Born Again - Response to the Word (at St Christopher's Episcopal Church, Sunday, March 1, 2026)

 

(I ask for your grace in this delivery - it is a critical message that will exceed the recommended 15 minute time frame. The topic of being born again is essential to understanding your salvation. So here we go...)

Born Again – The Fundamental Doctrine in Salvation (John 3)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  

How many of us--who are not in the medical profession--have seen a child being birthed? It’s a moment of awe isn’t it? We know all about the process, but to see it happen, oh how miraculous! How emotional! Jesus uses that circumstance of a woman in labor allegorically in John 16 as he describes God’s work of salvation; remember, in the first century there was no such thing as epidurals – women gave birth in pain in vertical positions to allow gravity to assist in the birth. That is still a practice in some parts of the world.  Her pregnancy – while beautiful – is often uncomfortable when sitting or sleeping, limits a mother’s mobility and balance sometimes. Her body changes not just in shape but also in function. Every part of her body is impacted. So -- all throughout the pregnancy – from conception to full term, who physically has been doing the work of nourishing and caring for the child in the womb?

         Right – the mother! It is an act of love and sacrifice. And when her time has come to give birth, it is called labor for a reason! It is painful Mothers – AMEN? The mother groans, pushes, groans and moans, pushes, steadily and repeatedly, and the energy and effort become a difficult struggle, the pain heightens; both pregnancy and the immense strain and stress of childbirth happens and yet she cannot stop the process. She doesn’t stop. When the child finally enters the world, mom is so excited to see the precious babe that the struggle was worth it. She no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So how much effort did the baby have to put forward? Did he or she consciously say I want to get out of here – let me hurry up the process? Or just the opposite, I don’t want to leave this home, so I’m going to stay! No, the child does not control the birth process, does not aid in nor direct the process. The woman does all of the suffering, all of the anguish, all of the groaning and moaning and pushing, in order to birth her child. And then, when the child is birthed, it screams and is discombobulated, confused  because he or she is no longer in the comfortable home that was well furnished for them. All of the bright lights, the sounds, the different hands are so foreign to him or her and makes the crying sometimes more intense! But after a while, when hearing the mother’s voice and heartbeat the child begins the process of acclimating to its new life.
Similarly, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, also groaned, moaned,   list it   so that following His struggle, we too could be birthed.

Garden of Gethsemane the cup.  Jesus' sacrifice was greater than we can imagine. His horrific torture, then nailing Him to a cross was only part of the sacrifice. On that cross hung not just a person, but a bearer of EVERY SIN EVER DONE BY EVERY HUMAN AND WOULD BE DONE UNTIL THE SECOND COMING. The weight of all of those sins made Jesus grotesque to the Father. So much so that it shadowed --in Jesus' human experience--the presence of the Father. In Habakkuk 1:1-4, 13 the Spirit says that God cannot approve sin, He doesn't look upon it with approval. Perversion of justice, violence, etc. -  God is Holy, God is Righteous. The uncountable sins Jesus bore placed Him at odds with the Father; Jesus would cry out at His darkest hour, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?) No one else could effect the redemption required for our salvation. (Hebrews 9:11-15,18-22) In our Triune God’s divine plan of salvation, He alone does all of the work, He choreographs the timing and the circumstance. He determines the means of grace for our salvation: sola scriptura--Scripture alone (the Word of God with which we are sanctified and trained for eternal life); sola fide - justification, i.e., being declared righteous by God: that it is by Faith Alone that we are saved, and that is not of our own; and, sola gratia - by Grace Alone does God save us, not based on works or actions on our part.  We are incapable of adding anything to salvation. Jesus says that you are not a Christian unless you are born again, even if you choose to call yourself Christian. HARD SAYING. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus clearly says to all who profess to be a follower of Christ.

In our text, we are introduced to Nicodemus: he was an important guy. A Pharisee, and member of the authoritative Jewish body called The Sanhedrin. He doesn’t approach Jesus in the street in daylight hours, but makes his way in the dark of night to speak to Him. He gives Jesus accolades as he lets Jesus know that, "well, I am an important guy who holds you in respect and…” Jesus stops the flow of flattery; see, Jesus knew that Nicodemus wanted to know if Jesus was going to restore the kingdom at that time. He tells Nicodemus straight out: “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” And Jesus continues: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus, who spent years ingesting the Mosaic law and the ‘add ons’ the Pharisees thought fit, was clueless. Jesus softens the delivery with an illustrative explanation - “Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’  The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, you cannot see the actual birth or regeneration, but you see the effects. 

So what does it mean to be born again? Let me tell you what it is not: it’s not being 'refreshed' as a Christian or 'revived' after a long absence from worship. Being born again is not an 'altar call'. It’s not the words/rituals by a religious leader. No. How many persons present know that they have been born again? How do you know? When I was 14, I was encouraged to get baptized – full immersion baptism. I had followed the rules of the denomination and they thought I was ready for this. But, it wasn’t until 45 years later, 45 long years – in God’s timing – that I was born again. Baptism did not effect my regeneration; no words spoken over me effected my regeneration. It was the work of God alone through His Holy Spirit that 'resurrected' me from spiritual death. It only happens once. How many times can you be born physically? 
     Following the saying that the Gospels proclaim Jesus, and the epistles explain Jesus, Paul by H.S. offers clarity in this act of regeneration or being born again.

