Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 2 Study # 6
January 21, 2024
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: There is only One Who is genuinely "believable" when He "speaks", and "disbelief" regarding His words is absolutely inexcusable.
Introduction: In our look into Witness-John's words in
John 3:29-30 we saw that his disciples needed his correction regarding their "loyalty" to him because they were confusing the issue of just who the "bridegroom" is and who is merely His "friend". Those disciples had witnessed John's declaration that Jesus was the One to whom all loyalty belongs, but they had written that off when push came to shove. They had a secret agenda -- to retain the glory they possessed by being a "disciple" of a validated messenger of God -- and they were disgruntled because their "Rabbi's" light was beginning to dim and that meant theirs was also.
There is a major issue here: it is the issue of "loyalty". And beneath that issue is a more significant one: the issue of "believability". And, actually, there are a ragged host of other more significant issues than simple believability -- including the issue of "love" (What is valuable?"), the issue of "Life" (only when what is valuable is pursued by belief can "Life" result), the issue of "Death" (Jesus brought this issue into play in 3:18), the issue of how "good works" actually come into being through men of flesh (Jesus also brought this into play in 3:21), and the issue of what happens to men because of what they "do" in a cause-and-effect universe).
In the face of this host of "other issues", this morning we are going to look into the one which Witness-John put into words regarding what must be "believed".
- I. The Preliminary Factors.
- A. "He Who is coming from above".
- 1. There are two issues: the "coming" as a present event; and the "from above" as a phrase that has already been used by Author-John.
- a. This "coming", as a present event, has its roots in 1:9 where it is declared that the True Light enlightens every man who is coming into the world.
- 1) The only way that can "work" is if the True Light is present when a man comes into the world [the alternative translation that puts the "coming into the world" after the True Light would mean that men had no true light until Jesus came into the world -- which entirely negates the "enlightenment of every man" which is Author-John's point].
- 2) What Witness-John is saying is that when "The Word" speaks, He is present in some form [Hebrews 1:1 tells us what "form" that presence took, and Romans 1:19-20 adds to this reality of man's "knowing" the message of the True Light].
- 3) Paul enhanced our understanding of this "coming" reality in 1 Thessalonians 1:5 and 2:13 when He taught that the "word of God" is the "word of God" because the Spirit of Jesus attends the words with His enlightening power.
- b. The second issue is Author-John's use of "anothen".
- 1) In 3:3 and 7, Jesus claimed that a man needed to be born "again", which Nicodemus correctly took to mean "a second time", but incorrectly tried to tie the two births together into one method.
- a) The Bible even presents Jesus as having been "begotten" twice; once as the son of a virgin, and a second time at the point of His resurrection (This day I have begotten You: Psalm 2:7 interpreted by Acts 13:33 and Colossians 1:18 in the light of 1 Corinthians 15:20).
- b) The "missing ingredient" in 3:3 and 7 is the connection between the "again" birth and the "born of the Spirit" birth (John 19:11 makes this link by recording Jesus' claim to Pilate that "it had been given from above (anothen)".
- 2. Witness-John's declaration is that Jesus is "the twice begotten Son from heaven" and, consequently, is the most important object of loyalty because of what He "speaks".
- a. At issue is "what is spoken" in terms of "validity": Is it Life-giving Truth, or is it "speech from earth" as words from a world that is overcome by the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19-20)?
- b. The disciples of John were attempting to treat John as "coming from heaven", but it was only his message that so came, and that, miraculously, because of the "earth's" corruption.
