Nicodemus saw that the council had already condemned Jesus without hearing Him. His question appeals to their own law: a man must be heard, and his deeds known, before he is judged. Barnes says the law "gave every man the right to claim a fair and impartial trial." Matthew Henry answers the question for us: "By no means, nor doth the law of any civilized nation allow it." Gill sees in it Nicodemus' "secret respect for Christ," though he did not yet defend Him openly. By asking instead of arguing, Nicodemus held the council to its own standard.

The council did not answer his point. They turned on him instead: "Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John 7:52). Barnes calls their reply "ridicule," not argument. Then the meeting ended: "every man went unto his own house" (John 7:53). Matthew Henry says they "broke up the assembly in confusion." Nicodemus' question about the law was never answered, and Jesus was not arrested that day.

Barnes says Nicodemus was "one of the great council or Sanhedrin," the highest Jewish court. John reminds readers that he is the man who "came to Jesus by night" (John 7:50; John 3:2).

The law Nicodemus appealed to required fair judgment. Barnes points to passages such as Leviticus 19:15 ("in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour"), Exodus 23:1-2 (no false report, no following a multitude to do evil), and Deuteronomy 19:15 and 19:18, where a matter stands only on two or three witnesses and "the judges shall make diligent inquisition." The irony is sharp: the Pharisees had just said the crowd "knoweth not the law" (John 7:49), yet they were the ones ignoring it.

God's law protects the accused. Earlier at this same feast Jesus had told the crowd, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). The council was doing the opposite, deciding first and refusing to hear. Nicodemus' question holds up God's standard of justice against men who claimed to guard the law.

Barnes observes that God "often places one or more pious men in legislative assemblies to vindicate his honor and his law." Nicodemus is still cautious here, but John traces a man moving toward the light: from a night visit (John 3:2), to this question in the council, to bringing spices openly for Jesus' burial (John 19:39).