Joh 3:1-2, 1 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.”
A well versed teacher of the law came to Jesus by night. Compared to what he had learned and taught, Jesus was so different that he could not wait to meet with Him though secretly. In his first few words to Jesus, two things I noticed worth our examination. 1st Nicodemus did not know Jesus as the Messiah, only as a Rabbi (teacher). 2nd, Nicodemus only knew that He had come from God and was not God.
If a teacher of the law got it wrong, how many don’t know who Jesus is. John writes “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son” (2Joh 1:9). The doctrine of Christ is important, it’s the revelation of Himself. It reveals that salvation is not “WHAT” but “WHO”, salvation is possession of the person of Jesus Christ, 1Joh 5:12 “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life”.