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

Read the chapter

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ✦ ²The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” ✦ ³Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” ✦ ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” ✦ ⁵Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. ✦ ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ✦ ⁷Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ ✦ ⁸The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ✦ ⁹Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?” ✦ ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? ✦ ¹¹Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. ✦ ¹²If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ✦ ¹³No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. ✦ ¹⁴As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ✦ ¹⁵that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ✦ ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. ✦ ¹⁷For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. ✦ ¹⁸He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. ✦ ¹⁹This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. ✦ ²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. ✦ ²¹But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.” ✦ ²²After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized. ✦ ²³John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came, and were baptized. ✦ ²⁴For John was not yet thrown into prison. ✦ ²⁵There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification. ✦ ²⁶They came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.” ✦ ²⁷John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. ✦ ²⁸You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ ✦ ²⁹He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full. ✦ ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease. ✦ ³¹He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. ✦ ³²What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness. ✦ ³³He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. ✦ ³⁴For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure. ✦ ³⁵The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. ✦ ³⁶One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains 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.

← John 2 John 4 →