Nicodemus

Joh. iii. 1.NICODEMUS, a Disciple of Jesus Christ, a Jew by Nation, and by Sect a Pharisee. The Gospel calls him a Ruler Joh. iii. 10. Joh. iii. 2, 3, &c.of the Jews, and our Saviour gives him the Name of a Master of Israel. When our Saviour began to manifest himself by his Miracles at Jerusalem, at the first Passover that he celebrated there after his Baptism¹, Nicodemus made no doubt but that he was the Messiah, and came to him by Night, that he might learn of him the Way of Salvation. Jesus told him, that no one could see the Kingdom of Heaven, except he should be born again. Nicodemus taking this in the literal Sense, made answer, How can a Man that is old, be born again? Can he enter a second Time into his Mother’s Womb? To which Jesus reply’d, If a Man be not born again of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Nicodemus asks him, How can these Things be? Jesus answered, ” Are you a Master of Israel, and are you ignorant of these ” Things? We tell you what we know, ” and you receive not our Testimony. If ” you believe not common Things, and ” which may be called earthly, how will ” you believe me if I speak to you of heavenly Things? No body has ascended ” into Heaven, but the Son of God, who ” came down from thence. And just as ” Moses lifted up the brazen Serpent in ” the Wilderness, so must the Son of Man ” be lifted up on high. For God has so ” loved the World, that he has given his ” only Son, so that no Man who believes ” in him shall perish, but shall have eternal Life.

After this Conversation Nicodemus became a Disciple of Jesus Christ, and there is no doubt to be made, but he came to hear him, as often as our Saviour came to Jerusalem. It happen’d on a Time, that the Priests and Pharisees had sent Officers to seize Jesus², who returning to them, made their Report, that never Man spoke as he did; to which the Pharisees reply’d, ” Are you also of his Disciples? Is there ” any one of the Elders or Pharisees that ” have believed in him? Then Nicodemus thought himself obliged to make answer, saying, Does the Law permit us to condemn any one before he is heard? To which they reply’d, Are you also a Galilean? Read the Scriptures and you will find, that never any Prophet came out of Galilee. After this the Council was dismiss’d. At last Nicodemus declared himself openly a Disciple of Jesus Christ³, when he came with Joseph of Arimathea to pay the last Duties to the Body of Christ crucify’d, which they took down from the Cross, embalm’d, and laid in the Sepulchre.

Nicodemus received Baptism from the Disciples of Christ, but it is uncertain whether before or after his Passion. The Jews being informed of this, deposed him from his Dignity of Senator, excommunicated him, and drove him from Jerusalem⁴. ‘Tis said also, that they would have put him to Death, but that in Consideration of Gamaliel, who was his Uncle or Cousin-German, they contented themselves with beating him almost to Death, and plundering his Goods. Gamaliel convey’d him to his Country-House⁵, and provided him with what was necessary for his Support; and when he dy’d, he buried him honourably near St. Stephen. His Body was discovered in 415, with those of St. Stephen and Gamaliel, and the Latin Church pays Honour to all three together, on the third of August.

There is still extant an Apochryphal Gospel under the Name of Nicodemus⁶, which in some Manuscripts bears the Title of the Acts of Pilate. But it is very certain this is not what is cited by the Ancients under the Name of the Acts of Pilate which he sent to Tiberius, being only a modern Piece, full of Fables and Absurdities, and which deserves no Consideration. At the End of this spurious Gospel are read these Words which are sufficient to shew its Falsity. In the Name of the Holy Trinity here end the Acts of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which were found at Jerusalem by Theodosius the Great in the Pretorium of Pontius Pilate, in the publick Acts which were written in the nineteenth Year of the Emperor Tiberius, and the seventeenth Year of Herod, Son of Herod, King of Galilee, the eighth Day before the Kalends of April, which is the twenty-third Day of March, in the Year of the two hundredth and second Olympiad, under the chief Priests Joseph and Caiphas. Which was brought to the Form of a History by Nicodemus, and written in Hebrew after the Crucifixion and Passion of our Saviour.

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