Not of Blood, Nor of the Will of the Flesh

Read John 3:1-21

This passage is interpreted by some to mean that a person is born again through the action of being baptised. Being "born of water and the Spirit" is taken to mean baptism. Because being born again refers to the process of regeneration, this doctrine (teaching) is called baptismal regeneration. I don’t think that scripture supports this understanding, and I’d like to outline why I think that.

1. From John 3 it is clear that you must be born again, or regenerated to see the kingdom of God. The first issue with connecting baptism to being born again is that the thief on the cross went straight to paradise, but wasn't baptised (Luke 23:39-43).
2. The saints of the Old Covenant weren't baptised. Does that mean that Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah are outside of the kingdom? Or are we to take it that Jesus meant, "from now on", or perhaps "from Pentecost"? But Jesus is speaking in the present tense. Unless Nicodemus was born again, if he'd died that night, he wouldn't have gone into the kingdom.
3. Jesus says to Nicodemus, "Are you a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things?" Jesus clearly expected a teacher of the Old Testament to be familiar with the concepts he was discussing. If being born again "of water and the spirit" refers to the new institution of baptism, then Jesus could hardly expect him to know this was a requirement of entering the kingdom. This phrase points to the Old Testament, and is also related to point (2) above. Being born again must be an Old Testament principle, not just a New Testament one.
4. Being born again "of water and the spirit", as prophesied in the Old Testament, points to (among other passages) Ezekiel 36:25-27:
   

   25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

5. The Ezekiel passage above points to cleansing and washing of past sins, and to being born again with a new heart. This process is linked to the Holy Spirit. This is consistent with Titus 3:5, which refers to "the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit". That is, being born again has two components: washing the filth of the old man, and "starting again" as the new man. There are similar themes are in Romans 6, Colossians 2:6-15.
6. The point of Jesus in John 3 is that the Holy Spirit is like the wind which blows where it wishes. In John 1:12-13, regeneration is said to be not of "the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." Titus 3:5 further says regeneration is "not because of works done in righteousness."
   
   Baptism, however, is an action or a work - done perhaps in righteousness - and is performed entirely by human will. Humans decide when and how baptism is performed. The Holy Spirit is not confined to this, and is not forced into making people born again simply because someone baptises them, and will not be prevented from making people to be born again just because nobody has baptised them. The Holy Spirit is God, and is not a human puppet.
7. Baptism and being born again remain clearly and closely linked, but the first is a sign and seal of the second. There are very few good reasons for a believer not to be baptised on entering the covenant. One biblical example of a good reason to not be baptised is being in the process of being crucified: I do not doubt that the thief on the cross was born again. I am sure many men and women have been born again, coming to faith in Christ, in situations such that they weren't able to be baptised before their deaths. These will be in the kingdom.
8. Many other passages link being born again and/or adoption to faith, with no mention of baptism. 1 John 5:1 and Romans 8:14.

Take Care How Your Hear!

Please read Luke 8:4-18, and Isaiah 6:9-10

I'd like to recommend a sermon I heard recently by John Piper. The sermon is on the parable of the sower as recorded in Luke 8, and is called Take Care How You Listen! Part 1.

The biggest thing that I learned from this sermon is that the parable of the sower is about hearing, and yet for some reason I'd always missed the whole point of it. It's all about how you hear!

Have a look at how many times the verb to hear is specifically used in this passage (ESV) (emphasis mine):

And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."

Do yourself a favour, and listen to this sermon; above all, taking care how you hear!

Paul Washer's Shocking Youth Message

Read Matthew 7:13-27
If you haven't already seen this sermon, please open your heart and mind and watch. You'll need to set aside an hour to watch it; once you start you won't want to stop. Not everything he says is 100% technically correct when examined under the theological microscope, but please don't discard the message and the man because of that. Please don't harden your heart to this man preaching the gospel with heart-felt passion and conviction.

Improving the Rescue

Read Romans 5:20-6:2

First, a story:
George sat in the chopper, struggling to catch his breath. He struggled to comprehend what had happened to him. Only moments ago, he had been floating in the Pacific Ocean - just - a hundred and fifty kilometres from the coast, clinging to the EPIRB beacon from his recently sunken yacht. Now he sat in the Capricorn Rescue Helicopter, hovering above the sea.

George began to realise just how great his salvation had been. What made it so great, he realised, was how much trouble he had been in, and the consequent effort that had gone into the rescue. Being rescued this far out at sea was a big deal. He was so thankful for what had been done for him, he felt like bursting.

Then, he thought, if his rescue was a big deal now, how much greater would it be if his predicament only got worse? How could he do that? There was only one way. Before the other men in the chopper could react, he crawled to the door of the chopper and jumped back into the sea.

I enjoy writing fiction, but that was beyond belief, wasn't it? If the greatness of our salvation is proportional to the greatness of our sin, why don't we make our salvation even greater by sinning more? By no means! It's a nonsense - it's ridiculous - just as ridiculous as my little story. But then, don't we think that way sometimes anyway?