App
Fred R, Coulter—April 26, 2003
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We're going to approach this differently that we did with the sermon series: Was Jesus God? There is a great deal of information that has come up, which in the many, many years that I've been in the Church, I never knew. I never realized where the doctrine really came from, but when I tell you where it really came from, it's really going to come as no surprise.
When I was writing the commentary for the Tribute to William Tyndale, the father of all English Bibles. {booklet found at truthofgod.org}. The greatest mistake he made was relating 'born again' to the conversion experience. Though, at the same time he translated the Gospel of John chapter 3 correctly.
In his book Obedience of the Christian Man and The Parable of Wicked Mammon, he constantly refers to 'born again' as when you receive the Spirit of God. In one place he said, 'God begets us anew with His Spirit.' So, Tyndale had part of it. He had a step in the right direction with it.
How did it come about that they believe that it was a baptism or conversion experience? We always thought it was just a Protestant doctrine. All the literature that we had published laid it all at the doorstep of the Protestants. But the Protestants are not the blame!
I'm writing about William Tyndale's greatest mistakes:
- born again
- works of law
He's got it partly right on works of law and he's a little bit right on born again. I wanted to find out why Tyndale believed that. So, I checked the Greek, checked Tyndale's translation and checked the King James Version. I found that even though he believed differently, he translated John 3 correctly.
John 3:2: "He [Nicodemus] came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher Who has come from God; because no one is able to do the miracles that You are doing unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again…'" (vs 2-3). That's correct in the English. The Greek is 'gennao anothen'—born again.
"'…he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man who is old be born? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone has been born of water…' [that becomes a key phrase] … and of Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God'" (vs 3-5). So, we have:
- cannot see the Kingdom of God
- cannot enter the Kingdom of God
I've got the English Hexapla published in 1841, which is a very interesting one, because it compares six English translations, that is the English translation of John Wycliffe (1378), then Tyndale's 1536, the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1557), Rheims (1587) and the King James.
I looked at Tyndale's 1536; John 3:3: "…born anew…" Born again or born anew is correct! Verse 4 & 7 are "born again." The rest of them where it's just born, it's just born.
The Great Bible of 1539; John 3:3, 7 is "born from above." Verse 5 is "born again."
To show you the problem in the Greek verb 'gennao' can mean begotten or born depending upon the context; 'anothen' means again or anew.
They translated that correctly, but the Geneva Bible of 1557 reads: John 3:3, 7 is begotten again. Then vs 4-6 is begotten. They did correct it in the 1599 edition to born.
The King James Version is born again (vs 3 & 7) and born (vs 4-6).
Now then, let's look at Wycliffe's 1378. When I saw this about fell off my chair. John 3:3, 7: "born again"; v 5: "born again of water"
There's an extra word there and I checked the Greek, and there's no again there; there is no 'anothen.'
The Rheims translation says "born again of water." Both of these are translated from the Latin Vulgate, not the Greek. So, I got out the Catholic Bible, one authorized by Pope Pius XII and it's "born again of water."
Who did that? I couldn't say that Wycliffe did it, because Rheims also has it. Was it in the Vulgate? So, I called Carl [Franklin] and said I needed John 3:5-7 from the Latin Vulgate. He got online and found it and sent it to me and I was able to virtually translate the whole thing from the Latin. I needed an accurate translation of it. A friend of Carl's, Will Tomory is a professor of English and specializes in Shakespearean and early Biblical literature. He is going to write up for us the English translation for the Faithful Version.
I've never met the man, I've never talked to him and I don't want to, because I do not want any difficulty with whatever he's writing. What he writes, he writes. I think it will be good for us. It will be good, considering everything, to have that kind of evaluation. Anyway, he knows Latin, so Carl sent it to him and he gave a translation from the Vulgate.
Let's look at the Latin Vulgate; it was translated in 405 A.D. so, now we're coming from 1587 and 1380 all the way down to 405.
- 'natus'—the Latin for born
- 'denuo'—the Latin for again
This is equivalent to 'gennao anothen' in the Greek.
John 3:3: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'" That's correct!
'nasci'—the Latin for born (v 4). Latin is much like the Greek, you have the stem of the word, which is 'na.'
Verse 4: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man who is old be born? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?'"—'nasci' in both cases.
Verse 5 (Latin Vulgate): "Jesus answered and said, 'Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless one is reborn… [born again] …of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.'"
I gave a sermon while on a trip, and we go to Goodyear, Arizona, to the Bible Museum. They have $100-million worth of rare and antique books in Jonathan Bird's Ancient Books and Bibles. Since I did some business with them and made some arrangements to go down there. The director and his friend both keep the Sabbath, the Holy Days and they don't keep Christmas or Easter, or any of that sort of thing. That set me back on my heels.
It points out something we have discussed before, that God is working with different people in different places, and we really don't know. We don't have all the answers and God is not just dealing with us. God is dealing with the universe and whomever else He wants to deal with. If we're part of that, which we are, that's great. We want to stay a part of that. But we're not going to go to the point of being exclusive or saying that we're the only Church of God.
