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Pronouns Metaphors Erros Part 19
Pronouns Metaphors Erros Pt 19
Pronouns, Metaphors, and Errors
Message
March 1, 2015
Part 19
John 3:1-3
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
The building blocks of a writer’s reasoning are to be found in his propositions, his statements about something.
The relationships between propositions contribute motion and direction to the expression of his thinking; demonstrating not only what the writer has to say about something, but where he wants to go with his thinking.
We should therefore be interested in finding out:
How these verses are fit together?
What is the structure of this passage?
One of the differences in the ways Paul and John write is the extent to which Paul uses persuasive argument to build his case and present God’s truth, compared with John. You may be surprised to learn that John is also quite skillful, yet less complicated than Paul, in his use of argument.
I summarize their difference this way: “John tells it, Paul sells it.”
Let’s translate...
John 3:1
CC Now a man always was out from among the Pharisees, Implication: He was an experienced Pharisee, not an upstart.
He always was “of” the Pharisees in the sense that, apart from his desire to speak with Jesus on a personal level, he always was “representative” of the thinking and the ways of the Pharisees. Nicodemus was “an instance” of the true Pharisee.
Nicodemus is the name for him, an authority himself of the Jews;
John 3:2
2 
this man made a night time appearance before Him( Jesus)
Implication:
...so as not to arouse criticism from whom?
CC and he said to Him
Rabbi, we have arrived at knowledge G ..after much deliberation (perfect)
Implication:
Nicodemus’ first words are representative of the thoughts and conclusions of the Pharisees; either...
1. from much natural human deliberation
2. the result of divine revelation
3. most likely, a mixture of both, thus precluding them from “receiving” the message of God’s Truth from Jesus.
CH that (you are) a teacher * having been sent (perfect) from God;
Implication: Explain...
CC floor level
CS basement level
CH mezzanine level.
CS because no one is capable of doing ID G ...for himself (middle) these things
the miraculous signs doing ID
EXP
namely, which things EXP
You (emphasis) are doing
Implication:
these are acts unique to God’s domain, rule, authority. Nicodemus( the Pharisees) understand matters of authority.
Probe:
(Q) What is missing from this declaration from the religious leadership of Israel?
(A) The explicit notion that God had revealed this knowledge to them!
This further implies that their conclusions regarding Jesus; namely, as to His identity and role among them, cast Him as an anomaly, a puzzling figure whose arrival now threatens them rather than blesses them.
They were experiencing confusion from their lack of spiritual understanding, and not joy from a welcome of divine revelation.
unless God should exist in company with Him.
Implication:
The Pharisees know that God is at work with this man Jesus, but for what purpose, and how is God with them in all of this?
So, Jesus rightly perceives their declaration as a veiled question: What is God doing?
Jesus will correct Nicodemus’( the Pharisee’s) misconception of what constitutes God’s true authority; not merely that God is with a person, but moreover, that God is within a person.
John 3:3
3 
Jesus answered and said to him,
truly, truly I am saying to you (.)
Implication:
Jesus addresses Nicodemus as an individual.
unless anyone( one(.) from among many) should be given birth to (aorist pass.) again( from above)
Implication:
This kind of birth is an eventful one and it is something that happens to many kinds of persons.Nicodemus fails to perceive the idea that the word “again” is put for the word “from above”.
be born again This is an idiom, which literally states “to be born again”.
It meant to experience a complete change in one’s way of life to what it should be, with the implication of return to a former state or relation.
This is its meaning in John 3.3; Nicodemus even missed that.
be born again It is also possible to understand it here as meaning “to be born from above”.
However, Nicodemus obviously understood 
to mean “again” and 
to mean “a physical birth”.
So, here’s the big ironic gap caused by Nicodemus’ incapability of seeing the figure of speech that Jesus was using in order to explain the true nature of receiving salvation from God!
he is absolutely not capable for himself (middle) to see( in the Spirit) the kingdom of God.
Implication:
...otherwise the domain of God remains covered and unrevealed to him.
The big picture thus far is that the Kingdom of God making its appearance with the coming of the Christ upon the earth, is of a spirit quality, and it can only be “seen” through spirit eyes.
While Jesus does answer Nicodemus’ implied compound question, “How is God authorizing Jesus’ miraculous work, and how is it that the Pharisees are not able to figure out what God is actually doing in all this?
In order for any kind of person to have “spirit eyes”, they must be born again, born from above, born out from within water and spirit quality.
The central statement from John’s account of this event is, that (you are) a teacher having been sent (perfect) from God.
This is a gross misunderstanding of who Jesus actually is, and a distorted view of what kind of mission He had been sent by God to do.
Otherwise the eyes of natural man are not capable of themselves to recognize it in its spirit form, because they are spiritually “blind” to it.
Revelation means to uncover, to bring the hidden into view.
Jesus will soon attempt to correct Nicodemus’( the Pharisee’s) misconception of what constitutes God’s true authority; not merely that “unless God should exist in company with Him”, but that God must be within a person.
The extent of Nicodemus’( the Pharisee’s) understanding is obviously limited to the natural, physical nature of the issue, which is a fact made evident by Nicodemus’ literal interpretation in response to Jesus’ use of the figurative language, where “must be born again” is put for the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s regeneration of the believer.
Jesus is the Christ,
Jesus is the Messiah,
Jesus is the Anointed One,
He is God Incarnate,
the Good Shepherd!
Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment
when they discover
that it was just as the Word of God says;
only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself.
God is just, so He must punish sin;
but He is also merciful, moreover gracious,
and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice
in order to purchase a place for you in heaven,
which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life.Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah,
the Anointed One, He is God Incarnate.
In order to pay the debt of our sins,
He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father,
where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father
even unto the shameful death upon the cross
in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith,
believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work
was His complete and necessary Atonement
for your sins, in your behalf.
Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being.
Only the power of God can open your heart to the willingness to have the void within it filled
with the presence of Christ by His Spirit.The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life.
Only the life of His Spirit’s quickening of your heart will allow the Gospel message of salvation to even make sense to you, to truly “hear” the message and give you the ability,
as the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus,
to recognize your need for forgiveness and restoration, and gain the desire of your heart to be favorably inclined to want to receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.If you have not done so before this moment,
ask Jesus to forgive you your sins,
tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior,
and ask Him to come into your life right now,
and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing,
thank Him for the gift that He is giving you,
the one He paid for in full in your place,
in Jesus’ name,
AMEN
Copyright March, 2015
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserved
Bibliography
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