I am reading Expository though…

1 Comment

• grant_stephenson says:

  June 9, 2012 at 5:45 pm

  I particularly liked the paragraph  “The true view of the expression I believe to be this. Being ” born again,” means that complete change of heart and char­acter which is produced in a man by the Holy Ghost, when he repents, believes on Christ, and becomes a true Christian. It is a change which is frequently spoken of in the Bible. In Ezekiel it is called” taking away the stony heart and giving a heart of flesh,”-” giving a new heart, and putting within a new spirit.” (Ezek. xi. 19; xxxvi. 26.) In Acts it is called “repentance and conversion.” (Acts iii. 19.) In Romans it is called” being alive from the dead.” (Rom. vi. 13.) In Corinthians it is called” being a new creature.” (2 Cor. v. 17.) In Ephesians it is called” being quickened.” (Ephes. ii.1.) In Colossians it is called” putting off the old man and putting on the new.” (Coloss. iii. 9, 10.) In Titus it is called the “washing of regeneration.” (Titus iii. 5.) In Peter it is called “being called out of darkness into light,” and being” made partaker of the Divine Nature.” (1 Peter ii. 9; 2 Peter i. 4.) In John it is called” passing from death to life.” (1 John iii. 14.) I believe that all these expressions come to the same thing in the end. They are all the same truth, only viewed from different sides. They all mean that mighty inward change of heart which our Lord here calls a “new birth,” and which John the Baptist foretold would specially characterize Messiah’s kingdom. He was to baptize not with water, but with the Holy Ghost. Our Lord begins His address to Nicodemus by taking up his’ forerunner’s prediction: He tells him that he must be” born again” or baptized with the Spirit.-Human nature is so entirely corrupt, diseased, and ruined by the fall, that all who would be saved must be born again. No lesser change will suffice. They need nothing less than a new birth.”