____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ November 7, 1993 ____________________________________________________ "...Born of Water and the Spirit" by Tom Edwards It was Jesus who taught in John 3:3-5 that a man must be ``born again''--born of ``water and the Spirit''--in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In other words, without this, a man would remain in a lost, unforgiven state, and never make it to heaven. It is, therefore, imperative that we come to understand what the New Testament shows one must do in order to be ``born again.'' Many religious groups today are teaching that this born again experience is acquired through merely ``faith alone,'' or by ``praying a sinner's prayer,'' or by ``doing nothing at all--for it is all totally up to God to save whom He wants.'' But all these ideas are wrong. Man needs to have more than ``faith only'' (Matt. 7:21; James 2:24); and ``calling on the Lord'' means more than merely ``praying a sinner's prayer'': it involves complying with the necessary steps to become a Christian: faith, repentance, confession, and baptism. Surely, if anyone could have been saved by prayer, it would have been Saul of Tarsus, for after his encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus, he spent three days fasting and praying in the city until he was finally told to ''...Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name'' (Acts 22:16). These passages alone suffice to show that man MUST do certain things in order to be saved; and it is, therefore, not totally up to God. In the passage under consideration today (John 3:3-5), we are reminded that salvation involves the cooperation of the individual with the Lord; for God, by His Spirit, has revealed His plan of redemption, but the individual must submit to it by his faith and obedience. Getting back to this passage, many people today believe that the ``water'' has reference to a ``physical birth.'' They tell us that this is speaking of the amniotic fluid that surrounds the unborn child, but is Jesus teaching that people have to be born physically before they can be born again? Would not this be superfluous? Is it necessary to emphasize to individuals who have already been born that one of the prerequisites toward salvation is that they have been born physically? Perhaps many draw this wrong conclusion of the water referring to a ``physical birth'' because of their upbringing with the false doctrine of salvation by ``faith only,'' which obstructs their view from being able to see the necessity to do anything but mentally believe in the deity of Christ--apart from any action--and ``surely not have to be baptized, too.'' Many Bible scholars today, however--and especially long ago--have taken the position that the ``water'' in this passage is signifying water baptism. Unfortunately, the masses in the religious world continue to not accept this and remain with the persuasion that water baptism is irrelevant to obtaining the remission of sins. Another perversion of this passage states that the ``water'' actually means ``Spirit,'' but why would God's word redundantly instruct that one must be ``born of Spirit and the Spirit''? It would seem unlikely that it would. How is one born of water and the Spirit? Hear the words of Peter: ``Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God'' (1 Pet. 1:22,23). Is this passage incongruous to what the Lord expressed in John 3:3-5? Is this a discrepancy when Peter speaks about salvation by the word; and Jesus, by the water and the Spirit? How do we reconcile these thoughts? The harmony in these two passages is brought to view by realizing that the Spirit uses the word to instruct man (Eph. 6:17); and the word teaches the need for baptism (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). Therefore, the Spirit, the word, and the water all work together for the salvation of man. It's helpful to note that only in water-baptism do we find water being used in the New Testament in connection with one's salvation; and even if the ``water'' in John 3:3-5 were not speaking of water baptism (though it clearly is), there are numerous other passages in the New Testament that do--and verses which show the connection between baptism and redemption. For example, Jesus shows it to be just as necessary as believing (Mark 16:16); Peter, corresponding with this, taught the need to be baptized to be as important as believing and repenting, so that one may obtain the remission of sins (Acts 2:36,38). Both Peter and Ananias indicate that being baptized was part of what men had to do in order to ``call on the name of the Lord'' (Acts 2:21-41; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21). Water baptism is necessary for the new birth. ``Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come'' (2 Cor. 5:17). Being ``in Christ'' makes one a ``new creature,'' and it is through baptism that one is put ``into Christ'' (Gal. 3:26,27). Furthermore, becoming a new creature in Christ is when one has been raised to ``walk in newness of life,'' and Paul shows that this happens AFTER one is baptized--not BEFORE (Rom. 6:3,4). The elements used in the Lord's Supper--the unleavened bread and fruit of the vine--SYMBOLIZE for us the body and blood of Jesus. This, however, does