Monday, July 25, 2022

John 3:3 unless we are born again...

What is born of the flesh is human and limited but what is born of the Spirit belongs eternally to God. 


Everything is possible to those who believe.


Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”


"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:7;  9) In our relationships we will encounter conflict. When we do, let's remember to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. (Micah 6:8) 


One of the ways we can guard against pride is to remember the cross. Our redemption (being bought and saved by God), justification (being declared right in God's sight) and even sanctification (the process of God making us more like Jesus) all come through the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. First5 


Everybody is a little broken. (Or, a lot). But that's okay. Because it is from our brokenness that we love and become healers, and risk and pay attention, and fall down and get back up and are forgiven. And invest with our whole heart and indiscriminate desire. May each and every one of us find this freedom. (Gospel of Luke 7:36-50) SabbathMoments 


John 3:3

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The New King James Version


Nicodemus’ misunderstanding stems from the ambiguity of this phrase. The Greek adverb used here, anōthen, can mean “from above”, “from the beginning,” “for a long time,” or “again.” That is, the term can indicate either timing or location. Jesus is using the word to point to a location (heaven, the source of the rebirth), but Nicodemus understands it in reference to time or a repeated activity (that the birth must happen multiple times). Nicodemus also appears to take Jesus’ answer to be much more literal (or physical) than He intends; Jesus is talking about a spiritual transformation. For Nicodemus, the phrase would have evoked the prophetic images of a future universal reign of Yahweh or the Messiah, which were symbolic of Yahweh’s future plan to redeem Israel. John uses the phrase only in this passage. 


For Jesus, the idea of coming to God through His saving work is about transitioning from the earthly kingdom (as articulated in the temple scene in John) to God’s kingdom as articulated in a transformed life lived out of love for God and other people. Faithlife Study Bible


The Greek word translated again can mean either “from above” or “anew.” The new birth, or regeneration is the act by which God imparts spiritual life to one who trusts Christ. Without this spiritual birth, a person cannot perceive spiritual things, nor can he or she enter the kingdom of God. The NKJV Study Bible


Birth is the beginning of life; to be born again, is to begin to live anew, as those who have lived much amiss, or to little purpose. We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. By our first birth we were corrupt, shapen in sin; therefore we must be made new creatures. No stronger expression could have been chosen to signify a great and most remarkable change of state and character. We must be entirely different from what we were before, as that which begins to be at any time, is not, and cannot be the same with that which was before. This new birth is from heaven, and its tendency is to heaven. It is a great change made in the heart of a sinner, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It means that something is done in us, and for us, which we cannot do for ourselves. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary


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.


Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.


Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

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