Before & After

 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

Though we may have specific verses in the living Word of God, it is essential to understand them within the immediate context around that verse and under the overall context of the Holy Scriptures as a whole (God’s revelation to His people for life, salvation and in light of eternity). The words by the “Savior of the World” in John 3:16 (possibly the most beloved verse because of its Gospel message which brings love, joy and peace with blessed assurance) is framed with fundamental truths to clearly understand the life situation making this “GIft of God” (with its immediate and eternal benefits) and the receiving by belief and faith of it vitally necessary; the necessity and nature of regeneration or the new birth.

 

We begin in John 3:1-15 ,There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

The term “born again” is translated from the Greek term “gennaō anōthen”, meaning a metamorphosis transformation of the soul and regeneration of the spirit (that which is born of the Spirit is spirit) from the inside-out. And this of God making men his sons through faith in Christ's work, peculiarly, of God conferring upon men the nature and disposition of His sons and daughters, imparting to them spiritual life by His own holy power prompting and persuading souls to put faith in Christ and live a new life consecrated to himself; absolutely. Born anew, over again from above, born of the Holy Spirit, which come from heaven, and ultimately from God. 

 

What it is that is required to be born again? Bile Commentator Matthew Henry states that we must not think to patch up the old building, but begin from the foundation. We are not adding to our old self. We must have a new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims. We must be born anothen (a new beginning), which signifies both denuo—again, and desuper—from above. By our first birth we are corrupt, shaped in sin and iniquity, destined for God’s judgment; we must therefore undergo a second birth; our souls must be fashioned and enlivened anew, from heaven and destined for heaven. this new birth has its rise from heaven and its tendency to heaven: it is to be born to a divine and heavenly life, a life of communion with God and the upper world, and, in order to this, it is to partake of a divine nature and bear the image of the heavenly.

 

Because of sin, no one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. God’s Plan of Redemption and Salvation: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

That is the “before” context of John 3:16. Let’s look at the “after” context in the next post. In Christ, Brian