Nicodemus is best known for his secret conversation with Jesus at night in John 3:1-15, where the most loved bible verse 3:16 comes after.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee (John 3:1) , member of the Jewish ruling council (John 3:1, John 7:50), and Jesus called him a master (“teacher”) of Israel (John 3″10). He was mentioned only in the Gospel of John.
There are certain things that we know about Nicodemus.
(i) Nicodemus must have been wealthy. When Jesus died Nicodemus brought for his body “a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pound weight” ( John 19:39 ), and only a wealthy man could have brought that.
(ii) Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a group of Jews who were fastidious in keeping the letter of the Law and often opposed Jesus throughout His ministry.
(iii) Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. The word is archon ( Greek #758 ). This is to say that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a court of seventy members and was the supreme court of the Jews. Of course under the Romans its powers were more limited than once they had been; but they were still extensive. In particular the Sanhedrin had religious jurisdiction over every Jew in the world; and one of its duties was to examine and deal with anyone suspected of being a false prophet. Again it is amazing that Nicodemus should come to Jesus at all.
(iv) It may well be that Nicodemus belonged to a distinguished Jewish family. Away back in 63 B.C. when the Romans and the Jews had been at war, Aristobulus, the Jewish leader, sent a certain Nicodemus as his ambassador to Pompey, the Roman Emperor. Much later in the terrible last days of Jerusalem, the man who negotiated the surrender of the garrison was a certain Gorion, who was the son either of Nicomedes or Nicodemus. It may well be that both these men belonged to the same family as our Nicodemus, and that it was one of the most distinguished families in Jerusalem. If that is true it is amazing that this Jewish aristocrat should come to this homeless prophet who had been the carpenter of Nazareth that he might talk to him about his soul.