Answered
In The Bible
Is Nicodemus mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew?
No - Nicodemus is only mentioned in the Gospel of John. There is a pattern in John's Gospel for Jesus to state something, which invariably was misunderstood, after which he m…ust clarify his remark. This results from John's excellent use of irony to control who received information and who was left outside. Because the author knows more than the characters in a narrative, he can let the readers know what Jesus really meant, while controlling whether those to whom he spoke understood or not. Insiders in the narrative would understand the hidden meaning, while his outsiders misunderstood and were left confused and lacking in knowledge, to the amusement of John's readers. The nuances of these passages work well in Greek but are sometimes lost in English translation, because of differences in the English language. The story of the Pharisee Nicodemus is a well known example of John's use of this technique. In Jesus' meeting with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21) he told him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born anothen, he can not see the kingdom of heaven." The Greek word anothen can mean "again", but it can also mean "from above", the meaning Jesus intended. Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus, assuming this to mean "again" and asked, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus invalidated this understanding in his response, although Nicodemus still lacked understanding. (MORE)
