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¶The .iij. Chapter.
¶Christe teacheth Nicodemus. 15 Of fayth. 16 The loue of God towarde the worlde. •••• Condemnation. 25 Iohn baptizeth. 27 Iohn teacheth his disciples.
[unspec A] 1 THere was a man of the pharisees,* 1.1 named Ni∣codemus, a ruler of the Iewes.
2 * 1.2The same came to Ie¦sus by night, & said vnto him: Rabbi, we knowe that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man coulde do these miracles that thou doest, except God were with him.
3 Iesus aunswered, & sayde vnto hym: Veryly, veryly, I say vnto thee, except a man be borne agayne, he can not see the kyngdome of God.
4 Nicodemus sayth vnto hym: Howe can a man be borne when he is olde? can he enter into his mothers wombe, and be borne agayne?
5 Iesus aunswered: * 1.3 Veryly, veryly, I say vnto thee, except a man be borne of water and of the spirite, he can not enter into the kyngdome of God.
6 * 1.4That which is borne of the fleshe, is fleshe: and that which is borne of the spirite, is spirite.
7 Maruayle not thou that I sayde to thee, ye must be borne agayne.
8 The wynde bloweth where it listeth, [unspec B] and thou hearest the sounde therof: * 1.5 but canst not tell whence it commeth, and whither it goeth. So is euery one that is borne of the spirite.
9 Nicodemus aunswered, and sayde vn∣to hym: howe can these thynges be?
10 Iesus aunswered, & sayde vnto hym: Art thou a maister in Israel, and kno∣west not these thynges?
11 Veryly, veryly, I say vnto thee, we speake that we do knowe, & testifie that we haue seene: and ye receaue not our witnesse.
12 If I haue tolde you earthly thynges, and ye beleue not: howe shall ye beleue, yf I tell you of heauenly thynges?
13 *And no man ascendeth vp to (a) 1.6 hea∣uen, but he that came downe from heauen, euen the sonne of man which is in (b) 1.7 heauen.
14 *And as Moyses lyft vp the serpent in the wyldernesse: euen so must the sonne of man be lyft vp:
15 That whosoeuer beleueth in hym, perishe not, but haue eternall lyfe.☜
16 ☞*For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer beleueth in hym, shoulde not perishe, but haue euerlastyng lyfe.
17 * 1.8For God sent not his sonne into the worlde, to condempne the worlde: but that the (c) 1.9 worlde through hym myght be saued. He that beleueth on hym, is not condempned:
18 But he that beleueth not, is con∣dempned alredy, because he hath not beleued in the name of the only begottē sonne of God.
19 And this is the condempnation: * 1.10that lyght is come into the worlde, and men loued darknesse rather then lyght, be∣cause their deedes were euyll.
20 For * 1.11 euery one that euyll doeth, hateth the lyght: neither commeth to the light, lest his deedes shoulde be reproued.
21 But he that doeth trueth, cōmeth to the lyght, yt his deedes may be knowen, howe that they are wrought in God.☜
22 After these thynges, came Iesus and his disciples into the lande of Iurie, and [unspec D] there he taryed with thē, *& (d) 1.12 baptized.
23 And Iohn also baptized in Enon, be∣sides Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24 * 1.13For Iohn was not yet cast into prison.
25 ☞And there arose a question betwene Iohns disciples and the Iewes, about purifiyng.
26 And they came vnto Iohn, and sayde vnto hym: Rabbi, he that was with thee beyonde Iordane, to whom thou barest witnesse, beholde the same bap∣tizeth, * 1.14 and all men come to hym.
27 Iohn aunswered, and sayde: A man can receaue nothyng, except it be geuen hym from heauen.
28 Ye your selues are witnesses, * 1.15howe that I sayde I am not Christe, but am sent before hym.
29 He that hath ye bride, is the bridegrome. But the friende of the brydegrome, which standeth & heareth him, reioyceth greatly because of ye brydegromes voyce. This my ioy therfore is fulfylled.
30 He must increace, but I must decreace.
31 He that commeth from an hye, is a∣boue [unspec E] all: He that is of the earth, is earth∣lye, and speaketh of the earth. He that commeth from heauen, is aboue all: