"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.”
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man."
John 3:7-13
In these verses Jesus gives Nicodemus two reasons why he should not marvel at what He has just been saying to him about spiritual rebirth. In the first place, He instances the action of the wind, and draws an analogy from it, as if to say (in Temple's words), 'Don't wait till you know the source of the wind before you let it refresh you, or its destination before you spread sail to it; it offers what you need; trust yourself to it'. We should notice also, the contrast between the freedom of the Spirit, represented here by the wind, and the fabric of institutional religion represented by Nicodemus. What Jesus was saying was going to blow institutional religion to pieces. It is hardly surprising that Nicodemus felt apprehensive; if he grasped anything of the import of what Jesus meant, he must have been afraid. In the second place, Nicodemus need not marvel at His teaching as something mysterious and unheard of because it is borne witness to in the Old Testament. Jesus found it strange that the teacher of Israel should be ignorant of this. It is as if He said, 'Haven't you read Ezekiel, or Jeremiah, Nicodemus? Don't you read your Bible, then?' (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah, 31:31ff). This is a word that it is sometimes apparently necessary to speak to present-day teachers and instructors in the Word of God also. In 11, Jesus is saying that He is not speculating or theorising. 'When I speak of new birth I am bearing witness to something I have seen in operation. Look at My disciples. What do you suppose has happened to them?' In 12, it is suggested that 'earthly things' are said to refer to truths for which a human analogy can be found (e. g. regeneration, and Jesus has just used the analogy of the wind). If, then, Nicodemus has not understood, even with the help of an analogy, how is he going to understand when Jesus speaks about things for which there can be no human analogy, like justification, atonement, reconciliation? And, significantly, Jesus goes on in 14 to speak of these truths of redemption. It is interesting to note that on the three occasions when Nicodemus speaks in 1-13, he shows very plainly his lack of understanding and perception (2, 4, 9).