Skip to content

Passage Research

John 3 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for John 3, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

36
verses
657 / 159
Greek words / lemmas
44
classic sermon excerpts
9
preachers & commentators

John 3 in the Greek

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Greek Transliteration Strong's Count KJV renderings
γεννάω gennáō G1080 8 bear, beget, be born, bring forth
πιστεύω pisteúō G4100 8 believe, commit, put in trust with
υἱός huiós G5207 8 child, foal, son
δύναμαι dýnamai G1410 7 be able, can, could, may
φῶς phōs G5457 5 fire, light
πνεῦμα pneûma G4151 6 ghost, life, spirit, mind
κόσμος kósmos G2889 5 adorning, world

How preachers through history handled this text

44 public-domain excerpts on John 3, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Spurgeon 14 Calvin 7 Chrysostom 7 Alexander MacLaren 5 Augustine 3 Matthew Henry 3 John Wesley 3 +2 more

“Nicodemus was afraid, or ashamed to be seen with Christ, therefore came in the night. When religion is out of fashion, there are many Nicodemites. But though he came by night, Jesus bid him welcome, and hereby taught us to encourage good beginnings, although weak. And though now he came by night, yet afterward he owned Christ publicly. He did not talk with Christ about state affairs, though he was a ruler, but about the concerns of his own soul and its salvation, and went at once to them. …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on John 3:1–21 (Public Domain)

Places in the text

Based on ancient-geography data

  • Jerusalem — John 3:22
  • Judea 1 — John 3:22
  • Aenon — John 3:23
  • Salim — John 3:23
  • Jordan — John 3:26

Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?

Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on John 3, delivered in 45 minutes.