[Read Ephesians 2 one through 10 to everyone and make comments as I do so.] If you have your Bible, turn with me so that you can make notes.  Reads vss 1-3. We were physically born spiritually dead in our trespasses and sin – King David recognized in Psalm 51 that he was a sinner in his mother’s womb – a baby, yet he like everyone before and after him born into this world he was born with the deadly sin passed on by Adam. We all were born spiritually dead,  separated from God - which was the initial consequence of Adam's and Eve's sin - spiritual death. We were born from our mother's womb spiritually dead; it wasn't discovered on any hospital equipment in the delivery room - it is a condition shared by every person born since the fall of Adam and Eve, whether we wish to acknowledge it or not – see God already has!  We had no interest in God in our spiritually dead estate, no interest in His word, no desire to know God, but rather live for ourselves – to satisfy our immoral desires. We were under the influence of the sinful world culture and power of the devil. God says that because of that we were to Him children of wrath! A few weeks ago we read in Corinthians that there were persons in that church who were spiritual, having been born again into Christ, and also those who had not been so, who were referred to as unspiritual. Yet here’s the best part of passage--verse 4. But. God. Turn to your neighbor and say But God.” Whenever you see text that says But God, you can expect God to be doing, saying or initiating something beyond our power. READ 4 ….And then we come to the clincher, verse 8. Some of you may know this verse by heart so feel free to speak it out loud. God The Holy Spirit tells us: …read 8;The Holy Spirit comes into us to make us alive spiritually and to give us the faith to accept Jesus as our Lord. We can't raise ourselves from the dead. Jesus did not say to Lazarus – could you at least open the door so that we can call you out of the tomb…Lazarus, first take off the cloths you’re wrapped in and when you’re ready say Amen.  No, no. Lazarus had no part in his resurrection. Was only when Christ brought him back to life, Lazarus was able to obey Jesus’ call to come out.  EXPLAIN SPIRITUALLY DEAD CANNOT HAVE FAITH.

We do not have the power. God does not send us a calendar appointment that says on March 3 be ready to be born again. You can’t get ready, YOU ARE SPIRITUALLY D-E-D – you don’t know when it will happen. And this is a very critical point because there are denominations that do not teach this important Bible doctrine, rooted in scripture, that comes directly from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And it's really important to understand that by grace you have been saved through faith that wasn't your own doing, because you did not have faith= you were dead. God had to put His Holy Spirit in us to make us alive to Him. ADAM AND EVE WHAT GOD SAID TO THEM. If you eat of this fruit….. and from the instant that they rebelled against God they became spiritually dead. They realized it, felt ashamed and hid from God. From that point in time until Jesus comes again, all people born are physically born spiritually dead. (Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit - He was the only fully human, fully God individual who was born spiritually alive!!) If we were not born again we’d still be children of Wrath deserving eternal death.  There was nothing we could do or say that would take us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Verse 10 says that in His act of regeneration, He has given us purpose - we’re created in Jesus for good works – that is, we have received special gifts—spiritual gifts and talents, so that we can be Jesus in this world, to tell out the gospel to others, to make disciples. Isn't it really important to understand Bible doctrine if we are going to make disciples of people? Amen?

And then we come to the next hard saying of Jesus to Nicodemus and to us all: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” For years, even centuries, theologians have shared varying interpretations of what the water could be.  3 prominent ones: Some say that it represents the water of baptism. BCP, Pastor Prince, me and others I’m sure, says that (1) baptism is an outward sign of the inward grace of God - it is a symbol of the internal work of regeneration and a public declaration that the person has received Christ as Lord.

(2) the amniotic fluid of the physical birth of a human. Premise—we’re born humans and based on that, we can be born again. (that may not hold since mammals with four legs also have wombs with babies in amniotic fluid)
(3) the water of God's Word. Next week our Gospel read is from John chapter 4, where we see Jesus seeking out Samaritan woman.Meets up with her at Jacob’s well, and He says – Give me a drink. She’s astounded -- you're a Jew, you're not supposed to be talking to me. And Jesus said, If you knew who was asking you, He would give you living water, and you will never thirst again. Jesus associates Himself with Living Water. Also in Eph 5, Paul is led by Spirit to write to the church about the spiritual life of the family. He describes the children, the wife, and then he talks about the husband. Husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loves His bride, the Church, that He laid down His life for her & who He sanctifies by cleansing her with the water of the word. Husband is to imitate that in his own family. Cleansed by the water of the word. Jesus, of course, is the word, and His words are backed with Holy Spirit and Divine power . Rom. 1:16 gospel of Christ power of salvation. He is the Way The Truth and the Life. Thus differing interpretations;

But the important take away here, brothers and sisters, is that regeneration is not an act of our own. It is impossible for us to achieve. These are hard sayings, one of the reasons being that different denominations have differing views on salvation, yet the clear truth can be found in scripture and if that truth is not taught then as someone told me recently, I’ve got so many other options to choose from to guess what it means!

After the instantaneous miracle of regeneration we enter into a new life in Christ, in union with Christ. Psalm 23, Matthew 7:14—paths of righteousness, narrow road. God provides what we need to live this new life. Like the baby who gets acclimated to his/her new life outside the womb and grows, gaining knowledge and skills, the Holy Spirit guides us, trains us in godliness, and nurtures us with scriptures in our spiritual growth. 

The born again experience is different for everyone: There may initially be joy. May be frustration at times - metaphorically it's like living in a certain house and certain neighborhood for years and suddenly finding yourself in a different kind of house and different kind of neigborhood. As time goes by, something inside you begins changing. You start wanting to know God. You start desiring to be in His word. You start the struggle of sanctification, about which Jesus prayed for us on his last night in his human journey that we would be sanctified by the truth. When we are born again, we become joined with Christ, that is, in union with Him.