So, he brings to me a very interesting English translation of 1539 by Miles Coverdale, who was a helper of William Tyndale for a while, and then he also ended up in Geneva and helped them do the translating of the Geneva Bible. He was stuck in England when Bloody Mary came to power, so he saved his neck and his flesh from being burned by doing a translation from the Vulgate to English, and he did it in parallel columns.
Here I'm reading the English and the Latin, and he has in v 3: 're-natus denuo' reborn again! This one was different than the Latin Vulgate that we have today, so obviously, there was some cleaning up of it. The Latin Vulgate was really quite corrupt.
Then for 'nasci' he has 're-nasci.'Why? I looked a little bit further and he's got 're-natus' in v 5. Then I was given another book, a rare one; a 1535 edition of Erasmus' Greek text and Latin text side-by-side.
I read the Greek: no born again of water, and then I read the Latin and I discovered something that is in Erasmus' Greek and Latin text, he does not have 're-natus' (v 5). He doesn't have 're-natus' in any of the verses. He has 'natus.' I wondered how that could be when I read out of Coverdale four 're-natuses.' The only thing I could conclude is that Erasmus—since he knew that the Greek was a better text—was perhaps correcting the Latin, which was very corrupt, and he knew it was.
How else could you explain that it came up 'natus' in the Latin text.
- How did it start?
- Can we find out how it started?
- Can we also figure out who to blame?
We can't blame Wycliffe, because he had the Latin Vulgate and he translated it. By the way, he's the one who coined the phrase from the 'natus': born again.
So, since we have archived all the post Nicene and anti-Nicene father's writings, so Carl found some of these summarized in a Catholic magazine. We've come from:
- 1587 with Rheims
- 1538 with Coverdale
- 1535 with Erasmus
- 1526 with Tyndale
- 1380 with Wycliffe
then we come down to
- 405 with the Vulgate
Can we say, or even suspect, that Jerome did it? Maybe Jerome didn't do it! We're going to start out with Justin Martyr. He wrote this between 148-155 A.D., which is about 53-55 years after John died.
When I go through these, I want you to see how the mystery of iniquity began twisting everything and bringing about this doctrine, and also bringing in other doctrines. We will see that the other doctrines that they brought in was the immortality of the soul. That goes back to infant baptism.
You will notice that when you counterfeit that you've got to have as much truth in there as possible so that people will believe you. As we go along we will see some truth in all of it, but we will see the distinct turn of the dial of doctrine as we get closer to the time of the Jerome.
quotes from A History of the Christian Tradition from Its Jewish Origins to the Reformationby Thomas McGongle
and
What the Bible Teaches About Baptism & How the Earliest Christians Understood These Biblical Texts by Chris Rosebrough (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55c35820e4b01ce745198fe1/t/577d866f59cc68765fac9125/1467844208295/Baptism+Texts+%26+the+Earliest+Christians.pdf)
Justin Martyr—108-118 A.D.
Whoever is convinced and believes that what they are told by us is the truth, and professes to be able to live accordingly is instruction to pray an beseech God in fasting for the remission of their former sins, while we pray and fast with them.
Nothing wrong with that!
Then they are led by us to a place where there is water; and there they are reborn in the same kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn…
How ever old he was, this goes back to just a few years after the apostles, if we say that the apostles ended at 100A.D. So, if Martyr writes this in 48A.D. and he's maybe 30 or 40 then that's 108-118.
…in the name of the God, the Lord and Father of all, and of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit they received the washing with water. For Christ said, "Unless you be reborn, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Look at John, he says God. Why change it to "…Kingdom of Heaven…"? Because when you come to the immortality of the soul, where does the soul go? To heaven! This means that if you are re-born of water you can go to heaven.
….The reason for doing this, we have learned from the apostles.
Not so, they didn't learn that of the true apostles!
Irenaeus—190 A.D
Irenaeus talks about the Syrian General Naaman, who in the days of Elisha had leprosy and Elisha said to go into the River Jordan and dip yourself three times and you'll be whole.
As we are lepers in sin, we are made clean by means of the sacred water…
Now we have another term; where did "sacred water" come from? How do you get sacred water? I'll tell you how they got it and how the Catholics do it to this day. They take a lighted torch, which symbolizes the sun-god, the fire of life, and they plunge it into the container that's going to hold the 'holy water.' Sacred water!
…and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: "Except a man be born again through water… ['re-natus'] …and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
What is the Kingdom of God? The say the visible church! That you have to come from the world into the visible church, being the Kingdom of God of whom the pope is the head, the Vicar of Christ! Once you've been baptized, then you can go—when you die—to the Kingdom of Heaven, your soul does! We will see how on earth they got this!
Clement—221 A.D.
But you will perhaps say, "What does the baptism of water contribute toward the worship of God?" In the first place, because that which has pleased God is fulfilled. In the second place, because when you are regenerated and born again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so…you shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For thus has the true prophet [Jesus] testified to us with an oath: "Verily…
Notice that they drop of one verily, which is one of the signs of the edited text! Where it is 'Jesus answered and said,' they drop off answered or said. Where they have too many 'amens' they drop of one of those. You can tell that that's a tampered text!
