Personal Salvation and Evangelism: Session Three
Our course of study is organized in keeping with Acts 2:36-39 on the lines of faith, repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We come tonight to our third and final session on faith. In our previous two sessions, we considered Jesus’ good news, “God reigns!” and the apostles’ good news, “Jesus (the crucified) is (risen and exalted) Lord (and Savior)!” Tonight we consider the good news as it applies to us, “We can be born anew!”
We Need Help!
It does not take much experience of life to recognize that something in our lives is radically wrong and needs fixing. All we need to do is to consider how we fare on fulfilling what God has commanded us to do.
There are many rules and instructions in the Bible that guide us in living out a few basic commandments. We can measure our performance in reference to the few commandments. Among the few commandments are the two that summarize the Old Testament Law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and the New Commandment that Jesus gave to his disciples, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Jesus once summarized this even more simply: after teaching that the love command includes loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us, Jesus concluded, “You must be perfect (or complete) as your heavenly Father is perfect (or complete).” This is simply a paraphrase of the Old Testament command, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Well, at least Jesus did not leave us without a goal.
When we think about our faltering performance on the standard Jesus set for us, we have to know that something is radically wrong. The best we can imagine is that we might at least obey the command to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” to hunger and thirst for the righteousness we have not yet achieved, and to learn to be recipients and sharers of God’s mercy and grace as we yearn for the not-yet perfection. As the apostle Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” But, if we are to come close even to wholehearted intent, something basic about our hearts has to change. We could call it being born anew.
Why We Must Be Born Anew
To understand why we must be born anew, we need to go back to the beginning, to see what we were created to be and then to see what went wrong with that. I beg you to allow me to make some bold assertions that would take more time to demonstrate thoroughly.
Assertion 1: We should read the Five Books of Moses as written primarily during the Israel’s wilderness years and intended to offer guidance on Israel’s settlement of the Promised Land. Aside from a few brief passages that update the writings for later readers (the biggest one being the report of Moses’ death), there is little in these books that could not have come to us under Moses’ personal authority.
Assertion 2: The theme of the Five Books of Moses is that Israel was called to be a royal priesthood representing the holy God. Exodus 19:6a (quotations are from the ESV unless otherwise noted) is the key passage for understanding the Five Books: “and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This was Israel’s vocation. This was why God told them that they needed to be holy. This is why God gave them commandments and instructions. This is why they were instructed to observe a Sabbath and why they had a tabernacle sanctuary, to help them carry out their vocation.
Assertion 3: Although Christians are under a different covenant with different instructions and different identifying markers, the basic calling is the same for us. This is set forth in 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” And this calling is also in view in Revelation 5:9-10 when heaven’s residents hail the Lamb of God, “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’”
Assertion 4: The primary purpose of the Genesis account of creation is to tell the people of Israel in the wilderness that their calling to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation is ultimately more than a national calling, that it reflects the Sovereign Creator’s intent for all of humanity and that there is a need for their special calling as a people of God only because something has gone wrong, something that ultimately must be corrected.
Assertion 5: The three main points of the account in Genesis 1:1--2:3 are: (1) God created everything by his Spirit and his Word (and therefore nothing in creation is to be worshiped); (2) God created human beings in his own image, that is with the potential to communicate with him and to represent his nature and purposes, to be his royal children sharing his dominion over creation (caring for creation with the Creator’s own love); and (3) God set aside time to enjoy creation to show us that we need to set aside time to enjoy our Creator, to cease from our strivings and to acknowledge that we are dependent on God’s Spirit and Word for all our blessings. Day 7 is the fulfillment of God’s purposes in creation.
Assertion 6: The main points of Genesis 2:4-25 are: (1) God’s Spirit in human beings sets them apart; (2) Eden was created for human beings as the royal garden and perfect sanctuary, a place where human beings would be able to commune naturally with God (the four rivers are significant because rivers in the ancient world were thought to flow from the throne of God), (3) human beings were created for work and love (community), with both the work and love being in harmony with their Creator’s purposes; (4) the woman was created as the helper for the man, the word helper not being subservient (it is most often used in the Old Testament as a title for God as Israel’s helper), but referring to the one who makes possible faithful covenant partnership; (5) human beings were “to till and to keep” in the garden, but these Hebrew words were the same that were later translated “to worship and obey” (the point is that they were to heed and honor God in all that they did, to preserve the garden sanctuary as a place for love of God and one another); (6) the one tree of which they were not to eat was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (knowledge implies more than being intellectually aware of the contrast of good and evil, but insisting on the right to bring both good and evil within their experience, thereby being able to choose evil means toward ends they decided for themselves to be good); (7) if the humans would choose to eat from the forbidden tree, they would become unfit for the sanctuary and unfit for remaining within access of the other unique tree, the tree of life; therefore, on the day that they would eat of the fruit, they would be removed from access to the tree of life and become subject to the reign of death over their lives. God created the universe and humanity for good purposes. God cannot tolerate evil without giving up on the good purposes.
