Basic HTML Version
of corruptible seed , but of in–
corruptible ...." (Other translations
use the term "begotten.")
Greek: an–
nagennao
-
to beget anew -
(Y
oung). Peter is here referring to
the process having
started
within us
by the incorruptible Spirit of God -
not
as our human life was begotten
by human physical sperm. Peter
here shows that the Spirit of God is
the incorruptible "seed" that im–
parted the presence of eterna! life
within us. Continue: " ... By the
word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever."
Peter continues , chapter 2:
"Wherefore ... as newborn
babes ... :" Not that we
are
already–
born
perfect
divine spirit persons
having entered into and inherited
God's Kingdom. He is comparing
the Christian's spiritual "gestation"
period to the growth of a newborn
human physical baby simply be–
cause it would be awkward indeed
to compare it to a physical embryo
or fetus. He is not saying we
are
already
born
babes in God's King–
dom - but
as
-
or
like
newborn
human babes.
lt
is an
analogy,
which Webster says is a comparison
or "likeness between two things
... consisting in the resemblance
not
of the things themselves,
but of two
or more attributes. circumstances or
etrects."
Peter is simply showing that,
as
a
newborn human babe must be
noudshed and GROW physically
(even, for that matter, as must the
unborn fetus), so Christians must
grow spiritually. Continue: " ... De–
sire the sincere milk of the word"
(RSV has: "long for the pure spiri–
tual milk" ) " that ye may GROw
thereby" (I Pet. 2: 1-2). Paul styled it
"unto the
perfect
man" (Eph. 4: 13)
- unable to sin. When born again,
we shall not be helpless spirit BABES,
but spirit beings of perfection
un–
able
to sin. This Christian spiritual
GROWTH is in spiritual character
and knowledge in this present
human life.
As
a physical babe must
grow
physically, so
we in the Chris–
tian life must grow in spiritual
knowledge and character (see 11 Pet.
3: 18) to become PERFECT, which we
shall never attain UNTIL born as
spirit
beings.
34
The scriptures calling
Jesus the only begotten
Son of God all
apply to His begettal as
the human Son, His
first birth born of the
human mother, Mary.
The Comparison
During our converted human Chris–
tian life, we are already children of
God. as yet unborn. .We have within
us , through the gift of the Holy
Spirit, the presence of ETERNAL LIFE
- Spirit life - divine life - BUT,
only from and through Goo. We do
not, yet, have any eterna! life
inher–
ent
-
of
ourselves,
independent of
God! And, WE COULD LOSE
1T -
be
aborted!
This compares to the unborn
physical fetus in the gestation
period. It has human Jife - but only
thrQugh the umbilical cord and
FROM the mother - NOT indepen–
dently of itself. And it can be
aborted!
This is so clearly brought out in
the Bible, in I John 5:11-12: "And
this is the record, that God hatb
given to us eterna! life,
and this lije
is in his Son."
It is not inherent in
us. We do not now in this life have
born life of our own, independent. of
Him. Our contact with Him through
His Spirit is the umbilical cord
through which we are partaking of
eternal life
from Him.
Continue,
verse 12: "He that hath the Son
hath life; and he that hath not the
Son hath not life." If one is
cut off
from Christ, he has NO eternallife.
A BORN human baby has human
Iife
on its own
-
independent of its
mother. That defines the difference
between the state of begettal and a
born state! The only difference is, in
the Christian life we are fed and
protected by and through the spiri–
tual Mother - the Church - while
our actual eternallife comes into us
through and from Goo. But when
BORN again, of Goo, we shall have
ETERNAL LIFE INHERENT - of
OUT
own! Weare NOT now in that state!
HOW Jesus Was the ONLY
BegoHen Son
King David of Is-rael had God's
Holy Spirit. Praying for forgiveness,
following his adultery with Bath–
sheba and murder of Uriah, he im–
plored: "Create in me a clean heart,
O God; and renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from
thy presence; and take not thy Holy
Spirit from me" (Psalm 51: 10-11 ).
The prophets had received God's
Holy Spirit. Peter wrote: " ... Holy
men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit" (11 Pet.
l :21). They could not be called
"holy men" unless God's Spirit was
within them.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are to
be seen in tbe Kingdom of God.
Jesus said so. Therefore God's Spirit
was "dwelling in them" - they were
begotten of God - but THEY WERE
NOT
BORN
of Goo - for Jesus is
the
firstborn
of many brethren.
But if
they
were
begouen
of God
by the Holy Spirit - and hundreds
of years before Christ was born.
how could Jesus be called " the ONLY
begotten Son of God"?
ANSWER: The scriptures calling
Jesus the ONLYbegotten Son of God
all apply to His begettal as the
human Son, His
first
birth - born of
the human mother, Mary. Jesus was
the ONLY
human
ever begotten by
God prior to HUMAN birth. In Reve–
lation l :5, the A
.V.
speaks of Christ
as the
first begotten
-
but other
translations render it , properly, first–
BORN - referring to His resurrec–
tion, not His human birth from His
mother Mary.
Jesus was NOT the
first
begotten
in
the sense
tbat Abraham, David and
Old Testament prophets were be–
gotten.
Before Jesus was conceived by
Mary, He was not the SON of God .
God is the divine FAMILY. He was
one of that Family. In John l : 1, He
is called the "Logos" - the Word.
He, like the Father. had existed
eternally. But He is nowhere in
God's Word referred toas a SON of
God prior to conception by Mary.
His
human
birth was His
first
birth.
He gave up the GLORY He had with
the Father in order to be born into
the world to save the world.
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977