…"Verily, I say to you, that unless a man is born again of water…he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Cyprian of Carthage
…when the stain of my past life had been washed away by means of the water of rebirth, a light from above poured itself upon my chastened and now pure heart; afterwards, through the Spirit which is breathed from heaven, a second birth made of me a new man.
Thus, it has been acknowledge that what was of the earth was born of the flesh and had lived submissive to sins had now begun to be of God inasmuch as the Holy Spirit was animating it.
[When] they receive also the baptism of the Church…
See how these doctrines progress?
…then finally can they be fully sanctified and be the sons of God…since it is written, "Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Now we've got:
- the Kingdom of God
- being born again of water
- the baptism of the church
all equated! Here the Kingdom of God equals the visible church.
And in the gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice, saying, "Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
"….Unless therefore they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church…"—'the visible Kingdom of God'
…which is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ.
One more:
Ambrose of Milan—333-397 A.D.
This gets up into the time of Jerome!
The Church was redeemed at the price of Christ's blood. Jew or Greek, it makes no difference; but if he has believed, he must circumcise himself…
You don't circumcise yourself! It is the circumcision 'made without hands' (Col. 2) which done by Christ at the time that you're baptized. This is the key! When you are baptized, you are circumcised spiritually, you're not re-born! There's a vast difference between circumcision and re-born!
…from his sins [in baptism (Col. 2:11–12)] so that he can be saved…for no one ascends into the kingdom of heaven except through the sacrament of baptism….
Now we've got 'sacrament.'
"Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Amazing quotes!
This throws a whole light on it! This shows that they had to have an earlier Latin text before the one that Jerome did. Otherwise, why would they do it? They're obviously not quoting from the Greek text, because there's not one Greek text that has born again of water. Not the Sinaiticus or Vaticanus or Alexandrinus, those three texts that form the wrong Greek text.
After reading all of these things, we've got the immortal soul and infant baptism. Where did this come from? I immediately thought of 1-Cor. 15, and the seed of it in the Church were sown from the coming great apostasy right when Paul wrote this in 56A.D.! What is the basis of Christianity? The apostles were to be witnesses of Christ's life, death and resurrection! Paul makes it very clear here.
1-Corinthians 15:1: "Now, I am declaring to you, brethren, the same Gospel that I proclaimed to you, which you also received, and in which you are now standing; by which you are also being saved…" (vs 1-2). This is threefold process:
- you are saved from past sins and Satan (Eph. 2:1-10)
- you are being saved; Greek is present tense passive
"…if you are holding fast the words that I proclaimed to you; otherwise you have believed in vain" (vs 2).
- shall be saved by His life at the final salvation, the resurrection
So, there's a three step process of salvation!
Why did Paul say, "…otherwise you have believed in vain"? What's he leading up to?
Verse 3: "For in the first place, I delivered to you what I also had received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures… [this can refer to both Old and New Testament Scriptures] …and that He was buried; and that He was raised the third day according to the Scriptures…" (vs 3-4)—N.T. Scripture!
This also shows that they probably had no less than the book of Matthew at this time and probably even the book of Mark. But I think that Paul would have used the Gospel of Matthew. Nowhere does it say in the O.T.: 'Thus says the Lord, My coming Messiah will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, and will be raised from the dead.' It doesn't say that! So, this has got to be N.T. Scripture of the writings of the N.T. that they already accepted as Scripture.
Verse 5: "And that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve. Then He appeared to over five hundred brethren at one time… [that's a lot of witnesses] … of whom the greater part are alive until now, but some have fallen asleep. Next He appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all He appeared to me also, as one who was born of a miscarriage. For I am the least of the apostles, and am not fit even to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain; rather, I have labored more abundantly than all of them; however, it was not I, but the grace of God with me. Now then, whetherI or they, so we preach, and so you have believed" (vs 5-11).
What did he preach? The resurrection, three days and three nights! That's what he just said! Here's the key and the seeds already sown in the Church by the developing mystery of lawlessness.
Verse 12: "But if Christ is being preached, that He rose from the dead, how is it that some among you are saying that there is no resurrection of the dead?"
- How did they get in there saying that?
- Where did that come from?
It obviously came from their Greek background, because they believed in the immortality of the soul, going to heaven and all that sort of thing. They were bringing it into the Church, and that's what most people like to do. They like to come to God to see how much God agrees with them.
They look into the Bible to see how much God agrees with them. They didn't believe in a resurrection, what are they doing believing in Christ? "…some among you are saying that there is no resurrection of the dead." A little later on we will see that Paul tells them that they don't have the knowledge of God.
I read that and thought, this has got to go back further than the Latin church fathers that we read. We've got the seeds of it sown right here in the New Testament.
