Nicodemus  Nicodemus (; ) was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John:   An apocryphal work under his name—the Gospel of Nicodemus—was produced in the mid-4th century, and is mostly a reworking of the earlier Acts of Pilate, which recounts the Harrowing of Hell. Although there is no clear source of information about Nicodemus outside the Gospel of John, Ochser and Kohler (in an article in the "Jewish Encyclopedia") and some historians have speculated that he could be identical to Nicodemus ben Gurion, mentioned in the Talmud as a wealthy and popular holy man reputed to have had miraculous powers. Others point out that the biblical Nicodemus is likely an older man at the time of his conversation with Jesus, while Nicodemus ben Gurion was on the scene 40 years later, at the time of the Jewish War. As is the case with Lazarus, Nicodemus does not belong to the tradition of the Synoptic Gospels and is only mentioned by John, who devotes more than half of Chapter 3 of his gospel, a few verses of Chapter 7 and lastly mentions him in Chapter 19. The first time Nicodemus is mentioned, he is identified as a Pharisee who comes to see Jesus "at night". John places this meeting shortly after the Cleansing of the Temple and links it to the signs which Jesus performed in Jerusalem during the Passover feast. "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him" (). Then follows a conversation with Nicodemus about the meaning of being "born again" or "born from above" (), and mention of seeing the "kingdom of God". Nicodemus explores the notion of being literally born again from one's mother's womb, but most theologians recognise that Nicodemus knew Jesus was not speaking of literal rebirth. Theologian Charles Ellicott wrote that "after the method of Rabbinic dialogue, [Nicodemus] presses the impossible meaning of the words in order to exclude it, and to draw forth the true meaning. 'You cannot mean that a man is to enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born. What is it, then, that you do mean?'"