John 3:1-21

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.”

Jesus replied, “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“But how can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked Him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.  “I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony.  If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven?"

Pharisees were about 20 percent of the adult male population of Israel during Jesus’ lifetime, which made them a formidable force. They were not evil people. They felt strongly that the Mosaic Law was Israel’s salvation and that they needed to incorporate it into every aspect of daily living. Surrounded as they were by Gentile invaders, their strict adherence to Mosaic Law preserved Judaism through the defilement of the Temple and its later destruction. Nicodemus probably heard Jesus speak somewhere before he came to visit Him and he was clearly aware of Jesus’ miracles. Moreover, besides being a Pharisee, Nicodemus was apparently a Sadducee, a ruler of the Jews. He was no doubt risking his political career and his social/religious standing by approaching Jesus for a private discussion. We know from later passages that Nicodemus would become a Christian, but at this point, he was merely a seeker, and not a very brave one at that.

Nicodemus represents the skeptical scholar in all of us. He knew what he had studied and he believed what he had seen of Jesus’ miracles, but he had logical conundrums to settle. In conversation with Jesus, he sought to settle his questioning.

How can a man be born again? From a logical materialistic point of view, he can’t be. There is no way an adult male is going to go back into his mother’s womb and emerge a second time. It was a good question, but limited. Nicodemus was thinking too small. God is not a material being constrained by things like uteruses. He is a spiritual being with unlimited ability to affect the material and spiritual realms. Jesus is concerned with the spirit of man. “Unless a man be born of spirit and water ….”

I will discuss baptism at a later time. Right now, I want to focus on the spirit. In earlier postings I have explained that human beings are born spiritually dead. By this I mean that our spirits no longer have contact with their source of life – God. Because of Adam’s choice in eating of the fruit, we are born without recourse. We are not born spiritually alive and become spiritually dead through sin in our lives. We are simply born dead!

Nicodemus wanted to understand Jesus. He clearly believed that Jesus had come from God, but he also had many colleagues who did not believe this. Nicodemus sought to settle these questions for himself.  Like many Pharisees, he was seeking a deeper spiritual meaning in his life.  He showed wisdom in seeking the meaning from Jesus, but he was stubbornly stupid when trying to grasp on the concepts that Jesus was teaching.

My research indicates that any righteous Jew could become a Pharisee. Certain professions were deemed unrighteous because they involved activities that made a man ritually unclean (therefore, unrighteous), but that was the only bar to the Pharisee club. A Sadducee usually had family or community connections that allowed him to be a ruler. Nicodemus was both, which means he was a highly respected and intelligent man. Yet, he did not understand what Jesus was trying to tell him.

“How can a man be born again when he is old?” Spiritually, he can be, Jesus explained. “How can these things be?” Nicodemus wailed.

One of the truly human things I like about Jesus was that He countenanced only so much silliness.

“You are a ruler and teacher of the law and you don’t know this.” You can almost hear Him sighing and see him shaking His head at Nicodemus’ lack of understanding. “If I can’t explain earthly things to you, how do you expect me to explain heavenly things?”

Nicodemus was a smart man, but he lacked understanding of God and Jesus called him on that. For all his learning, Nicodemus was not bright spiritually. He needed to learn from Jesus.

As do we all.

Paul the Apostle warned that the gospel of Christ would be a "stumbling block to the Jew and a scandal to the Gentiles." A Jew trained in classical Greek thought, he knew that Gentiles were going to have objections to the claims of Christ.  Guess what? We are all Gentiles!

This means that people today have a lot of skepticism about the Bible, Christianity, Christ, etc. And, they make claims about the afore-mentioned.  Let's just start with the Bible.  Claims I've heard is that the Bible is an archaic book that has been revised multiple times by untrustworthy editors and cannot be believed. "There's no evidence to support it," is an oft-heard claim. Of course, I wouldn't be tackling this topic if that were true, so let's get to it.

Most foregoing references are from Josh McDowell's More than a Carpenter. You can check that out for yourself, you don't have to believe me.  Josh provides reference notes in his book for you to check those out yourselves as well.

One common misconcetion is that the text of the Bible has not come down to us the way in which it was originally written.  People love to blame zealous monks who supposedly changed biblical text throughout Church history.  It's an issue of upmost importance, since an altered text would gravely damage the credibility of the story.