I got out The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, and when I was first being called they were running the series in the Plain Truth magazine called Satan's Great Deception by Dr. C. Paul Meredith, which was a summary of The Two Babylons. I got that book originally in 1960, and the book is such that this what you call a throne book. You read a little bit every day at certain set times of the day, and you just keep it handy. One other clue in reading The Two Babylons is do not read the footnotes as you go. Read the whole chapter and then come back and read the footnotes, because they are so detailed you're just going to get absolutely lost and your eyes are going to cross and your brain will short-circuit.
I read that and I've used it for sermons down through the years picking out parts. I thought I would get it here and realized I hadn't read it all the way through the second time in many years.
I opened to the part of baptismal regeneration and what did if find? Born again! Ancient Babylon! Ancient pagan religions!
The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop {http://cbcg.org/franklin/The-Two-Babylons.pdf}
The Brahmans
which are Hindu, and that came from Babylon
…make it their distinguishing make it their distinguishing boast that they are "twice-born" men, and that, as such, they are sure of eternal happiness. Now, the same was the case in Babylon, and there the new birth was conferred by baptism. In the Chaldean mysteries, before any instruction could be received, it was required first of all, that the person to be initiated submit to baptism in token of blind and implicit obedience.
We've heard that before! When we understand that the three deities that they worshipped were Nimrod the father god and Semiramis the mother god, and the so-called alleged son, which from a black father and white mother you cannot get a white son. His name is Tamuz and he's the false savior. Sometimes Nimrod is also called Bakkus a savior.
Hislop talks about the new birth and how that the ancient Chaldean priests related that since they were close to Noah. When Noah came out of the ark when it landed on one of the mountains of Ararat that he was 're-born.' That's their little twisting of the facts.
Appendix L—A Summary of Proofs That God is Not a Trinity {The Holy Bible in it's Original Order, A Faithful Version}
Infant Baptism: With the scattering of the people from the tower of Babel, the Babylonian religion was spread around the world. Consequently, it is no surprise that infant baptism was practiced in Mexico thousands of years before the Spanish conquest….
The reason that they went from adult baptism and repentance, choice and baptism, and they rejected the resurrection and believed in souls going to heaven, then when is one rewarded.
So, you go to infant baptism, because if it dies, and they had quite a mortality rate. So, here's infant baptism in Mexico. When the Spanish invaded Mexico, they were stunned at observing an infant baptism that mirrored the Catholic ritual. Hislop explains:
Quoted from The Two Babylons:
"The same doctrine of baptismal regeneration [as the Babylonian Mysteries and Catholic practice] was found in full vigour among the natives, when Cortez and his warriors landed on their shores. The ceremony of Mexican baptism, which was beheld with astonishment by the Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries, is thus strikingly described in Prescott's Conquest of Mexico: 'When everything necessary for the baptism had been made ready, all the relations of the child were assembled, and the midwife…
The person who delivered the baby in the first place. So we have born and reborn.
…who was the person that performed the rite of baptism, was summoned. At early dawn [showing sun worship derived from ancient Babylon and Egypt], they met together in the courtyard of the house. When the sun had risen, the midwife, taking the child in her arms, called for a little earthen vessel of water, while those about her placed the ornaments, which had been prepared for baptism, in the midst of the court. To perform the rite of baptism, she placed herself with her face toward the west [the infant facing east], and immediately began to go through certain ceremonies …After this she sprinkled water on the head of the infant, saying, "O my child, take and receive the water of the Lord of the world [who is Satan the devil II Cor. 4:4], which is our life, which is given for the increasing and renewing of our body. It is to wash and to purify. I pray that these heavenly drops may enter into your body, and dwell there; that they may destroy and remove from you all the evil and sin…
original sin
…which was given you before the beginning of the world, since all of us are under its power"
smacks a little bit of Mormonism, which also came out of Mexico
...She then washed the body of the child with water, and spoke in this manner:
what she does now is an exorcism; it would have been a demon
…"Whencesoever thou comest, thou [the evil spirit] that art hurtful to this child, leave him and depart from him, for he now liveth anew, and is BORN ANEW; now he is purified and cleansed afresh, and our mother Chalchivitlycue [the goddess of water] bringeth him into the world." Having thus prayed, the midwife took the child in both hands, and, lifting him towards heaven [with the infant facing the rising sun] said, 'O Lord, thou seest here thy creature…
She's supposed to be talking to God.
….whom thou hast sent into the world, this place of sorrow, suffering, and penitence. Grant him, O Lord, thy gifts and inspiration, for thou art the Great God, and with thee is the great goddess.'….
The Inclusive version of the Bible says, 'Father/Mother.' Instead of Son of man, it says 'the human one.' That's what today's NIV is going to say.
…Here is the opus operatum without mistake. Here is baptismal regeneration and exorcism too, as thorough and complete as any Romish priest or lover of Tractarianism could desire" (Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 133).
Now that we've see where the doctrine and the teaching began of a so-called new birth or born again or born anew experience, equated with baptism and water, and how that the Vulgate text continued that right on through. Then we went back and saw it in Babylon. Let's see what it says about being born again. Let's see if we can understand this, and I think we can very clearly. We will see, as we covered in the sermon series Was Jesus God? that it is answered right here in John 3.
