisee.' When John says 'a _man_ of
the Pharisees,' he is not merely carried away by the echo in his ears
of his own last words, but it is as if he had said, 'Now, here is one
illustration of the sort of thing that I have been speaking about; one
specimen of an imperfect faith built upon miracles; and one
illustration of the way in which Jesus Christ dealt with it.'
Nicodemus was 'a Pharisee.' That tells us the school to which he
belonged, and the general drift of his thought. He was 'a ruler of the
Jews.' That tells us that he held an official position in the supreme
court of the nation, to which the Romans had left some considerable
shadow of power in ecclesiastical matters. And this man comes to Christ
and acknowledges Him. Christ deals with him in a very suggestive
fashion. His confession, and the way in which our Lord received it, are
what I desire to consider briefly in this sermon.