As noted previously, it was 45 years between my baptism and my being born again. God never left me nor forsook me, even tho I was not the sterling character calendar girl for the cover of Spiritual Living Magazine. Because I wasn’t – I was still spiritually dead. yet He never left me nor forsook me, even when I was living in my trespasses and sins. And I am so grateful. It took me almost a year afterwards to begin to get grounded in the word and it was sometimes a confusing time because I had to shake off the false teaching that had been drilled into me.  And it may be true of others –a period of adjustment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we begin to engage in spiritual disciplines – God’s means of grace that He uses as instruments in our new life in Christ:  Bible study, (the Holy Spirit will help you understand those things that didn’t make sense before you were regenerated), the prayer relationship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit himself indwelling us. How many of us know this: that we serve a Triune God, and according to Jesus’ words in John 14, that the Father Son H.S. will come to us and live inside of us who are born again. And we will bear fruit worthy of the gift of new life in Christ.

       Friends, this is our Blessed Assurance. We are heirs of salvation because we have been made alive, regenerated, born again by the Holy Spirit, who even at this very moment is working a work in us!

 

Thank you for your gracious patience. This was not an easy topic that one skimps through, but it is a vital one. So thank you. Let us pray.

Special Mid-Summer Bible Conversation on Hard Sayings in the Bible (Question 3 - Born Again))

  

1.    John 3 Rebirth - "Being Born Again" & Salvation. This passage is so loaded doctrinally!   I think the three most offered answers when people are asked if they are born again are: “I don’t believe in that holy roller stuff!” (no doubt referring to the frantic behavior of some who are presumed touched by the Spirit during worship); the second is, “what do you mean?”; and, lastly, “I don’t know!” Some believe that being born again means that God refreshes us with His Spirit, which would infer that we are reborn several times.

God reveals to His people the character or operationality of salvation for believers. (we find a further level of understanding in John 4.) Salvation was not earned by being legally ‘right’ by an obedience to the Law. God says that the 10 commandments and the other Mosaic laws could not eternally save; in the Law God demonstrates how to worship Him, how to rely solely on Him for our needs; He refers to the Law as a "disciplinarian" that would reveal our need for a Savior, but which could not eternally save someone. Nicodemus and other religious leaders of his time relied upon both the Torah – God authored,  and the Talmud, or the “Oral Law” – human interpretation of the Torah. Holding fast to both the Law and interpretations developed by the priests and rabbis was the standard of righteousness that was thought to make them worthy of life in the world to come.

Before we go into the deep exposition of Jesus’s words in John 3, let’s look at Ephesians 2 to get a fundamental understanding of salvation.

 

Evangelicals and others generally believe that salvation is a synergistic process – that before you can be saved, you have to develop faith, so that salvation is dependent first upon actions we take. That is, according to some beliefs, it is our efforts through which we can negotiate a peace with God that makes us worthy of salvation. Or, more commonly, “you have to get right before you come to Church!” Reading the first 3 verses of Ephesians 2 we are told by the Holy Spirit a different beginning. [read a couple of times from different versions - easy to do at the Biblegateway.com link above] Can a dead person believe in God and develop faith? Because the Spirit is telling us here that we were dead – D E D D -- spiritually. We were consumed by lusts that lent to trespasses – the act of going outside of the law into forbidden area – and by a myriad of sins, which are inherent in us and easily influenced by the satanic world culture in what we think, do, and are.

 

Answer this: when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, was Lazarus really dead? Or was he in-between life and death in some suspended state of consciousness? Put a pin in the Ephesians passage for a minute and Let’s see what the Spirit tells us at John 11 about Lazarus. We’ll read verses 11-17, and then pick up at 38-39. 

Not only was Lazarus dead, but his body was beginning to decay – there was already a stench emanating from Lazarus’ tomb! Lazarus was dead – D E D D. There was no life in him – not even one gasp of breath. So when Jesus got to the tomb, did He wait for Lazarus to come out simply because He was present there in front of the tomb? Did the mourners – both genuine and in tradition – through their tears and crying, through their pleadings, cause Lazarus to come back to life? Or was Lazarus starting to remove the many bandages that were on him so that he could be ready for Christ’s arrival? NO! NO! Read verses 41-44. No matter how much crying and mourning, no matter that the family believed that “someday” in “the resurrection” that their beloved brother would return to them – someday, somehow, somewhere. No. It was only by the power of God in Christ that Lazarus is raised from the dead. Jesus COMMANDS Lazarus to come out! He commands him. It was not until then that Lazarus could move, become sentient, become alive and obediently come forward from the tomb (since he was bound head to toe, some scholars suggest that he came forward without walking). He was made alive by Christ, regenerated/re-created. Regenerated is a word you’ll hear church folk say sometimes; it means, relative to being born again, to form or be formed again; come or bring into existence once again spiritually through the Holy Spirit.

