It's semantics, isn't it? His name had been written in the Book of Life by God from before the foundation of the world and no man could erase it. Yet Nicodemus didn't know that until God chose a time to reveal it to him.
God gives understanding, and with understanding comes faith and repentance.
"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." -- Acts 13:48
That's why faith doesn't save; grace saves. Our faith is the means which God employs to make us understand that Christ took the punishment rightly due us.
Once I understood that, my faith was a lot stronger.
"....and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." -- Acts 13:48
Not to belabor the point since you obviously agree with me but look at the tense and mood of the verb "believed". It is aorist indicative, a fact that an action was completed at a point in time. Now many can't point to a specific time, like kids brought up in a believing home, but God knows.