John 3:5: "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone has been [A]born of water and [B]of Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which has been [A]born of the flesh is flesh; and that which has been [B]born of the Spirit is spirit" (vs 5-6).
- Have all of us been born of the flesh? Yes!
- What kind of existence do we have? A fleshly existence!
Though technically we have been made of the dust of the earth. Therefore, it follows that if one is "…born of the Spirit, is spirit." In other words, has o have a spirit existence.
What we have with the first [A]born of water goes with the second [Aborn of the flesh is flesh. If you're born of the flesh you're born of water, because that's what gives you the birth. The water in the womb is called amniotic fluid. When a baby is in the process of being born, the water breaks and that lets the baby's head slip down into the birth canal then there are contractions. These contractions take place and it is the water that takes place. The contractions push against the water and puts pressure on the water, because the water cannot be compressed, cannot be condensed or contracted. So then, the head of the baby crowns and then when it crowns there's water everywhere.
If the mother loses the water one way or the other and they don't perform a cesarean section, they both die, there is no birth. Even the contractions cannot push the baby out. It's not sufficient.
So, we can conclude that your first birth—born of the flesh—is born of water. The second birth is born of the Spirit and is spirit.
- Was Jesus born again?
- Did Jesus have two births?
- Yes!
We know that from the account in Luke that the Holy Spirit overpowered her, and that which she conceived was called the Son of God!
Matthew 1:25 "But he [Joseph] did not have sexual relations with her until after she had given birth to her Son, the firstborn… [Jesus' first birth] …and he called His name Jesus
Was He born of the flesh? Yes, He was, because it says that 'every spirit that confesses that Christ was born of the flesh is of God!' and 'every spirit that confesses not that Christ was born of the flesh is not of God!' So, here's first birth!
- Did Jesus have a second birth? Yes, He did!
- When did that occur?
It didn't occur at His baptism because he came up out of the water still a flesh and blood. Let's see the answer to the question that yes, Jesus was born again! So then, we have the same process shown to us.
Colossians 1:15: Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation."
A lot of people get the false doctrine that Jesus was created first and the firstborn before any humans. That's not true! Of those who are created to be spirit beings by the resurrection! We'll see that v 15 is answered by v 18, but first:
Verse 16: "Because by Him were all things created…" this is something for those who say that Jesus didn't exist until He was conceived in the womb of Mary, how could all things be created by Him when that happened only 2,000 years ago?
"…the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist" (vs 16-17).
Paul wrote in the Heb. 1 that 'Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power.'
Verse 18: "And He is the Head of the Body, the Church; Who is the Beginning… [of this creation] …the Firstborn from among the dead…"
If Jesus was Firstborn while He was in the flesh, and He's Firstborn from the dead, Jesus was born again by the resurrection!
"…so that in all things He Himself might hold the preeminence" (v 18).
Let's finish the rest of what Jesus taught, because he explained what a person is like when they are born again of the Spirit.
John 3:7: "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'It is necessary for you to be born again.'"
You can't see the Kingdom of God, you can enter the Kingdom of God and, as Paul said, 'You don't inherit the Kingdom of God'! Here is how one who is born again is able to function.
Verse 8: "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know the place from which it comes and the place to which it goes…"—exactly the same way as everyone who is born of the Spirit!
When people are baptized, they don't come up out of the water and walk through walls or doors. The 'hatpin test' hurts, because they're still flesh. Did Jesus do this when He was resurrected? Yes! When He was resurrected, it had to be right toward the end of the Sabbath, just before it ended during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. When the women came in the morning, what did they find? They found that the rock had not been moved until they came there, and then two angels moved it! Jesus did not need to have the rock removed to walk out of the tomb; He could walk right through the rock.
We're going to see that after He was resurrected He showed Himself to Mary Magdalene and she didn't recognize Him at first, because as a spirit being He could manifest Himself to look almost any way He wants to. So, Mary thought He was the gardener and said, 'Where did you take Him.' As she was weeping:
John 20:16: "Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' Turning around, she said to Him, 'Rabboni'…. [Master] …that is to say, 'Teacher.' Jesus said to her, 'Do not touch Me, because I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God'" (vs 16-17).
So, Mary went and told them. This took place about 9 o'clock in the morning on the Wave Sheaf Offering Day, being the first day of the week.
Now let's see what Christ did when He came back to earth. He came back and there were two disciples, and this whole account begins in:
Luke 24:13: "And behold, on the same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, which was about sixty furlongs… [about 7-1/2 miles] …from Jerusalem. And they were talking with one another about all the things that had taken place" (vs 13-14).
Christ came up to them and they were telling Him all about Jesus, that they thought that He was the Messiah and they were walking on down to Emmaus. He had to correct them saying to them that they were 'slow of heart' or doubting (v 38) that they didn't believe all that the Prophets had spoken. He started with Moses and the Prophets and explained certain things. Then they went into the inn to eat. They brought the food and Jesus asked the blessing on it and broke the bread.
Verse 31: "Then their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He disappeared from them."
