John 3:2
He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know 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' — Nicodemus' nocturnal visit initiates the Gospel's light/darkness motif; spiritual blindness is suggested by temporal darkness. His confession of Jesus as God-sent teacher and his recognition of signs testifies to growing faith, yet John will show such sign-based recognition as incomplete. The plural "we know" suggests Nicodemus represents institutional religious authority's tentative openness.