Going back to Ephesians 2 again at verses 1-3: Spiritual death is as insusceptible by human efforts as was Lazarus’ physical death. What is worse is that the spiritual death which we ALL walked in – you know that expression, “dead man walking”, was and is the result of the inherited sin nature from Adam. Our already condemned state of spiritual death was exacerbated with our being infused with a world culture influenced and guided by the devil and his demons. We were objects of God’s wrath, because God loathes sin and does not “entertain”, i.e., He does not become Abba to spiritually dead people. We were born spiritually dead, dead relationship with God, and remain so until a similar command is given to us to become alive spiritually. let’s pick up at verse 4 through verse 10. [reader reads it] What does the Spirit say had to occur before we could be saved? [God had to make us alive; He calls us out of our spiritual death (KJV says quickened)], He without any help from us resurrects us or raises us up back to spiritual life, raises us up as it were to life in the Spirit, placing His Eternal Spirit within us to regenerate us and deposit a new faith instantaneously as He did with Lazarus. In the face of those Bible truths, the thought that we of our own volition according to evangelicals and others who make that claim, can prepare ourselves to be saved, can clean up our life to become fitting before a Holy God, can read scripture and understand it and then apply it in a way that pleases God is ludicrous! Can dead people think? Can dead people reason?

Do you think that being raised from the dead changed Lazarus’ outlook on life? When God raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life, He performs an unequivocable miracle within us where we not only come to life but are endowed with the faith needed to please God. God has chosen – we did not originate that choice - to create new life in us, restores us to spiritual aliveness. This is the "process" referred to in John 3 as being born again.

So with this detailed backdrop on God's salvific plan, we can now 'unpack'  Jesus' explanation to Nicodemus of being born again. We’ll take it step by step.

(a) Nicodemus bravely comes at night to where Jesus is staying. What he had to say he did not want to ask in an open forum or on the street as many of the Pharisees liked doing with the purpose of tripping Jesus up. Nicodemus wanted more than what his opening words said; Jesus, who was fully God and fully man knew in His Godship what was on Nicodemus’ heart, what brought him out of his home at night to seek Him out Jesus, and so Jesus wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter. Cool, right? Read verse 2. During the course of the conversation Jesus would ask Nicodemus how could he, i.e., Nicodemus, who was a teacher of Israel not understand the requirement of being born again and what that means. Even today, those who have a standing within the Church of God are still puzzled by what it means, although they have before them God’s Word of truth that provides the answer.
(b) Entering the kingdom of God – was Jesus saying that in order to go to heaven you have to be born again, thus equating the kingdom of God with heaven? It is true that many equate God’s kingdom with heaven since God and Christ sit on thrones in the Kingdom. In studying this passage, I am thinking that Jesus, in speaking of the kingdom of God, means not just the ‘heavenly’ Kingdom, but His universal kingdom – God’s rule, over those who are His Church – both here on earth and in heaven. It is not a singular geographical location, nor is it solely heaven. I mean, what did Jesus teach us to pray in the Lord’s prayer about God’s kingdom? [allow answer] That God’s kingdom would also be on earth. So the kingdom is borne from heaven, "from above", – i.e., God’s rule emanates from heaven. Thus, I think that Jesus was referring to entering into God’s theocratic spiritual domain where worshipers on earth and heaven obey God and do the work and will God has appointed them to do. The Holy Spirit binds together believers who are living on earth into this kingdom domain which is growing with believers daily. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom refers to this change of rule within our hearts while we are still alive on earth. Therefore, It is not a geographical location as Jesus confirms in the account at John 4 where Jesus’ encounters the Samaritan woman. Jesus further shows the invisible aspect of the kingdom of God when He says that "the kingdom is within you" – [ask for any questions or more clarification]
(c) Born again of water... Let’s talk about the “water” first. Jesus says we must be born of water and Spirit before we can enter into the kingdom. Nicodemus was clearly puzzled because he knew that in order to be born, conception must take place and one must live in the waters of a mother’s womb for nine months. So he tells Jesus, I’m a grown man; I cannot climb back into my mother’s womb! So we come to this point on which Christians will sometimes disagree – even Christians within the same denomination! I do not want this to be an argument, or a "2 by 4" insistence on a point of view, or judgement but rather an opportunity to share what we have learned, and allow the Holy Spirit to correct any misplaced thoughts.

This is where believers have different viewpoints of what the “water” represents, namely:

• Some say that the “water” is baptismal water – that you have to have been baptized in water in order for the ‘salvation transition’ to take place; 
• Others say that Jesus was telling Nicodemus that only those born from the womb – who lived within that protective sac for the duration would meet the requirement of “water”. 
• Yet others say that the ”water” means that a person will be required to know God’s Word – which the scriptures metaphorically refer to as water, as part of the qualification for being born again.

My personal thought, based on the context of the conversation, is that the “water” refers to the waters of birth from a human mother.  Jesus says as He continues explaining this regeneration process to Nicodemus: “what is flesh is flesh (born of a woman) and what is Spirit is Spirit” (born of God). It would seem that in being born again, a person must first be human born of a woman. As such, there are no born again angels, no born again animals. In passages of the Gospels where we read about the person that hanged on the cross next to Jesus, and who confessed his belief in Jesus as Savior and Messiah, the criminal had first rejected Jesus and had joined in with the other criminal in the verbal abuse of Christ. (Mark 15:29, 32) Luke’s account in chapter 23, verses 39-43 reflects that when the Holy Spirit opened the thief’s mind and heart, the thief repented and rebuked the other criminal for his continued castigation and berating of Christ, and then asks Jesus to remember him when He enters the kingdom. Jesus, who in His Godship foreknew the “election” of the thief, did not act surprised by the thief’s question, did not have to convince the thief that his change of heart was by the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit did His work with the thief, so that Jesus responds, “Truly I tell you today that you will be with me in Paradise”, i.e., he would be raised back to life and would live again in Jesus' presence. Jesus does not add, “but, first we have to get you down from this cross and baptized in the Jordan River or the temple pool for this salvation to stick, and then put you back up on the cross.” Some denominations equate the Christian water baptism to the water baptism that John the Baptizer performed for the forgiveness of sins – a baptism of repentance. It was synonymous to a cleansing ritual under the Mosaic Law that would make God's people ready to worship Him and to come into His presence before the Tabernacle. The Christian’s cleansing is by the blood of Christ and the Word according to Ephesians 5 and Hebrews 9; it is a continual cleansing – when you’re not in the Word you are not getting clean! As scripture shows us and even the catechism shows—to some extent, that water baptism does not guarantee salvation; rather, it is an outward sign or symbol of an inward grace or saving faith transferred to us, so as to make a worthy commitment to Christ. According to Ephesians 1:12-14, it is God the Holy Spirit in us that is the guarantee. In Romans 6:2-4, the apostle Paul refers to the grace of salvation that causes us to die to sin – being transferred from spiritual death and darkness, to spiritual life and light. Creating a complete change of heart within the individual, and becoming submitted to Christ using the metaphor of being baptized into Christ’s death, i.e., dying to Christ is dying to sin, as Christ died for all sin. Then there comes the raising to life, The Life of Christ sustained by the Holy Spirit.

