Follow the 2013 Faithful Conference for Pastors and Leaders with us!View replays and read post summaries here on the blog. In this article, do you see the message?The New Birth, by D. A. Carson:
The New Birth
Text: John 3: 1-21
About 30 years ago, Daxon’s auto plant changed its name. The largest factory that owned it decided that its cars would be called Nissam. In my country, this name change was accompanied by advertisements that said “Daxon born again. “Three famous American politicians switched sides. Then society called them “born-again Republicans” or “born-again Democrats. “At the same time, the press began talking about reborn Christians. From a secular point of view, they were Christians, weak but friendly people: perfidious idiots on the right What does it mean to be born again?Change your name, change partying or be some kind of religious idiot?
The first person to use this expression was Jesus himself. When Jesus used it, Nicodemus had no idea what it meant. If we want to understand the importance of this language in the gospels, we have no better place to study than this passage.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee who was part of the Jewish elite. Member of a conservative religious party very serious about religious purity. The text says that he went to see Christ at night. Some think it is because he is ashamed to go to question Christ, but in chapter 7 he argues before the Sanhedrin and then goes to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. He doesn’t seem concerned about what they think of him. If you want to know what John means when he says that Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night, you should know that John is still working with the symbolism of day and night. In chapter 13, when Judas is released at the Last Supper, John comments, “He left, and it was dark. ” He mentions it because, yes, it was night, but also because Judas was entering the deepest darkness. Although Nicodemus has several advantages, he apparently approaches Jesus in the midst of spiritual darkness. Yes, it was night, but João associates spiritual symbolism with that night. Verse 19 also brings this idea: “light came into the world, and men loved darkness more than light, because their works were evil. “
He calls Jesus “Rabbi. ” In the first century, it was not a technical term for ordination, but a great honor.
In every generation, in every religion, in every culture, you will find false healers: is there in Islam, in Buddhism, in the sixteenth century, in the second century, in Christianity?But what Jesus did had a different quality. John presents some cases where this question of quality is totally different. Jesus performed miracles of a very different nature than those of the other healers who walked there. “We know that you are a teacher of God if you do this kind of thing. “
When Nicodemus says and infers that Jesus comes from God because He does very powerful things, what he means is that he sees the Kingdom in action; sees the Kingdom of God in the actions of Jesus. What Jesus really says is: Nicodemus, you see nothing of the Kingdom, because you will not see it until you are born again. Can you see the miracle, but you can’t see the authentic kingdom until you’re born again?Jesus rubs shoulders the so-called vision of Nicodemus.
Nicodemus responds to the metaphor of birth again with another metaphor. He wonders if a man can become someone different from what he already is: “What are we, right?”No one can enter the mother’s uterus and be born again. One poet said, “There must be a man in me, so that the man I am is no longer a man. “Another poet said, “If life had a second edition, how did I correct the originals?”. You know what? You can’t go back. You can’t do it again. It’s been done. It’s on the record.
In verse 5, Jesus continues. He who is not born of the water of the Spirit cannot see the Kingdom of God, this expression speaks not of two births, but of one: to be born again Jesus reproaches Nicodemus not to understand these things even though he is a teacher in Israel. That means I should know these things. So something about this should be in the Old Testament. Water and spirit are related in several passages of the Old Testament. Ezekiel 36: 25-27 is the clearest example.
Bad guys give birth to bad guys like monkeys give birth to monkeys, chickens to chickens, pigs to pigs. It takes another birth for them to become something else, coming from God.
If you are born of God, you and others will see the effects on your life, as sure as you see the effects of the wind. Even if you cannot explain the mechanisms of how this happened, you cannot deny the Can’t say that you know Jesus and that you continue to live like the world, the flesh, and the devil. The test of salvation is public. You can discuss the mechanisms of how this happens, but you can certainly consider the outcome.
The surprising thing about verse 11 is that the Lord Jesus himself uses the plural in the first person. Does Jesus answer to us? Nicodemus, in verse 2, Jesus speaks with such authority because he came from heaven, as verse 13, he is no longer a rabbi who argues with a group of other rabbis, he is the eternal Son of God, he speaks of what he knows. because it comes from God. ” If I speak of this in an earthly way, how would you believe it if I showed you the throne of God?”
Jesus brings Nicodemus to Numbers 21:4-9, people complained about what was happening in the wilderness, then God sends serpents that bite people, causing the deaths of thousands of people by these bites, Moses prays to God to deliver them, and the Lord commands them to place a sculpture of a serpent, that whoever looks at them may be healed; Jesus stands like the one who would be resurrected, so that all who look at Him may be healed.
Why is God’s love here so spectacular? Is the love of God great because the world is great? “Love must be a great love because it loves so many people. ” Others come to a psychological conclusion: “If God loves me, maybe I’m not that bad. ” The world of the word in the Gospel of John is deeply linked to the order of creation. In the Gospel of John, God’s love is so great because the world is so bad. He loves the world, the Jews and the Gentiles, and He loves them even though they are so sinful and unclean.