FF Bruce says "The historical 'once-and-for-all-ness' of Christianity which distinguishes it from those religious and philosophical systems which are not specially related to any particular time, makes the reliability of the writings which purport to record this revelation a question of first-rate importance." (The New Testimony Documents: Are They Reliable? p.8).

Despite rumors to the contrary, there is no lack of evidence concerning the New Testament's credibility as a historical document. There are three types of evidence that can be used to evaluate the New Testament Text -- Greek manuscripts, the various versions in which the New Testament is translated, and the writings of the Church fathers.

The New Testament was originally composed in the Greek language and there are approximately 5,500 copies in existence that contain all or part of the New Testament. Although we do not possess the originals, copies exist from a very early date.

The New Testament was written from about A. D. 50 to A. D. 90. The earliest fragment dates about A. D. 120, with about 50 other fragments dating within 150-200 years from the time of composition.

Two major manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus (A. D. 325) and Codex Sinaiticus (A. D. 350), a complete copy, date within 250 years of the time of composition. This may seem like a long time span, but it is minimal compared to the most ancient works.

The earliest copy of Caesar's The Gallic Wars dates 1,000 years after it was written, and the first complete copy of the Odyssey by Homer dates 2,200 years after it was written. When the interval between the writing of the New Testament and earliest copies is compared to other ancient works, the New Testament proves to be much closer to the time of the original.

The 5,500 copies are far and away the most we have of any ancient work. Many ancient writings have been transmitted to us by only a handful of manuscripts (Catullus - three copies, earliest one is 1,600 years after he wrote; Herodotus - eight copies and 1,300 years).

Not only do the New Testament documents have more manuscript evidence and close time interval between the writing and earliest copy, but they were also translated into several other languages at an early date. Translation of a document into another language was rare in the ancient world, so this is an added plus for the New Testament.

The number of copies of the versions is in excess of 18,000, with possibly as many as 25,000. This is further evidence that helps us establish the New Testament text.

Even if we did not possess the 5,500 Greek manuscripts or the 18,000 copies of the versions, the text of the New Testament could still be reproduced within 250 years from its composition. How? By the writings of early Christians. In commentaries, letters, etc., these ancient writers quote the biblical text, thus giving us another witness to the text of the New Testament.

John Burgon has catalogued more than 86,000 citations by the early Church fathers who cite different parts of the New Testament. Thus we observe that there is so much more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament text than any other comparable writings in the ancient world.

F. F. Bruce makes the following observation: "The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning."

He also states, "And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded beyond all doubt" (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? p. 15).

Sir Frederic Kenyon, former director and principal librarian of the British Museum, was one of the foremost experts on ancient manuscripts and their authority. Shortly before his death, he wrote this concerning the New Testament:

This oft-quoted verse can be summed up in vernacular terms as “When you disobey God, you earn spiritual death, but God gifts you with eternal life through Jesus.”

See previous posts where I discuss sin, because I’m concentrating on the other half of the sentence today.  Also check out all Bible verses for yourselves.

Salvation is like a gift wrapped in plain paper sitting in a corner somewhere. It’s free for anyone to take and as soon as someone picks up the box, another one appears in its place. Some people don’t even notice the gift and walk right by it. Some people have heard of the gift, but distrust the strings they’re sure must be attached to a “free gift.” A bunch of people have seen this mundane box and considered whether to check it out. Some examine it from all sides and determine that they can’t guess what’s inside without opening it. Some run right up and grab the gift and clutch it to their chest. Some people ask these others what they found inside the gift. Sometimes they believe these people and sometimes they don’t. The reaction to the gift is as individual as the people who encounter it.

For those few people who actually decide to open the box, it is an act of choice to trust that there’s something worthwhile inside. They can’t know from the outside of the box that there isn’t garbage inside. They can question those who have already opened the box and they can examine the outside of the box thoroughly, but they can’t know for themselves what’s inside without opening it.

Somewhat like a puzzle box in an ancient Chinese folk story, the box marked salvation is opened by following the instructions of the Creator.

Romans 3:21-24 (emphasis on v 23) “But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed—attested by the Law and the Prophets—that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 10:8a-10 “This is the message of faith that we proclaim:
if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Paul the Apostle spent much effort on explaining that salvation did not come through being a good person or following rules or keeping the right rituals. He balanced the Jewish law and faith throughout the Letter to the Romans as he was aiming his letter primarily to Jewish Christians in Rome. He wanted them to understand that the law would not protect them, that they were just as responsible for the consequences of their disobedience to God as Gentiles were. For all mankind has disobeyed God and fallen short of the perfection God made us to be. Still we are justified (made as if we had never sinned) by God’s unmerited favor (grace) through the price Christ paid on the cross to write off our sins.