(d) Born again through the Spirit. Undoubtedly, Nicodemus – as some professing Christians do even now – saw and see the Holy Spirit or Spirit of God solely as a power or force of God. They did not/do not understand the personhood of God the Holy Spirit. Also, during the “Old Testament Times” the Holy Spirit’s work in and with a human was often limited or bestowed for a particular time frame or purpose. Like the anointing of artisans in the building of the Tabernacle; in God’s prophets who spoke by the Spirit; the writers of OT scripture who were informed by the Spirit. Or the accomplishment of miracles and such. However, due to what Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah would accomplish on the cross, God the Holy Spirit would actually dwell within a person who has confessed Christ crucified for his/her sins, and who have made Jesus the Lord over their life; they recognize that they have been bought or redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus and no longer can claim ownership of themselves. 1 Corinthians 6 plainly shows that one’s salvation becomes operational within a person who has been washed in the blood, which justified them before a Holy God, and who are sanctified (set apart by God to accomplish His purpose through them) through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which guarantees that position. [repeat slowly] God the Holy Spirit had Paul communicate this truth more than once to the churches of his day (see Ephesians, Romans, et al.), and has caused it to permanently reside in the collection of holy writings, i.e., the Bible – made holy because it’s Author, God the Holy Spirit, is Divine. Jesus, during His last night on earth, told soon-to-be traumatized disciples in John 14-17 that the Holy Spirit would come and be in them, indwell them to guarantee their salvation and empower them for God’s purposes for them. Romans chapter 8 tells us plainly that the Spirit gives life, and if He does not dwell in a person they are not of Christ – no matter how they identify themselves. Ephesians 1 tells us that God has placed the Holy Spirit in those who are saved as a guarantee of our salvation, signifying that the Holy Spirit is tasked with the growing of believers into the image of Christ. [touching back to the “election” - a hard saying whose explanation would consume the better part of half a day - God foreknew who He would choose to be graced with salvation; therefore, God the Holy Spirit cannot be influenced by any rite or ritual to indwell someone who is not called to salvation – no matter what happens within the worship tradition of a congregation. We humans are made individually aware of our salvation, but we cannot read anyone’s heart – let alone police our own without the Spirit’s intervention. In Acts 11:16 and 1 Corinthians 12, scripture refers to this indwelling as being baptized by the Spirit. It is that baptism which guarantees our salvation. (Ephesians 1:13,14)

(d) Sainthood. The Roman Catholic Church for hundreds of years has claimed the right and authority to reward certain persons with the designation of sainthood. Such individuals were believed to be men and women of “heroic virtue” who would after their deaths hold a privileged place with God in heaven. [see full article here] Because of this, saints were considered to be spiritual guides and mentors, who would add their prayers in heaven to those offered by Christians still living in the material world. Their ranks include martyrs, kings  and queens, missionaries, widows, theologians, parents, nuns and priests, and “everyday people” who dedicated their lives to the loving pursuit of God. The designation process is called canonization, which has been described as a long and a politically fraught process. The first canonized person by the Roman Church occurred in 993 AD; certain named persons in scripture, including the apostles and those associated closely with Christ, were posthumously referred to as St. Peter, St. Mark, St. John, etc. Yet, is this the Bible’s definition of saints?  [see also full articles at the online Encylopedia Brittanica, on this day, BBC report]

I’m afraid not! In scripture passages (and this is just a partial list) we find the opposite: at Matthew 27:52, Acts 9:13,32, 41; Romans 1:7; Romans 8:27; Romans 12:13; Romans 15:25, 26.31; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:10; and Revelation 5:9. As you read these passages, you will see that these were written to the common folk who worshiped God in the community of believers. These were persons indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit calls them “saints.” (pls. note that of the commonly used Bible versions, only the NIV omits the word “saints” and uses instead, “holy ones”). 

