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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...