February 2015

It is particularly John, following the teaching of his Lord, who is in a unique sense the ‘theologian of the birth from above.’ It is he who records Jesus’ ‘birth from above sayings’ in his discourse with Nicodemus in John 3:1–15; 3:3, 5, 7, 8: ‘I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again [ἄνωθεν], he cannot see the kingdom of God … I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God … You must be born again [ἄνωθεν]. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’

In every other place in the Gospel where it occurs, 3:31; 19:11, 23, ἄνωθεν means ‘from above.’ I would urge therefore that ἄνωθεν means ‘from above’ in the ‘new birth’ passages where it occurs (3:3, 7). That is to say, strictly speaking, Jesus is not talking about ‘new birth’; he is talking about ‘birth from above,’ that is, from God.

When Jesus teaches that only those who have been ‘begotten from above’ (ἄνωθεν) can ‘see’ and ‘enter’ (figurative expressions for ‘faith activities’) the kingdom of God, he surely intends that regeneration is essential to faith as the latter’s causal prius. This is brought out quite clearly in John 1:12–13:

  ‘… to all who received him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—those not of natural descent [born], nor [born] of human will or a husband’s will, but born of God.’

We wanted to give you all a heads up on an amazing new resource. A new edition of the Reformation Study Bible has been carefully crafted to provide an unparalleled reading and discipleship experience in its design, commentary, and supplementary features.

Work began on this new edition several years ago when Dr. Sproul put together a theological and pastoral “dream team” to thoroughly revise this vital resource for the church using the best conservative and Reformed biblical scholarship available. Publishing a study Bible representing what we believe to be a reliable consensus of centuries of Christian thought has been a monumental task accomplished by skilled, thoughtful, and careful editors and contributors. The new edition has thirty-two percent more pages and the commentary alone has grown by forty-four percent over the original edition. Along with new book introductions and archaeologically current maps and visual aids, there are theological notes and articles from Dr. Sproul and other faithful theologians. Below you can watch a brief video highlighting why Ligonier produced this new edition.

A Bible Study Reformation from Ligonier Ministries on Vimeo.

Graham Veale

“The ideal type of the slave is the socially dead chattel, ripped forcibly from organic ties of kin and community, transported to an alien environment there to be treated as merely a piece of property or as a factor of production to be used and abused at will, an animate tool or beast of burden with no sense of self other than that allowed by the slave owner and no legal, let alone civic, personality whatsoever. Societies with large numbers of such slaves, let alone societies based on them, have been very few. The City of Athens and central Roman Italy for periods in antiquity, and in modern times the slave states of the American Old South, the Caribbean, and Brazil, are the only known instances.” Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (OUP:1998) p670

1) The Old Testament texts are historical documents; when studying history we must remember that the passage of time creates chasms between cultures and societies. Every feature of the past must be interpreted in its own historical context. The experience of a black slave in the Confederate states was not the experience of a slave in ancient Israel. We can’t assume that Israel would have tolerated the slavery of the American Old South, or that the Slave States would have found the slavery of the ancient Israelites profitable or useful.

Visitor: You are pretending Christians are progressive and infallible in 2015. Keep up with Uganda? How about Russia? The treatment of LGBT doesn't really count, because they're  wrong right? You know you can get away with killing somebody for being gay in Uganda because it's justified by the Bible? Don't be hypocritical and don't rationalize.

Response: Regarding your comment about putting homosexuals to death being justified by the Bible ... you seem so focused on your own cause that you seem wholly unaware that there are a VAST array of sins which were punishable by death in Old Testament Law.  The list of capital crimes is so comprehensive that justice required in the Old Testament would likely sweep up everyone on earth. When I read those laws I know that I personally deserve to be among those who are put to death. Here are just a sampling of acts punishable by death in the Old Testament: Cursing Parents (Leviticus 20:9); Working on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:15); Premarital Sex (Deuteronomy 22:20); Disobedience to Parents (Deuteronomy 21:18); Child Sacrifice (Deut 18:10); Witchcraft (Exodus 22: 18); Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16); Apostasy and Enticement to others to worship false gods (Deuteronomy 12:6); Homosexual acts (Leviticus 20:13); Adultery (Leviticus 20: 10-12) ...the list goes on and on (and includes even some seemingly lesser offenses).