not minimize the importance of these elements. We cannot say that just because they are only emblematic of the body and blood of the Lord that we don't really have to take them. The seriousness of partaking of the communion can be seen in 1 Cor. 11:17-34: it is actually possible for one to eat and drink damnation unto himself if he doesn't take of this supper properly. It is not a common meal, but symbolic to us of the death of Jesus. I have said the above paragraph to point out that even though water is sometimes used as a SYMBOL of cleansing, it doesn't make it any less important toward its use in baptism so that one may contact forgiveness by the blood of Jesus. Many of our denominational friends have wrongly expressed the purpose for baptism by saying that it is merely ``an outward show of an inward grace.'' According to the Scriptures, however, it is more than an ``outward show''; it is also what enables us to receive that ``inward grace.'' Corresponding to John 3:3-5 is Titus 3:5, in which Paul speaks about ``the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.'' Though Jesus uses the phrase ``born again,'' Paul uses its synonym of ``regeneration''; for this latter term simply means a spiritual ``rebirth.'' And as we think of Paul's use of the word ``washing,'' what other element than water would we think to have been used? So while Jesus says a person must be ``born of water and the Spirit'' in order to be ``born again,'' Paul says--in other words--that one must be washed (in water) and renewed by the Spirit in order to be regenerated (born again). According to the Scriptures, one cannot be born of the water only--nor can one be born by the Spirit only. Salvation consists of more than merely being dunked in the water, but that is not to say that water baptism is not essential--for, as we have seen, it is a necessary condition toward being saved. Furthermore, if one's salvation were totally up to the Spirit then man would have no conditions to meet, but this is not what God's word shows--man must meet certain requirements in order to be forgiven by the blood of Christ. Have you been born of water and the Spirit? ___________________________________________ The Small Things by Tom Edwards A song we have often sung at church expresses that ``There is room in the kingdom...for the small things that you can do.'' It could be, however, that we often overlook some of these small things or never get around to doing them because we view them as being insignificant or trivial. But to the contrary, the song continues by conveying that good can be accomplished in ``just a small, kindly deed that may cheer another.'' We should, therefore, remind ourselves that even many of those things that seem insignificant to us can be of great value in the heart of someone else--whether it be a timely word spoken or a thoughtful deed performed. Jesus commended the poor widow who had put her two small copper coins into the treasury because--though seeming so small in contrast to the large contributions--she had given her all. While the rich gave of their surplus, she had given of her entire livelihood (Mark 12:41-44). At first, Naaman was reluctant to obey the command to dip himself seven times into the Jordan River in order to be healed of his leprosy, and this had even angered him for awhile because he wanted God to restore his health in some other way. He mentioned the Abanah and Pharpar--rivers of Damascus that were, by far, much better than the turbid waters of the Jordan--and desired to be washed in them instead; but when he finally obeyed God's command--regardless of how small or unimpressive an order it seemed--he was healed (2 Kings 5). It is common knowledge that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, but what is not so well-known is that long before Bell's world-changing invention, a German school teacher by the name of Reis came pretty close to doing the same. His invention would carry the sound of whistling or humming, but not the human voice. It was many years later when Bell discovered the problem. There had been a little screw that Reis used to control the electrodes that needed only a slight adjustment of one-thousandth of an inch which made the difference between his invention carrying the human voice or not. Though a very small thing, it marked the contrast between success and failure for the telephone and made a major difference. The Lord does not overlook even the small things that we do for His name. Jesus says, ``He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much'' (Luke 16:10). This statement implies, essentially, that what one does in the small affairs of life epitomizes the gamut of one's entire life. Knowing that our reward in heaven will far outweigh any sacrifice we must make while here on earth--whether little or big--let us be faithful in all things, realizing the value in being true to God, and striving always to please the Lord in every detail of life--from that which we view as momentous to even those seemingly small things. ___________________________________________ Interested In Studying the Bible? Write today for our FREE BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE and we will enroll you promptly ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________