The Scope Of The Spirit Birth

[Webers_Home]

.
A Jehovah's Witness with whom I dialogued some years ago said that the
Spirit birth that Jesus spoke of at John 3:3-8 is for people going to heaven.
Seeing as how his ranking in the Watch Tower Society limited his future to
the Earth, then he didn't need to undergo the procedure.

Well; the kingdom of God, and the Spirit-birth requirement to enter it, are
labeled by Jesus in John 3:12 as "earthly things" which means that the JW
I spoke with has no future on Earth because he doesn't expect to ever
undergo a birth by the Spirit: neither in this life nor the next.
_

 

[Webers_Home]

.
A Sunday school class I once attended chose Joseph for its topic. Well; I
raised my hand and asked the teacher whether Joseph was born again.

The teacher was dumbfounded and had no clue what I was taking about;
and the class went into an uproar, insisting that people in the Old Testament
were not saved by the Spirit birth that Jesus spoke of at John 3:3-8.

Neither the teacher nor the class understood that Jesus' teachings allowed
no exceptions, and the requirement isn't an option: it's a must.
_

 

[justbyfaith]

The Holy Ghost was not given except as the result of Jesus dying on the Cross (John 7:37-39).

However, the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament prophets (1 Peter 1:11).

So how did the Holy Spirit go back in time?

Easy. When He ascended to the Father (Luke 23:46, Ephesians 4:10), He ascended to be outside of time.

Subsequently He was able to descend to any place in time to bring about the new birth in prophets and saints in the Old Testament and the New.

 

[Webers_Home]

.
The Spirit-birth requirement to enter the kingdom of God-- spoken of by
Jesus at John 3:3-8 --hasn't always been joined at the hip with the
permanent indwelling of the Spirit. In other words, the two haven't always
been a package deal. That arrangement didn't come about till the day of
Pentecost.
_

 

[justbyfaith]

How can one be born of the Spirit without the Holy Spirit coming to dwell in them?

See 1 Corinthians 6:17.

 

[Webers_Home]

.

How can one be born of the Spirit without the Holy Spirit coming to dwell in
them?

We could just as well ask how one can be born of God's breath without God
coming to dwell in them. (Gen 2:7)

The Hebrew word translated "breath" turns up again at 2Sam 22:16, which
says:

"The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid
bare at the rebuke of The Lord, at the blast of breath from his nostrils." (cf.
Ps 48:15)

Again at Isa 30:33 which says:

”Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its
fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of The Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze."

Again at Isa 57:16, which says:

"I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of
man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created."

In other words: the breath of life, that made Adam a sentient being, was
given to him by someone who likewise is a sentient being by means of
the very same breath of life.

From the above, we may safely conclude that Adam didn't need God
coming to indwell him in order to be born of God's breath. Same with all the
other critters. They too were born of God's breath; yet there's no good
reason to believe that God indwelt them.

The fact of the matter is: the Spirit need not indwell people in order to give
them life when He can do that from outside just as easily as from within.
Since that's so, then we must conclude that His purpose for indwelling
people is a special purpose that was unavailable prior to Christ's
inauguration of the new covenant spoken of at Jer 31:31-34, Ezek 36:24-27,
and Heb 9:15-17)
_