Small Christmas Note

Isaiah 9:6, should be the place to turn to as we think about the Christmas season. Jesus was born to bring Peace to all (no wonder He is referred to as the Prince of Peace), be great Wonderful Counselor and forever Everlasting Father. Do you want peace to reign in your house, between you and your family as well as friends? Jesus is the right person to turn to today. Go to Him with a humble heart today and tell Him that Lord I need you to come into my heart and reign.

Jesus came to save the world. He came to save them that were lost. He came to save me and you who knew no righteousness but lavished in sin. We were no worthy any form of salvation, but He accepted to come and sacrifice His own life for us. Our God was willing to release His only son to come and shade his blood for me and you. My friend, today if you hear His voice, let your heart not be hardened, but believe on Him to be saved from the coming punishment that will catch up with sinners.

The Lord is ready and willing to accept all who say yes to his call today. He is calling you who is reading this note. Come to the Lord, just take time and make a prayer and tell God to save you today. He is able to save and keep you for Himself. This is serious; do not just harden your heart. If you do that, believe today and he will be your God. He will be the Prince of peace in your life today and always. He will be your Everlasting Father and the Mighty God and your Wonderful counselor.

What Being Born of Water and The Spirit in John 3:5 Mean

Brief insight into John 3:3-8

John 3:5: Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."

This is one verse in the Bible that has been widely used to mean what I think it should not mean. Most preachers, including myself have applied John 3:5 to encourage people to consider baptism of water urgently.

In my former church and many others, any time we would be preparing for baptism, John 3:5 become vital to make people see how helpless and lost they would be without water baptism. Over time, I knew that I had no chance if I die before I could be baptized. This feeling was prompted by what I today call clear misunderstanding of John 3:5. Moreover, my dad's denomination, where I was brought up as a child, believed in baptismal regeneration.

The denomination believed in infant baptism, and I was one “lucky” child to go through that – mainly by sprinkling and not immersion. They believed that if a child dies before baptism, he or she is lost. This practice extended to some level to help people "get tickets to heaven". According to the denomination (Dini ya Roho), if someone was evangelized on his deathbed, he or she would be urged to allow the Church to baptize him through sprinkling to give them assurance for heavenly security. This kind of doctrinal misuse generates serious issues. I am not sure we need to get into these issues now. Lets go into the main agenda.

I believe that John 3:5 should be read in context and interpreted within the same context. I am not an authority in bible exegesis, hermeneutics and homiletics and all the “tics” through academia, but by the virtue of being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I have an authority to read and attempt to interpret the bible correctly and also to convey the same information accurately. For this reason, I will start by saying that this verse does not speak about baptism of water or baptismal regeneration.

To many in charismatic cycles, this verse is clearly a call for the new believer to go under water with clear urgency. Now the challenge is whether this verse communicate about baptism. Does it really say that if one is not baptized with water, then they cannot see the Kingdom of God? I clearly disagree with any view that alludes to that.

NB: Remember that I believe in baptism as one vital ordinance that the Christians must observe just like the Holy Communion is another ordinance for the church.

 

An attempt to interpret John 3:3-8

Now, we should start looking at this verse 5 from the context of the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus. Starting from the main character, Nicodemus,we can say that his need here was not baptism but salvation. However, he had not realized that his need was major. Nicodemus visited Jesus with the outward desire to associate with Him – the Good Man from above. This seemed almost political and not genuine. Jesus had more in store for him, than simply what he thought was important – association.

 

In the process of discussion with the Lord, Nicodemus discovered that he needed to understand more things. In verse 3, Jesus answers Nicodemus question by saying to him “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”. This seems to be the main point of the passage. Jesus is talking about being born again and this happens through water and the Spirit.

As to give further insight into what He meant, Jesus is telling Nicodemus in verse 6 that “flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to Spirit”. This according to my understanding mean that the first birth is through the flesh. A husband and wife comes together and a child is born through flesh, and the result is flesh. The second birth, cannot happen through man's effort or decision but by the Spirit. The children born of the Spirit are Spiritual children. This is a condition for entering the Kingdom of God.

As an emphasis, Jesus tells Nicodemus not be surprised at His saying, that he must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God (verse 7). It seems to me that this has a lot to do with faith. Jesus is telling Nicodemus, that he must believe and there is no excuse about it if you want to enter the Kingdom of God. He also reminds Nicodemus, that you have to depend on the Spirit for the rebirth to be effected.

Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind. The wind blows and no one knows where it comes or where it goes. I know that scientist may have a different view, but remember that wind vane simply tells instantaneous directions and not the overall direction of the wind. And the scientist can also create artificial wind, but here is natural wind Jesus is referring to.

The Spirit of God makes the decision like that of the wind in that, His decision is not prompted by anyone but He simply decides both to whom and where the rebirth takes place. Jesus seems to be saying to him that a man must surrender to the work of the Spirit to take effect. He tells Nicodemus that this is the same thing in his case, and that he must be born again.

Everyone born of the Spirit find themselves born and cannot decide how when and where. This is like the wind that blows and no one can tell where it is coming or going. Jesus explains that one born of the Spirit is the decision and act of the Spirit Himself.

What we should ask ourselves is what “water” means in this passage. I will explain this in my next article. In this introductory part, I want to mention a few things to help us see why I believe it is not ordinary water. If we think again about the verse, it says, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit”.

Entering the Kingdom of God seems tied to being born again of water and Spirit. If we claim that it is about baptism, it means that without it, you are not able to enter the Kingdom of God even though you are a believer. In other words, anyone who believes but dies before baptism will not be present in Kingdom of God to enjoy fellowship with the Father. Your faith is null and void without baptism? This is fault.