Assertion 7: Genesis 3:1-24 shows the first human sin, choosing to make decisions based not on the character of God, but on the desires of the human eyes and the thoughts of the human mind. The result is a falling out of harmony with God and with environment, with work and with love, with covenant community and with the divine vocation.
Assertion 8: God now has a dilemma of how to bring his love for his human creatures together with his perfect plans for them and for all creation. It would not be loving for God to accept the eternal survival of evil and thereby to separate humans forever from the perfection that he has planned for them. Evil must be destroyed. Nor is God willing to give up on the human project. Somehow God must work out a way to save humans without saving sin. Humanity must be restored to created perfection. God will begin to reveal his plan through history, working first with a chosen representative people and a temporary, partial solution (Sabbath, sanctuary, sacrifice) and at last through a New Adam (Jesus) who offers new birth to all who will believe and receive him. God will impart the righteousness of his perfect Royal Son to believing humanity while placing his Spirit in the believers’ hearts to aid the transformation process.
Evangelical Christians hold forth the possibility of our being sanctified (made holy) by the Spirit’s work. Practically, I do not see this possibility as a condition we fully achieve in this life, but as a goal toward which we make continual progress. But we must be on the road to the goal.
What the Scriptures Teach about Being Born Anew
Almost all evangelicals, would see that the sanctification process (the process through which we grow in likeness to the holy God) has a definite beginning, a point in time when we open ourselves to the Spirit’s transforming work and begin to be spiritually regenerated. We may rightly call this being born again. The term born again is used loosely in our culture. Many people call themselves born again if they have made a public profession of faith and have been baptized or if they have had a spiritual experience of some kind, but being born again should leave more identifiable marks than are sometimes evident. What does it mean to be born anew?
John 1:1-18; 3:1-8. The Prologue to John’s Gospel covers 1:1-18. The heart of the Prologue covers verses 11-13. Here is my translation:
1:11 He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him.
1:12a But as many as received him,
1:12b to them he gave the right (power/authority) to become children of God,
1:12c the ones believing in his name,
1:13 who, not of bloodlines, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God were born.
The purpose of the Prologue is to set forth the theme of John’s Gospel. The structure shows that the emphasis falls on verse 12 which asserts that, to those who received Jesus and believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Verse 13 then tells us that children of God are people who have been born of God. I suggest that this is the major theme of John’s Gospel, that, by believing in Jesus and receiving him as our Lord and Savior, we enter into a new life (both now and eternally) as children of God.
In Chapter 3, Jesus tells the Pharisee Nicodemus that, if he wants to see and enter the reign of God, he, although a scripture expert, must be born anew (the words Jesus used can mean either anew or from above both of which would be true; however Jesus meant it, Nicodemus understood it as anew and took the idea of rebirth very literally). Seeing and entering the reign of God means more than just going to heaven. It also means participating in this life in God’s sovereign activity. Nicodemus was an expert, but he was missing the point of it all. There has been much debate over what is meant by, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit.”
The options have been:
- 1. One must be born naturally and then spiritually. One point in favor of this: Verse 6 contrasts what is born of the flesh and what is born of the spirit. Two points against this: (1) it is hard to find ancient use of the Greek word for water that would justify this understanding as referring to natural birth, and (2) read in this way, the passage seems to be giving us two requirements for entering the kingdom, but being born of the flesh is more an assumed precondition than something specifically required for rebirth. Nicodemus or anyone hearing Jesus or reading this Gospel would have been born long ago; why would Jesus mention it to Nicodemus as though it is a requirement yet to be met? Conclusion: This meaning seems unlikely.
