Repentance and the New Birth as Born Again
John 3:1-ten
Now there was a human being of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. two This homo came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to yous, unless i is born over again he cannot run into the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a 2d time into his female parent'south womb and exist built-in?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is built-in of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do non marvel that I said to you lot, 'You must be born again.' eight The wind blows where information technology wishes, and you hear its sound, only you exercise non know where information technology comes from or where information technology goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, "How tin these things be?" ten Jesus answered him, "Are yous the teacher of Israel and yet you do not sympathise these things?
Ane of the nearly hard issues in Bible interpretation is to understand how the New Testament uses the Old. I have in front of me a massive commentary chosen Commentary on the New Attestation Use of the Old Testament edited past C.K. Beale and D.A. Carson. It is a slap-up piece of work which seeks to give answers near how New Testament writers used the Onetime Testament. Sometimes it is very hard to determine how the Old Testament is beingness used in the New. When it comes to Christ's rebuke of Nicodemus in John 3, fifty-fifty the best of New Testament scholars are often perplexed, wondering what Christ meant when he rebuked Nicodemus apropos his ignorance.
In the higher up passage, Christ is talking nearly the new nativity. To make things every bit elementary as I can, Christ tells Nicodemus that no i can enter God's kingdom unless he has been born over again. This idea of being built-in once again can besides mean "built-in from to a higher place." Nicodemus, though desirous to go confronting the grain of Jewish leadership and follow Christ, is confused past Christ's teaching. He takes him quite literally assertive that Christ is saying that we must pass through the birth culvert twice. He responds with what seems to exist a valid question to Christ's confusing and, seemingly, radical argument. "How can these things be?"
Christ does not miss a beat in lowing the hammer on Nicodemus' ignorance. "Are you the teacher of Israel and yous don't know these things?" In other words, Nicodemus was the theology professor of the day. He was a leader of the congregation of Israel. He was supposed to know these things! How could he lead without know this basic truth?
Concerning this John Calvin adds to the rebuke:
Every bit Christ sees that he is spending his fourth dimension and pains to no purpose in teaching so proud a man, he begins to reprove him sharply. And certainly such persons will never make whatsoever progress, until the wicked confidence, with which they are puffed upward, exist removed. . . But still Nicodemus, with all his magisterial haughtiness, exposes himself to ridicule by more than childish hesitation about the commencement principles. Such hesitation, certainly, is base of operations and shameful. For what religion have nosotros, what knowledge of God, what rule of living well, what promise of eternal life, if we do not believe that man is renewed by the Spirit of God? (Calvin's Commentaries: John iii:10).
But how was Nicodemus supposed to know these things? Why does Christ come up down so hard on him? Was the new birth taught in the Erstwhile Attestation? If so, where?
These are good questions. The kickoff thing we may endeavour to do is detect some parallel with such teaching explicitly taught in the One-time Testament. New Testament scholars have offered some possibilities:
Jeremiah 31:33
But this is the covenant that I will make with the business firm of State of israel afterward those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I volition write it on their hearts. And I volition be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his blood brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I volition remember their sin no more." (Jer 31:33 ESV)
Ezekiel 11:19
And I will requite them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and requite them a middle of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and proceed my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will exist their God. (Eze 11:nineteen ESV)
If, indeed, these are the passages that Christ was speaking of then the process of being "built-in once more/from in a higher place" would conduct the connotation of a "new showtime" (Kostenberger, John, ECNT, 123). However, while I certainly come across the redemptive theme present in both these passages, I don't run across the radical idea of beingness "birthed" again being explicit plenty to bring about Christ's rebuke.
Other passages proposed by scholars include Isa. 29:10, Deut. 30:6, Ps. 51: half-dozen, and Ps. 51:10. I even heard a message from a prominent Quondam Testament professor who linked this text to Psalm 87:4-seven, believing that the new birth is explicitly alluded to there. Still, I retrieve information technology is a bit of a stretch to endeavour to detect explicit reference to the new birth in any one Onetime Testament passage. Even so, I am not arguing confronting Jesus. Nicodemus should have known about the new birth. Nicodemus should not have been surprised. As the "teacher of Israel" his hope and education should have been grounded here.
And then where do we find the new birth in the Sometime Attestation? I am glad you lot asked. While I don't believe that there is whatsoever 1 passage of Scripture we can point to, I practice believe there is a theological theme throughout the entire Sometime Testament that necessitates Christ'southward new birth theology. Information technology goes all the style dorsum to the fall. The first time that expiry is mentioned in the Bible is in Gen. 2:17 where God warns Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge: "Simply of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil y'all shall not consume, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." The consequence of eating the tree was decease. Just one chapter afterward, Adam and Eve both ate from the tree, but they did non dice. In fact, Adam lived 930 years! How is it that he died "the day" he ate of it?
Theologians take wrestled with this question for some time. It would seem that the best reply we can give is that death entered into the human condition on that day in two ways: ane) Homo was forced out of the Garden and no longer had admission to the tree of life (Gen. iii:22-23). In this sense, that day they were prevented from eternal life and therefore that solar day death began. 2) Most chiefly for our purpose here, the day they ate of the tree of life they died spiritually. Permit me state the obvious: spiritual decease is the opposite of spiritual life. Throughout the Scriptures humanity is shown to be in its natural condition spiritually dead. "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins," "But God . . . made u.s. alive together in Christ" (Eph. 2:four). Since the spiritual death of the offset human, Adam, every human ever born has been still-born spiritually. This is what theologians refer to as "imputed sin." Considering of our connection with the sin and death of Adam, we too have inherited sin and death (Rom. 5:17-19).
Existence built-in again is nothing less that a complete restoration of spiritual life. All of humanity was separated from God in Eden. Through the cantankerous that separation was bridged. In Adam we take the imputation of sin and decease. Through Christ we take the imputation of righteousness and life. We are either constitute death in Adam or alive in Christ.
Nicodemus was rebuked not because at that place was a particular passage in the Erstwhile Attestation that escaped his notice, but because he was unaware of humanities spiritual condition since Gen. 3. Nicodemus should take known that people must be born over again in order to inherit eternal life and enter the Kingdom precisely because he should have know that they were dead. The only promise for a expressionless human is resurrection. The only hope for spiritually dead people is to be built-in again or "from higher up."
While Christ'south rebuke of Nicodemus was harsh, information technology is nothing less than a rebuke for a failure to admit the utter helpless condition that all of humanity faces outside of Christ. The new birth was but equally necessary for people in the Old Attestation is it is for all people.
If I am right and Christ's rebuke of Nicodemus is due to his theological ignorance, this should serve as a stern warning for many of those out there who see our identification with Adam as something that can be sacrificed. Imputed sin is the reason why we are expressionless. Our deadness is the reason why we need to exist built-in again. The sad affair is that I believe at that place are many prominent leaders in the church building today who would say to Christ "How can these things be?" due to their fail of the reality of humanities still-born status.
jackmanunshes1939.blogspot.com
Source: https://credohouse.org/blog/is-the-new-birth-in-the-old-testament-or-why-was-christ-so-hard-on-nicodemus-in-john-310
Postar um comentário for "Repentance and the New Birth as Born Again"