For those whose minds are still married to the Roman Catholic See’s self-authority to name saints, let us go deeper into the language in which these passages listed above were written – Koine Greek. The word for “holy” in the Greek language derives from the word hagios (HAH-gee-ohs). Interestingly, there are passages in the Old Testament, e.g., Psalm 31:23; Deuteronomy 33:2-3; 2 Chronicles 6:41, to name a few - speak also of “holy ones” or saints; in that instance the Hebrew word kedosh or phrase kol kedoshav is used. So what does holy one in scripture refer to? It is translated – appropriately – as “saints” (harking back to the Latin translation of hagios to "sanctus") – which means individuals set aside by God through the Holy Spirit indwelling them to do God’s holy work and purpose. God does not make us saints because of our works, but because of His work in us. We could never on our own merit be made a saint through heroic works, despite the “sainthood” that the Catholic Holy See authorizes itself to perform.  We become saints positionally – that is, when we are saved and born again through the Spirit, God makes our position that of being holy, covered by Christ’s blood, no longer estranged from Him. We are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:12-13). Again, God does not make us saints because of our works, but, rather, because of His work in us, through the Holy Spirit, Who makes us “children of God, born of God, heirs with Christ.” That is the Biblical definition of what a saint is. The Bible does not claim levels of sainthood as some have been led to believe; as seen above, sainthood is not a title earned by exceptional acts, therefore to be something that places persons at a better advantage than others. That is not Biblical. There are no lower saints, higher saints, etc. Sainthood is a position in which God places all who have been saved - being a saint simply means that God makes holy what was once unholy. (See 1 Peter 2) (Dr. Charles Stanley preached more than once on this topic because of the ingrained wrong understanding held by many as to what God calls a saint. The sermons can be found online at intouch.org.) It is surmised that the Roman Catholic Church was persuaded to promote the idea that persons "achieving" sainthood would be assigned to different levels of holiness by the governing body incorporating culturally accepted teachings in that regard. This would appease some, and by so doing, the Roman Church would place itself in a role of authority presumed endowed by God, but which is, in truth, one that God never gave it.

Per the above, not all translations make the distinction of translating the original languages for "holy ones" as "saints" in the English translation, but the Hebrew and Greek words cited above will be present each time. Translations that use the word “saints” appropriately in their English versions (this list is not all-inclusive but am citing some of the familiar translations/versions) are the English Standard Version, the Amplified Version, the 21^st Century NKJV, the American SV, the Holman Christian, International Standard, King James V./NKJV, The Living Bible, NASB, and NRSV. The NIV does not include the word saints in either the Old or New Testament, no doubt because of the Latin rendering of "sanctus" for the ancient Hebrew and Greek words. It translates the original Hebrew and Greek as "holy ones" without the added Latin version.  

So is it wrong to call the apostles St. so and so? No. What is wrong is not calling all of the persons saints that God calls saints.

So, by God’s determination, He sets aside persons to carry out His will. He does not leave this up to a denomination or a political process; only He can read the heart and know its contents. Jesus plainly says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” 

So to sum up: how does God make His determination as to who He sets aside? The process is formally called election. In the Old Testament we see God's hand at work: it was those who were bought/redeemed by blood from enslavement in Egypt, and brought into covenant relationship with Jehovah God/Elohim/Adonai, who would be called to be holy as God is holy. Their keeping covenant with God would allow them to be in right standing with God, or as some are described in the Old Testament, being “righteous persons.”  (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 2 Samuel 7:23-24; et al.) God created a people through whom He would reveal Himself, record the oracles and employ them in God’s Name, and it would be that God ordained/set aside nation through whom the Messiah – God’s remedy and salvific provision would come; He would become the bridge that heals the broken relationship between God and humanity. In the OT, those saints or persons set aside or apart by God to carry out His holy purpose would be enabled to do so by the Holy Spirit - e.g., see 1 Kings 8:53 - for a determined time frame. The psalmist David, in Psalm 51, asks God to not take His Holy Spirit away from him; the psalmist knew that God’s Spirit would rest on certain individuals for a limited time and for a unique purpose – that He would not be permanently indwelling persons at that time. Things would change upon Christ’s coming and His work at the cross. He fulfilled the requirement to be a perfect sacrifice for the death-dealing sin inherited from Adam. Because of that one act, we who are not under the Mosaic Covenant are graced to enter into a New Covenant with Christ that would restore our relationship with the Father. The Holy Spirit baptizes us, indwells us to guarantee that relationship; He does so following the individual’s repentance of sins and repentance of their rejection of Jesus, and removal of self from the throne that belongs to Christ and make Him our Lord. 

Special Mid-Summer Three-Night Bible Study Series

 A mid-summer special Bible study took place with my church this year. The topic: Hard Sayings in the Bible. There were a number of passages that have raised questions over the years that we have had Bible studies, so the questions presented for choice were legitimate concerns of some parishioners. However, because it was only a 3-night conversation, we had to settle on 6 main topics and passages. As a "just-in-case" there were additional reserve questions offered as "fillers" for those evenings where our main topic conversation concluded before the hour was up. This post will list the topics. Follow-up posts will offer some feedback on the sayings/passages that will hopefully provide some meaningful understanding for readers of the blog. For the sake of privacy of the individuals who participated in the conversations, I've only included my reflections on the questions in the posts. Links to my reflections are included at the end of the question. 