Christ died for the sins of everyone who has ever lived and ever will live, including our own quirky generation. It’s a gift (all gifts are free) that He gave to us even if we didn’t want it and had not earned it. In order to claim it, though, we have to claim God. How do we do that?

When we say that “Jesus is Lord” (Savior, God, Redeemer) and we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead on our behalf, we become Christians. Paul sought for his readers to understand that Christianity is not a private, personal decision and faith. Believing results in righteousness – it makes you right with God, but confession (not to a priest, but to your fellow human beings, including those who might ridicule you) results in salvation. Christianity is a faith lived in front of others from it's very first outing.

It is that simple to be born-again, but there’s always an objection – isn’t there?

“I am Ruth, your slave,” she replied. “Spread your cloak over me, for you are a family redeemer.” Ruth 3:8-9

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration of the days of fulfillment Lit the fulfillment of times —to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him.” Ephesians 1:7-10

Ruth was a Moabite woman who had been married to an expatriate Israelite who died before he and Ruth had any children. Rather than abandon her childless, widowed mother-in-law to starvation and loneliness, Ruth accompanied Naomi back to Israel. Determined to take care of them, Ruth gleaned the fields of a local wealthy farmer – Boaz. When Naomi realized that Boaz was a close cousin, she urged Ruth to approach him. Naomi understood Hebrew law and knew that Boaz was a kinsmen redeemer. Within Hebrew society, if a man was not married and a relative died without giving his parents an heir, the man was obligated to marry the widow of the deceased in order to provide the deceased’s parents with an heir to take care of them in their old age. (Remember, there was no Social Security in those days). The first child Ruth and Boaz created was not their child legally, but Naomi’s child and he would take care of her when she was too old to take care of herself.

Ruth was a slave by marriage to Naomi. Had she returned to her father’s home, he might have found her another husband (who would be her new owner), but she chose to follow Naomi and maintain her marriage status in Naomi’s family. As a foreign woman without a husband in a Middle Eastern land, she had few rights and fewer options. This was truer in Moab than in Israel, where the laws in Deuteronomy gave women some status. The kinsman redeemer law provided Ruth with the only happy outcome she was likely to get. Boaz could redeem her from the slavery wrought by her husband’s death, bring her out of her employ as his field hand and make her his wife. He was actually obligated to do so simply because she had been married to one of his cousins. It was one of the very neat things about Israel that women of that time, having so few rights, were protected in a way that is unknown in the rest of the region even today.

Thus, we have the picture of redemption in the Bible that applies to people today. We are all in slavery to sin. We are born spiritually dead and enslaved to sin as a consequence to Adam’s original disobedience to God, but we also marry sin and further make ourselves slaves to sin by our own actions during our lifetimes. There is nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God because God is perfect and we are not. Fortunately, God loves us enough to provide us benefits that we have not earned. We call this unmerited favor “grace.” Through grace, because God loves us, He chose to step into human history in the form of a human being (Jesus Christ). Being both God and man, Jesus brought the things of heaven and the things of earth together. The only sinless man and the perfect God could be an acceptable sacrifice and redeemer for a race of dead people.

Some people think of redemption as a “church word”, but I actually heard it first from the local pawn shop in my home town. Mr. Dworkin ran the only pawn shop in town and it was right next door to my parents’ restaurant. He used to talk about people who came to “redeem” their merchandise. He posted his “Criteria for Redemption” on the wall of his shop, which consisted of the original loan plus 10 percent, if I remember correctly. Thinking back, none of the merchandise in Mr. Dworkin’s shop asked to be pawned and it was helpless to redeem itself.  It waited upon it's original possessor to redeem it. When people did not return to redeem their merchandise, Mr. Dworkin sold it to people like my father, who had an eye for good, inexpensive stuff.  My father once redeemed (didn't buy) a ring that a neighbor kid had stolen from his mother and pawned. Mr. Dworkin had mentioned it to Dad and Dad knew the woman hadn’t given permission for her ring to be pawned. He also knew she didn’t have the cash to redeem the ring herself. So, he redeemed it for her and returned it. Recognizing that Dad had become the true owner of the ring, she willed the ring to me and I still wear it.

