“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:6-13
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God…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 from above.’ 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.”
John 3:3, 5-8
In becoming a child to any parent, not one of us determines the circumstances of his or her birth. A sequence of events is set into motion where in we are brought into existence and are indeed helpless to prevent our conception. Though after being conceived it may be possible to refuse nourishment, the fact remains that we were and will continue to be subject to outside forces. This much is true about physical and spiritual birth and existence. Though we are all creatures with a will to do what we want in many ways, none of us is an island to him/herself and we are all affected (both willingly and unwillingly) by others around us. We have said all of this to bring us to this point, that becoming a child of God is not something we choose for ourselves. Rather, we have been/are chosen and caused by God to become His children. Let us explain.
In the two passages quoted above, John makes mention of being “born of God” and being “born from above”. That these two concepts are synonymous need not be argued. The Greek term that is translated “born” in every instance in the above passages is a form of the verb gennao. When this verb is used in conjunction with a masculine figure (as it is in these passages), it specifically refers to the act of conception as the first step in the birthing process. It is therefore very clear from the context of the above scripture that our being spiritually conceived is an act that is entirely “of God” and “from above”. Spiritual birth has absolutely nothing to do with the will of man at that this point. “The wind blows where it wishes…”
Now to move on to the real topic of discussion in this essay, we all know well that there is more to having a child than just conceiving it. After a child has been conceived, it then must be nurtured in a mother’s womb before it is able to finally be delivered. The birth process can thus be broken down into 3 stages: (1) conception (2) gestation/nurturing (3) delivery. We’ve made mention of the first stage already and will make mention of the third stage in a later essay. That leaves us with our real topic of discussion here, stage 2, nurturing.
According to Romans 8:29, the purpose of God for those whom he has foreknown is that they be conformed to the image of His Son. This process of conforming happens in the context of the ekklesia. The ekklesia is the assembly of the saints of God more commonly known as the body and bride of Christ. Interestingly enough, the noun, ekklesia, is a feminine noun. Not coincidentally, a newly conceived infant is nurtured in a feminine body until it has grown to maturity and is ready to be delivered. Therefore, the ekklesia is a sort of mother figure for those of us being conformed to the image of Christ. In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul describes gifts given to this body for the express purpose of edifying its members “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ…”
It is the will of God that we be conformed to the image of His Son in the assembly that Jesus tells Peter He will build (Matthew 16:18). The writer of Hebrews encourages us to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but to exhort one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). God the Father starts the process of what is to become our final deliverance by bringing us to life spiritually through the power of His Holy Spirit. Having been conceived, we must seek out the spiritual nourishment that God desires to give us through regular fellowship with other members of the body. It is imperative that we diligently seek “pure milk of the word that we may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2) because though it is true that the good work that God began in us He will complete until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6), it is also true that not everyone who receives the word of the kingdom will persevere to the end, bearing fruit that leads to salvation. Consider the parable of the sower explained in Matthew 13:19-23…
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Those who receive the word of the kingdom but do not receive the proper nourishment do not bear fruit and thus experience a sort of spiritual stillbirth, neither growing to maturity nor being finally delivered into the kingdom of God. The best way to obtain proper nourishment is through union with the ekklesia which is truly modeled in the book of Acts and does not so much resemble the Church system that we all know so well today that evolved out of the Roman-Catholic system of long ago. The children of God led by the Apostles in the first century did not assemble themselves for worship services that look like what we have today. Rather, they lived in what can best be described as spiritual communes, not only sharing meals together regularly, but also their lives. They were truly most able in this communal setting to live in obedience to the command that Jesus gave his disciples in John 15 to love one another. Those of us that have been reborn are called by God to share the gifts He gives us with one another so that we all will be nourished and be able to grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus. The question that remains is, will we do it?
John 1:6-13
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God…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 from above.’ 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.”
John 3:3, 5-8
In becoming a child to any parent, not one of us determines the circumstances of his or her birth. A sequence of events is set into motion where in we are brought into existence and are indeed helpless to prevent our conception. Though after being conceived it may be possible to refuse nourishment, the fact remains that we were and will continue to be subject to outside forces. This much is true about physical and spiritual birth and existence. Though we are all creatures with a will to do what we want in many ways, none of us is an island to him/herself and we are all affected (both willingly and unwillingly) by others around us. We have said all of this to bring us to this point, that becoming a child of God is not something we choose for ourselves. Rather, we have been/are chosen and caused by God to become His children. Let us explain.
In the two passages quoted above, John makes mention of being “born of God” and being “born from above”. That these two concepts are synonymous need not be argued. The Greek term that is translated “born” in every instance in the above passages is a form of the verb gennao. When this verb is used in conjunction with a masculine figure (as it is in these passages), it specifically refers to the act of conception as the first step in the birthing process. It is therefore very clear from the context of the above scripture that our being spiritually conceived is an act that is entirely “of God” and “from above”. Spiritual birth has absolutely nothing to do with the will of man at that this point. “The wind blows where it wishes…”
Now to move on to the real topic of discussion in this essay, we all know well that there is more to having a child than just conceiving it. After a child has been conceived, it then must be nurtured in a mother’s womb before it is able to finally be delivered. The birth process can thus be broken down into 3 stages: (1) conception (2) gestation/nurturing (3) delivery. We’ve made mention of the first stage already and will make mention of the third stage in a later essay. That leaves us with our real topic of discussion here, stage 2, nurturing.
According to Romans 8:29, the purpose of God for those whom he has foreknown is that they be conformed to the image of His Son. This process of conforming happens in the context of the ekklesia. The ekklesia is the assembly of the saints of God more commonly known as the body and bride of Christ. Interestingly enough, the noun, ekklesia, is a feminine noun. Not coincidentally, a newly conceived infant is nurtured in a feminine body until it has grown to maturity and is ready to be delivered. Therefore, the ekklesia is a sort of mother figure for those of us being conformed to the image of Christ. In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul describes gifts given to this body for the express purpose of edifying its members “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ…”
It is the will of God that we be conformed to the image of His Son in the assembly that Jesus tells Peter He will build (Matthew 16:18). The writer of Hebrews encourages us to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but to exhort one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). God the Father starts the process of what is to become our final deliverance by bringing us to life spiritually through the power of His Holy Spirit. Having been conceived, we must seek out the spiritual nourishment that God desires to give us through regular fellowship with other members of the body. It is imperative that we diligently seek “pure milk of the word that we may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2) because though it is true that the good work that God began in us He will complete until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6), it is also true that not everyone who receives the word of the kingdom will persevere to the end, bearing fruit that leads to salvation. Consider the parable of the sower explained in Matthew 13:19-23…
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received the seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Those who receive the word of the kingdom but do not receive the proper nourishment do not bear fruit and thus experience a sort of spiritual stillbirth, neither growing to maturity nor being finally delivered into the kingdom of God. The best way to obtain proper nourishment is through union with the ekklesia which is truly modeled in the book of Acts and does not so much resemble the Church system that we all know so well today that evolved out of the Roman-Catholic system of long ago. The children of God led by the Apostles in the first century did not assemble themselves for worship services that look like what we have today. Rather, they lived in what can best be described as spiritual communes, not only sharing meals together regularly, but also their lives. They were truly most able in this communal setting to live in obedience to the command that Jesus gave his disciples in John 15 to love one another. Those of us that have been reborn are called by God to share the gifts He gives us with one another so that we all will be nourished and be able to grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus. The question that remains is, will we do it?
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