{If I told} (ei eipon). Condition of the first class,
assumed to be true. {Earthly things} (	a epigeia). Things upon
the earth like 	a epi t(8873) g(8873) ( Col 3:2 ), not things of an
earthly nature or worldly or sinful. The work of the kingdom of
God including the new birth which Nicodemus did not understand
belongs to 	a epigeia. {If I tell you heavenly things} (ean
eip(9320)humin ta epourania). Condition of the third class,
undetermined. What will Nicodemus do in that case? By 	a
epourania Jesus means the things that take place in heaven like
the deep secrets of the purpose of God in the matter of
redemption such as the necessity of the lifting up of Christ as
shown in verse  14 . Both Godet and Westcott note that the two
types of teaching here pointed out by Jesus (the earthly, the
heavenly) correspond in general to the difference between the
Synoptics (the earthly) and the Fourth Gospel (the heavenly), a
difference noted here in the Fourth Gospel as shown by Jesus
himself. Hence the one should not be pitted against the other.
There are specimens of the heavenly in the Synoptics as in  Mt
11:25ff.  Lu 10:18ff .