{"id":870808,"date":"2012-05-14T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T06:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=870808"},"modified":"2012-04-11T17:08:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-11T17:08:43","slug":"salvation-is-gods-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=870808","title":{"rendered":"Salvation is God’s Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spiritual birth is something one undergoes, not something one produces. As our efforts and activities had nothing<\/em> to do with our natural conception and birth, so in an analogous way but on a far higher plane, regeneration is not a work of ours.<\/p>\n

As soon as Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unless one is born again<\/em> he cannot see<\/em> the kingdom of God,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nicodemus knew there was a metaphor in what Jesus was saying to him about being born again.<\/p>\n

Metaphorical language was common among Jewish rabbis like Nicodemus. Therefore, Nicodemus probed into the meaning of Jesus’ metaphor seeking its application to himself. “How can I do this?”<\/p>\n

Jesus was talking in spiritual<\/em> terms. The Master Teacher allows this\u00c2\u00a0tension to linger in order to draw him toward a correct understanding of regeneration as he ponders what it means to be born again.<\/p>\n

In verse 4, the physical analogy of natural birth is stated by Nicodemus. He says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s womb and be born?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s asking for clarity.<\/p>\n

Jesus doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even answer his question about entering a second time into his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s womb. He continues to draw Nicodemus closer and closer to the truth.<\/p>\n

He makes no attempt to simplify the matter, but He adds an allusion to the OT in verse 5.<\/p>\n

Jesus answered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Truly, truly, I say to you, unless<\/em> one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter<\/span> the kingdom of God.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In verse 3, Jesus said spiritual birth was necessary to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153see\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the kingdom of God; now verse 5 adds that spiritual birth is necessary to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Jesus is saying the same thing He said in verse 3 in a different way. Being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153born again\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153born of water and the Spirit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are talking about the same reality.<\/p>\n

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus was responsible for interpreting the OT Scriptures with authority. He was considered a master teacher! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it was expected that he would catch Jesus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reference to Ezekiel 36:25-27.<\/p>\n

Now, if you think that reference sounds obscure, then you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re underestimating the knowledge that even an average<\/em> Pharisee had of the OT. But Nicodemus was no average Pharisee; he was considered the<\/em> teacher of Israel\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and he knew the OT.<\/p>\n

Water and the Spirit were symbolic of what happens spiritually at conversion. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about cleansing from sin by the Spirit. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t referring to literal water or to baptism.<\/p>\n

Baptism doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t save anyone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is, rather, the external sign<\/em> of inner conversion by<\/em> the Holy Spirit. In Mark 16:16, Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Whoever believes<\/em> and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe<\/em> will be condemned.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

We’ll think more about the meaning of “born of water” in our next post.<\/p>\n

Until then,
\nPastor Kevin<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spiritual birth is something one undergoes, not something one produces. As our efforts and activities had nothing to do with our natural conception and birth, so in an analogous way but on a far higher plane, regeneration is not a work of ours. As soon as Jesus said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unless one is born again he cannot … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Salvation is God’s Work”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870808"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}