John 3

Quick answer

Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be "born again," and the chapter holds the Bible's most famous verse on God's love.

A night conversation about new birth by the Spirit opens into John 3:16 — God's love giving his Son so that whoever believes has eternal life — and closes with John the Baptist's glad deference to Christ.

Part of Signs and Discourses📖 John introduction

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¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: ✦ ²The 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. ✦ ³Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ✦ ⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? ✦ ⁵Jesus 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. ✦ ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ✦ ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ✦ ⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ✦ ⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ✦ ¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? ✦ ¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ✦ ¹²If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? ✦ ¹³And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. ✦ ¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: ✦ ¹⁵That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ✦ ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ✦ ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. ✦ ¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ✦ ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ✦ ²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. ✦ ²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. ✦ ²²After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. ✦ ²³And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. ✦ ²⁴For John was not yet cast into prison. ✦ ²⁵Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. ✦ ²⁶And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. ✦ ²⁷John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. ✦ ²⁸Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. ✦ ²⁹He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. ✦ ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease. ✦ ³¹He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. ✦ ³²And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. ✦ ³³He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. ✦ ³⁴For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. ✦ ³⁵The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. ✦ ³⁶He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Person / place Jesus of Nazareth Concept The Bridegroom

Where this chapter connects

John 1 ·34 John 3 ·32 John 6 ·23 John 5 ·17 John 8 ·15 1 Jn 5 ·12 John 7 ·11 John 12 ·10

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 3YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 3David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 3Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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