The New Birth 1: Introduction

[Martin Marprelate]

I want to attempt an extended treatment of the doctrine of the New Birth. This will probably take about ten quite lengthy posts. For now I am posting an introduction and the treatments on the importance of the New Birth and its source. Here goes!

Which do you think might be the most important conversation in the whole Bible? Surely there can be none more vital than that which took place one night between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Pharisee, Nicodemus recorded for us in John 3? Here, more fully than in any other place in the Bible, is explained the doctrine of the New Birth. If anyone wishes to attain Heaven and avoid Hell, it is vital that this teaching, perhaps above all others, is clearly understood.

The man who came to see the Lord Jesus that night was no ordinary Israelite; we are told that he was a ‘ruler of the Jews’ which means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, or ruling Council. Moreover, since our Lord asked him (v10), “are you the teacher of Israel?”, we may suppose not only that Nicodemus was a scribe or teacher of the Law of Moses, but also that he was a foremost authority on that Law, a man of considerable prestige within the religious hierarchy of Jerusalem. We are also told that Nicodemus belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, or “separated ones.” The Pharisees were a sect that had grown up during the period between the Old and New Testaments. They believed that all the woes that had befallen the Jewish nation were due to its failure to observe the Law. They therefore taught a minute and fastidious observance of all the rules laid down by Moses in the first five books of the Bible, and then added to these regulations with many traditions which they believed Moses had passed on verbally to their forefathers (cf. Mark 7:5; Gal.1:14 etc.). Our Lord came into conflict with the Pharisees on several occasions, notably over their over-precise practice of tithing (Matt. 23:23) and the question of ceremonial washing. For the Pharisees practised their separation by continually washing themselves, their clothes, their cooking utensils and anything else they felt might have become ceremonially unclean. The reader might do well to pause here and read Mark 7:1-16.

What, then, led this eminent and fastidious man to sneak into the Lord Jesus’ lodging place in the dead of night to consult with this relatively unknown and untrained rabbi? For we may be sure that the reason he came by night was to avoid being seen by his fellow-clerics. If we look back at John 2, we can see that our Lord must already have upset the chief priests and Pharisees by throwing the merchants and money-changers out of the Temple area, and they would have been further incensed by His prophetic words of verse 19. Here was the start of the implacable opposition of the religious authorities to our Lord'’s ministry, which, in the providence of God, would culminate in His death at Calvary.

Yet something attracted Nicodemus to Jesus. The first thing, no doubt, was the miracles. John tells us (2:23) that the Lord performed many miracles whilst He was in Jerusalem. Nicodemus must surely have witnessed some of them, and they made an impression on him. “No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (3:2). But there must have been something else that drew Nicodemus. After all, the other Pharisees saw these same miracles and were only hardened in their opposition (12:37). No, there was a power that brought Nicodemus to Jesus, reluctantly, furtively, shyly- the power of God through the Holy Spirit (6:44). It is this power and God’s way of saving sinners that form the substance of this book.

It is possible that Nicodemus was not alone among the Pharisees in his attraction to Jesus. He declares, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God.” It seems likely that there was a little group of Pharisees and teachers of the Law who wanted to know more about our Lord, and they elected Nicodemus to be their spokesman. Perhaps Joseph of Arimathea was one of them (John 19:38-39).

When Nicodemus came face to face with Jesus, something very remarkable happened; our Lord did not allow him to ask his question- He interrupted him and answered it before he could ask it. Nicodemus starts by saying, “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”. Clearly, he has a question to ask and is working up to it, but Jesus already knew the answer before Nicodemus ever spoke. ‘[He] had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man’ (2:25). He looked into Nicodemus’ heart, saw his need and ministered to it.

What was the question that Nicodemus came to ask but never did? We cannot know for certain, but perhaps it was along these lines; “Jesus, I am a successful man. I am acknowledged to be the foremost authority on the Hebrew Scriptures. I minister to the whole nation of Israel. Yet Your teaching has a certain authority which mine lacks (Matt. 7:29). Moreover, Your ministry is clearly approved by God as You are able to perform these astounding miracles. What I want to know is this; what is lacking in my ministry? What do I need to add to my teaching to make it like Yours?” But the Lord Jesus cuts him short, saying, in effect, “Nicodemus, in the eyes of God, all your piety, all your book-learning, all your outward obedience are so much dross because your heart is all wrong (cf. Luke 16:15). Far from being close to God, you are actually spiritually dead in trespasses and sin and under His wrath and judgment. There is no question of adding on something to make you more acceptable to God. You need a new heart, a new nature, a new spiritual life; a change so radical that it can only be described as a new birth. Without it, you will never so much as see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter it.” Nicodemus needed to be stripped of all confidence in himself, whether in his ancestry (Phil. 3:3ff), his erudition (John 5:39), his piety (Luke 18:9ff) or any other hope he might have had of making himself right with God. And what was true of Nicodemus is true of everyone. Nothing short of a new birth can make us acceptable to God and bring us into His Kingdom.


