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NASB | 1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes [with a deep, abiding trust in the fact] that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) is born of God [that is, reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], and everyone who loves the Father also loves the child born of Him. |
Subject: Faith following Regeneration |
Bible Note: The assumption that is made in this interpretation, that does not come from Scripture, is that regeneration precedes faith. These verses are then interpreted according to that assumption, and are bent to say something that they don't actually address. Allow me to demonstrate: Coming to faith is spoken of not using a present participle, but using the Aorist tense. In English, we speak of things in various tenses as well as in Greek. We all recognize that we are speaking of different things when we say "I began to do..." and "I am doing..." To say "I am believing..." speaks of my current activity, but makes no mention of the beginning, or inception, of that activity. "I believed...", or "I began to believe..." speaks of the inception of belief. Greek also has these distinctions. Rom 13:11 Also this, knowing the time, that it is now the hour for you to be aroused from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. This passage refers to the beginning of belief, and the verb "believed" is an Active Aorist, speaking of "when I began to do this". That Paul says "first believed" indicates the Inceptive Aorist. Other examples: John 10:38 “. . . though ye believe (present active subj.) not me, believe (aorist) the works: that ye may know, and believe (aorist), that the Father is in me, and I in him. Believe Me - Aorist Active Imperative - to the Jews - Come to faith Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe (Aorist) in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. John 19:35 and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. (Aorist Active Subjunctive) John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Aorist Active Subjunctive Each of these examples show the same verb in the same tense and voice, Aorist Active, of the beginning of belief. The full literal translation of this is to say "as a thing that you yourself do, begin your believing". And of course we know, when someone believes, they are born again, no delay, and so it can be truly said that the one believing (Present Participle) has been born of God. But as a present participle, it cannot, grammatically, speak of the beginning of that state, only of the continuing existance of that state. Dr. White wrote: "If a person is now believing that Jesus is the Christ in a true and saving fashion, they are doing so because, as a completed action in the past, they were born again through the work and agency of God." But that is not exactly what the Scripture says: 1 John 5:1 Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been generated from God. What is verse DOES NOT say is "Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ 'Believes Because they have been' generated from God." What it DOES say is that everyone who is presently believing has been born of God. This is fully in harmony with the balance of Scripture, we believe, we repent, He gives re-birth. Neither the wording of Scripture nor it's grammer support Dr. White's conclusion. Act 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one reverencing God, listened, whose heart the Lord opened thoroughly to pay attention to the things being spoken by Paul. "Opened thoroughly", "opened her heart to respond", or "regenerated"? Did Luke mean "regenerated" when he wrote "opened her heart"? Luke records the apostles' command to the people "believe" (Aorist Active - something that the one who believes does themself) in Acts 4:4, 4:32, 8:12, 8:13, 9:42, 13:12 is especially interesting, as the precursor to belief is recorded, by Luke, "Then seeing the thing happening, the proconsul believed, being astounded at the doctrine of the Lord." And this clearly demonstrates what precedes belief. Not regeneration, but preaching. To insert regeneration before belief is entirely from man's traditions, and is never found in Scripture. Love in Christ, Mark |
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Questions and/or Subjects for 1 John 5:1 | Author | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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mark d seyler | ||
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Missypj | ||
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reedy |