There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: See introductory remark at the commencement of this section.
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The connecting particle х de (G1161)] with which the original introduces this scene should not have been omitted, as the Evangelist is now going to show, in continuation of his subject, that all the accessions to Christ during this His first public visit to Jerusalem were not like those of whom he had spoken at the close of the preceding chapter. It should have begun thus: 'But (or 'Now') there was a man,' etc. Nicodemus is a purely Greek name, of frequent occurrence among the later Greeks, whose names were often appropriated by the Jews, especially those of foreign extraction. This Nicodemus, besides being of the stricter sect of the Pharisees, was a "ruler" х archoon (G758)], or one of the Sanhedrim. In John 3:10 he is called a "master," or 'doctor' of the law. It is useless attempting, as Lightfoot has done, to identify him with a rabbi of this name who lived at the destruction of Jerusalem.