A ruler] i.e. a member of the Sanhedrin.
2, 3. Nicodemus had asked no question, but Jesus knew what he wished to ask, viz. 'If Thou art the Messiah, as some of us are inclined to believe, tell us how we must enter that Kingdom of God, which Thou hast come to establish, and of which Thou hast said so much.' Our Lord answers that a new birth, i.e. a new heart and a new nature, are necessary, according to the testimony of the OT. prophets: 'I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts' (see Jeremiah 31:31.; Ezekiel 37:26, etc.). As evidence of the 'new birth,' our Lord would require humility, humble trust in God for salvation through Christ, not a vainglorious boasting in descent from Abraham, or in the punctilious fulfilment of legal ceremonies; also repentance, i.e. sincere abhorrence of sin, and not merely of ceremonial defilement; and, lastly, love, and that not only of one's friends, but also of one's enemies; not only of the righteous, but of publicans and sinners; not only of the Jew, but of the Samaritan and the Gentile—a love, moreover, manifesting itself not in word only, but in works of mercy, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and instructing the ignorant.