TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
September, 1941
348
1. Whatever Christ meant, He ex pected Nicodemus to be familiar with it. When Nicodemus asked, “How can these things be?” (v. 9), the Lord rath er sharply replied, “Art thou a master [i. e., teacher] of Israel, and knowest not these things?” Now we should re call that at this time not a line of the New Testament had been1- written. Therefore, if the explanation was some thing Nicodemus should have known as a Jewish teacher, it must be found in the Old Testament. This is the key with which any worth-while explanation must begin. 2. The Old Testament reference was so well known that the ignorance of a man like Nicodemus was nothing less than astonishing. It is Ezekiel 36:25-27, a passage as distinctive in the Old Tes tament as John 3:5 is in the New Testa ment. And it was as familiar to every intelligent Jewish rabbi as John 3:5 is to the educated baptismal regeneration- ist of today. The Bible is its own best interpreter. And the reason so little progress has been made in the under standing of John 3:5 is that for the most part the interpreters have ignored the Ezekiel passage. A careful reading of these two passages shows that each contains three things which exactly correspond; and in each passage they are directly connected with a coming kingdom. John 3:5 Ezekiel 36:25-27 1. Clean Water The question now is, What is the water referred to in these passages ? If in John 3:5 it is the material water of baptism, as some argue, then it must be the sapie in Ezekiel 36. (This would hardly be acceptable to the immersion- ists, since the water there "is to be “sprinkled.” ) A more Scriptural view is that the water is, not material at all. The Lord • supplies the infallible key in the very next chapter of John. Speaking to the Samaritan woman, the Lord of fered her what He called “living water.” But this ignorant woman, suffering from the same misconception as the baptismal regenerationists, supposed He was talking about material water until she was set right. Now every thoughtful student of the Bible knows that it speaks of another kind of water, namely, the water of the Word of God. Examples are these: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26), and, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). And if the water of John 4 is not ma_ terial water, but the living water of the Word, should' not this fact guide us in our interpretation of the preceding chapter of the same book of John? Let us not make the blunder of the Samari tan woman, turning spiritual things into material things. 1. Water 2. Spirit 3. New Birth 2. My Spirit 3. New Heart 3.
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4. Furthermore, if the water of John 3:5 is the water of the Word, then the text harmonizes perfectly with the other New Testament passages dealing with the new birth. For the Word of God is a well-known element or agent in the miracle of the new birth. “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (Jas. 1:18). “Beirig bom again, not of corruptible seed, but of incor ruptible, by the word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23). To argue, as the baptismal re generationists do, that the water of John 3:5 is material water, is to assume that a spiritual birth can be produced by corruptible seed. The attempt to get spiritual effects out of material sources or elements is.the very essence of pagan ism. In the Bible, the new birth is always the product of two spiritual forces: the Word of God and the Spirit of God. This is precisely the truth af firmed by our Lord in John 3:5, and also in Ezekiel 36:25-27. 5. It is sometimes objected that, ac cording to this interpretation, we do not take the Bible literally. In answer to this, we need only point out that in the Greek original both the terms “water” and “ Spirit” are symbolical. The word rendered "Spirit” is literally "wind” or “breath.” If the objector insists on a slavish literalism, then we should trans late the passage thus: “Except a man be born of water and of wind, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” {The word is translated “wind” in verse 8). But every sensible scholar knows that the context requires the symbolical meaning of "Spirit.” And by the sanie argument we ought to understand that the water here is the water of the Word. I have seen in the autumn, when the trees had shed their leaves, that two or three leaves have stuck fast on the branches, and have clung to' them all the winter through. Storms have beaten them, frosts have bitten them, snow and rain have blackened them, yet they have held fast to the tree. But when the spring has come, and the sap has begun to ascend and push its way through every branch and every twig, the leaves have disappeared—pushed off by the rising tide of new life, for death can never stand before life. So it is with us. Those old inveterate Golden Text Illustration R omans 8:14
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