Questions for Discussion During the Special July Bible Study 

 

1.     This first question was submitted based on Ezekiel 3:20; for context, verses 18 and 19 have been added[1]: [¹⁸ When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. ¹⁹ But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.] ²⁰Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.”   Do you believe in the above statement? How do you reconcile the popular saying “Once saved always saved”?  in reference to the second half of verse 20? [see answer here]

2.     Does Genesis 22:12 contradict God’s omniscience?    [see answer here]

3.     Jesus in John chapter 3 speaks to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who came in search of him one evening, wanting to get the ‘low-down’ on who Jesus really was. Jesus responds to Nicodemus’ query with a profound statement: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Puzzled Nicodemus to no end – “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” he asked. Jesus gives Nicodemus a second answer that further puzzles him: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Traditionally under the Mosaic Law, one was considered ‘righteous’, favored of God, if they kept the law “perfectly.” They believed material blessings proved they had met the standard. So, Jesus’ response not only puzzled Nicodemus but also Christians throughout the centuries. What does it mean to enter the kingdom and be born again – to be born of water and Spirit? Can a person still be a Christian but not born again – like isn’t that just an evangelical thing? Why is it important to know the answer to this question? Tied closely to the explanation of this is: Who are the saints, and how is their sainthood determined?   [see answer here]

4.     Why does God send people to hell if He is a God of love? (note the emphasis)   [see answer here]

5.     a.  Matthew 16:15-19.  Jesus held an interesting conversation with His disciples after going a ‘round’ with the Pharisees and Sadducees. He asks them: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They tossed out a couple of names, then Simon Peter says: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Then Jesus says to Simon Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven has. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Many readers of this passage believe that Jesus was anointing Peter to be head of the church, and the Roman Catholics also say that Peter was the first Pope. What message was Jesus giving His disciples at that time, and throughout the millennia? [see answer here]

b. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Simon Peter writes to the elect in Christ the message in 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 2 through 10 (this was part of a recent lesson preached on at a Sunday worship service). What is being conveyed in this passage about our identity as Christians – which Jesus was implying in His words recorded at Matthew 16:15-19?   [see answer here]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The following questions are reserved for those evenings where the 2 scheduled questions do not take up the full hour.

 

A.    How do you reconcile Matthew 18:20 (when 2 or 3 are gathered there I am also) with John 17:20,21 (I am in the Father and the Father is in Me and We are in them); that is, why would Jesus have said that there needs to be 2 or 3 believers together at one time before He can be present, when we are already individually in Him? [see answer here]

B.    Jesus said that we each would need to bear our cross daily. Many Christians have been taught that it means to be able to bear the burdens of life, or as a way of enduring a nagging / annoying person, situation, etc. What did Jesus want us to understand from His statement at Luke 9:23?  [see answer here]

C.    The Blessed Virgin Mary: we know that, in order for God’s salvific plan to be accomplished, Jesus could not have been born through human reproduction; a virgin was chosen to carry His human life in her womb. The virgin, of course, was Mary; however, did she remain a virgin after Jesus’ birth? Even though she is venerated by a number of denominations, is it appropriate to pray to her or “through” her? (Luke 1:26-56)   [see answer here]

D.    What does Jesus mean when He says: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’”? This passage can be found in part or in whole in the Gospels at Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27.   [see answer here]

E.    In Luke 14:26 Jesus says that unless we hate family and self we can have no part in His kingdom. Whaaat? What does He mean?  [see answer here]

                                                                                           

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[1] An even more clear understanding may be had in verses 1-17 in Ezekiel’s response to God’s command.

"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God?"

Did you know that we have been given the opportunity to serve a God Who, because of His own Glory, was willing to rescue us from an eternal spiritual death by sending His own Son to die for us? (Psalm 79:9) 

John 11:1-45

When someone is spiritually dead, that means that even though they walk and talk and go about their business, they have no belief in God, do not recognize God, they cannot see His Glory through eyes of faith. The sin which controls them - their attitudes, their behavior, all that they are, makes them incapable of recognizing and submitting to God the Father and God the Son, and there is no relationship with God the Holy Spirit - the Giver of Life. (1 John 1:6)

Ezekiel 37 calls out those who have stopped believing in God - even those who were supposed to be God's people. They are dead spiritually - dead and dry. "They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’" But for His Glory, so that they will know that He is the LORD God who created them, He promises to restore them by giving them His Spirit to make them alive, so that they can worship Him and live fully.

Romans 8:5-9 echos a similar warning. "To set the mind on the flesh is death." [the flesh as described here refers to being cut off from God spiritually because of our sinful nature--the Adamic inheritance all humans have and which blocks us from seeing God's Glory because we cannot believe (Psalm 51:5)]. That is explained in the next sentence: "For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law-- indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." God tells us, warns in His words at Ephesians 2:1-3 about the nature of spiritual death and how it keeps us from God. But look at the promise echoed in the Romans 8 reading, as well as in verses 4-10 of Ephesians 2, and the harmony of these promises with the promise in Ezekiel 37. 

Because of His own Glory, God wants to bring His people to life - to put His life into us - so that we can see Him and believe. While we exist in our bodies today, God spiritually restores us to live His life through us. To see God is to see His Glory and reflect it so that we become light for others. To believe God is to glorify Him - as Jesus is saying in the subject line above, and in the Gospel reading in John 11 at the opening link. His resurrection of Lazarus gives us a glimpse into what He will do in our lives now by creating new life in us; He rescues us from death! A saving faith comes from hearing and acting on the words of Christ. He calls us to come out of our spiritual graves, and to remove the bindings of sin through our obedience to Him. Then He calls us to glorify God in our lives and in our bodies. I invite you to read the scriptures herein and seek to understand the message God is giving to us all. To hear in our own ears, and see in our own hearts of faith Jesus say to us those startling words, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the Glory of God? ...I Am the Resurrection and the Life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Do you believe?  

