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NASB | John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:3 Jesus answered him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God." |
Bible Question:
Ken, I appreciate your exhortion to "grow up" in Christ. And I see some of the distinction you have made between being a child and being a son. At the same time, I think that we might need to consider that growing up does not make us more or less of a son. Sons (and daughters) are born, not made. I have two sons. Both of them were born to me as sons though one is now a man and the other is 4 years old. It is their birth, not their performance or maturity, that makes them related as sons to me. To me, being born again entails a few similarities to natural birth. But it is only different. I did not have a choice as to my natural birth. But I seemed to have some type of choice in my new birth (if indeed I have been born again). No matter what you want to call it, I somehow acknowledged it. But what I struggle with is that, it seems to me, new birth is new life and I think we have, in many cases, missing that point. I hear almost every week in my church that we need to give our lives to God. Why? As I understand it, according to Ephesians, we have NO life to give. Jesus didn't say that He came to get OUR lives FROM us, but to give HIS life TO us (John 10:10). Granted, Jesus did say that we must lose our life if we want to save it. But I think that perhaps it is more important to understand that, in being born again, we receive NEW life from God, not just make a bunch of commitments to improve our old lives. I can't help but wonder if we don't often come to God asking Him to wash or improve our dirty rags instead of letting Him cloth us with Himself. seeking4truth |
Bible Answer: Greetings Seeking4Truth, Here is an excellent set of verses that speak to either "giving" or "receiving"... Eph 2:1 "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins," Eph 2:2 "in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Eph 2:3 "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Eph 2:4 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us," Eph 2:5 "even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)," Eph 2:6 "and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph 2:7 "so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." [NASB] - Makarios |