At that same time Jesus uttered the words: "I thank thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that, though thou has hidden these things from the wise and learned, thou hast revealed them to the child-like!

Let them be; they are but blind guides; and, if one blind man guides another, both of them will fall into a ditch."

"Your mistake," replied Jesus, "is due to your ignorance of the Scriptures, and of the power of God.

And knowest

For a man who is only a Jew outwardly is not a real Jew; nor is outward bodily circumcision real circumcision. The real Jew is the man who is a Jew in soul;

For it is we who are the circumcised--we whose worship is prompted by the Spirit of God, who exult in Christ Jesus, and who do not rely upon external privileges;

By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.

General references

For he that asks receives, he that searches finds, and to him that knocks the door shall be opened.

"What, do even you understand so little?" exclaimed Jesus. "Do not you see that there is nothing external to a man, which by going into a man, can 'defile' him,

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a leading man among the Jews.