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The Amish Voice 3
5. Pharisees were dedicated, zealous,
self-denying, and moral. No man
could give his life to so desperate and
restrictive a task unless he was
totally genuine.
—POSB Commentary
Did you know that the Apostle Paul,
before his conversion on the road to
Damascus, was also a Pharisee? Look
how he described himself and his
behavior to the Church at Philippi:
Philippians 3:4-6
Though I might also
have confidence in the flesh. If any other
man thinketh that he hath whereof he
might trust in the flesh, I more:
Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an
Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the
law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church; touching the
righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.
Like all other Pharisees, the Apostle Paul
was a devoted and highly educated
religious leader. His very presence
demanded respect from all. As far as he
and other Pharisees were concerned, if a
man or woman wanted to be right with
God, they had to separate themselves
from all other cultures, follow only the
teachings of the Pharisees, and go to no
one else's church except theirs. Their
very name meant “separated ones”.
However, after the light from heaven and
Jesus’ voice got Paul’s attention, his
whole thought pattern changed. Paul
writes:
Philippians 3:7-9
But what things [rules,
traditions, good works, education,
culture] were gain to me, those I counted
loss for Christ....and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ, And be
found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but
that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by
faith.
In other words, Paul is saying, “those
things that were of such importance and
value in my man-made religion, were all
of a sudden nothing more than dung
(manure) to me.” It had done nothing for
him as far as his righteousness with God
was concerned. It was purely man-made
and led nowhere but down a dead end
street.
This is the description of a Pharisee, and
this is the kind of man Nicodemus was.
And now that we have a better
understanding of his position and
lifestyle, let’s go back and rejoin the
conversation that was taking place
between him and Jesus.
Nicodemus had been following Jesus
around for days watching him do
miracles that were totally out of the
ordinary. At some point, he couldn’t
stand it any longer; he had to sit down
with Jesus and have a heart to heart talk
with Him.
Because of fear and worry about what
others might think, he waited until it was
dark and then he pulled Jesus aside and
said, “Rabbi [Master], 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”
In a sense, Nicodemus was asking, "Who
are you? The miracles show that God is
with you, but you are claiming to be the
Messiah, the Son of God. Are you truly
the promised Son of God?"
Notice in the next verse, Jesus did not
answer Nicodemus directly. He looked
into the empty, searching heart of
Nicodemus and saw the honesty of his
question. So Jesus went right to the heart
of the matter. Miracles and signs were
not the important issues. What was
important was for Nicodemus to be
changed: changed spiritually, changed
within, and changed completely—such a
spiritual change could only be described
as being a new birth.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
Jesus looked His creation right in the eye
and said, “Nicodemus, if you have plans
on being where God is and dwelling in
His kingdom, you must experience a
completely new birth. You will have to
be born all over again!”
Nicodemus was caught off guard and
unprepared for such a statement. He
immediately interrupted Jesus, asking:
John 3:4
…How can a man be born
when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb, and be
born?
Nicodemus believed Jesus’ challenge
was impossible. What do you mean
Jesus? Are you trying to tell me that I
have to crawl back into my mother’s
womb and go through the whole birthing
process a second time?”
Later on, when discussing salvation with
His disciples, Jesus said this about the
new birth...