Category: What do you think?

Being born of water and the spirit points back to Ezekiel’s new covenant promise

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

When Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 that he must be born again, and that entry into God’s kingdom requires being born of water and the spirit, the meaning has been misunderstood in more than one way over the years. Some have suggested the water refers to physical birth, while others have connected it to baptism paired with an internal spiritual rebirth. Neither interpretation fits the context of the conversation, and Nicodemus would not have understood either meaning from the words Jesus used.

The correct background lies in Ezekiel 36, a passage familiar to a teacher of Israel like Nicodemus. That Old Testament prophecy describes God removing a heart of stone, replacing it with a heart of flesh, and placing his own spirit within his people as part of the new covenant. Jesus draws directly on this imagery, explaining spiritual rebirth in terms Nicodemus should have already recognized from his knowledge of scripture rather than introducing an entirely new concept.

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Self-limitation in the incarnation

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JEFF TURNER

When Jesus said that even he did not know the timing of his own return, leaving that knowledge solely with the Father, it raises a fair question about how this fits with his claimed equality with God.

Jesus repeatedly and explicitly claimed full equality with the Father throughout his ministry, a claim so clear that religious leaders of his day accused him of blasphemy. He backed up this claim through actions only God could perform.

In becoming human, Jesus voluntarily restricted the full exercise of his divine power, presence, and knowledge, confining himself to operate within human limitations for the duration of his earthly life. This was a temporary humbling, not an eternal diminishment, and after his resurrection he returned fully to the unrestricted glory and fellowship with the Father that he had always possessed.

It may be hard to grasp how God can be fully God and fully human at the same time. Yet many things about the physical world remain beyond our understanding, even ones we’re well aware of. Why assume nothing about God could be the same?

who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:6-7

Can faith really move mountains?

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JEFF TURNER

Jesus told his disciples that genuine faith could command a mountain to move into the sea, a statement that, taken literally, has never actually happened anywhere in recorded biblical history. No apostle or believer throughout scripture is ever shown praying a literal mountain out of existence, and no instance of such a feat appears anywhere in the historical record either. Doesn’t this absence suggest that Jesus was speaking figuratively rather than offering a literal promise about physical geography?

I believe the mountain represents an exaggerated image meant to illustrate something far more significant. It shows us the limitless power available to those who approach God in genuine, believing prayer. Jesus was emphasizing that when believers ask according to God’s will with true faith, that power becomes active in their lives.

The real demonstration of this power is not found in spectacular displays involving landscape features but in something that can change human hearts and the bringing of people into saving knowledge of Christ.

Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you.

Mark 11:24

The Christian struggle against sin

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JEFF TURNER

Paul’s description in Romans 7 of failing to do what he wants, while doing what he hates, might initially sound like the confession of someone still living apart from Christ. In reality, this internal conflict describes the experience of a believer, not an unbeliever.

Those without Christ simply sin without this kind of internal struggle, since even their good actions are ultimately driven by self-interest rather than a genuine desire to honour God, whether motivated by feeling good, gaining approval, or avoiding consequences.

The conflict Paul describes only exists because believers possess a new nature that genuinely loves God’s law and desires righteousness, while simultaneously still battling the lingering presence of sin within them. This tension, loving truth and holiness while continually being undermined by sin’s persistent influence, marks the distinctly Christian experience that unbelievers simply do not share.

How do you react when you realize your own sin?

For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want.

Galatians 5:17

Abraham fathers all believers through faith, not through bloodline

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Romans 4 describes Abraham as the father of all believers, a statement that raises a natural question given that Abraham is also the physical ancestor of the nation of Israel. In that sense, Abraham serves as the earthly progenitor of the Jewish people, since the nation descended directly from his family line. The fatherhood Paul describes in Romans, however, points to something different from ancestry.

Genesis 15 records that Abraham believed God, and this faith was credited to him as righteousness. This moment introduces the concept of salvation through faith and the doctrine of imputed righteousness, meaning God’s righteousness was applied to Abraham on the basis of his trust rather than his actions.

Abraham was justified by faith alone, and all who come to God through faith, regardless of ethnic background, become his spiritual children in this sense. Before this act of faith, Abraham was an idol worshipper with no claim to righteousness of his own, and his story shows us the pattern followed by everyone who has ever been saved throughout history.

Therefore, recognize that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:7