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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | What is the literal Greek translation? | Matt 22:37 | Scribe | 64619 | ||
...and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit... Now comparing what Peter said here and then seeing how Cornelius and his house recieved the Holy Spirit and spake in tongues before they were baptized, we conclude that the order is not the point. This is a good example of how zeroing in on the literal greek is not as important as seeing the big picture. Collecting all the passages we see a clear picture. Since Cornelius and the house full of seeking gentiles there recieved the Holy Spirit before they were baptized then we know that there is no contradiction to what Peter is saying her if we get our eyes off the order of what Peter is saying it in and focus rather on the idea or concept of actually doing it as an act of faith. God does not concern himself with the order of the visible outward activities but rather is moving in the realm of the invisible realities of what we cannot see concerning repentance, baptism in water, or even praying words we utter. Those things we do in faith but they are not the realities, they are outward visible signs that our spirit man is being changed in the invisible. Faith is evidence of things not seen. We do not see the spirit washed by renewing and regeneration, we only see the water baptism part, but God does not limit it to the moment we get dunked, My personal opinion, is that it is more like a process.. a moment of time might apply,.. but most of us have testimonies that are more like a slower awakening over a period of days rather than a one time altar call. By the time most people are baptized in water today they have been born again and are growing in Christ and bearing the fruit of repentance. Rarely will you find a church that operates like the book of Acts and the same day someone confesses faith in Christ, go find water and baptize them. If that happened it would be more accurate to say that they experience the rebirth at baptism. Since indeed, whenever this "event" that we might think is a moment in time occurs, it would occur the same day we confessed faith in Christ and since being born again is like the wind.. you cannot see it,.. the actual rebirth of the spirit is invisible.. but like the wind you can see the force it exerts on other things,.. or you will see that evidence of the wind... you will also know that one is born again by the change.. this change takes over.. howbeit it is rare that a person is a sinner on Monday and has quit every single solitary habit, such as how he uses his tongue etc.. on Tuesday. But over time.. and it might be a short time relatively speaking.. such as two weeks. He has quit all bad habits that we can see outwardly. Most like to see this as being born again and then getting cleaned up. I am leaning toward the whole change itself being part of the rebirth, even though it has nothing to do with being on probation or earning the rebirth, the change is evidence that you are being born again, not that the changed life is making you born again. | ||||||
2 | What is the literal Greek translation? | Matt 22:37 | FTimA | 64690 | ||
You make a lot of good comments but draw no conclusions. Being born again occurs at baptism. This is plain bible teaching. Jesus says to Nicodemus in Jn 3:3, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." and in Jn 3:5, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." One could rightly conclude that being "born again" involves two things, 1) being born of water (baptism), and 2) being born of spirit (faith). Both are required but does it matter which comes first? If I am a sinner and become baptized but do not know why, or for what purpose, am I saved? I would say no. Otherwise anyone who would immerse themselves in a swimming pool would be saved. I must, by faith, comply with God's command to be baptized (he who believes and is baptized will be saved, Mk 16:16, repent and be baptized, for the remission of sins, Acts 2:38). Faith, meaning belief, must come before baptism. The example of Cornelius and his household is interesting because of how it all occurred. The whole point of his conversion was to prove that Gentiles now had access to salvation. Read of Peter's vision. Acts 10:30 Cornelius said, "Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour; and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments, 31 and he *said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 'Therefore send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you; he is staying at the house of Simon the tanner by the sea.' 33 "So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." 34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. 36 "The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)-- 37 you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. 38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 "We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. 40 "God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 "And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. The phrase "the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also" implies that He was poured out on something prior to the Gentiles. This would include all people now, Jews and Gentiles. What occurred immediately afterwards. Acts 10:47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days. Notice the wording in Acts 10:33, "we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord." and vs 48, "he (Peter) ordered them to be baptized". |
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3 | What is the literal Greek translation? | Matt 22:37 | John Reformed | 64715 | ||
Dear FTima, The following is from a commentary by John Calvin on warer and Spirit as used in John 3:5. I would be interested in ypur response. "We must always keep in remembrance the design of Christ, which we have already explained; namely, that he intended to exhort Nicodemus to newness of life, because he was not capable of receiving the Gospel, until he began to be a new man. It is, therefore, a simple statement, that we must be born again, in order that we may be the children of God, and that the Holy Spirit is the Author of this second birth. For while Nicodemus was dreaming of the regeneration (paliggenesia) or transmigration taught by Pythagoras, who imagined that souls, after the death of their bodies, passed into other bodies, 5 Christ, in order to cure him of this error, added, by way of explanation, that it is not in a natural way that men are born a second time, and that it is not necessary for them to be clothed with a new body, but that they are born when they are renewed in mind and heart by the grace of the Spirit. Accordingly, he employed the words Spirit and water to mean the same thing, and this ought not to be regarded as a harsh or forced interpretation; for it is a frequent and common way of speaking in Scripture, when the Spirit is mentioned, to add the word Water or Fire, expressing his power. We sometimes meet with the statement, that it is Christ who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and with fire, (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16,) where fire means nothing different from the Spirit, but only shows what is his efficacy in us. As to the word water being placed first, it is of little consequence; or rather, this mode of speaking flows more naturally than the other, because the metaphor is followed by a plain and direct statement, as if Christ had said that no man is a son of God until he has been renewed by water, and that this water is the Spirit who cleanseth us anew and who, by spreading his energy over us, imparts to us the rigor of the heavenly life, though by nature we are utterly dry. And most properly does Christ, in order to reprove Nicodemus for his ignorance, employ a form of expression which is common in Scripture; for Nicodemus ought at length to have acknowledged, that what Christ had said was taken from the ordinary doctrine of the Prophets. By water, therefore, is meant nothing more than the inward purification and invigoration which is produced by the Holy Spirit. Besides, it is not unusual to employ the word and instead of that is, when the latter clause is intended to explain the former. And the view which I have taken is supported by what follows; for when Christ immediately proceeds to assign the reason why we must be born again, without mentioning the water, he shows that the newness of life which he requires is produced by the Spirit alone; whence it follows, that water must not be separated from the Spirit." |
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