I feel like the more I've been reading scripture lately, the more I've been finding contradictions.
John 1:12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Now, correct me if I'm wrong. To recieve something or someone implies that a decision is made to accept that person or thing, right? To accept or reject anything necessitates free will, does it not?
1 John 1:13
...children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God
This very next verse states the opposite of previous in that it denies a decision of receptation was made by a person and inserts God's Sovereignty. How does this work? Does He allow us to accept His terms or does He override and make the decision for us?
It even says we are not born of a husband's will, but God is supposed to be our husband and it is His will that we be saved, for if it is not, then whose will could it possibly be?
Can anyone smarter than me explain this?
As many as (ὅσοι)
Denoting individuals, as οἱ ἴδιοι (Joh_1:11) signified the nation at large.
Received (ἔλαβον)
The simple verb of the compound παρέλαβον in Joh_1:11. The meaning of the two verbs is substantially the same (so Alford, De Wette, and apparently Meyer), though some recognize a difference, as Milligan and Moulton, who render παρέλαβον accepted, and ἔλαβον received, and say that
“the former lays emphasis upon the will that consented (or refused) to receive, while the latter brings before us the possession gained: so that the full meaning is, As many as by accepting Him, received Him.” For the use of the simple verb, see Joh_5:43; Joh_13:20; Joh_19:6.
Vincent
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Which were born , [ egenneetheesan (G1080)]. Observe this word "born," or begotten.’ It was not a name only, a dignity only, which Christ conferred on them: it was a new birth, it was a change of nature-the soul being made conscious, in virtue of it, of the vital capacities, perceptions, and emotions a ’child of God,’ to which before it was a total stranger. But now for the Source and Author of that new birth-both negatively and positively.
Not of blood - not of ’superior human descent,’ as we judge the meaning to be,
Nor of the will of the flesh - not of ’human generation’ at all,
Nor of the will of man - not of man in any of the ways in which his will brings anything about. By this elaborate, three-fold denial of the human and earthly source of this sonship, how emphatic does the following declaration of its real source become!
But of God. A sonship strictly divine then, in its source this was which Christ conferred on as many as received Him. Right royal gift which whoever confers must be absolutely divine. For who would not worship Him who can bring him into the family, and evoke within him the life, of the children of God? Now comes the great climax, to introduce and raise us to the altitude of which the foregoing thirteen verses were penned.
JFB
So now He offers Himself to all mankind again and to those who receive Him, He gives the right or authority to become children of God.
This verse tells us clearly how we can become children of God. It is not by good works, not by church membership, not by doing one's best—but by receiving Him, by believing in His Name.
1:13 To become a child in a physical sense, one must be born. So, also, to become a child of God, one must have a second birth. This is known as the new birth, or conversion, or being saved. This verse tells us three ways by which the new birth does not take place, and the one way by which it does. First, the three ways by which we are not born again. Not of blood. This means that a person does not become a Christian through having Christian parents. Salvation is not passed down from parent to child through the blood stream. It is not of the will of the flesh. In other words, a person does not have the power in his own flesh to produce the new birth. Although he must be willing in order to be saved, yet his own will is not enough to save him. Not of the will of man. No other man can save a person. A preacher, for instance, may be very anxious to see a certain person born again, but he does not have the power to produce this marvelous birth. How, then, does this birth take place? The answer is found in the words but of God. This means simply that the power to produce the new birth does not rest with anything or anyone but God.
Hope this makes sense
J.