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The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 6

~~~~~~~~~In The Last Days, I Shall Pour My Spirit Out on Men and Women and They Will Prophesy

Acts 2 - the account of that first Pentecost two thousand years ago following Jesus' ascension to heaven - the startling outpouring and indwelling of The Holy Spirit on worshipers at Jerusalem recalls God's promise from Joel that He would bathe believers - men, women, sons and daughters, in His Holy Spirit and empower them to prophesy and carry out God's will. When believers became moved by the Spirit, lives were changed and people were saved.

Our last story also comes from Laurie Kehler's book, This Outside Life - Finding God in the Heart of Nature, chapter 5, "Wind". She ends the chapter with a story from 1949 in The Hebrides. She describes The Hebridean islands as a "remote, wild, and wooly place" located off the northwest coast of Scotland. She says that they are "battered by the bitter North Atlantic weather," causing those who live in the islands to be of resilient character and not easily impressed. Yet, she talks about two senior citizens - sisters - who had "soft hearts." They had lived in their community during their lives and were at that time in their 80s - one of them blind, and had seen their community change and not for the better. The youth were drinking and partying as a lifestyle. The once Christian community was living outside of who they were - the sisters remarking that they had even abandoned the practice of regarding the sabbath day. Compared to today, Laurie notes, the 1949 era community seems kind of not so bad, maybe even typical. "But," she adds, "that doesn't mean it didn't concern God." 

Being stirred and moved by He who is in them, the sisters began praying in earnest. These elderly women would get down on their 80+ year-old knees twice a week from 10pm to 2am and pray for God to restore the people in the community. Just two old women who in the scheme of things were powerless. Yet they believed and trusted God to act.

And act He did. He poured out His Spirit upon that community in an awesome way. Laurie says that "people who had never darkened the doors of a church" were now compelled to come at all hours. These revived believers would worship hours at a time (and we balk when our service goes over 90 minutes!). The church would be filled to the rafters with persons at three o'clock in the morning, and those who couldn't fit into the small building worshiped outside. She says that even people gathered "in the fields or walking along the road" were overcome by the presence of God. Even those who were unable to travel to church were bathed with the Holy Spirit. (Like in the camp in the wilderness as recorded in Numbers 11:16-29, when God poured out His Spirit and anointed the leadership) The work of the Spirit in the community was true revival, restoration, and sanctification. Their lifestyles changed willingly, they repented and returned to the God who saves, and the results were in closing of the bars and changed habits, behaviors, and commitment to God's purpose. Some members of the community even became missionaries or 'ambassadors' of God's grace throughout the world.

Laurie tells that the minister who was called to preach when the Spirit was changing hearts and minds confessed that he had nothing to do with bringing revival to the island, that God the Holy Spirit was the One moving in the community. He reports, that "he knew it was God's work, not his. He states, 'The Spirit of God was moving in such a way that I couldn't preach. I just stood and gazed upon the wondrous movings of God.'"

The people of the Hebrides were not clergy people, they were not Bible scholars, no – they were teenagers, they were young adults, they were middle-aged adults, they were elderly people living from day to day. Just regular people. But upon being filled and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, they willingly surrendered to the awesome work He had purposed to do in their lives, and in the lives of countless others around the world because of the obedience of the Hebridean people to the Spirit’s call.

Can God the Holy Spirit move in our lives like He did in the lives of first century Christians? Like He did in the lives of the Ten Boom sisters? Like He did in the wealthy businessman’s life? Like He does in the lives of the pastors and Christians under trials and persecution? Like He did in the lives of the wayward community in The Hebrides?

As He has in the lives of persons in our own worship community?

His promise is to lavish the Father’s children with love and spiritual riches beyond our ability to comprehend, yet He will not force His way. Now seriously, pause and think.

 But what if many, if not most, within a worship community like ours were to invite the Spirit into their hearts and humble themselves like Jesus did in willing surrender to the Spirit’s ministry, what if? Can you just imagine what He could do in such a community as that?   

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Putting on Christ

Romans 13:14 says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Colossians 3:5 instructs “Put to death therefore, whatever in you is earthly…these are the ways [the lifestyles] you once followed.” And John 3:5 is clear: ”Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.”

There was a gentleman whose life was spent 110% with the business that made him wealthy, powerful, and arrogant. He engaged in ruthless practices just enough within the law to achieve success. And by the standards of many he really was a very successful man, even though on the inside his heart was not right. He was living what some of us might call “the dream.” He was kind of like the immoral businessmen in shows like “Mad Men.”

But–God had purposed from before time to make him one of His children. It was not because the man was smart, looked good in a suit, or because of his impressive resumé. No, it was God’s grace being worked out through the Holy Spirit that would cause the man to become aware of his sinful life and pride, and the need for God’s forgiveness. The Spirit created in him the desire to repent and bow down before God’s throne of grace. In that moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit sealed him for God. The change he sensed in himself was powerful and compelling.

When he came to church on the day of his baptism (his church immerses believers in a baptismal pool), he chose not to wear a baptism robe for the ceremony. Instead, he chose to be baptized in one of his ‘power suits’ because for him it no longer held the power and significance of his former life. He wanted to die to that former self and put off ungodly practices such as greed, idolatry, and immorality – all those things he associated with his past life, taking them down into the baptismal waters to show the change the Spirit had created in him. And then to be raised up from the water to show he was being raised to new life, reborn spiritually and clothed instead with Christ. Only the Spirit of God can raise us from spiritual death to new life in Christ, and testify to our hearts that we are God’s.

This man was not a priest or special clergy – he was like any person in our family, in our jobs or schools who is in need of the Savior. A businessman who would come to know true wealth in Christ. Romans 8:11: “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you; He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.”