Why I hold that water baptism is not a requirement to enter the Kingdom of God

1. The truth is that “salvation is by faith alone and not by works so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9. The requirement for one to enter the Kingdom of God is to be saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (be born again). This is not through baptism but through water and the Spirit of God.
    
2. I hold that baptism is vital, but as a demonstration or public declaration that you have now abandoned your old ways and are committing to follow the Lord. It symbolizes dying with Christ and rising again with Him a new creature. This declaration cannot be done by anyone who has not chosen to follow Christ. Children cannot decide and are hence exempted from this requirement until they are of age and believe in the Lord.
    
3. John 5:24 says that “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life". This and many other verses will make us to see why salvation has nothing to do with baptism. Baptism is a factor of salvation, but salvation is not a factor of baptism. If you have believed, you can knowingly demonstrate your faith publicly through baptism. 
    
4. Think about the thief on the cross with Jesus in Luke 23: 43 (…....... “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”). He was promised paradise after acknowledging his sins and recognizing the sinlessness of Jesus Christ and the unjust punishment that the Jews subjected him. Was Jesus telling this man the truth or not? Where was he baptized? If no then can we still hold John 3:5 to be talking about baptismal regeneration? I believe that Jesus cannot lie and hence this man indeed met him in paradise. 

  
I thank God for giving me an opportunity to share this. To God be the Glory. 

Amen   


Look out for more on this and what "water" here and in other verses mean. 
  

Your comments and insights are highly welcome.  

Our Faith In Christ Is Not About Ourselves

It is always a mistake to think that we believe in Christ for our sake. We do believe for God's sake, to glorify Him who is the maker of all things. There are some who think that when we don't believe, we are disappointing God.

Disappointing here is a misuse of word; you are drawing the wrath of God to yourself if you do not believe in Jesus as God's only begotten son and that he alone takes your sin with him. Through Him you receive forgiveness of sins. That in Him you are justified.

If you believe in Jesus Christ and put your hope in Him, God is glorified. When you refuse to believe in Jesus as God's Son, God will receive glory when it is proved to you at the last day that He truly sent Jesus and when you see Jesus Christ coming with his glory to Judge the world.

What then should we do? The bible commands all to repent and turn their eyes on Jesus. This always sounds like a simple thing. Indeed, some people have made this call trivial.

Many have even replaced the call for repentance with the call to come to church and sit there comfortably, practicing morality. Such are the people who forget that morality or immorality are all equally evil before God, unless His only Son Jesus Christ our Lord has cleansed you with his blood.

If you are not born again, you have no reason to practice moral acts. Why is this so? It is because all your moral practices are going to be filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) before the LORD, God Almighty. Someone will wonder why this is the case.

The answer is simple, we cannot buy God by our moral acts; we cannot bribe him into accepting us if we reject his Son, who bore our iniquities on the Cross. We cannot be counted anything as long as we are outside Christ.

There are some people who look at Christianity as an "exclusivist" religion (if there is such a term). They think that those who call themselves Christians are being self-righteous by telling them that they cannot identify with them unless they put repentance and belief in Christ as their only Savior.

This exclusive idea is true and as a believer who hopes in the Lord, I agree to this accusation. There is a clear cut line and warning which comes in the soft language of John 14:6. John's writing is clear. He is not saying that Christianity is the True religion. No, he is saying something deeper than that.

Jesus is the way the truth and the life. You can simply take Christianity as a religion and start practicing what you see people doing, but that has nothing to offer. You can also decide to obey your parents and go to Church with them in any place simply to please them, but this too gives you nothing. Only Jesus Gives everything. Believe in God and believe also in Jesus his Son so that you will be able to see heaven. This is the condition for life. Lack of obedience to this implies death.

God Is God, and He Never Changes

There is always a wrong notion about God, which people have created. Some have become attracted to the Philosophy of relative view about the Creator. They simply say that it does not matter what you believe, that people have diverse views about the truth. This leads to fundamental questions.

Is it what you believe about God that makes Him into who He actually is? Or is it what He has revealed about Himself that displays His nature to men? If at all it is what men think He is that counts, then all should agree with the theory of relative views. However, if it is what God has revealed about Himself to men that counts, then the theory of relativism about God must be eradicated from the face of the earth.

It is important to remember that the Scriptures are God's infallible words. They tell us what God has revealed about Himself. Far be it from The God of all creation to give men a relative understanding about Himself. Not what people say about God that make him into who He is, it is what God reveals to men that inform men of His nature and His glory. Everything about God can only be known from God.

If you look at nature, it all reveals God's power. And this is not actually what people think, but what is revealed. I believe that the Bible is the only true Word of God and there is no question that can be raised against it and successfully defeat its defense. The Bible defends itself and it is sufficient for all proofs about what is written in it. God is God and this can only be know from the revealed nature about Him. He has revealed this through creation and through the Bible.

Never create a god in your mind and replace the true God with it. Never make one in your imagination and begin to worship. That would be idolatry of the highest form. God is God. The Bible says, “The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.” (Psalm 118:27) and “Know that the Lord is God.” (Psalm 100:3).

These are important pointers that the one we ought to worship is not what we have created in the mind, but one who sits on the thrown, the King of Kings and the Lord of lords. He alone should be worship.

Warning! Never create a god in your Mind and worship in the place of the true God of heavens and the earth, the Creator of all things. Never do that. It is Dangerous.