In thinking about a corporate understanding of John 3:1-15, I came across this:
Descent from Father Abraham and membership of one of the twelve tribes of Israel will no longer count for membership in the people of God…. Easily missed is the fact that Jesus is actually addressing the nation of Israel in the person of this noted individual. This point emerges where we translate the Greek literally:
verse 7 Marvel not that I say unto thee,
‘You (plural) must be born from above’.
verse 11 ‘… you (plural) do not receive our witness’.
In effect, Jesus is addressing Israel with an announcement that is at the same time bad news and good news. It is bad news because it declares that Israel is not the Kingdom of God, but it is good news because it points to the door into the Kingdom. That ‘door’ is through the one who now speaks to Nicodemus, Jesus himself.
In turn this bears on the meaning of the words, ‘born of water and the Spirit’ (verse 5). Most likely Jesus is referring to God’s promise to gather together his scattered people into their true homeland and to wash them with water and give them his Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-28). In other words, God promises to forgive those sins that caused them to be scattered and to give them his inner strength to please him from now on.” (p42)
Paul Barnett, John: The Shepherd King Reading The Bible Today Series (Sydney, Aquila Press, 2005)
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word
Think of the reasoning behind a circumcision....You remove the flesh for cleanliness...
The Sword of the Spirit is the circumcising tool.....
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So when Jesus said to the multitude, Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," they were being baptized by the Word....The flesh cannot survive that Word which is what is symbolized in the going down into the water in baptism.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
When the Gospel is preached throughout the world and people are offended...This is evidence they are being "cut." They have no clue they are being circumcised.....
Matthew 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Sin has been put in jail (condemned in the flesh) and the flesh is cast away in the circumcision. It cannot touch the inward man hence the verse 1John 3:9 "1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
So Scott, if indeed it is the word that is saving people then think of the implications of this very short yet profound story: Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Hahaha! Think if God's people thought like the centurion on a grand scale........
Want people to be born again? Put a bumper sticker on the back of your vehicle that says, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And some will hate your guts for it but that hate is evidence they were cut.
http://themysteryofgodforum.webnode.com/
Who's Scott?
It was a message i posted to someone else..thought it was good enough to share with you...Your post came to my e-mail from google alert "born again"
Post a Comment