This is a very theologically rich passage and I could not possibly hope to unpack it all. All I want to do now is focus on the interaction of Jesus and Nicodemus.
From the prior chapter, we learn that Jesus' miraculous signs are convincing many people to believe in his name. But Jesus does not entrust himself to these people. The text does not give a specific reason why other than the fact that Jesus knew their consciences.
In John 3, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council.
Nicodemus calls Jesus "Rabbi" and that he must have come from God due to the miraculous signs that he is doing. This indicates that Nicodemus is likely one of the people spoken about because he is referring to Jesus' miraculous signs as showing the authority. Jesus was skeptical of this group of people, but will he be skeptical of Nicodemus?
Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night could mean several things and is not dispositive of a single outcome. First, it could men that Nicodemus was trying to publicly hide his support and belief in Jesus. At this point, Jesus may be a controversial figure due to the cleansing of the temple, but he can do miraculous signs. Jumping ahead, we know the Pharisees will seek to subvert and then execute Jesus, so we can probably infer that the initial encounter was not positive for all the Pharisees.
I think this is probably what is going on, but the reasoning rests on events that happen later on. The text of John 3 is silent as to why Nicodemus comes at night. There may have been an innocuous reason such as Nicodemus just wanted Jesus alone without the crowds that were beginning to form.
Jesus answers Nicodemus with what seems like a riddle - unless a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus is bewildered and focuses on the literal meaning of what Jesus said - no one can enter the womb a second time.
Jesus responds that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Jesus then discusses the actions of the Spirit as a mysterious and unique entity. Jesus statements even imply the Spirit has its own free will. Finally, Jesus states that so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus asks how can this be?
At this point Jesus begins to talk to Nicodemus about the importance of the Son of the Man. Unpacking the text, Jesus states:
1. The Son of Man is the only one who has gone into heaven because he has come from heaven.
2. God loved the world so much that He gave his only begotten Son to save people.
3. Those who believe in the name of the Son is not condemned.
4. Those who do not believe in the name of the Son is already condemned.
5. People either love light and hate darkness or vice versa.
There is no record of what Nicodemus says in response to all of this. Rather, the story seems to end abruptly.
Now that we know Jesus' response, let's look back at the initial encounter. Here is what I see:
1. Nicodemus believes in Jesus' name because of the miraculous signs
2. Nicodemus is already part of the Kingdom of God, as demonstrated by his approach of Jesus. Thus, Nicodemus is already "born again", i.e., born of the Spirit, otherwise he would not have approached Jesus. Jesus just needs to explain it to someone to get it on the record.
Similarly, we have no indication of whether Jesus said anything similar to anyone else prior to this encounter with Nicodemus.
3. Jesus seems to be entrusting himself to Nicodemus. In fact, Jesus is implicitly revealing himself as the Son of God to Nicodemus. Jesus never actually says "I am the Son of God". In verse 2, Nicodemus stated that Jesus came from God. After a bit of dialogue, Jesus then states that the Son of God has already come from God. Although it is in a third person discussion, we can surmise from the context that Jesus is telling Nicodemus that he is the Son of God.
Jumping ahead to the story immediately following this, we find Jesus' disciples baptizing converts. The focus of the story is on the interaction with John the Baptist, but we can make an inference that Nicodemus was one of the people being baptized because:
1. it immediately follows the story with Nicodemus
2 Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born of water and Spirit. The discussion that followed seemed to indicate that Nicodemus was born of Spirit, now he needs to be born of water.
3. The story with Nicodemus seems to end abruptly, but it could just mean it parlayed directly into his baptism. If Nicodemus is baptized immediately afterwards, this stands in sharp contrast to secretly approaching Jesus by night. Rather, it is a public declaration of faith during daylight.
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