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THE WHOLE WORLD
February 17, 2008
John 3:1-17
Ezekiel 36:24-28
There is a lot going on in our Scripture reading today. It begins with a visit from Nicodemus, who is both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. That alone tells us a lot about him. Sadducees were wealthy, and from aristocratic families. Pharisees like Nicodemus were working stiffs who held down a full time day job. Sadducees believed God made the world, started it spinning, then walked away, and this life is all there is. Pharisees believed God was intimately involved with this world, and there would be life after death. Sadducees were admired for their wealth. Pharisees were admired for their devout and faithful lifestyle. Sadducees outnumbered Pharisees four to one in the Sanhedrin. The only Pharisees allowed into that ruling body were those who were the most highly respected. That’s who Nicodemus is.
It’s not surprising Nicodemus comes at night. He had to put in a full day at the factory, then check on his family, read his Bible and then pray, before he could visit Jesus. He sits down with Jesus and says, “Teacher we know you’re from God. No one could do the things you do unless he was from God.” It’s hard to say who the ‘we’ is. Nicodemus has been talking about Jesus with someone else – maybe another Pharisee, maybe a Sadducee, maybe the whole Sanhedrin. And, at this point, they had a favorable opinion of him.
Depending on which translation you read Jesus answers Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you – (NRSV)”, “Verily, verily I say unto thee – (KJV)”, “Truly, truly, I say to you – (NASB)”. We call this a double AMEN. The double AMEN is a speech pattern unique to Jesus. In recent years it has become fashionable to say that the early church changed Jesus’ words, or even made up sayings for him, so they could keep tight control of the people. The Jesus seminar decided that the only part of the Lord’s Prayer that came from Jesus himself was, “Our Father”, the rest was made up. However, those who study first century Aramaic and Greek say that no one used a double AMEN. You just don’t find that in any written documents. So, where that phrase appears it must be Jesus’ actual words. In today’s Scripture the double AMEN shows up in verses three, five, and eleven. Even skeptics must agree that what we read here came from Jesus’ own lips.
Jesus says, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (or born anew, or born again)." This is a big statement. The Pharisees believed the Bible taught that God was deeply involved in this world, and was disappointed by its out of control lust for sin. One day, God would decide enough is enough and he would return to wipe out all the sinners and establish his kingdom on earth. The righteous dead would be resurrected to participate in this kingdom. When Jesus acknowledges the kingdom, he bonds with Nicodemus. He is saying, “I believe like you Pharisees believe.” Now Nicodemus is ready to hear whatever Jesus has to say.
Jesus says, “You have to be born again (or anew, or from above).” That was not a totally foreign concept to Nicodemus. When the Syrian general Naaman got leprosy, he was cured by being immersed in the river Jordan (2 Kings 5:14-15). It was a life changing event. He went from a certain death sentence to being alive, he was born again. As a consequence, he embraced the God of Israel. Namaan’s conversion was the root of the requirement to baptize gentiles who wanted to become Jews. When a gentile was baptized he accepted the yoke of Judaism, and was born anew. When Jacob spends the night wrestling with God he emerges as a new man. He leaves his deceitful past behind, and is given a new name – Israel (Genesis 32:25-32). He is born again. Nicodemus was familiar with the concept of completely changing your life as being ‘born again’. Here’s the problem. As a Pharisee, he didn’t need to be born again. He was practically perfect. He didn’t need to change. God already loved him just the way he was. He was guaranteed admittance into the kingdom (Matthew 3:9, 8:11-12, John 8:33).
Jesus throws out a shocker when he says you will not enter the kingdom unless you are born of water and the spirit. That statement continues to be a shocker today. There is no clear consensus on what Jesus means by being born of water and the spirit. Some say he is talking about a physical birth followed by a spiritual birth. A woman’s water breaks, and then a child is physically born. The second birth comes from the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Another says, “Close, but not quite.” Water was sometimes a euphemism for a man’s sperm. Sperm is injected and the first birth results. The spirit is injected and the second birth results. The next guy says Jesus is talking about our baptisms. There is our baptism by water and our baptism by the Holy Spirit.
The problem here is the implication we can’t go to heaven if we haven’t been baptized, and we know that’s not true. The next view says water is a symbol of cleansing, and the spirit is the bringer of power. Jesus tells Nicodemus once you’ve been cleaned and empowered by God you can enter the kingdom.
A final view (and this is the one I tend to prefer) goes like this. In both the Old and New Testaments water is often a symbol for the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 44:3, John 4:14). Jesus is saying, “Not by your actions or your heritage, but by the spirit, by the spirit, you enter the kingdom.” It’s another double AMEN. Like I said, that’s the one I like. But, I’m not married to it. Feel free to embrace the interpretation that makes the most sense to you. Jesus finishes by explaining to Nicodemus that with his arrival, and most especially with his crucifixion, the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived (verses 12-15).
At this point we need to talk about predestination, because there are some very consequential implications from Jesus talking about the water and the spirit and the blowing wind. How do we balance free will against the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and what are their respective roles in salvation? I have to tell you that I personally cannot accept the classical interpretation of predestination, which goes like this. The early church father Irenaeus said the Bible is not a man made product. It is completely inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit only resides within Christians, not within non-believers. Therefore, only believers can read and understand the Bible. The Bible doesn’t make sense to non-Christians because they don’t have the Holy Spirit. Only a saved mind can interpret Scripture. So, if a man were to say, “I had hit rock bottom, I was drunk and alone in a hotel. Then, I found a Gideon’s Bible. I read the story of Jesus Christ and I was saved.” Irenaeus would say, “Oh no you did not!” You had to already be saved by the Spirit, or the story of Jesus wouldn’t have impacted you. This is the foundational level of predestination. God chooses people for salvation, people don’t choose God.
