<p>3:10 <i>Jesus answered and said to him: Are you the teacher of Israel and yet do not understand these things?</i>- &quot;<i>The</i> teacher&quot; could imply he held some specific office of theological teaching. The Lord seems to have expected Nicodemus to have figured out the Old Testament&rsquo;s teaching about the new birth (presumably from Ps. 51:10; Is. 44:3; Ez. 11:19; 18:31; 36:26; 37:14; 39:29; Ecc. 11:5). And the Lord castigates Nicodemus for not having figured it out. The very high standards which He demanded of His followers would only have had meaning if it was evident that He was Himself a real human who all the same was sinless. This was and is why the words of Jesus had a compelling, inspirational power towards obedience; for He Himself lived out those words in human flesh. The Lord of all grace was and is amazingly demanding in some ways. And He has every right to be.</p><p>Or it could be that the Lord is saying that if Nicodemus had studied Scripture as God intends, then he would have perceived that all is of grace and God's initiative, rather than of academic study.</p>