Where did He go? He probably remained invisible and just followed them back, because they ran back to where the apostles were! They come running in breathlessly:
Verse 34: "Saying, 'In truth, the Lord has risen! And He has appeared to Simon.' Then they related the things that had happened to them on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread" (vs 34-35). So, now is the time for Jesus to appear!
He just walked through the wall. It says in the account in John that the doors were shut, so maybe He just walked through the doors. He didn't open them; He just walked through!
Verse 36: "Now, as they were telling these things, Jesus Himself stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be to you.'"
The account in John 20:19: Afterwards, as evening was drawing near that day, the first day of the weeks, and the doors were shut where the disciples had assembled for fear of the Jews…"—they were in hiding! They weren't there holding a 'praise meeting' that the Lord had been resurrected, because they didn't know it!
"…Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be to you'" (v 19). Of course, that scared them!
As a spirit being we will see that Jesus was able to manifest Himself as though He had flesh and bones. When He talks about the spirit here in Luke 24 that is referring to a demon spirit! A demon spirit cannot appear to have flesh and bone. You can see an apparition of a demon spirit.
Luke 24:37—when they saw Him: "But they were terrified and filled with fear, thinking that they beheld a spirit apparition." They didn't know!
Even at this late date, because Jesus had told them all during the time they were going to Jerusalem that He was going to be crucified and resurrected from the dead.
Verse 38: "Then He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts come up in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I. Touch Me and see for yourselves; for a [demon] spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having.' And after saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they were still disbelieving and wondering for joy, He said to them, 'Do you have anything here to eat?' Then they gave Him part of a broiled fish and a piece of honeycomb. And He took these and ate in their presence" (vs 38-43).
We know that He showed Himself for 40 days. As we read previously, this also had to include showing Himself to the 500 brethren all at one time!
Acts 1:1: "The first account I indeed have written, O Theophilus, concerning all things that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after giving command by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen; to whom also, by many infallible proofs, He presented Himself alive after He had suffered, being seen by them for forty days…" (vs 1-3).
John says that of all the miracles that Jesus did, wherever written there would not be enough books in the world to contain them!
Jesus was exactly as it was said there. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit! Jesus is the only One to have been born of the flesh, of the water, and born of the spirit by the resurrection! When does it occur to others? We will see! The Feast of Pentecost covers much of the same thing that we're covering here, because the resurrection is on Pentecost; that's the beginning and the ending! Doesn't it make sense that if the Church began on Pentecost, when is it going to end? On Pentecost!
1-Corinthians 15:17: "But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain…"
- you have to believe in His death for the forgiveness of sin
- you have to believe in His resurrection for the justification of sin
so that you're put in right standing with God! You can't even have your sins forgiven until He is raised!
"…you are still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ have then perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most miserable. But now Christ has been raised from the dead; He has become the Firstfruit…" (vs 17-20).
Paul equates firstfruits and firstborn as the same. The Church is called The Church of the Firstborn! We also know:
Romans 8:29—Jesus is: "…the Firstborn among many brethren"—who will be born by the same process of the resurrection.
1-Corinthians 15:21: "For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive…. [When?]: …But each in his own order…" (vs 21-23). There are two orders of resurrection:
- the first resurrection unto eternal life (Rev. 20)
- the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years with two phases:
- unto a second life in the flesh for an opportunity for salvation
- resurrection to judgment and the Lake of Fire
because all the dead have to die twice, even those who have committed the unpardonable sin, all those excluded from the Kingdom of God! All of those who go into the Kingdom of God are born twice.
"…Christ the Firstfruit; then those who are Christ's at His coming" (v 23). No one has ascended into heaven as John has written, only the Son of man Who is in heaven! Souls don't get there, so you immediately drop aside the immortality of the soul, infant baptism! All these things fall by the wayside when you have the resurrection and you know when it's going to take place.
Verse 33: "Do not be deceived; evil companionship corrupts good behavior." What Paul is doing is eluding to the fact that they were accepting evil communications.
Verse 34: "Awake to righteousness, and do not sin, for some of you do not have the knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. Nevertheless, someone will say, 'How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?'" (vs 34-35).
When you're put in the grave in the tomb in the ground your flesh rots. Ants, bugs and other vermin, probably even mice and rats, come in and dine on the cadaver.
In Tibet, they have 'holy dogs' eat the flesh. They turn the dogs in and they eat the flesh right off the bone. This is supposed to be great spiritual things. In India there are some sects that have a round fenced area that when someone dies they put the body and let the vultures and the buzzards come in and eat the flesh off of it. Others in India burn them. How many have died at sea? Sharks eat them! Other fish eat them!
So, the resurrection is not the same body. The spirit in man goes back to God, and the spirit in man is not like a soul, a living immortal soul, it's much like a recording that is put into a machine.
The spirit goes back to God! That's why it says it's sleeping. It has no thought, it is inactive, it is just a storage of what you are as a person and the spiritual character that you have developed. Then God puts this into a new body, which will be a spirit body. Or if they're resurrected back to flesh, then God puts new dirt on them, as it were, and makes a new physical body.