Martin Luther came along in the early 1500’s. He believed the Catholic Church had a works salvation theory. To go to heaven you must have faith in Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and be a member of the church, and have confessed your sins to a priest. You were responsible for your own salvation. When Luther read the book of Romans he came away adamant that faith in Jesus is the only way to be saved. He went so far as to say, if God offers you the gift of salvation, and you say yes I want that, you have just saved yourself. You are guilty of salvation by works, and not faith alone. Luther looked at our Scripture today and he saw Jesus saying that salvation comes when you enter the kingdom, but you can’t enter the kingdom until the Spirit anoints you. You don’t have any more control over the Spirit than you do the wind. Therefore God, and God alone, determines who gets the Spirit, and who gets to go to heaven.
John Calvin came along and formally wrote down a scary thought that Irenaeus and Luther had hinted at. Before time even began, God already knew who he was going to send to heaven, and who he was going to send to hell. God has picked some people to be saved. And, some people, God has picked to go to hell. We don’t have any say or input into this decision at all. God deliberately created some people to be damned. The others he predestined to be saved. Knowing that should make those of us who are saved humble and grateful. If you don’t accept that as truth, you are wicked. If you disagree with that, you don’t know your Bible. If you think that is unfair, you don’t understand how infinitely complex God is. Why would God present the Gospel to the whole world if the world was barred from understanding and accepting the call? You shouldn’t even be asking that question.
I have had a lot of people try to explain predestination to me in a logical way that makes sense. It’s never worked. Here is what I think. If there is no free will, then once the Spirit saves someone they should never sin again. If you are able to sin against the Spirit, you must be able to make that choice. So, free will obviously exists. If predestination is correct, then why are we wasting money sending Brandon and Doug to Columbia? No human being can thwart the will of God. If God has predestined those children in Bogota to be saved, they will be saved even if we don’t send missionaries. So, why waste the money sending the missionaries? The adherents of predestination tell me, “Rocky, just accept it.” I can’t.
If you come from a denominational background that promotes predestination, I am not trying to change your mind. My wife is a proponent of predestination. We don’t talk about this topic in our house. But, we still worship together on Sunday. I’m not trying to change your personal beliefs, I’m just letting you know where I stand. If you don’t have a firm position on this issue, let me share some really good news with you. As Methodist’s we take some pretty hard knocks from the rest of the Protestant world for our theology. There is a tendency to think of us as ‘flakey’. Let me tell you why you’re really fortunate to be Methodist.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, came up with the solution to free will versus predestination. He called it ‘Prevenient Grace’. God sends the Holy Spirit to us, to show us how terrible our sin predicament is. The Spirit brings to us the awareness of our position before God and offers us the opportunity to accept the healing power of Jesus Christ. We don’t choose for the Spirit to come, it is sent by God. We then exercise our free will to either accept or reject the grace which has been extended. Prevenient Grace is universal and irresistible. That is, it is available to every person in the world, and they must acknowledge it. Therefore, if someone goes to hell it is not because God has damned them there. It is because they (of their own free will) chose not to accept the gift of salvation which the Spirit made known to them. Nicodemus was as holy and righteous as a Pharisee could get. Yet, he knew there was something more. He knew he had to find Jesus. It was Prevenient Grace that drove him to find Jesus and make a decision.
Let me give you an example I’ve stolen from a man named William Abraham. An alcoholic thinks he has free will. Every morning he can decide to get drunk on Rum, or Vodka, or Whiskey. But, his only freedom is in how he will be a slave to his sin. Until one day, when his family invites him home – and it’s an intervention. His family surrounds him and they say, “Your alcoholism is destroying our family. We can’t put up with it any more. We love you, and it’s killing us to see you like this. So, you have a choice. You can go with us right now to a rehabilitation center, and clean up your life. If you do that you will be totally welcome in the family. But, if you refuse the rehab, we are going to turn our backs on you. The pain you are bringing us is so great we just can’t be associated with you anymore. It hurts too much. Please choose life. Please choose rehab. Please choose your family.
In that example the intervention is Prevenient Grace. It will never cross the alcoholics mind that there could be a better way, until the intervention. We don’t know we’re lost to sin until God sends the Spirit to tell us we’re lost to sin. After that, it’s our choice to be eternally separated from the family – it’s not something God does to us. And, because God is the father of all, the intervention is available to every one of his children without distinction. Everyone receives Prevenient Grace. That is why today’s Scripture does not end by saying God sent is son for the elect, or for the predestined. Instead, it says –
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Daniel M. Dorian, “Jesus’ Use of Amen,” Presbyterion 17.2 (Fall 1991), 125-127. See also Dr. Lloyd Melton, lecture #2, The Kingdom of God, Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary.
J. Gerald Jantzen, “How Can a Man be Born When He is Old?: Jacob/Israel in Genesis and the Gospel of John,” Encounter 66.4 (Autumn 2004), 323-343.
James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986), 405.