John 3:3, 5 “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. (5) Jesus answered, 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.
Salvation has been a subject of debate for as long as sin
has been with man. It has been studied and debated by some of the most intelligent
people on the earth and thousands of years later, it’s still being debated by
the brightest people in the world. The Jews, God’s chosen nation to do God’s
work on the earth, most didn’t even understand God or salvation. Here we have a
man named Nicodemus who was a Ruler of the Jews. This
means that Nicodemus was (or was recognized as) a biblical scholar. In today’s education
system he would be recognized as a PhD Scholar in biblical education. But this
man had no idea what salvation was, because he did not know who Jesus Christ
was. He thought the rebirth was being born a second time in his mother womb. “Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb, and be born?” John 3:4 It was later that
Nicodemus who was already a ruler of the Jews and a biblical Scholar of His time
was actually born again and saved. Nicodemus no longer recognized Jesus simply
as a “Rabbi…a teacher come from God”
but truly recognized Him as Saviour. The Jewish leaders themselves did not recognize
Jesus as Saviour but as a fraud and a devil. John 1:11 says “He came unto
his own, and his own received him not.” At the time there were no more
biblical smart people than these very Jews, who rejected Jesus. And in time it
was these same biblical scholars that led the way and demanded this devil named
Jesus must be crucified, and released a murder so that He could be crucified.
This brings us to Saul of Tarsus, this man talked about his credentials in
Philippians 3:5 - 6 "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the
law, a Pharisee; (6) Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless." In other words, as a
Jew he was a biblical Scholar of his time. But he hated Jesus, he hated
Christians, and he hated the Lord’s church in Jerusalem. This is until he met
Jesus, Acts 9:4 - 5 "And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (5) And he said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks." The Apostle Paul soon becomes a true biblical
scholar and wrote at least 13 books of the New Testament after Jesus saved his
soul. The point here is that intelligence, even biblical scholars who hold PhD’s
are not always biblically correct, nor are they actual biblical scholars. The difference
between those with true biblical knowledge and those pretenders is the doctrine
of salvation. If you look at history, those that were wrong always taught that
works were a part of salvation. Judaism, Gnosticism, Catholicism, and today, Arminianism.
When people cannot understand who Jesus was/is and what His purpose was in His crucifixion,
then they will never understand salvation. If people refuse to accept that
salvation is exactly the way God described it in Ephesians 2:8 – 9 and the life
of a Christian is the way God described it in verse 10 then they will never
understand God and salvation no matter who they are, or what education level
they hold. Imagine, all those who were supposed to be biblically intelligent people,
the chosen nation of God, failed in recognizing who Jesus was. The people today
who have their PhD in theology, and have no idea who Jesus is, and have no idea
who God is and how He saves sinners. And people flock to hear them preach about
free will and humanism. They teach a doctrine that God has taught against from Abraham
thru our time, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:9 we
also see in Titus 3:5 “Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Paul wrote in
Acts 16:30 - 31 “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved? (31) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house.” If you go through the scriptures, it never changes, circumcision
(which is considered a work), baptism and works for salvation have been falsely
taught by some of the most educated biblical scholars and all have been wrong.
Paul even said of Israel, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is, that they might be saved. (2) For I bear them record that
they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Romans 10:1
- 2 Knowledge of the scripture does not come from earthly education, it comes
from the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus,
“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:15 Nicodemus was later born of God. He came to understand that salvation
was in Jesus Christ and not in works.
