‘The same came to him by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these signs except God be with him”.'
This Pharisee acknowledged that Jesus was a teacher ‘come from God' and that ‘God was with Him' because he was impressed by the ‘signs' that He had done. In other words while not being a recognised teacher of the schools Jesus had in Nicodemus' eyes satisfactorily demonstrated that He was in the prophetic mould. But Nicodemus had not rightly interpreted the signs, for he had come short of a recognition that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. Furthermore the good opinion of his compatriots was so important to him that he ‘came by night'. He was still in darkness. He was one of those who had ‘believed' but to whom Jesus was not willing to trust Himself (John 2:23-25). To put it in the best light, he wanted to make sure of Jesus before he committed himself. Later he will help in the decent burial of the body of Jesus and will at that stage be remembered by the fact that previously he had come at night (John 19:39).
‘Came to him by night'. ‘By night' suggests that he did not want to be observed. But for John it probably has another meaning, that the man who was in darkness was approaching the light of the world. John draws out these nuances, compare John 13:30 where Judas the betrayer goes out ‘and it was night'.
‘A teacher come from God.' This in contrast with teachers of the recognised kind who had received their training through the Rabbinic schools.