what is the meaning of John 3:3 ?

Clete

Truth Smacker
Silver Subscriber
No, it doesn't make it impossible... just extremely unlikely (and it would be extremely confusing if he did).
Do you really think so? It seems like it would just be one piece of trivia that wouldn't be true as it is currently. Why would a variation of greeting style cause confusion?
 

DAN P

Well-known member
Believing, Repentance, and Amendment!
and it was Israel that had to repent as Acts 2:37 and to be baptized , in the name of Jesus Christ !!

we , see the difference of Matt 28:19 and in Acts 19:5 , in the name of the Lord Jesus .

was the baptism with water , as I do not see the Greek word for water // hudor .

dan p
 

Clete

Truth Smacker
Silver Subscriber
and it was Israel that had to repent as Acts 2:37 and to be baptized , in the name of Jesus Christ !!

we , see the difference of Matt 28:19 and in Acts 19:5 , in the name of the Lord Jesus .

was the baptism with water , as I do not see the Greek word for water // hudor .

dan p
Of all the issues related to the dispensational differences between the Body of Christ and Israel, water baptism has to be the one where I give people on either side of the debate the widest tolerance for whichever position they happen to hold. When I was new to Mid-Acts Dispensationalism I was pretty hard core against water baptism but not long after that, I started doing an intentionally casual reading of the bible. In other words, I began doing daily reading of the bible (the New Testament in particular) where I made no effort to do any in depth bible study. I just read it. I just wanted to get a feel for what the first readers of those letters that Paul and the other Apostles wrote would have received from their initial reading. A practice that I strongly endorse to this day, by the way.

If you read the bible this way, especially if you can still clearly remember what it was like to read the bible before you came to understand the Mid-Acts paradigm, then it really gets super easy to understand why water baptism has been accepted as a religious rite throughout Christian history. Water baptism wouldn't be the easiest thing to argue against even if the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles comprised the whole of the New Testament. The position is anything but self-evident, that much is certain. So much so, in fact, that even now I believe that water baptism is unnecessary due to what one might call a "preponderance of the evidence" rather than any argument that amounts to hard proof or that even takes it "beyond a reasonable doubt" for that matter.
 
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DAN P

Well-known member
I think it fairly straight-forward: It is a need for Nicodemus to be a spiritual being.

From what I've garnered talking to Mid Acts, there is a cross-over in the sense that we all need spiritual regeneration. As I understand it, their only caveat here is "born-again" was going to be different for Nicodemus than for us today. I don't believe, even from a Mid Acts perspective it has to be: The Lord Jesus Christ knew He was the only way to the Father and Spiritual renewal and indwelling is all our need. He had known His purpose in coming in the flesh. Is it possible in Mid Acts to see this as an all-inclusive passage? My reasoning: John 3:16 "whole world." In John 3 "That which is born of Spirit is Spirit...therefore, you must be born again." Something important for me (see if it rings true): We could not 'born' ourselves such that we cannot 'born again' ourselves either. 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

It'd seem to me that the need is the same: Spiritual regeneration. True?
and have never read where Paul ever said that we have to be born again , because , from Eze 36:25-38 and Eze 37 : 1-28 show how !!

dan p
 

Lon

Well-known member
and have never read where Paul ever said that we have to be born again , because , from Eze 36:25-38 and Eze 37 : 1-28 show how !!

dan p
Ephesians 2:8-10 is talking about 'recreation.' Recreation and 'born-again' have a definite over-lapping expression of need: To be born of Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 2 Corinthians 13:5 I'm not only a 'what is different' (Dispensational) persuasion. I also am looking at overlapping as necessary. When Billy Graham talked of being born-again, he was talking about the need to be spiritually regenerated. Both Paul and Jesus mentioned the need to be made spiritual beings (lost at the fall). Some have labelled me Mid Acts. I certainly have much agreement but I also look for either 'what is the same' or 'what is similar.' The mark of all of us in heaven is whether the Son knows any of us: Nicodemus or you and I.

I do believe I get the point Mid Acts is interested in on this thread. I also believe very importantly, that what is similar or the same needs equal attention. We all need Jesus and we all must be new creations.

However, I may need some schooling here: Does Mid Acts actually see 'born again' as separate somehow? Something unique for Nicodemus that isn't salvific? It seems a need to be 'born of Spirit' is akin/essential to salvific need? Thanks -Lon
 

DAN P

Well-known member
Ephesians 2:8-10 is talking about 'recreation.' Recreation and 'born-again' have a definite over-lapping expression of need: To be born of Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 2 Corinthians 13:5 I'm not only a 'what is different' (Dispensational) persuasion. I also am looking at overlapping as necessary. When Billy Graham talked of being born-again, he was talking about the need to be spiritually regenerated. Both Paul and Jesus mentioned the need to be made spiritual beings (lost at the fall). Some have labelled me Mid Acts. I certainly have much agreement but I also look for either 'what is the same' or 'what is similar.' The mark of all of us in heaven is whether the Son knows any of us: Nicodemus or you and I.

I do believe I get the point Mid Acts is interested in on this thread. I also believe very importantly, that what is similar or the same needs equal attention. We all need Jesus and we all must be new creations.

However, I may need some schooling here: Does Mid Acts actually see 'born again' as separate somehow? Something unique for Nicodemus that isn't salvific? It seems a need to be 'born of Spirit' is akin/essential to salvific need? Thanks -Lon
# 1 I do not see Paul ever saying that any grace believer is { born again } but Paul says we are a new creation , is a big difference and we are Christ eyes , hearing , his smelling , his feet , his ears , in 1 Cor 12:12-17

my explanation of who is born again is pointing to only Israel , when Israel is saved by the new covenant as explained in Eze 36:25 where Christ sprinkles clean water { a baptism of Israel }

and then gives Israel a new heart

a new spirit

and this where Israel and Judah are born again , and called the new covenant .

and where Israel and Judah will again become one stick and one nation again , as seen in Eze 37:15-22 .

dan p
 
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