Matthan said:
The verses above are righteous. Those from John tell us what we must do, i.e., be born again. But why stop after John 3:8? Jesus goes on to instruct us in how we are born again (the only way, I might add). He tells us:
Actually, and this is my point, being "born again" is not something we get in response for something we do. As Christ said, one who is not born again cannot even see the kingdom of God, much less have faith in it. As Paul writes:
1Co 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Before one can accept the "things of the Spirit" something supernatural has to happen.
Nicodemus had heard Jesus speak, and witnessed, or at least heard about, the miracles that He did, but still did not believe.
And why is that? Surely Nicodemus heard as much, if not more, than even you or I. Here he sits in the presence of Christ and yet does not believe. It is exactly as Christ said, "one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus had not yet been born-again, and Christ wasn't telling him
what to do to get born again, but how one is born again by the Spirit (as I quoted, John 1:12-13). Also, the following verses after John 2:3 show that Nicodemus had a natural mindset, wondering if one needed to climb back into the womb...
Like the men of John 6 who ask "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?"" Christ's response is not a list of things to do, but instead:
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."
This is not something man can do, it is God's work to cause man to believe in the Son.
So Jesus gives him an important lesson""12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? ...
My point exactly, Nicodemus cannot understand Spiritual things, because he does not yet have a mind set on the Spirit (Rom 8:7-9).
13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Jesus uses metaphoric speech in the third person to explain what God has done, sending His Son (Son of man) down from Heaven. Then, in verse 15, Jesus explains why the Son has been sent, which I will paraphrase: Anyone who believes in Jesus (as that Son of God after He has been crucified {lifted up in humiliation for all to see} and God has resurrected Him from the dead) should not perish, but (instead) have eternal life.
There is, in those verses, no discussion of how one gets born again. In fact Christ explains that "no man hat ascended up to heaven", no man can get to heaven by deed. But by looking to the Son of man one will have eternal life, salvation from the fatal disease of death.
But is being "born again" synonymous with "eternal life", or is it a part of the equation.
Then Jesus restates that exact same premise in what I and many others consider to be the most beautiful verse in all of Scripture:
"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
And yet our problem remains... how does one get from being in Nicodemus' position of unbelief to belief? Is it something they conjure up themselves?
Or is it, as Christ said in John 6, "the work of God..."?
See we've skipped over some difficult verses:
Joh 3:5-6
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
One must FIRST be
born of the Spirit before they can enter the kingdom of God... Being born of the Spirit is not something man
does.
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Nor is it something God does in response to some good deed, or thought of man... it is not of man's decision (not of the will of the flesh... nor the will of man). It is God's decision, God's work.
There is it! That is how any person can be born again in the Spirit to enjoy eternal life with God our Father. Any person who believes in Jesus as the Son of God, resurrected from the dead by Almighty God in total victory over the grave, is born again in the Holy Spirit, and that person will receive God's grace to eternal life.
So what you're saying is that a person who does something gets grace? So grace is something we get in return for something we do?
Doesn't that change the definition of grace?
Belief is the key to salvation. The simple belief as a child that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God is all that is required by God.
But where did this belief come from? What made you believe but others not believe? Were you better? More spiritually minded?
Man, in his infinite stupidy and arrogance, as decided that simple belief cannot possibly be all that is required for something as wonderful as eternal salvation. Surely God requires more than just simple belief in His Son, and Jesus simply did not state all of the truth in John 3:16.
Faith is not "simple belief". One can believe that a seat belt will hold them and yet not trust that seat belt to do so. As Scripture states "the demons believe...". Faith has to be more than just belief... it encompasses knowledge, assent and trust. One must have knowledge of the truth, must assent to the truth and must trust the truth of Christ. The
What John 3:16 tells us is that there is salvation in Christ through faith. But one must hear the Gospel and understand it to have faith in it. But the Gospel is "spiritual things" and natural man cannot understand it. Therefore something supernatural must FIRST occur before one can even see the kingdom of God.
