"3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus 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.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 Nicodemus 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?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:1-8
In the light of what was said in the previous Note, we should therefore expect to see the principles at work in this story - the overshadowing of the Eternal Word, and the conflict between light and darkness, in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Further, we should expect to see the announcement of the meaning of the 'water-into-wine' miracle - the old replaced by the new - and this is one force of the words, 'Ye must be born again' (old things passed away, all things become new); and also of the cleansing of the temple, with its message that this transformation cannot come without purging and pain. Hence the emphasis on 'water' and 'Spirit' in 5, symbolising repentance and faith, and the reference to men loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (19). Such is the background against which we should study this chapter. It has three movements in it, regeneration by the Spirit, the centrality of the cross, and the necessity of faith.
The AV begins the chapter as if it were a completely new theme, but in the Greek there is a connecting particle, linking the story with what is said at the end of the previous chapter. John has just spoken of many who believed in Jesus because of the miracles which He did, but whose faith nevertheless did not impress Him because it did not go far enough in terms of real committal. And now, in this chapter, it is as if John were saying, 'And here is a case in point'. It is the miracles that have impressed Nicodemus (2), and he therefore precisely belongs to the category mentioned in 2:23-25. It is one of the great values of the story that it shows us how Jesus deals with such people.