.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

The New Birth 2. Its Importance, part one

“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.’” (John 3:6-7)


I can’t speak for the USA, but in the majority of churches in Britain, one hears the New Birth preached so seldom that it is not unreasonable to ask, “Just how important is this new birth business?” The Lord Jesus, however, does not leave us without a very clear answer. We shall see from our Lord’s own words that the New Birth is a three-fold necessity. It is an absolute and vital necessity; it is a universal necessity, and it is an inevitable and a consequential necessity. We need a second birth because of our first.

Firstly then, the New Birth is an absolute necessity for two reasons: because of who says it, and because of the way He says it. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking here, the Lord of lords and King of kings. It is He who tells us with all His absolute authority, ‘You must be born again!’ Moreover, we saw in the last chapter that Jesus appeared to interrupt Nicodemus as he was about to ask his question; “What is the special something You have, and how can I attain to it?”. Our Lord cut him short and declared (v3), “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”. Now, in the normal run of conversation, no one says, “Most assuredly I say to you”, we just go ahead and say it; so what does this phrase mean? Well, a literal translation would be, “Amen, amen, I say to you….”. The word, amen means, ‘so be it’ or ‘truly’, or indeed, ‘assuredly’. When we say, ‘amen’ at the end of a prayer, we are saying that we are serious about our prayer and also that we have faith that God will bring it to pass. Throughout the Gospels, the Lord Jesus uses the term to underline the importance of what He is about to say, as we might say, “Look, I’m telling you….”, or, “take my word for it…..”, or, “believe me….”. Or as a scholar or a businessman, when he receives a long but important document, uses an outline pen to pick out the key phrases that he needs to commit to memory, so this phrase is our Lord’s way of drawing attention to a particularly important point. As if that does not attach sufficient importance to what He is saying, He repeats the whole formula in verse five and sums it up again in verse seven. All the words of our Lord are true and trustworthy and to be obeyed, but here He exhausts human language as He stresses this vital doctrine.

Secondly, it is a universal necessity. If we are agreed on the importance of the text, the next question that arises is, “Who is it important for?” Who actually needs this New Birth? Is it just for humanists and atheists, who are so totally blind to spiritual matters that only something as radical as a new birth will set them on the right track? Not at all; the Lord Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a man steeped in religion and the Scriptures since childhood, the foremost teacher in all Israel. Surely, if anyone could do without this New Birth, it is he? Yet it is to him that our Lord says, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”. Notice the way that Jesus drives the point home here; He starts with the general statement, “Unless one is born….”. That is completely universal. “One” (Greek. tis) means anyone. How many people get into the Kingdom without being born again? None! But just in case Nicodemus thinks that he is some sort of special case being a Pharisee and a Bible teacher and all, our Lord personalizes the whole thing in verse seven, before opening it out again; “You, Nicodemus”, He is saying; “You, with your knowledge of the Scriptures and your spiritual background are the last person who should be surprised when I say, ‘you (and everyone else) must be born again’”. The old Authorized Version with its Seventeenth Century language is helpful here; “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ‘Ye must be born again’”. You, the reader of this post, whoever you may be, however outwardly decent and righteous you are, unless you experience a spiritual change so radical that it can only be described as a new birth, you will remain forever outside of God’s Kingdom, outside of His mercy and under His righteous anger against sin. The New Birth is a universal necessity, for you, for me and for everyone..
.
. .

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Part 2.

