Bill Bremer
Senior Member
Joined: 02/29/2016 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 81
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Posted: 03/05/2016 at 6:51pm
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In order to make us new beings fit for the kingdom of God,
God has created in Christ Jesus and cleansed by His blood. Being
created in Christ Jesus is an instantaneous salvation process.
Paul summed it up in his letter to the Ephesians.
And you were dead in your
trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we
were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated
us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the
ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not
as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians
2:1-10 NASB
There is much to take in in those few verses from the Bible. So,
let’s look at a few of the primary things revealed.
Through His workmanship, God makes us new
beings in Christ
The moment we repent of our sin and believe in Jesus, God our
Father creates us in Christ Jesus. In His conversation with
Nicodemus, Jesus clearly revealed how being born of the Spirit is
vital to seeing and entering the kingdom of God.
Now there was a man of the
Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to
Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come
from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do
unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to Him, “How
can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into
his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do
not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The
wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not
know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is
born of the Spirit. John
3:1-8 NASB
And so from now on we don’t
think of anyone only as a human being. Once we thought of Christ only
as a man, but not now anymore. So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
being. The old things have passed away. They have become new. 2
Corinthians 5:17 AAT
May I never boast of
anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is
crucified to me and I to the world. No circumcision of the lack of it
is anything, but only the new life that is created. Peace and mercy
on all who follow this rule, that is, on God’s Israel.
Galatians
6:14-16 AAT
Do not lie to one another,
since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have
put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge
according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in
which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is
all, and in all. Colossians
3:9-11 NASB
God creating us in Christ Jesus is called
regeneration
The word “regeneration” comes from
Greek root words translated “again” and “birth /genesis.”
Jesus comforted and encouraged His disciples with this Word. “Truly
I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the
regeneration/paliggenesia when the
Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew
19:28b). Jesus was speaking of things too come, the again genesis
of the kingdom to come. We look forward to the resurrection and life
in the world to come.
In His letter to Titus, Paul explains our regeneration
as God gives us new birth, our again genesis for life in the kingdom
that is.
But
when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind
appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done
in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing
of regeneration/paliggenesia and renewing by the Holy
Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy
statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak
confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to
engage in good deeds. Titus
3:4-7 NASB
There, in the washing of regeneration, we see God our Savior, the
Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ our Savior. God our Savior saved us by
His grace (Eph
2:8). We are born of the Holy Spirit (Jn
3:4-6). Jesus Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. (Mt
3:11). N. T. Wright puts washing of regeneration “washing of
the new birth.” (The Kingdom New Testament).
Baptized into Christ Jesus, dead to sin, but
alive to God
As God creates us in Christ Jesus, we are baptized into His death,
buried with Him, united with Him in His death and resurrection. In
this spiritual action of God’s grace, we die to sin and are made
alive to God in Christ Jesus. Water baptism is a prophetic sign of
this spiritual union with Christ Jesus.
What shall we say then? Are
we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be!
How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know
that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been
baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the
dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His
death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His
resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him,
in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we
would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from
sin.
Now if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that
Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again;
death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He
died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to
God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God
in Christ Jesus. Romans
6:1-11 NASB
Jesus died to set us free from the fear of death
The ultimate power of darkness is death. Jesus set us free from
the fear of death by rendering the devil powerless.
Therefore, since the
children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook
of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who
through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Hebrews
2:14-15 NASB
By creating us in Christ Jesus, God rescued us from the power of
darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son.
You are being strengthened
with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might
patiently endure everything with joy and might thank the Father, who
has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into
the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, through whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians
1:11-14 ISV
Now we come to God’s throne of grace
God has made us fit for His kingdom by making us new beings
created in Christ Jesus and cleansed by His blood. Jesus our great
High Priest is our Savior and advocate at God’s throne of grace,
the throne of the kingdom of God.
Now that we have a great
High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, God’s Son, let
us cling to what we confess. We have a High Priest who can sympathize
with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way just as we are, only
without sin. So let us come boldly to God’s throne of grace to get
mercy and find love to help us when we need it. Hebrews
4:14-16 AAT
John, who wrote Revelations, began with a doxology that reinforces
what we just read and reveals more of how we were saved.
John to the seven churches
which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and was
and is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his high
seat; And from Jesus Christ, the true witness, the first to come back
from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who
had love for us and has made us clean from our sins by his blood; And
has made us to be a kingdom and priests to his God and Father; to him
let glory and power be given for ever and ever. So be it. See, he
comes with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those by whom
he was wounded; and all the tribes of the earth will be sorrowing
because of him. Yes, so be it. I am the First and the Last, says the
Lord God who is and was and is to come, the Ruler of all.
Revelation
1:4-8 BBE
F.F. Bruce provides this insight: “It must be remembered in the
New Testament times repentance and faith, regeneration and
conversion, baptism in water, reception of the Holy Spirit,
incorporation into Christ, admission to church fellowship and first
communion were all parts of a simple complex of events which took
place within a very short time, and not always in a uniform order.
Logically they were distinguishable, but in practice they were all
bound up with the transition from the old life to the new” (The
Epistle to the Ephesians, Pickering and Inglis, 1969, page 79). Please give me your feedback. Am I off somewhere?
Edited by Bill Bremer on 06/04/2016 at 8:17pm
__________________ Bill Bremer Kingdom Relationships http://billbremer.org
billbremer04@yahoo.com
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