03/19/2023 – Gospel of John Fellowship – Chapter Three / “God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love.” St. Augustine. (354 – 430 A.D)
On the quote – here is a bio of St. Augustine:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/
I copied our suggested questions below my question and an informational excerpt from Barclay’s commentary once again.
https://biblicaltheology.com/Research/MathewsSH01.pdf
I would like to pose a question to y’all (#6): What does born of water and spirit mean in John 3:5? I selected an informational article in the link above. Jesus challenges Nicodemus: “Are you the man whom everyone regards as the teach of Israel, and you do not understand these things?” Perhaps a good starting place in Old Testament scripture is Ezekiel 36: 25-27 , noted in this article. Barclay’s commentary notes: Ezekiel 18:31. Others: Micah 3:8 ; Exodus 31:3 ; Exodus 35:31 (*A).
(*A): Fascinating example: Moses proclaims that Bezelel was filled with the Spirit of God, so that he mastered a full array of craftsmanship gifts. A love of God that translates to amazing skill that glorifies God!
Do you think Nicodemus perhaps was aware of these scriptures, that in fact he thought Jesus was going too far by saying: “we must be reborn from above.” We have a link to an article dated 10/03/2022, which was day 314 of our Semikkah7 read through the Bible plan. In it, it suggests that it is likely that Nicodemus was in fact a Christian when he helped the man that supplied the tomb to provide burial for Jesus.
Excerpt – “The Gospel of John – Volume 1″ by William Barclay (ISBN: 0-664-21304-9 (v. 1)”
“Nicodemus was driven back by another defense. In effect he said: ‘This rebirth about which you talk may be possible; but I can’t understand how it works.’ The answer of Jesus depends for its point on the fact that the Greek word spirt, pneuma, has two meanings. It is the word for spirit, but it is also the regular word for wind. The same is true of the Hebrew word reach; it too means both spirit and wind. So Jesus said to Nicodemus; ‘You can hear and see and feel the wind (pneuma)); but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going to . You may understand how and why the wind blows; but you can see what it does. You may not understand where a gale came from or where it is going to, but you can see the trail of flattened fields and uprooted trees that it leaves behind it. There are many things about the wind you may not understand; but its effect is plain for all to see. He went on, the Spirit (pneuma) is exactly the same. You may not know how the Spirit works; but you can see the effect of the Spirit in human lives.”
“Jesus said: ‘ This is not theoretical thing of which we are speaking. We are talking of what we have actually seen. We can point to man after man who has been re-born by the power of the Spirit.’ Dr. John Hutton used to tell of a workman who had been a drunken reprobate and was converted. His work-mates did their best to make him feel like a fool. ‘Surely,’ they said to him, ‘you can’t believe in miracles and things like that. Surely for instance, you don’t believe that Jesus turned water into wine.’ ‘I don’t know,’ the man answered, ‘ whether he turned water in to wine when he was in Palestine, but I do know that in my own house and home he has turned beer into furniture! ‘ “
“…Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘I have tried to make things simple for you; I have used simple human pictures taken from everyday life; and you have not understood. How can you ever expect to understand deep things, if even the simple things are beyond you?’ There is a warning here for every one of us. It is easy to sit in discussion groups, to sit in a study and to read books, it is easy to discuss the intellectual truth of Christianity; but the essential thing is to experience the power of Christianity. It is fatally easy to start at the wrong end and to think of Christianity as something to be discussed, no something to be experienced. It is certainly important to have an intellectual grasp of the orb of Christian truth; but it is more important to have a vital experience of the power of Jesus Christ. When a man undergoes treatment from a doctor, when he has to have an operation, when he is given some medicine to take, he does not need to know the anatomy of the human body, the scientific effect of the anasthetic, the way in which the drug works in the body, in order to be cured. Ninety-nine men of of every hundred accept the cure without being able to say how it was brought about. There is a sense in which Christianity is like that. At its heart there is a mystery, but it is not the mystery of intellectual appreciation; it is the mystery of redemption.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
And here is our standard questions again, for reference:
This is an evergreen list subject to revision, including additions which I am sure I have missed. It takes a village. On my posts, I will do my best to put these questions at the end of all my posts for our twenty-one day study ending on Maundy Thursday. As the Holy Spirit leads you, these discussion questions are just a guideline for building His remnant church as mutual messengers.
- What does the text reveal about God’s character? #1
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us? #2
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study? #3
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)? #4
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point? #5
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere in the Bible. #6
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group. #7
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times. #8