justaname
Disciple of Jesus Christ
- Mar 14, 2011
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A little reading on being born again in an unrelated fashion but I thought it interesting and possibly edifying to this discussion.
John 3:3-7
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 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.
6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Key words I believe to meditate on here is verse 3, "Unless one is born again he can not see the kingdom of God." Now Jesus does not answer
Nicodemus directly yet to his question, He only further qualifies His initial statement. This leads Nicodemus to ask again, "How can these things be?"
Jesus finally answers in verse 14-15
14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
Now many of my Calvinist friends get hung up on the total depravity situation, thereby they place regeneration before faith using verse 5 for their support. The logical argument is something like if man is totally depraved, unable to please God, then God must first do an act of regeneration before anyone can come to faith, hence, "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." They say you are born again before you come to faith.
My thought is this, if God has elected you to be able to place faith in the Son of Man, lift His name, Jesus the Christ, to the heavens as God, all for His glory and His namesake, then you become born again after you have lifted His name. So I would say all who are born again, are born into the body of Christ, and await adoption as sons and daughters and have been elected by God to be as such.
Now the Calvinist will beg to ask, what makes you different than another that does not lift His name, or simply have faith? How come you who were in total depravity was able to come to faith? What broke your bonds to sin and death?
I stand it is by God's election and mercy, all to His glory and namesake. Some mysteries are not fully revealed, but regeneration does not precede faith.
Romans 9:15-16
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
John 3:3-7
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 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.
6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Key words I believe to meditate on here is verse 3, "Unless one is born again he can not see the kingdom of God." Now Jesus does not answer
Nicodemus directly yet to his question, He only further qualifies His initial statement. This leads Nicodemus to ask again, "How can these things be?"
Jesus finally answers in verse 14-15
14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
Now many of my Calvinist friends get hung up on the total depravity situation, thereby they place regeneration before faith using verse 5 for their support. The logical argument is something like if man is totally depraved, unable to please God, then God must first do an act of regeneration before anyone can come to faith, hence, "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." They say you are born again before you come to faith.
My thought is this, if God has elected you to be able to place faith in the Son of Man, lift His name, Jesus the Christ, to the heavens as God, all for His glory and His namesake, then you become born again after you have lifted His name. So I would say all who are born again, are born into the body of Christ, and await adoption as sons and daughters and have been elected by God to be as such.
Now the Calvinist will beg to ask, what makes you different than another that does not lift His name, or simply have faith? How come you who were in total depravity was able to come to faith? What broke your bonds to sin and death?
I stand it is by God's election and mercy, all to His glory and namesake. Some mysteries are not fully revealed, but regeneration does not precede faith.
Romans 9:15-16
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.