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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: forgivness of sins |
Bible Note: Continuing the discussion DD4Truth, You state, "Now concerning baptism, the scripture also clearly teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation." Dealt with that in Part #1. When you mention John 3:5 and 3:36, it becomes clear that you interpret 'faith' as a verb to also connotate 'obedience,' when "A man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28). The context of John 3 clears up Jesus' intended meaning. Being "born again" simply refers to the act of God by which He gives eternal life to the one who believes in Christ (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). Being "born again" places the one who believes into God's eternal family (1 Peter 1:23) and gives the believer a new capacity and desire to please the Father (2 Cor. 5:17). Now, when John 3:1-5 mentions "that which is born of the flesh", flesh can only reproduce itself as flesh and cannot pass muster with God (Rom. 8:8)- it must be "after its kind" (Genesis 1). So, likewise, the Spirit produces spirit. Therefore, when one is "born of the water" in verse 5, it is parallel to being "born of the flesh" in verse 6, just as "born of ... the Spirit" in verse 5 is parallel to "born of the Spirit" in verse 6. As a result, John 3:5 and 3:36 has nothing to do with water baptism. Instead of seeing faith as an act of obedience on our part, faith is something wrought by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:9; Romans 10:17), making us able to glorify the Lord (Ephesians 1:12). It is the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation that gives us the will and desire to glorify Christ. Concerning Acts 2:38, Pastor Beja gave a great response in Post# 226181, and azurelaw provided a website that I would also highly recommend for you in Post# 226182 (the website was: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.toc.html). You are struggling with Mark 16:16, stating, "Again, both words are linked by the word and." It is good that you remember the subject, but a correct understanding of the sentence is made complete by examing the entire sentence- everything after the word 'but'! You cannot expect to obtain a proper understanding of a verse if you don't look at the entire sentence. The verse clearly put the emphasis on belief, stating that unbelief is what condemns you, not a lack of being baptized. As for the verses that you have mentioned in Acts, these verses have to do with baptism only and not salvation. I hope that this helps you in your journey, Makarios |