M
-maranatha-
Guest
Hi,
this is my first posting in this board and therefore I want to introduce myself quickly. I´m an eighteen year old Christian from Germany and was reborn a year and some weeks ago. I guess this is the most important, you´ll get to know me better anyhow. :wink:
Well, yesterday I began (the third time I guess...) to read the Gospel of John and I was really amazed about the philosophical quality of chapter one´s first verses. I can´t remember having spent so much time thinking about only a few verses ever.
John 1, 12: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
These verses show that the natural man is born not of God, but of blood and the will of the flesh. I tried to figure out the meaning of "born of the will of the flesh". It´s the opposite of being born of God, which means to be born of spirit, because God is spirit and we are one spirit with him after our rebirth (1.Corinthians 6, 17). It is being everything apart from God and so it is being in the darkness and serving the darkness, because God is light. In other words: to be born of flesh means to be and do evil.
How could it happen that men were not born of God, but born of the will of the flesh?
Originally men were formed by the will and spoken word of God. The Lord forbad to eat from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve, before they ate, weren´t able to identify good and evil. The snake therefore spoke to Eve: "your eyes will be opened" (Gen 3, 5). Man´s eyes were shut concerning the world of good and evil before. The both of course liked or disliked things (they feared the menaced death), but they couldn´t see that there is commendable or contemptible behaviour. They just did what God had demanded them to do and they were happy. God had given them a kind of seal that saved them from getting in contact with Satan and being judged. Adam and Eve could neither see good and evil nor identify it as such.
As soon as they had eaten from the tree of knowledge there eyes were opened (Gen 3, 7) and they were able to know good and evil. They had lost the God-given seal. Now they saw evil and recognized it as contemptible. Their own weak nature led them to a lifestyle that perverted God´s good plans for men.
Pride - the will of being independent of God - was their gin. I don´t know whether Adam and Eve felt guilty when they ate the fruits of the tree, because they didn´t know good and evil. But they did and they distrusted the Lord.
Let´s get back to John. The rebirth, being born of God, means to get a new "seal". Men´s fall can´t be anulled, we are able to know good and evil and the earth is cursed.
God found another way to make us His children again:
We get a new spirit that is one with the spirit of God and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. It hates evil and even if our old man, the flesh, fails and sins, the Lord forgives us, because he knows our heart and that we don´t want to sin. Furthermore Jesus´ blood freed us from sin and justified us. Isaiah sayed, that Jesus did all our works for us.
In the past I couldn´t understand the Fall of men and I made the experience that I wasn´t alone. I hope I could help you to understand it better.
Kai
this is my first posting in this board and therefore I want to introduce myself quickly. I´m an eighteen year old Christian from Germany and was reborn a year and some weeks ago. I guess this is the most important, you´ll get to know me better anyhow. :wink:
Well, yesterday I began (the third time I guess...) to read the Gospel of John and I was really amazed about the philosophical quality of chapter one´s first verses. I can´t remember having spent so much time thinking about only a few verses ever.
John 1, 12: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
These verses show that the natural man is born not of God, but of blood and the will of the flesh. I tried to figure out the meaning of "born of the will of the flesh". It´s the opposite of being born of God, which means to be born of spirit, because God is spirit and we are one spirit with him after our rebirth (1.Corinthians 6, 17). It is being everything apart from God and so it is being in the darkness and serving the darkness, because God is light. In other words: to be born of flesh means to be and do evil.
How could it happen that men were not born of God, but born of the will of the flesh?
Originally men were formed by the will and spoken word of God. The Lord forbad to eat from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve, before they ate, weren´t able to identify good and evil. The snake therefore spoke to Eve: "your eyes will be opened" (Gen 3, 5). Man´s eyes were shut concerning the world of good and evil before. The both of course liked or disliked things (they feared the menaced death), but they couldn´t see that there is commendable or contemptible behaviour. They just did what God had demanded them to do and they were happy. God had given them a kind of seal that saved them from getting in contact with Satan and being judged. Adam and Eve could neither see good and evil nor identify it as such.
As soon as they had eaten from the tree of knowledge there eyes were opened (Gen 3, 7) and they were able to know good and evil. They had lost the God-given seal. Now they saw evil and recognized it as contemptible. Their own weak nature led them to a lifestyle that perverted God´s good plans for men.
Pride - the will of being independent of God - was their gin. I don´t know whether Adam and Eve felt guilty when they ate the fruits of the tree, because they didn´t know good and evil. But they did and they distrusted the Lord.
Let´s get back to John. The rebirth, being born of God, means to get a new "seal". Men´s fall can´t be anulled, we are able to know good and evil and the earth is cursed.
God found another way to make us His children again:
We get a new spirit that is one with the spirit of God and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. It hates evil and even if our old man, the flesh, fails and sins, the Lord forgives us, because he knows our heart and that we don´t want to sin. Furthermore Jesus´ blood freed us from sin and justified us. Isaiah sayed, that Jesus did all our works for us.
In the past I couldn´t understand the Fall of men and I made the experience that I wasn´t alone. I hope I could help you to understand it better.
Kai