- 2. One must be baptized in water and the Spirit. One point in favor of this: In John 1:31-33, John the Baptist contrasts his own water baptism to Jesus’ Spirit baptism. One point against this: (1) of the four types of baptism, there is no reason that Jesus should be promoting either (a) Jewish proselyte baptism for this dedicated Pharisee or (b) John’s receding preparatory baptism, and (d) Christian baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection did not yet exist. So only (c) the baptism being practiced by Jesus’ disciples seems relevant, and we know very little about that (John 3:22-35; 4:1-3). Rejoinder: It seems that the baptism being practiced by Jesus’ disciples was an initiation into discipleship in Jesus’ kingdom ministry, and it might have been a necessary step for Nicodemus. But it is not impossible that the reference is to later Christian baptism. Spirit baptism was not yet open to Nicodemus and would not be until after Jesus’ crucifixion (John 7:37-39). So, if Jesus was telling Nicodemus one requirement that could be met only later (Spirit baptism), why is it impossible that he could be telling him two such requirements (water and Spirit baptism)? Conclusion: This meaning is possible although not so likely as option 3.
- 3. One must enter a new covenant enabled by the Spirit. Water and Spirit, in keeping with Near Eastern speech patterns that involve poetic repetition, mean the same thing, one image being used to reinforce the other. There is no direct reference to baptism. Being born of water and the Spirit refers to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:25-27 and other Old Testament passages. The majority of commentators (such as Burge, Carson, Keener, Kruse, Whitacre, Borchert, and Köstenberger) seem to be lining up behind this meaning although some acknowledge that the later readers of the Gospel could hardly have avoided going on to connect this meaning to baptism. We will talk more about baptism in Session 5 and will spend four sessions on the gift of the Holy Spirit. For now, the point is sufficient that Nicodemus needs to make room for the renewing power of the Holy Spirit in his life. Without the living God helping him, he will never see and enter the reign of God as it appears around him.
Romans 5:1-5; 8:14-17.We will discuss these passages more fully in Session Seven. The point for now is that the Holy Spirit operates through our faith in Jesus to give us spiritual rebirth as children of God and then to confirm that status in our hearts.
Romans 12:1-2. The renewing of our minds is a key result of our spiritual rebirth.
2 Corinthians 3:1-6, 17-18; 4:3-6. The new covenant is marked by a transfer from life lived according to an external written code to life lived in the Spirit. The written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. Paul is not throwing out our need for rules to live by; he offers a good number of such rules in his letters. But he is saying that external rules are not the way we direct and evaluate our lives. God’s redemptive love as revealed in Jesus Christ and imparted to us through the Spirit is how we direct and evaluate our lives. When we look with faith on Jesus, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shines into our hearts and then reflects from our lives as we are transformed, degree by degree, into the likeness of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:14-21. When we accept that Jesus died for us and that he has been raised from the dead, we can no longer measure life as we formerly did. We now must accept him as our Savior and Lord, living according to the new standards and new purpose that he gives us. We are recreated as his ambassadors. To see how the new standards are formed in us, we may skip back to 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 2:1-16. The ground for our spiritual rebirth is laid in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion appears to be weakness to anyone seeking miraculous power in the world, and it appears to be folly to anyone seeking worldly wisdom, but to those open to God’s Spirit, the cross of Christ becomes by virtue of the resurrection, the ultimate sign of God’s strength and wisdom. Once one is convinced that Christ has been raised, then one must die to worldly wisdom and be reborn with the mind of Christ. This will lead to a different valuing of people; they are no longer to be valued according to worldly standards, but by God’s redemptive standards. The new birth is signified as people the world counted as nothing take their place in Christ’s service and are powerfully used by him. The new birth leads to a mature redemptive wisdom, the wisdom of God so different from the kind of wisdom that decided to crucify Jesus.
Galatians 2:20. Our new birth flows out of a death to our old self and preferences.
Philippians 2:5-11; 3:4b-11. Here is another example of how the new mind of Christ becomes part of us.
Ephesians 4:22-24. Part of our new birth involves dying to immorality and coming alive to the new self being renewed in the image of God.
Colossians 3:9-11. The new birth also involves dying to our former social and cultural identities and coming alive to our new identity in Christ.
Through these passages we can see that the new birth is integral to Christian life. We cannot claim Christian identity without it. It involves a definite dying to merely cultural sources of identity and a definite opening to God's direct formative work in our lives. It is characterized most of all by the subsequent gradual emergence in our lives of godly thinking, godly values, and godly character. By means of this new birth, we are equipped to represent God's holy love.
Discussion Questions
1. What ideas of being "born again" do you encounter as you are conversing with people about spiritual matters?
2. How do these popular ideas compare and contrast with the teachings of the Bible?
3. Based on your study of the Bible, how can a person know if he or she has been born anew?
4. What would you say to a person who asserts, "I don't need to be born anew. I was brought up Christian"?
5. Have you been born anew? How do you know? Is your evidence in accord with the Bible?
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