Notice how polite Paul was to the ones whom he wrote to, v 36: "Fool!… [he laid it on the line; you're stupid] …What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that shall be; rather, it is bare grain…" (vs 36-37). You put the seed in the ground, it's not the same seed that comes up! It sprouts and as it grows consumes away the rest of the seed, and what little bit is left falls off.
You can teach this to your children by planting some beans in a little container with dirt and watch it grow. When it sprouts up and it get so big then you can see that the bean seed is deteriorating. What happens if you let it come to full life? It reproduces itself over again many fold!
"…it may be of wheat, or one of the other grains; and God gives it a body according to His will, and to each of the seeds its own body" (vs 37-38). We receive the seed of God!
Verse 39: "Likewise, not all flesh is the same flesh. Rather, there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds. And there are heavenly bodies, and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is different, and the glory of the earthly is different. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory" (vs 39-41).
- What did Jesus say about those who are the children of God?
- What's going to happen to them at the resurrection?
- They are going to shine as the stars of heaven!
That's why God told Abraham to count the stars if he could, and that's how his seed shall be. Paul is reaffirming that here, showing that.
Verse 42: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption… [by the time that we're ready to die, we know that that is true] …it is raised in incorruption…. [the resurrection] …It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory…. [yes, we'll share in the glory of Christ] …It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body… [that which is born of the flesh is flesh, born of water] …and there is a spiritual body" (vs 42-44)—that which is born of the spirit is spirit!
This confirms exactly what John was writing and Jesus was teaching. There's absolutely no variable in what Paul taught and what John wrote, or what Jesus taught. There's a natural body and there's a spiritual body!
Verse 45: "Accordingly, it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became an ever-living Spirit.' However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural—then the spiritual" (vs 45-46).
This verse here just disprovesthe Mormon theory that there are souls in heaven that need to be released by physical children.By that they are saying that the spiritual is first! Can't be true!
Verse 46: "However, the spiritual was not first, but the natural—then… [because he said a Christ's coming] …the spiritual.The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second Man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, so also are all those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly One, so also are all those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly One" (vs 46-49).
What does this tell us? If you're born of the spirit you have to be a spirit being! As long as you're in this old 'nephesh' in the flesh, you have not been born again, because you're not bearing the image of the heavenly, you're bearing the image of the earthy. As long as you're in this natural body you bear the image of the earthy. Not until the resurrection do you bear the image of the heavenly! But if you beat yourself on the chest you will know that you have a guarantee that you will have a spiritual body IFyou're faithful to the end, because you have a physical body.
Verse 50: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God…" Remember, we have three things:
- If you are not born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God
Can we see the Kingdom of God today? NO!
- except a man be born of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God
If we can't see it, we haven't entered into it, yet! How can we enter into something we can't see? Paul makes it clear that as long as you are in the body of flesh and blood you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God
- "…nor does corruption inherit incorruption" (v 50)
It just doesn't come automatically! There has to be Divine intervention to make it happen.
Verse 51: "Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed." You have to be changed, and God is going to change our bodies, He's going to transform them at the resurrection.
Philippians 3:20: "But for us, the commonwealth… [citizenship] …of God exists in the heavens, from where also we are waiting for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."
When are those who are Christ's going to be changed and resurrected? When He returns!
Verse 21: "Who will transform our vile bodies, that they may be conformed to His glorious body…"
You can understand that Peter, James and John saw the vision of the Transfiguration. It was not the literal thing that took place, but a vision! They saw Christ shining as the sun in full strength. We're going to have a body fashioned like unto:
"…His glorious body according to the inner working of His own power, whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself" (v 21).
Now let's see what Christ looks like in His glorified form. We already saw that after the resurrection that He go wherever He wanted just like the wind; He could appear and disappear. We also saw that He was able to appear as if He had flesh and bone. But now here He is in His full glorified form. Having been one of those who saw the Transfiguration, John understood that this was Christ.
Revelation 1:13: "And in the midst… [like in a circle] …of the seven lampstands One like the Son of man, clothed in a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about the chest with a golden breastplate. And His head and hair were like white wool, white as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like fine brass, as if they glowed in a furnace; and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And in His right hand He had seven stars… [the seven churches] …and a sharp two-edged sword went out of His mouth… [the Word of God] …and His countenance was as the sun shining in its full power" (vs 13-16).
That's what it means that He's going to transform our bodies like His glorious body. We will have glory like this! Less than Him, because Paul said of the resurrection, 'One star differs in glory from another star.' If we're all going to shine like the stars there will be different degrees of glory and kinds and colors and all of this sort of thing.
Verse 17: "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead; but He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, even the One Who is living; for I was dead…" (vs 17-18).
How does He live? He was born again of the resurrection, the Firstborn from the dead!
Verse 5: "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead…"—Greek: 'prototokos.'
Verse 18: "Even the One Who is living; for I was dead…" He was born again from the dead, and was the Firstborn of the dead!
"…and behold, I am alive into the ages of eternity. Amen" (v 18). What does He give to us? Eternal life! When we're resurrected we'll live evermore!