Thirdly, the New Birth is a consequential necessity. We need a new birth on account of our first one. We might ask the question, “

So, unless someone is born again, not only will he or she not enter the Kingdom of God and experience its joys and blessings in this world and the next, but he cannot even understand fully what it is all about. We need no better example of this than Nicodemus himself; he doesn’t see the kingdom because he doesn’t recognize the King. “You are a teacher come from God,” he says. He sees Jesus only as a man; a very remarkable one, certainly, and one with special powers and a special mission, but just a man and a teacher like himself. So when our Lord starts to talk to him about the New Birth, he totally misses the point. “How can a man be born when he is old?” he asks (v4). “You’re talking riddles, Jesus”, and later on, he just throws up his hands in bewilderment; “How can these things be?”, he cries (v9); “I just don’t know what you’re talking about!”. This leads us to the key verse of the whole doctrine; ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’ (v6). When the New Testament speaks of ‘the flesh,’ it is usually speaking of unredeemed, sinful human nature. ‘Without being born again by the Holy Spirit, one simply cannot understand spiritual matters. The Apostle Paul explains this in more detail (Rom. 8:7); ‘……..because the carnal (or ‘fleshly’) mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be’; and again in 1Cor. 2:14, he says, ‘….the natural man (that is, anyone not born again) does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’. The situation of men and women before God is desperate; they are fallen and lost- ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1). It is a position from which no one can raise or improve himself by his own efforts, nor by any human aid. Only a new birth can save us.

The doctrine being taught here is that of Original Sin. Genesis 2 tells us that God created the first man and woman sinless and perfect and placed them in a perfect environment in a close relationship with Himself. Everything was provided for them and death was unknown. There was only one restriction:-
‘And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”’ (Gen. 2:16f).

This is what theologians call the Covenant of Works. God promised Adam eternal life in a perfect environment in return for simple obedience. “Do this and live!”, but Adam fell and we fell with him and we die. ‘Therefore, through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all men sinned’ (Rom. 5:12). Sinfulness is something we are born with (Psalm 51:5). As has often been noted, a little baby needs to be taught just about everything in life, except how to disobey or to be bad. You have to teach them to be clean, to hold a knife and fork, but not how to be naughty. No one ever has to say to a little child, “Now Johnny, this is how you tell a lie; you have to think of something that isn’t true and say that it is.” Or, “This is how you can be selfish, Janet; you keep your toys to yourself and don’t let your sister play with them.” No, children discover these things for themselves without any help at all! Willfulness and disobedience come to a child as naturally as eating or breathing. Parents can and should teach their children to adopt reasonable standards of behaviour, but they themselves can do nothing to deal with indwelling sin.

The Bible tells us that this sin pervades all of us (Eccl. 7:20), every part of us (Isaiah 1:5-6), and that we cannot, by our own efforts, do anything to change our condition. ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil’ (Jer. 13:23). Sin is not just something which affects axe-murderers or rapists, it is a falling short of the just standards which God has set for us and it pervades us all, the Pharisee as well as the tax collector (Luke 18:9ff); and as we have seen, sin does not only affect man’s conduct, it pollutes his mind, heart and will, preventing him from understanding and responding to the things of God. As a result of sin, the whole of mankind lies under the righteous anger of God. Pause now, and read Romans 1:18-32. As His creatures, we owe God a debt of obedience, which, by our very nature, we are by no means able to pay. Yet, in His mercy, He has provided for us a way of salvation which reaches our helpless condition without offending His standard of righteousness. Through the cross He has provided satisfaction for His outraged justice, and in the New Birth He gives us a new heart and a new Spirit which causes us to know and love God, and to seek to obey Him (Psalms 40:6-8; Ezekiel 36:26-27) :-

‘For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour’ (Titus 3:3-6)

 

[Martin Marprelate]

The New Birth 3. The Source Of The New Birth, part 1

John 3:6. ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’

Once the necessity of being born again has been proved, the next question is, “How do I get this new birth? Where does it come from? Is it something I can get for myself, or does someone else have to give it to me? If I lack it, where should I look for it, and if I have it, to whom do I give thanks?” These questions have led to some of the most heated theological arguments throughout the centuries; it was the issue between Augustine of Hippo and the followers of Pelagius in the Fifth Century; it was at the heart of the doctrine of the Reformers when they split from the Church of Rome; it cropped up again at the Synod of Dort in Holland in 1618; it divided the General and Particular Baptists in the Seventeenth Century, Whitefield and Wesley in the Eighteenth, and ‘Old School’ and ‘New School’ theology in America in the Nineteenth. It rumbles on between the ‘neo-evangelical’ and ‘Reformed’ churches in Britain today. More importantly, it was the question that Paul threshed out with the Galatians (eg. Gal. 3:3), and the point of division between our Lord and the Pharisees (eg. Matt. 23:4; John 6:28f). The question is this: is the New Birth monergistic or synergistic? Is it attributable solely to God, or is it something in which Man must also take a part?

