And one more little detail: In John 3 Jesus told Nicodemus that lest 'a man' be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom. Have you ever stopped to consider what Jesus may have been telling Nicodemus that Nicodemus replied 'How can a man enter again into his mother's womb' in response to 'ye must be born again'?
**When the Jews asked of Jesus ‘what must we do to do the work God requires’, what did Jesus say to them?**
“..believe on him..” Do you really believe on him? Do you believe on him according to their (the apostles) word (Jn 17:20)?
**Connect that request to what the Hebrews ask Moses before he went up the mountian.**
Ex. 19:8..”All that the Lord hath spoken we will do”..
That was an appropriate response to Moses words from the Lord.
**What were the two commandments Jesus gave that He expected of those with faith in Him?**
He commanded repentance and baptism. The Holy Ghost is a gift.
**And finally, what did James proclaim for the Gentiles Paul and Silas were bringing into the kingdom?**
Acts 15:20 “...That they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” Sidenote about Silas: He hadn’t been along on the first missionary journey with Paul.
Paul and Silas left on Paul’s second missionary journey, where they preached the Word, baptizing Jew and Gentile alike.
**Have you ever stopped to consider what Jesus may have been telling Nicodemus that Nicodemus replied ‘How can a man enter again into his mother’s womb’ in response to ‘ye must be born again’?**
Nicodemas just didn’t realize that there was a whole ‘nuther way to be born. To which the Lord made it clear it wasn’t going to be a fleshly rebirth. He said, “Except a man be born of water (no comma) and of the Spirit...”. (the ‘of’ isn’t found in original manuscripts). I think people tend to read that passage as though there is a comma in there, which would lead to some confusion posssibly.
The water simply isn’t a reference to fleshly birth, or the Lord would have said something like ‘that which is water is flesh’. Matter of fact, there are not any physical births recorded in the scriptures where there is any mention of water as part of that process. Maybe, even those folks were smart enough to know that ‘water’ is a pretty inaccuate term for fluid leaking from a ruptured placenta.
You could symbolically say that Jonah was reborn from the water a new and determined preacher.
The ‘water and the Spirit’ harmonize nicely with Acts 2:38. A good example of symbolism is in 1 Cor. 10:2. “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea”.
Here’s one I ask regularly: Acts 2:38; is it from heaven or of men?
Thank you for your inquiry. (I shouldn’t be up this late, but took a too long after supper nap.)
Any more questions?