Exploring Some of the Terms Associated With Salvation

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We will not do this all at once but go term by term. Please, if there are any questions bring them up. No need to raise your hand.

I will start with the expression "born again." That must be the beginning right?

The expression comes directly from John 3 in a strange conversation Jesus had with a man named Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee, and in this high ranking position taught and arbitrated the law given to Israel through Moses. He knew the OT as well as he knew the road to his own house. He came to Jesus by night so as not to be seen associating with the lowly outcast carpenter. And especially not giving him any credit for the Pharisees were much opposed to Jesus.

Nicodemus said to Jesus that he (Jesus) must be from God because only if God was with a person could they do the miracles that he had seen Jesus do.

From Jesus' response we can see that Jesus saw far deeper into Nicodemus than the statement itself implied. Verse 3. Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus was astonished and perplexed. 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

There is disagreement within the Christian community on what Jesus meant by the "water". What is it to be born of water and the Spirit?

Some say it refers to the fluid that is released at our physical birth. However linguistically (in a way that is connected to langage) it points to understanding "water" and "Spirit" as referring to a single spiritual truth.

Many believe it refers to baptism but this would have made no sense to Nicodemus because Christian baptism had not yet been instituted.

Some find it to be a reference to the baptism of John the Baptist, but Jesus nowhere makes John's baptism a requirement for salvation.

We can find the most likely meaning by what follows. In verse 9 Nicodemus asks "How can these things be?" and receives a rebuke from Jesus.

Verse 10. Jesus answered and said to him,"Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things?"

Since Nicodemus was teaching from the OT---the Law and the Prophets---then what he should have known must be back there somewhere. And here it is, passages where "water" and "Spirit" are linked to express the pouring out of God's Spirit in the end times, and the purification and new life that flow from Jesus' arrival.

Is 32:14-15 For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.

Is 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Ez 36: 25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all our uncleanesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

So we see that this new birth is something that God does for us and in us, that draws us to Christ in faith, that He is the Son of God, and that He died and rose again. This new birth, places us in Him, applies His righteousness to us, just as on the cross He offered His own body as a ransom, taking upon Himself the payment of the debt we owe. It takes us out of the kingdom of darkness, and brings us into the kingdom of the Son.

Next we will look at passages in the Scriptures that directly tell further tell us of this magnanimous grace

 

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PART 2 of "Born Again"
Recap: The term "born again" is shown by Jesus in John 3 to be a supernatural (unexplainable and impossible by any natural means) act of God towards persons, that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit. It is an inward change in the person that turns them towards God in faith, whereas before this, the natural man, is at enmity with God.

Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot.
Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Often, people get the cart before the horse here, and it is often taught in that manner. That is to say, it is often considered that faith comes before we are born again and that being born again is the result of faith. Faith in that sense then becomes a choice to believe (have faith.) Believing is what unites us with Christ giving eternal life.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
John 6:40 "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
If we believe, it is because we have been born again from above. It does not change our salvation to put that cart before the horse, but it does change a great deal of our understanding and interpretation of many scriptures. And it does limit our ability to some degree, in our view of God. The reason for that is because it inserts itself, mankind, into a place where only God is, in redemption. It clouds our vision.

That being said, how does the Bible describe this new birth. One of the most explicit and completely God centered exposition of this is found in Eph 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We were dead in our sinfulness---God raised us to life. Born again, out of Adam (natural man, natural birth)into Christ. All of grace, through faith, also given by God, to walk in obedience and good works, which God also prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And if He did this, he will also bring it to pass.

 

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GRACE

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10)

The word "grace" when spoken or read, sounds to me like what it is. It calls forth in the mind a sense of beauty and peace of one being towards another that is not deserved. So often does it appear in the Scriptures that it is easy to skim the surface of it. In fact, looking into this grace when applied as coming from God to sinful mankind, it can leave us momentarily breathless, and our love for God, and not only that but our understanding of him, take exponential, joyous leaps.

The simple definition of grace is unmerited favor. Something is given that is in no way merited (earned) or deserved.

Let's take a brief look at who God reveals himself to be first, so that we start with the proper perspective.

In the first two chapters of Genesis we see him as the one who created everything and he created it good and very good. So we see that he is self existent and eternal and good. We see in the order of creation that he is perfect, all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, King and sovereign over all he creates. Everything exists through him and is subject to him. We will find these attributes and the position of God over and above all creation, including mankind, in countless places in the Scripture. Here are just four.

Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"

Psalm 103:19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

1 Chron 29:11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Acts 17: 26-28a And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way towards him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "In him we live and move and have our being..."

Let's go back for a second and reread that passage from Daniel 4. This can and should be a very frightening verse. God is a righteous and just judge and all have sinned against him. But it is also a passage where we can view the grace of God in all its awesome, knee buckling glory.

In the Garden of Eden, man fell from the grace of God. It was his grace that created a home for us on earth. Grace that supplied every perfect need and joy, grace that he stooped down to tabernacle with mankind in an intimate and personal way.

As soon as Adam and Eve fell through disobedience, the grace of God came came forth to begin the rescue. In Gen 3:15 he promised by grace the seed that would crush the deceiver's head, and that seed is Christ. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And more grace before God bans them from access to the tree of life, lest they should live forever as sinners. Gen 3:21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for His wife garments of skins and clothed them. This is the foreshadowing of the grace unto salvation that comes in Christ. Isiah 61 is about Christ for he quotes it and says he is the fulfillment of it in Luke 4:17-19.

Is 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegoom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

And we as believers are clothed in his robes of righteousness by grace and through faith in this glorious work of grace by our Lord. It is not our own righteousness, for we have none that would merit or deserve them.

Speaking of the faith of Abraham being counted as righteousness, Paul writes in Romans 4:20-25 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him " were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised from our justification.

Everything that comes to us from God is grace.

 

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Death by Crucifiction…
““I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

(Galatians 2:20 NAS20)

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This is one of three facets of the reality of being in Christ and vital to both understand and enter into the experience that results.
It has helped me to echo Paul for myself to say, “I died”. That becomes real. I died. When I confess also, that “I Live”, I am cognizant, of a New Life within. It is much more than a mental assent. I enter into a New Realm where the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ can govern.
The Christian life is all about change far beyond a mental assent.