The teaching of the Lord Jesus as He spoke to Nicodemus could hardly be more clear; the mighty power that gives new life to sinners comes from God, the Holy Spirit, and from Him alone. We see this first of all in the very term, born again. Our Lord could have used a variety of terms for this which Nicodemus might have found easier to understand: “You must start again….”, “…..take a new path”, “…..make a new beginning”. But all these terms involve things that we can do for ourselves. If there is one event in our lives over which we have no control, it is our birth. The time, the place, our gender (1), our weight and so forth are absolutely nothing that we can influence. The time simply comes for us to arrive and we are born.

We can then go on to look at the Greek word translated here as ‘again.’ This word, anothen, can also mean’ from above’ (2). Indeed, that is its meaning in every other instance where it appears in John’s Gospel. For example, later in this very chapter (v31) John uses the word when he says, ‘He who comes from above is above all’.

Anothen appears in Matthew 27:51 when, as Jesus died, ‘The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom’, and in James 1:17 where we are told, ‘…..every good gift and every perfect gift is from above’. Only in Galatians 4:9 does anothen clearly mean ‘again.’ Here in John 3:3, most translations have rightly rendered the word as ‘again’ because of the context. Nicodemus obviously understood it to mean that since he replied (v.4), “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” Now it may well be that the conversation took place in Aramaic, not Greek, but it seems to me that the Apostle John chose the word (under the influence of the Holy Spirit) deliberately to bring out this second meaning. “Nicodemus”, our Lord seems to be saying, “You need a birth that all your learning, piety and religious observance cannot give you; you need a birth that comes from above”.

The same point can be seen in our key verse, ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’. As we have seen, the word flesh (Gk. sarx), particularly when it is contrasted with Spirit (Gk. pneuma) almost always refers to sinful human nature (eg. Rom. 8:4ff). What this verse tells us is that anything that comes from Man, from the flesh, is flawed at source, and to suggest that there can be any human agency in the New Birth is to say that the flesh can give birth to spirit. Why is this? Why is Man so helpless to do anything to make himself right with God? Consider Ephesians 2:1; ‘And you [God] made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins’. Mankind’s condition is one of spiritual death. Now, it is all very well calling on men and women to put their trust in Christ; it is all very well to tell them how wonderful it is to be a Christian, to warn them of the perils of Hell and to entice them with the blessings of Heaven- all these things are right and proper- but if they are dead, then unless Almighty God breathes new life into their hearts, all your efforts will ultimately be in vain because dead people can’t hear. Gospel preaching is certainly of the utmost importance (1Cor 1:21) as we shall see in Chapter Ten when we come to look at the propagation of the New Birth, but only as God uses the preached word to bring sinners to salvation.

Just in case not everyone is convinced by the evidence presented so far, consider John 1:11-13; ‘He came to His own (i.e. His Jewish compatriots, God’s chosen people under the Old Covenant), and His own did not receive him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’. Do you see what this is saying? Coming from a Christian family (“blood”) cannot make you born again; nor your own fallen will (“the flesh”); nor being called to the front and having some minister or evangelist pouring water over you, laying hands on you or praying over you, nor some social worker or psychologist counselling you (“the will of man”). It is God, and God alone who saves. Look at Romans 9:16; ‘So then, it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy’, or James 1:18; ‘Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth.’. Finally, to see how the New Birth comes about in practice, let us turn to a few verses in Acts:-

Acts 2:47b: ‘And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved’. Who added people to the church? Was it the Apostles, with their signs and wonders (v43), or the people themselves making ‘decisions for Christ’? No, it was God Himself drawing men and women to the Lord Jesus (John 6:44).

Acts 14:48b: ‘And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed’. Not one more nor one fewer, but exactly those to whom God gave new birth.

Acts 16:14: ‘Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God’. Lydia was a God-fearer, a Gentile who attended the Jewish synagogue in Thyatira and tried to follow the moral teaching of the Old Testament, but she still needed to be born again, so did Paul open her heart to respond to God? Not at all. Or did she open her own heart as she listened to Paul? That’s not what the text says. ‘The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken to her by Paul’.

