Herbert Armstrong: Born Again - Does Jesus want a believer to be ‘born again’ in this life, or only the next?

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Nicodemus, like many Jews, had been looking for the kingdom of God to be set up there and then.

Presumably he was hoping to learn more from this ‘teacher come from God," who can tell him more about the Messiah and his kingdom.

Being a Pharisee he likely held opinions as to his right of citizenship in this kingdom. Regarding it as a continuation of entitlements stemming from King David - he was born a Jew, of the seed of Abraham, of the same race with the great king David.

It was in this context we read of Jesus’s reply. His first words were:

Verse 3: KJV: ‘’ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’’

Some, such as Armstrong offshoots, and the Jehovah Witnesses, say it occurs only at the end of things.

Please see this link to Quora wherein I discuss the issue. 

Hello. My name is Bill. I live in Canberra, Australia. I retired from work some 5 years ago, I believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour by whom we are justified and sanctified by the miraculous workings of God. I don't attend a particular church but may go from time to time. I like to study the scriptures and I read quite widely generally. I had an experience over four decades ago with a church founded by Armstrong which claimed to be the one true church of this time. My wife (who passed away five years ago) and I left it a long time ago and one is grateful such bonds were broken.

Comments

  1. The COG CatholicJanuary 20, 2025 at 4:15 PM

    What I've found interesting is that when we look up any mention of this "born again" conversation with Nicodemus in the writings of the Early Church Fathers, every writer without exception identifies it with water baptism.

    That kind of very early unanimity carries a lot of weight with me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BillWJanuary 30, 2025 at 4:08 AM

      Interesting that the early Church Fathers understood it in that way. I must read more concerning them what source did you find useful.

      Delete

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