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JULY: The Kingdom of God

July 20

BORN AGAIN

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:3,5

When our Lord says, "Ye must be born again," He throws down the gauntlet. He says in effect, "It is all right; I know what you are going to say, but you need not say it--it is all wrong--you must be born again." "Verily, verily"--"truly, truly." Whenever He uses that formula He is always saying something of unusual seriousness and of deep import. He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

This is the crucial phrase, the key phrase of Christianity: "born again"! Some people say it should be translated "born from above." Others say it should be translated "born anew." I think that they are probably nearest to the truth who say that undoubtedly our Lord was speaking to Nicodemus in Aramaic, that the Greek is a translation from the Aramaic, and that then our English is a translation from the Greek. But the original was probably Aramaic, and there it means "except a man has another birth, he will never see the kingdom of God." It is the same thing. "Born again," "another birth," "born from above," "born of the Spirit"--take any of the terms you like.

This is the great New Testament doctrine, and what it means, negatively, is that Christianity is not just an addition to something you already have. Christianity, in other words, is not something that you and I, as we are, can take up; all that is contradicted here....we need an entirely new start.

A Thought to Ponder
This is the crucial phrase, the key phrase of Christianity: "born again"!

From The Kingdom of God, pp. 193-194.



Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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