Perhaps someone is thinking to himself, “Just a moment! This can’t be right. It is I who has to repent and to believe in Jesus (Mark 1:15), so being born again must depend on me to some extent”. This is perfectly true as far as it goes. Repentance and faith are, as it were, the two legs on which we enter the Kingdom of God, but it is the Lord Himself Who enables us to turn from sin, and to put our trust in the shed blood of Christ upon the cross to make us right with God. Look at Acts 11:18; ‘When they heard these things they ….glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life”’ and then at Eph. 2:8; ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God’. So both repentance and faith have their origin not in sinful Man, but in Almighty God. As the old hymn goes:-

‘Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Augustus Toplady

The reader may feel that I have laboured this point rather, but there are a number of important issues which flow from this, the Doctrine of Free Grace. The first is that of assurance; if anything relating to my salvation depends on me, then I cannot be completely sure that I have done it properly, or perhaps there may still be something I still need to do of which I am unaware; but when I have seen myself as a helpless sinner who can do nothing in his own strength to make himself right with God and when I put my trust completely in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone, I can be absolutely sure that I am saved, because, ‘He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them’ (Heb. 7:25).

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Part 2

The second issue that flows from the Doctrine of Grace is the supremacy and sufficiency of the Bible. If it is God, and God alone who saves, then why listen to the opinions of men when you have the very words of the Lord before you? Every preacher and every writer must be judged against the Scriptures. ‘To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them’ (Isaiah 8:20). Far too many Christians are being led astray by unbiblical teaching because they do not know their Bible well enough to detect it, or because they are over-awed by the reputation of some famous evangelist or Bible teacher. Yet, ‘God respecteth no man’s person’ (Gal. 2:6 A.V.). Also, if the New Birth comes from God alone, and if the Bible is the word of God, then why listen to those who speak of miracles, dreams or prophesies? Take a few moments now to read through Jeremiah 23, and perhaps to pray about it.

The same principle should apply to the churches’ evangelistic outreaches. If we believe salvation comes only from God, then we are completely dependent upon Him for conversions and church growth. Therefore we will seek above all to be faithful and obedient to His word in all our activities and refrain from pressurizing seekers into making false professions of faith, but rather present the Gospel clearly, truthfully and earnestly, yes and winsomely too, and trust God to bless our work. Nowhere in the Bible are we called to be successful, but rather to be faithful; the success of the Gospel is ultimately God’s business (Psalm 127:1; Matt. 16:18b). How precious therefore will be the church prayer meeting, when the congregation comes together to seek God’s blessing upon its work, in humble reliance upon Him (cf. Acts 4:24ff). I am deeply concerned that much of what passes for evangelism today involves seeing how little Gospel truth can be conveyed in persuading people to ‘accept Christ’ more as a lifestyle accessory than as Lord and Saviour. Accepting Christ. What a ghastly phrase! It conjures up in my mind the sort of letter that employers write to job applicants:-

Dear Mr. J. Christ,

I am pleased to inform you that your application for the post of saviour has been accepted, on a trial basis, subject to the usual terms and conditions.

Yours sincerely,

A. Sinner.

Another term which one often hears today is, “I gave my heart to Jesus”. Oh, really? According to the Bible, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked’ (Jer. 17:9) and, ‘From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit……’(Mark 7:21f). Hardly an acceptable gift to offer to the Lord! Salvation is not, ‘giving one’s heart to the Lord,’ but Almighty God saying, ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you’ (Ezek. 36:26). The man or woman who really knows his or her heart despairs of it, and cries out, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?’

I believe that there are literally thousands of men and women in Britain today who might describe themselves as ‘committed Christians’ who are no more born again than the devil himself. They have gone along to some outreach or Alpha Course, and have been made to feel good about Christianity without ever really knowing what it means. They are led into repeating a ‘sinner’s prayer,’ and then told that they are ‘saved.’ Some of them wake up the next morning and wonder what they have done, but others get baptized and join a church which they then proceed to undermine by demanding less preaching, shorter prayers and more entertainment to appeal to their unregenerate tastes. Still others end up wandering from one church to another, forever seeking some sort of religious thrill. They are man-made Christians, lulled into a false sense of security by a false conversion, and unless they are confronted by the true Gospel, they will one day hear those awful words, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practise lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:23).