In much the same way, Jesus redeemed us. The entire human race for our entire history has pawned our collective souls to sin, sold ourselves for a very low value, but Jesus’ death provided an overflowing fund of forgiveness to redeem us from the spiritual pawn shop. The fund is not something we humans control. We can only accept or deny the redemption that has already been paid on our behalf. For grace is a gift from God and salvation is entirely His doing. Man’s part in determining the final disposition of his own soul lies simply in submitting and accepting the work God has already done.  We are already bought and paid for, but some of us continue in slavery because we do not understand or accept what God has done.

Next posting will be on the gift of salvation.

One of the presuppositions of Renaissance man was that his intellect was probably sufficient to answer all of the world’s questions. This is not to say that many Renaissance thinkers were not believers in Christ and therefore faith-based in their worldviews, but that as a whole, the Renaissance culture had a high opinion of its own intellect.

As do we in our own time. Boil down the thoughts of modern man and you get “We human beings are very smart!” Yet, one of the smartest men of the 1^st Century AD – a former student of the great Jewish theologian Gamalial wrote the following:

“For to those who are perishing the message of the cross is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

“Where is the philosopher? Or wise Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.

“For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.  Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Students of the Bible will recognize the words of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 1:18-25. Paul was not an anti-intellectual. A student of Gamalial, a Jew with a Greek education, a Roman citizen, a Pharisee, and a Saducee, Paul was among the elite intellectuals of his day. And, he recognized that primary presuppositions were standing in the way of his contemporaries as they considered Christ. Jewish belief was that anyone who hung on a tree was cursed by God, so as Jesus had died on a cross, He obviously could not be the Messiah. The Greeks (Gentiles educated in Greek thought) believed everything had to fit into their 1^st Century version of a test tube. To them it made no sense that God would come to earth as a man and give Himself up as a sacrifice for human beings. Greek gods, even when they went by Roman names, did not do that, therefore, the One True God would not do that. They had other intellectual objections, often revolving around the fact that Jesus was not a Roman citizen. If God really wanted to reach the Romans, the Messiah would have been born the son of Caesar.  Paul recognized that what the world considered foolishness was how God had chosen to reach mankind. That lack of adherence to the presuppositions of mankind was going to stand in some people’s way.

Curiously, Paul’s answer to this dilemma was “So what?” God chose not to impress the thinkers of Jesus' era as a way to reach mankind. If you can’t wrap your mind around that concept, Paul says, then maybe you’re the one with the problem, not God. Afterall, He's God and you're not.

Thus, we come forward to our present day. Believers in science (and make no mistake, many hold this belief as dearly as I hold my faith in God) look at what they feel are the proven facts of the universe and they say “God must fit these parameters or He can’t possibly exist.”  We have a presupposition that we know so much that we can outthink God. We know so much about the natural world that God is nothing more than a fairy tale that nobody with a brain could possibly believe in.

I must concur with Paul that “Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,
because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.”

If you start out with a presupposition that there is no God, you will likely find exactly what you’re looking for because if you hold a presupposition that God is impossible, you will discount evidence that supports His existence. You will concoct other theories to explain the evidence. Finding evidence to support one’s presuppositions is easy. Acknowledging evidence that runs counter to your presuppositions is much harder. It's also much more intellectually honest.

God is spirit, an eternal being who has always existed and always will exist – “In the beginning was God …” Genesis 1, John 1. God is not within the material world. He created the world, but He is not subject to it. Why do we expect God to conform to the rules He set up for the material world when He in fact created the material world?

Far too many finite human beings try to put God into their test tube, to say He must do “this” in order to prove His existence to Me. Yet God is not the created. He is the Creator. He is a being large enough to create the universe and small enough to commune with the human heart. How does a created being limited by time and space quantify a Creator unlimited by time and space? The answer is: You don’t! We can’t!

I started out as a teenager seeker with the presupposition that “there might be something beyond the material finite world that I can see.” I was pretty sure there wasn't a God in the Biblical sense, but the presupposition that there might be something I didn't know left open a window of intellectual honesty that God could tap on to get my attention.

The presupposition “there is no god, nothing beyond this material realm” asserts that a human being is smart enough to be sure of that beyond all doubt. The question that comes to me is – if you can only see this material realm, how can you be absolutely certain that there’s nothing beyond it?”