"…And I have the keys of the grave and of death" (v 18). Christ is the One Who is going to decide who is resurrected and when!
1-Corinthians 15:52: "In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
In order for you to be born again, having already been born once in the flesh, this has to apply. You're not going to go to heaven by an immortal soul ascending up into heaven. You're not going to get there in flesh and blood.
Verse 53: "For this corruptible… [which we are in the flesh] …must put on incorruptibility… [and have a spiritual body] …and this mortal… [which is of the flesh] …must put on immortality." This tells us that as long as we're in the flesh we don't have any immortality. There's no immortal soul!
And it's interesting as we're going through here, there's no purgatory either! And there's no purgatory for unbaptized babies, because the pope says that they get them out of purgatory if you pay enough money for Masses, but we'll decide when the baby is out. All these Masses become big messes of money! All the ones who do the performing and collect the money have taken a poverty vow. That's a real deal! You get people to work for you for nothing and you keep all the 'dough.'
That is evil! It preys on the parents who want to make sure that their children live forever! What parent would not want that? They capitalize on the devil's way of the fear of death!
God's way is love! He's the God of love, hope and faith! Yes, we are to fear God, but that fear to God is respect and awe and love! The fear that the devil promulgates is the fear of death! The fear of death is that you're going to be in an ever-burning hellfire!
Hebrews 14:14: "Therefore, since the children are partakers of flesh and blood… [that's what we are] …in like manner He also took part in the same… [that which is born of the flesh is flesh; we're right back where we started] …in order that through death He might annul him who has the power of death—that is, the devil; and that He might deliver those who were subject to bondage all through their lives by their fear of death" (vs 14-15).
Isn't that what they do? They put you in bondage to the church! That's why God does not want His Church run on that kind of fear. That kind of fear is never going to chase anything out of anyone. People will change their behavior and desire to when they know that:
- God loves them
- Christ loves them
- God's plan for eternal life is there
- God has called you to succeed
- God called you to overcome
God hasn't called you to kill you!
Yes, we have trials and difficulties, that's true, but we have to keep them all in perspective according to God's Word. Always remember that in any trial or difficulty: all things work together for good for them who love God and are called according to His purpose!
Although, at the time you are going through a trial, it does not seem that way. But this relieves a great deal of stress when you accept that that is true. And thank God that that is so! That's why Paul thanked God for the trials that he was in.
Here's the whole hope of the resurrection; 1-Corinthians 15:53: "For this corruptible must put on incorruptibility, and this mortal must put on immortality. Now, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.'" (vs 53-54). That's quite a thing! This is what Paul taught and preached.
Acts 24:14—Paul is making a defense of himself before Felix: "But I confess to you that according to the way, which they call heresy… [which is belief in Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead] …so I serve the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets."
If he believed them he acted upon them, which includes the Sabbath, Holy Days, as well as all the prophecies concerning Christ, and our hope in God's plan.
Verse 15: "Having hope in God, which they themselves also acknowledge, that there will be a resurrection of the dead—both the just and the unjust."
There we have it! Born again takes place after you die and are resurrected! When you are resurrected and become a spirit being, that which is born of the spirit is spirit! But in order for that to happen, you must first be born of the flesh. So, to be born again means you must be resurrected and has nothing to do with the immortality of the soul, infant baptism, or adult baptism or conversion experience.
Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version (except where noted)
Scriptural References:
- John 3:3-7
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-12
- John 3:5-6
- Matthew 1:25
- Colossians 1:15-18
- John 3:7-8
- John 20:16-17
- Luke 24:13-14, 31, 34-36
- John 20:19
- Luke 24:37-43
- Acts 1:1-3
- 1 Corinthians 15:17-20
- Romans 8:29
- 1 Corinthians 15:21-23, 33-51
- Philippians 3:20-21
- Revelation 1:13-18, 5, 18
- 1 Corinthians 15:52-53
- Hebrews 14:14-15
- 1 Corinthians 15:53-54
- Acts 24:14-15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Colossians 2
- Ephesians 2:1-10
- Hebrews 1
- Luke 24:38
- Revelation 20
Also referenced:
- Sermon Series: Was Jesus God?
- Booklet: Tribute to William Tyndale {truthofgod.org}.
- Books:
- Obedience of the Christian Man by William Tyndale
- The Parable of Wicked Mammon by William Tyndale
- English Hexapla
- The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop (http://cbcg.org/franklin/The-Two-Babylons.pdf)
- Appendix L—A Summary of Proofs That God is Not a Trinity {The Holy Bible in it's Original Order, A Faithful Version}
- Quotes:
- A History of the Christian Tradition from Its Jewish Origins to the Reformationby Thomas McGongle
- What the Bible Teaches About Baptism & How the Earliest Christians Understood These Biblical Texts by Chris Rosebrough
(https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55c35820e4b01ce745198fe1/t/577d866f59cc68765fac9125/1467844208295/Baptism+Texts+%26+the+Earliest+Christians.pdf)
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 1/2/19
