It is difficult to learn from an ignorant teacher; it is impossible to learn from a deceitful teacher.

When Jesus told Nicodemus a person had to be both born of the flesh and born of God’s spirit, Nicodemus claimed ignorance. Jesus told him the wind blows wherever it pleases, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Nicodemus would have known that the term for spirit, in both Hebrew and Greek, also meant wind. As a scholar of the Old Testament, he would’ve known that Jesus was saying that the voice of the spirit is unpredictable and uncontrollable. The spirit of God is not controlled by humanity, but rather God created humanity to be controlled by the spirit. Just as one’s physical body is formed in the womb, a person’s spiritual form is shaped by the presence and control of God’s spirit.

When he heard Jesus speak this truth, Nicodemus wanted to know how this could be. Jesus wanted to know how Nicodemus could be Israel’s spiritual teacher and yet still not understand. Jesus tells Nicodemus that He is speaking the truth by testifying from personal knowledge. No one had gone into heaven and returned to speak the truth about what they had seen. But Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, and through incarnation was now also the Son of Man. Only He could bear witness to both earthly truth and heavenly truth.

By both heavenly and earthly standards the corruption in the temple was unrighteous. Nicodemus and the other Jewish rulers were unwilling to accept and acknowledge this truth. Because they refused to accept the truth of their own unrighteousness, they were unable to accept the heavenly truth that through faith in Jesus, they could receive forgiveness of sin and have eternal life.

Once Jesus spoke, the Jewish leaders had no excuse for ignorance. They chose unrighteousness instead of truth. By eventually crucifying Jesus they hoped to kill the truth. The resurrection revealed the truth and returned hope to all who believe.