Nicodemus
20 BCE · Jerusalem
Nicodemus appears only in the Gospel of John. There he is a Pharisee and 'a ruler of the Jews', apparently a member of Jerusalem's leading council, who comes to Jesus by night to question him (John 3:1-4). Their conversation about being 'born anew', or 'born from above', is one of the best-known passages in John. Later, when the chief priests and Pharisees want Jesus arrested, Nicodemus objects that the law does not condemn a man without first hearing him (John 7:45-52). After the crucifixion he helps Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus. He brings about a hundred Roman pounds of myrrh and aloes, and the two wrap the body in linen according to Jewish custom (John 19:38-42). Nothing reliable is known of his later life. An apocryphal work probably of the 4th or 5th century, the Acts of Pilate (later known in the West as the Gospel of Nicodemus), claims him as its author; it is not his work. Some scholars identify him with Nakdimon ben Guryon, a wealthy Jerusalemite of the Talmud. Others think this unlikely because of the dates. Several churches honour him as a saint.
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JerusalemירושליםJudea
What they did here
All three of John's scenes with Nicodemus are set in Jerusalem: his night visit to Jesus (John 3:1-21), his objection before the chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:45-52), and his part in the burial (John 19:38-42).
Jerusalem in this era
Under Roman rule Jerusalem was, according to the Gospels, where Jesus was crucified and, in Christian belief, rose from the dead; Acts places Pentecost and the first Christian community, led by the apostles and later by James, there. The Romans destroyed the city in 70 CE.
About Jerusalem
Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.
In Jerusalem at the same time
Joseph of Arimathea, Mary, mother of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Philip the Apostle, Matthias the Apostle, Bartholomew the Apostle
Across the traditions, in Jerusalem at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Nicodemus’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Joseph of Arimathea, Mary, mother of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Philip the Apostle, Matthias the Apostle, Bartholomew the Apostle, Thomas the Apostle, Mary Magdalene, James, son of Zebedee, Barnabas, Andrew the Apostle, Peter the Apostle, Paul the Apostle, John the Apostle, Stephen the Protomartyr, Judas Iscariot, Jude the Apostle, James the Just
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Nicodemus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.