There may be a few objections at this point. The first one is that of fairness. If men and women are helpless to save themselves, how are they to blame? The reason is that our helplessness is not physical but moral. I am unable to walk on the ceiling; that is a physical inability and it would be most unfair of anyone to blame me for it or insist that I learn to do it. But the inability of people to repent and come to Christ is moral and spiritual. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:40). When the habitual drunk, wife-beater or philanderer says, “I can’t help it; it’s just who I am,” that does not lessen his culpability or his need to repent. Likewise, man’s need of a new birth is due, not to God’s election or reprobation, but to his wicked, unbelieving heart. The Bible teaches not only God’s sovereignty, but also man’s responsibility, and all preaching and teaching should reflect that.

Another objection runs along these lines. Someone will say, “Well, if this New Birth comes only from God, isn’t that rather defeatist? Doesn’t it mean that there is nothing we can do to bring our friends, our family and our children to be born again? We shall deal with this question in more depth in Chapter Ten. Suffice it to say here that there are two things we can do; firstly, we can point them to Christ; to Him who said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37); to the One who said, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!” (Isaiah 45:22); to the One of whom Moses said, “You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 4:29). Secondly, and even more importantly, we can pray. If God is sovereign in these matters then whom else should we approach on behalf of our loved ones? And since He is sovereign, then may we not approach with confidence? After all, ‘The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much’ (James 5:16). When all our arguments and pleadings with our children have fallen on deaf ears; when it seems that they are determined to spurn all the teaching they heard at Sunday school or at family prayers and to turn away from God for good, should we despair? Not at all! Maybe soon, maybe even tomorrow, God Himself will turn their hearts towards Him; perhaps a portion of a sermon they once heard, or a prayer, or even a fragment of a hymn will come into their minds and set them on a path back to their Heavenly Father. In the meantime, we can besiege God’s throne with our prayers (Luke 18:1), knowing that, in His own good time, He can melt the most stubborn heart and bring our loved ones home to Him.

Another objection which is made against God’s sovereignty in the New Birth runs along these lines: “I want to become a Christian, but perhaps I am not one of the Elect, one of those whom God is going to save? Then surely it doesn’t matter what I do, I won’t be born again and I shall inevitably end up in hell?” This may seem to be a logical conclusion from all that has been said in this chapter, but it could not be more mistaken. For who has actually gone up to Heaven and inspected the Book of Life to find his name missing there? No, what the Pharisees said of our Lord in derision is gloriously true for us: “This Man receives sinners” (Luke 15:2).

Therefore, all those who have seen themselves as sinners before God, who realize that they themselves can do nothing to make themselves right with Him, but who truly repent of their sins and place their trust in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, shed for sinners on the cross, can be quite sure of being saved; “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me……’ Here is Particular Redemption writ large. The Father has given a people to the Son to redeem and He will not fail to save them all. But there’s more: ‘…… and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). The worst sinner, the grossest sinner- adulterer, thief, pervert or murderer- who comes to the Lord Jesus in true repentance and faith will not be turned away. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). People must not look to themselves to see if they are chosen; they must look to Christ who has done everything necessary for their salvation. He will not turn them away.

Does this contradict what has been said earlier? Not at all! We must come willingly to Christ, but the reason we come willingly is that God, before even time began, set His love upon us, and determined to save us from the consequences of our own sinfulness. ‘He [God] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will’ (Eph. 1:4f; compare Titus 1:2 & Rev. 13:8). Hardened sinners who once declared, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14) are suddenly found crying out, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). What brings about this mighty change? Nothing but the power of God. ‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power’ (Psalm 110:3 A.V.). What this power is and how it is exercised is the subject of the next chapter.

 

[Alan Gross]

I want to attempt an extended treatment of the doctrine of the New Birth. This will probably take about ten quite lengthy posts. For now I am posting an introduction and the treatments on the importance of the New Birth and its source. Here goes!

Which do you think might be the most important conversation in the whole Bible? Surely there can be none more vital than that which took place one night between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Pharisee, Nicodemus recorded for us in John 3? Here, more fully than in any other place in the Bible, is explained the doctrine of the New Birth. If anyone wishes to attain Heaven and avoid Hell, it is vital that this teaching, perhaps above all others, is clearly understood.

