Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name-- [Is 56:5] |
Subject: How do we receive Him? As Guest/Owner? |
Bible Note: Thank you Jeff for your response. As I was contemplating this concept of receiving Christ as Guest/Owner a couple of verses came to mind. First, Mark 10:45 "the Son of Man did not come to be served. but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many " which suggests to me that we are HIS guests, He serves us - He brings out His best - Himself. (Recall the woman at the well - a guest asks, an Owner gives - "if you knew Who I am, you would ask me" . . . Jesus gives us Living Water." ) Who are the "many" He gives His life for? The answer is in John 1:12 For as MANY as received Him". How? as THE Owner. You wrote: "He is the "owner" when you make Him so. I disagree. We don't "make" Him Owner, He IS the Owner of everthing! "The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains,The world, and those who dwell in it."!Ps 24:1 We are His, yet some do not welcome His ownership. Ps 100:3 - It is He who hath made us and not we ourselves - this truth is contrary to the world's mentality as summed up in the pop slogan "You can do it". This also denies what Jesus said in John 15:5, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing! " Some may tell you that they believe that there are many paths to God. In reality, all roads lead to Him, but only one way leads to the Father (John 14:6)- "For as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God, even to those who believe in His name," It is He, the rightful Onwer of all, who will receive us in the end. Some as Father and others as the Judge. To some He will say, "enter into the joy of your Master" (Mt 25:23) Yet to others He will say, "I never knew you, depart from Me" (Mt 7:23) You, the guest, never received Me, The Owner of the house. However along with all this, I suspect that at times we get mixed up and think of Jesus as an invited Guest.(How many times do we try to bring out OUR best? - which apart from Him doing the work, is NEVER good enough!) He can become a "Guest" of our making . . . yet, this is pretty arrogant on our part - for Him to be OUR Guest, it would imply that we are the "owner" of the house; and according to the Scriptures above, we are not, He is. So when Jesus asks us to "receive Him", He's not asking as a guest, but as the owner of us, desiring to give us Himself, to use us for His purposes . . . which often times is to serve others! It is all about Him. My 2 cents fwiw. Blessings, mommapbs |