What It Means To Be Born Again

By Paul Earnhart

Nicodemus, the great Jewish rabbi, must have been shocked when Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.” (Jn. 3:7)  There was nothing Nicodemus was prouder of than his first birth.  He was born as a descendant of Abraham.  He might well have described himself as another Jewish rabbi did: “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.” (Phil. 3:5)  What better birth could a man have?

Jesus, of course, was not speaking of another physical birth.  He was speaking of a figurative new birth.  It was another way of saying that Nicodemus would have to make a completely new beginning.  The first birth of Nicodemus determined his family relations, his nationality, his cultural heritage, his language, and even to a great degree his goals and values.  All of these would have to become new for him.  Many people talk of being born again without realizing the significance of the expression.  The fact is no matter what a person may have experienced, if these changes have not taken place in their life, they have not been born again.

“How can a man be born when he is old,” Nicodemus asked? (Jn. 3:4)  Perhaps you wonder that, too.  Jesus answered the question, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (Jn. 3:5)  The Holy Spirit changes the spirit of mankind.  Jesus said, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Jn. 3:6)  This is accomplished through the word of God which the Spirit has given.  Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:23 that Christians have been born again through “the word of God which lives and abides forever.” 

But there is another part of the new birth.  Jesus said that one must be born of water and the Spirit.  The only act the New Testament describes involving water is water baptism.  When the Spirit has changed the inner man, the outer man must be washed in the water of baptism.  Have you been born of the water and the Spirit?

Jesus Names Peter

By Paul Earnhart

According to John 1:42, when Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus, “Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John, you shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).”  From this time onward, almost without exception, the scriptures refer to him as Simon Peter or simply as Peter.

The word “Cephas” means a stone.  Peter means the same.  Simon’s friends must have been surprised when Jesus renamed him Peter.  They may even have questioned the insight of Jesus.  When we see this man in his early association with Jesus, he would scarcely suggest the character of a stone.  He seems more like sand or even Jello.

But Jesus was not seeing Simon as he was; Jesus was seeing what he could and would become.  Giving him the name Peter must have been a challenge to him; it may well have been a factor in Peter’s becoming the strong disciple of Jesus that he actually became.  When we see him in Acts chapter 2, preaching fearlessly about Jesus (Acts 2:36); when we see him in Acts 5 before the Jewish council declaring that he would obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29); when in Acts 12 we see him soundly sleeping in the prison even with the sentence of death already upon his head (Acts 12:6).  These are pictures of Peter, a man of stone, just what Jesus knew he would be.

You know, Jesus does for all Christians just what He did for Peter.  He names them children of God (Rom. 8:16), even when they are as yet very much unlike God.  He calls them saints (1 Cor. 1:2), even when they seem to be far from sanctified.  He sees what we can be by His grace and Spirit, and He challenges us by calling us that.  May God help us to rise to the challenge as Peter did.

Three Persons of Godhead

By Paul Earnhart

Many people are puzzled by the thought of one God being in three persons.  Many efforts have been made to explain this difficulty.  Some have concluded that there is only one person who is God.  They say that the Father and the Son and the Holy spirit are all the same person.  They tell us that Jesus was all three of these.

At the baptism of Jesus, there were three distinct divine persons present.  Jesus was in the water.  At the same time the Holy spirit was seen descending as a dove.  And at the same time, God the Father spoke from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son” (Mt. 3:16-17).  If there were not three persons involved, the whole scene was a deception, and God does not deceive us.

When the Bible says there is one God, it is saying that there is one divine Godhead or Godhood.  There is one human manhood, composed of billions of people now living, and there is one Godhood, composed of three persons.  Anyone who is the son of a human is human.  In the same way, the Son of God is God.  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the one God.

From the baptism of Jesus onward we see the Holy Spirit working in Jesus and accomplishing mighty works.  We also see evidence that Jesus was in constant communication with the Father, saying exactly what the Father wanted said and doing exactly what He wanted done.  God the Father is a Spirit who cannot be seen, but because of the perfect union between Him and Jesus, we see in Jesus everything that can be seen of the Father.  That is the reason Jesus could later say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father…Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?  The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority: but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (Jn. 14:9-10).  If you would know God, you must know Him through Jesus Christ, His Son.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn. 14:6)

Does the Holy Spirit Call A Sinner to Salvation?

By Mark McCrary

Do you believe in Holy Spirit conviction? That the Holy Spirit comes upon a person personally and convicts that person of their sin? Are you waiting—should you be waiting—for such an event? Does the Holy Spirit call a sinner to salvation?

The answer is an unquestionable “Yes!” the Holy Spirit calls sinners to salvation. Perhaps the real question is, “How does the Holy Spirit call sinners to salvation?” The manner, we will see as we examine scripture, is not an overwhelming burden of guilt put upon us in a miraculous way, but rather the overwhelming burden of guilt which comes through the message of the Bible delivered  by the Holy Spirit.

The message of the writers of the New Testament was not conjured up on their own, but it was given to them by the Holy Spirit. Jesus, before His crucifixion, said to His apostles, “When He [the Holy Spirit—MM] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come,” John 16:8-14. This passage tells us several things: First, that the Holy Spirit indeed convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  He shows what sin is, what righteousness is, and because of the deliverance of His message, the world stands in judgment. Second, His message came from the Father and was delivered to the apostle-- they would have “all truth”—and they in turn translated that truth to mankind (1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Galatians 1:11-12). What is promised here is the conviction of the world through the message delivered by the Holy Spirit to God’s messengers.

Now, if the Holy Spirit personally came onto a person and convicted them, Acts would be the logical place to find such a thing—it is, after all, the book of conversion. However, this is not what we see. What convicted the Jews on the day of Pentecost when the first sermon after the resurrection of Christ was preached (Acts 2)? We are not told that the Holy Spirit came and moved these listeners in a unique or individual way. They were convicted of their sins when they heard the message of the apostles. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37). When Cornelius was converted (Acts 10), it was due to the preaching of the gospel once more by Peter. While we are told the Holy Spirit fell on them, it was not to change their hearts, but to confirm to the listening Jews that this was the will of God (v. 45; 11:15-18). When Lydia was converted, God opened her heart not through a direct operation of the Holy Spirit on her, but through the preaching of Paul (Acts 16:14). In each the conversions took place because the message was preached.

Notice what Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” From this passage, how is it that one learns the “glad tidings of good things”? Does the Holy Spirit come upon one and convict them of the truth of it all? No, one hears what is preached reacts—just as those did in Acts.

One final passage should cement this idea. Paul speaks of us being “called” in 2 Thessalonians 2:14, but this calling is not a personal calling from the Holy Spirit to the individual. “…To which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The calling of an individual, according to the inspired apostle Paul, is one through the preaching of the gospel.

“What is the big deal?” one may ask. The big deal is if you are waiting for the Holy Spirit of God to personally call you, you are waiting for something God has never promised in scripture, and you are waiting for something that will never happen. If you are a sinner and are reading this now, understand: The Holy Spirit is calling you through the message of the Bible. This is your invitation! God is in fact calling you right now by the message penned by his disciples some 2000 years ago-- He is calling you with the Bible. Let’s stop waiting for something He has not promised and let’s start listening to what He has given. The gospel of Jesus Christ given by the Holy Spirit is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), and it is powerful enough to convict those who are ready to receive it.

Does the Holy Spirit convict people of their sin? He certainly does, but it is through the message of the Bible. We encourage you to listen to that message today.