We moved rather quickly in our previous post. So I want to take a pause today and give you some quotes from others on what we have been studying. I hope you will be encouraged by their words.
3:1: "What, then, is the new birth? We
answer, It is not the removal of anything from the sinner, nor the changing of
anything within the sinner; instead, it is the communication of something to
the sinner. The new birth is the
impartation of the new nature. When I
was born the first time I received from my parents their nature: so, when I was born again, I received from God His nature. The Spirit of God begets within us a
spiritual nature (2 Peter 1:4)...It is a fundamental law...like can only
produce like...Here then is the character or nature of the new birth. It is not the reformation of the outward man,
it is not the education of the natural man, it is not the purification of the
ole man, but it is the creation of a new man.
(James 1:18; John 3:6; 2 Cor. 5:17; 2 Pet.1:4)" A. W. Pink.
3:2: "He who does not shape the conduct
of today with reference to some end foreseen or calculated on for some other
day, is a mere fool and madman, whether it be in the things of God or in the
things of the world...the doctrine of Christ's speedy return...is the most
animating and most sanctifying subject in the Bible." J. A. Seiss.
3:9: Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no
sin. The statement here again
conveys the thought of sinning as a practice, a habit. The better and accurate rendering would be “doeth
not sin.” “Doeth no sin” states what is
not a fact, for it suggests that no sin is committed by such. What is here taught is not that the Divine
nature in man does not sin, and that it is only the old nature, the flesh, that
sins; the fact is that the Apostle is still distinguishing between the child of
God and the unregenerate.
Because his seed abideth in him. It is possible to understand this as meaning
that one who is a child of God (God’s seed) abides in Him. Perhaps, however, the seed signifies the
Divine principle of imparted life in the believer, and this, once it is
imparted, is unalterable; it remains in the believer. The child of God stands eternally related to
Christ. The one who goes on doing sin
(in other words, lives in sin), has never become a child of God. He has not the principle of life in Christ in
him. There are other interpretations,
but this seems to be in accordance with the general tenor of the Epistle and
the immediate context, both preceding and succeeding.
3:15: that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. While there is forgiveness in this life for the murderer,
yet, for the destiny of him who remains in his guilt, see Rev. 21:8. W. E. Vine.
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