The man who came to see the Lord Jesus that night was no ordinary Israelite; we are told that he was a ‘ruler of the Jews’ which means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, or ruling Council. Moreover, since our Lord asked him (v10), “are you the teacher of Israel?”, we may suppose not only that Nicodemus was a scribe or teacher of the Law of Moses, but also that he was a foremost authority on that Law, a man of considerable prestige within the religious hierarchy of Jerusalem. We are also told that Nicodemus belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, or “separated ones.” The Pharisees were a sect that had grown up during the period between the Old and New Testaments. They believed that all the woes that had befallen the Jewish nation were due to its failure to observe the Law. They therefore taught a minute and fastidious observance of all the rules laid down by Moses in the first five books of the Bible, and then added to these regulations with many traditions which they believed Moses had passed on verbally to their forefathers (cf. Mark 7:5; Gal.1:14 etc.). Our Lord came into conflict with the Pharisees on several occasions, notably over their over-precise practice of tithing (Matt. 23:23) and the question of ceremonial washing. For the Pharisees practised their separation by continually washing themselves, their clothes, their cooking utensils and anything else they felt might have become ceremonially unclean. The reader might do well to pause here and read Mark 7:1-16.

What, then, led this eminent and fastidious man to sneak into the Lord Jesus’ lodging place in the dead of night to consult with this relatively unknown and untrained rabbi? For we may be sure that the reason he came by night was to avoid being seen by his fellow-clerics. If we look back at John 2, we can see that our Lord must already have upset the chief priests and Pharisees by throwing the merchants and money-changers out of the Temple area, and they would have been further incensed by His prophetic words of verse 19. Here was the start of the implacable opposition of the religious authorities to our Lord'’s ministry, which, in the providence of God, would culminate in His death at Calvary.

Yet something attracted Nicodemus to Jesus. The first thing, no doubt, was the miracles. John tells us (2:23) that the Lord performed many miracles whilst He was in Jerusalem. Nicodemus must surely have witnessed some of them, and they made an impression on him. “No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (3:2). But there must have been something else that drew Nicodemus. After all, the other Pharisees saw these same miracles and were only hardened in their opposition (12:37). No, there was a power that brought Nicodemus to Jesus, reluctantly, furtively, shyly- the power of God through the Holy Spirit (6:44). It is this power and God’s way of saving sinners that form the substance of this book.

It is possible that Nicodemus was not alone among the Pharisees in his attraction to Jesus. He declares, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God.” It seems likely that there was a little group of Pharisees and teachers of the Law who wanted to know more about our Lord, and they elected Nicodemus to be their spokesman. Perhaps Joseph of Arimathea was one of them (John 19:38-39).

When Nicodemus came face to face with Jesus, something very remarkable happened; our Lord did not allow him to ask his question- He interrupted him and answered it before he could ask it. Nicodemus starts by saying, “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”. Clearly, he has a question to ask and is working up to it, but Jesus already knew the answer before Nicodemus ever spoke. ‘[He] had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man’ (2:25). He looked into Nicodemus’ heart, saw his need and ministered to it.

What was the question that Nicodemus came to ask but never did? We cannot know for certain, but perhaps it was along these lines; “Jesus, I am a successful man. I am acknowledged to be the foremost authority on the Hebrew Scriptures. I minister to the whole nation of Israel. Yet Your teaching has a certain authority which mine lacks (Matt. 7:29). Moreover, Your ministry is clearly approved by God as You are able to perform these astounding miracles. What I want to know is this; what is lacking in my ministry? What do I need to add to my teaching to make it like Yours?” But the Lord Jesus cuts him short, saying, in effect, “Nicodemus, in the eyes of God, all your piety, all your book-learning, all your outward obedience are so much dross because your heart is all wrong (cf. Luke 16:15). Far from being close to God, you are actually spiritually dead in trespasses and sin and under His wrath and judgment. There is no question of adding on something to make you more acceptable to God. You need a new heart, a new nature, a new spiritual life; a change so radical that it can only be described as a new birth. Without it, you will never so much as see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter it.” Nicodemus needed to be stripped of all confidence in himself, whether in his ancestry (Phil. 3:3ff), his erudition (John 5:39), his piety (Luke 18:9ff) or any other hope he might have had of making himself right with God. And what was true of Nicodemus is true of everyone. Nothing short of a new birth can make us acceptable to God and bring us into His Kingdom.


.

Perfectly excellent Sound Biblical Doctrine (throughout each following post, also).
Stick with The STUFF, Martin Marprelate!!!

 

[37818]

@Martin Marprelate,
While John 3:3 is the earliest point in Jesus' ministry when He taught on the need for the New birth, Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 18:3, and James 1:18 are the easiest written NT references to it.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

As I am now ready to continue this series in another thread, I thought I would give this one a bumb.