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Nicodemus; ; ; is a New Testament figure venerated as a saint in a number of Christian traditions. He is depicted as a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin who is drawn to hear Jesus's teachings. Like Lazarus, Nicodemus is not mentioned in the synoptic Gospels, but only by John, who devotes more than half of Chapter 3 of his gospel and a few verses of Chapter 7 to Nicodemus; and, lastly, mentions him in Chapter 19.
Nicodemus is considered in both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions to have secretly been a disciple of Jesus on the basis of the narrative in John 19; there is no explicit mention of his discipleship in the Gospel of John. Owing to his insistence on a hearing for Jesus according to Jewish law, Nicodemus is sometimes called "defender of Jesus".
Some scholars have identified the Nicodemus of the New Testament with a 1st-century historic Nicodemus ben Gurion, while others consider the dates and apparent age discrepancy between the two make this unlikely. An work under his name, the Gospel of Nicodemus, was produced in the mid-4th century, and is mostly a reworking of the earlier Acts of Pilate, which recounts the Harrowing of Hell.
Jesus replies: "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then follows a conversation with Nicodemus about the meaning of being "born again" or "born from above" (): Nicodemus explores the notion of being literally born again from one's mother's womb, but most theologians recognise that Nicodemus knew Jesus was not speaking of literal rebirth. Theologian Charles Ellicott wrote that "after the method of Rabbinic dialogue, Nicodemus presses the impossible meaning of the words in order to exclude it, and to draw forth the true meaning. 'You cannot mean that a man is to enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born. What is it, then, that you do mean?" In this instance, Nicodemus chooses the literal (rather than the figurative) meaning of and assumes that that meaning exhausts the significance of the word.Watkins, H. W., Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on John 3, accessed 10 February 2016
Jesus expresses surprise, perhaps ironically, that "a Rabbi" does not understand the concept of spiritual rebirth:
In Chapter 7, Nicodemus advises his colleagues among "the chief priests and the Pharisees", to hear and investigate before making a judgment concerning Jesus, reminding them that Jewish law requires that a person must be heard before they can be condemned. Their mocking response argues that no prophet comes from Galilee. Nonetheless, it is probable that he wielded a certain influence in the Sanhedrin.
Finally, when Jesus is buried, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes—about 100 Roman pounds (). Nicodemus must have been a man of means; in his book , Pope Benedict XVI observes that, "The quantity of the Liniment is extraordinary and exceeds all normal proportions. This is a royal burial."
This does not preclude local preferences and traditions from being applied, as dioceses, national churches and religious institutes may have their own days of observance approved. For example, at the St. Nicodemus and St. Joseph of Arimathea Church, which the Franciscan Order established in Ramla in the 19th century, permission from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was obtained to celebrate the feast day of the two saints on the Saturday of the third week of Easter, so that the link between their role in the burial of Jesus and Easter solemnities would be highlighted in the Holy Land. The church has a painting above its altar, attributed to Titian, The Deposition from the Cross, which shows the two saints.
Like Joseph, Nicodemus became the object of various pious legends during the Middle Ages, particularly in connection with monumental crosses. He was reputed to have carved both the Holy Face of Lucca and the Batlló Crucifix, receiving assistance with the face in particular and thus rendering the works instances of .Gertrud Schiller (1972). "The Passion of Jesus Christ". In Iconography of Christian Art. Volume 2. Translated by Janet Seligman. Greenwich, CT, United States: New York Graphic Society. pp. 144–145, 472–473.
Both of these sculptures date from at least a millennium after Nicodemus's life, but the ascriptions attest to the contemporary interest in Nicodemus as a character in medieval Europe.
Persuaded: The Story of Nicodemus by David Harder is a fictionalized account of the life of Nicodemus. According to the author, he used episodes and timetables sourced from all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles to develop his novel's timeline of events. Scripture quoted within the novel is taken from the Passion Translation version of the Bible.
In popular music, Nicodemus's name was used figuratively in Henry Clay Work's 1864 American Civil War-era piece "Wake Nicodemus!", an abolitionist song hailing the end of slavery, which at that time was popular in . In 1978 Tim Curry covered the song on his debut album Read My Lips. The song's layered connotations, its anti-slavery sentimentgave it a connection with "rebirths", and to John's "born again" Nicodemus. (2025). 9780791470954, State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791470954 By extension, it became associated with the civil rights movement in the .
Ernst Pepping composed an Evangelienmotette (motet on gospel text) Jesus und Nikodemus in 1937. In 1941, The Golden Gate Quartet, sang the Gospel "God Told Nicodemus", in the African-American Jubilee style. The Bob Dylan song "In The Garden", released on the 1980 album Saved, contains the lines "Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn't be seen by men / Saying, 'Master, tell me why a man must be born again'". The song "Help Yourself" by The Devil Makes Three, from their 2009 Do Wrong Right album, contains a very informal retelling of the relationship between Nicodemus and Jesus.
The figure of Nicodemus appears in several television productions:
The Nicodemus National Historic Site, commemorating the only remaining western town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction Period following the American Civil War, is in Kansas. The National Park Service indicates the town's name came from the 1864 piece, "Wake Nicodemus" by Henry Clay Work. "Nicodemus National Historic Site", National Park Service. Some point to the lyrics' use of the name Nicodemus as a figurative reference to the biblical figure. In the case of the song, Nicodemus is an enslaved African, long deceased, but acknowledged in the lyrics as both prophet and herald of freedom. The contrast in the lyrics between night and morning, and the enslaved Nicodemus' certainty in what the metaphorical "morning" would bring, have been seen as drawing a parallel to, and being inspired by, the story of the biblical figure. In one story, emancipation, and in the other, salvation, is to come "in the morning"; each Nicodemus has faith in their eventual advent. The lyrics say, in part:
Rosamund Rodman, a researcher and scholar of placenames, noted in a 2008 article that enslaved people who learnt to read generally did so in secret and at night, due to risks of punishment for this forbidden activity. The gospel's Nicodemus came to Jesus to learn from him, also in secret and at night, for fear of repercussions. Such connections and allusions lead Rodman to conclude that the town's name has its ultimate origin with the biblical figure. Religious affairs journalist Daniel Burke notes that, "To blacks after the Civil War, he was a model of rebirth as they sought to cast off their old identity as slaves".
On 16 August 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. invoked Nicodemus as a metaphor concerning the need for the United States to be "born again" in order to effectively address social and economic inequality. The speech was called "Where Do We Go From Here?", and delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
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