PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

I.          EXPOSITORY/EXEGETICAL – immediate context

By expository and exegetical, it is simply mean that what we learn is from the immediate text itself. Are their clues, are their hints, are their “signs” pointing to understanding?

First let’s look at the obviously parallel texts which are verses 3 and 5.

• John 3:3 HCSB  Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
• John 3:5 HCSB  Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

There are verbal repetitions:

• “I assure you” or “truly, truly, I say to you.” Literally this is, “amen, amen, I say to you.”
• “unless one is born….”
• “cannot”
• “kingdom of God”

Then there are the similarities, synonyms, or thematic repetitions:

• “cannot see the kingdom of God” (v.3) vs. “cannot enter the kingdom of God” (v,5)
• “born again” (v.3) vs. “born of water and the Spirit” (v.5)

Obviously to “see” and “enter into” are the same; this is not a progression of actions that seeing leads to entering into. Rather, “seeing” means to come into possession, to have, to “enter into.” According to both Thayer and Strong, it is a Hebraism meaning “to experience. Likewise, “born again” and “born of water and the Spirit” are the same. Repetition with different words is especially common within Jewish poetry, although this does not appear to be a psalm, proverb or poetice.

I say “obviously” but some believe to “see” is something different than to “enter.” This misunderstanding is due to some theological doctrine believed that they insert into the text. To not make them equal misses not only the parallelism within the text, but also the connection to the theme of light and darkness, day and night. To “see” is to be in the light.

“Even though the Church as an entity received the Kingdom of Heaven, there will be many Christians who will lose this inheritance just like Israel did because of unfaithfulness and disobedience. Scripture distinguishes between Christians who will see the Kingdom of Heaven and Christians who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. “Enter the Kingdom” literally means to enter into the King’s dominion and refers to having a responsible position in our Lord’s Kingdom.

“Seeing the Kingdom” means to be physically present in the coming millennial Kingdom but having no position of authority. All Christians “see the Kingdom” but not all Christians will “enter the Kingdom.” The failure of Bible students to see the difference has resulted in the rapid growth of the false doctrine of Lordship Salvation. Numerous Christians equate “enter the Kingdom” with salvation in the evangelical sense, but it is actually related to the Covenant of Works that God has made with man. (Pages 34-35, in The Open Door by Lyn Mize)

The correct interpretation has to be the cleansing that Christ provides since the grammatical construction only allows for a figurative interpretation of “born of water.” Physical birth and water baptism are both literal acts. The second of in the verse is not in the original autograph so the first of governs the words water and spirit. This means that both objects of the same preposition must either be literal or figurative. Since “born of Spirit” has a figurative meaning, “born of water” must also have a figurative meaning. Thus, Ephesians 5:25-27 delineates the meaning of the phrase “born of water,” and it definitely refers to the sanctification process that faithful Christians are passing through as they mature in the faith.” (Pages 34-35, in The Open Door by Lyn Mize)

If that is true, then by this parallel we have already answered one objection. There are some who say that being born of water and the Spirit are two different actions. The first is our physical birth (v.4) and the second is our spiritual birth. There are at least two obvious problems with that interpretation.

• Jesus says you must be born again to see the kingdom; and then says you must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom.  “Again” is defined by “of water and the Spirit” through parallels. Being “born again” is one action as if being born of water and the Spirit.
• “Born of water and the Spirit” are both governed by one preposition arguing that these are not 2 births but one.

Tags: Baptism, Denominationalism

This entry was posted by PHall on Friday, November 11th, 2011 at 4:31 pm and is filed under John. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.