DALE RATZLAFF
Could it be that we, too, are like Nicodemus wanting to discuss theology when we need to be born again?
It is not our comprehensive understanding of the Scriptures, nor our theological training nor even our expertise in the interpretation of Scripture that will save us. These are all good, even necessary, but unless these disciplines lead us to place our faith solely in the living Christ they fall woefully short—and short here is disasterous.
Currently I am preparing a series of study guides in connection with a Sunday school class I am teaching on the Gospel of John. Immersing myself in this most precious Gospel has once again underlined in my thinking the importance of making first things first. In John 3, Nicodemus is described as “the teacher of Israel” (Jn. 3:10). In today’s vernacular, we would call him the Chairman of the Department of Theology at Jerusalem University. Yet, despite his knowledge, degrees and training, Jesus looked Nicodemus in the eye and said, “You must be born again.” Then Jesus pointed Nicodemus forward to the time when He, as the Son of Man, would be lifted up “so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (Jn. 3:15). Jesus makes it clear that belief—the Greek word means belief and trust—in Christ as the Savior of the world is the primary, ultimate goal to be reached. In fact Jesus states, “He who believes has (now) eternal life” Jn. 6:47.
John then moves from Nicodemus, a trained and respected religious leader to the other end of the social/religious spectrum: the woman of Samaria. The Samaritans were half-breed Jews, had an incomplete, competing religious system and were thus despised by the Jews. This woman was living in sin, going from one immoral relationship to another. Skillfully, Jesus led her step by step to the primary truth. When she brought up issues about the right place to worship, Jesus told her that true worshipers will worship God in Spirit and in truth. It was to this sinful woman Jesus made one of the most direct revelations about His true identity and in so doing offered her the gift of eternal life. When she started talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus said, “I who speak to you am He.” John, in his characteristically subtle way indicates she believed that Jesus was the Christ. She drank so deeply of the “living water” that she left her water pot there at Jacob’s well (Jn. 4:28). Her thirst had been quenched!
Could it be that we, too, are like Nicodemus wanting to discuss theology when we need to be born again? Or, perhaps, we are like the woman of Samaria and are so concerned about the details of worship (and minor theological points) that we miss what is primary and important. Too often our discussion centers on minor points which are not clearly stated in Scripture. Perhaps we would be better off to focus our attention on that which is clearly stated and primary in emphasis and importance.
Good New Testament hermeneutics will give major emphasis to that which is primary—the good news that salvation is a free gift to be received by faith in Christ. Conversely, a hermeneutic that gives emphasis to peripheral things of questionable interpretation is weak, even dangerous.
I believe the Gospel of John has one primary truth.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, Jn. 1:12.
Whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life Jn. 3:15–16.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Jn. 3:18.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him Jn. 3:36.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life Jn. 5:24.
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” Jn. 6:29–30.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” Jn. 6:35–36.
For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day Jn. 6:40.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life Jn. 6:47.
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins Jn. 8:24.
Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him Jn. 9:35–38.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world” Jn. 11:25–27.
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness Jn. 12:46.
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed” Jn. 20:29.
But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name Jn. 20:31.
Simple belief in Christ is primary. Any teaching that puts emphasis anywhere else is to be rejected. Once we have placed a true faith in Christ, then we immediately are led to the first result: intimate fellowship with the Godhead.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” Jn. 14:23.
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me Jn. 17:20–21.
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you Jn. 14:16, 17.
Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, lives in us. He will never leave us because He has promised to be with us to the end. This intimate relationship with God—the indwelling Holy Spirit—brings about the second result. The Holy Spirit in our lives becomes the engine that drives our Christian walk. We do not serve to be accepted into the family of God, we serve because we have already become sons and daughters of God. We seek to live like the kind of people we now are “in Christ”. This standing (the simple gospel of faith in Christ) creates the relationship (intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit) and this in turn causes us to “keep His commandments.”
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another Jn. 13:34.
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments Jn. 14:15.
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him Jn. 14:21.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love Jn. 15:10.
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you Jn. 15:12.
When I was an Adventist pastor, I always used the “commandment” passages in John to put people back under the law and the Sabbath. After all, the Sabbath is in the heart of the Ten Commandments and if we loved God then we must keep the Sabbath. I found, however, that I knew other Christians who were not Sabbath keepers who expressed a profound love for God. How could this be? If one did not keep the Sabbath, I concluded, that person really did not love God, he just appeared to. However, during my long inductive study of the Sabbath I discovered that John never uses entole—translated “commandment”—to refer to the Ten Commandments or any other old covenant law. When John refers to the old covenant he always uses nomos translated “law.” (See Sabbath in Crisis, p. 310, 311 for a complete listing of these words used in John’s writings). What, then, does John mean by “commandment”? Simply this:
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us 1 Jn. 3:23.
Good hermeneutics will consider primacy: putting first things first. Placing our faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as number one. This, in turn, brings about the intimate fellowship with God. Then divine indwelling of the Holy Spirit motivates us to keep trusting Christ and loving one another.
Jerome reports that when John was too feeble, through age, to walk to Christian assemblies, John was carried there by young men. His only address was, “Little children, love one another.” When asked why he repeated these words so much, he replied, “Because this is the Lord’s command, and enough is done when this is done.” (Commentary on the New Testament, John, R.C.H. Lenski, p. 22) Yes, this is the clear teaching of the new covenant. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” Rom. 13:10. “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “ You shall LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF” Gal. 5:14.
It is my prayer that we, like John, will put the primary, important things first and observe the correct order of salvation: (1) Place our faith in Christ, (2) Experience the intimate fellowship with God, and (3) Love others as Christ loved us. Enough is done when this is done. †
REPUBLISHED FROM PROCLAMATION! MARCH/APRIL 2001 (VOL. 2, ISSUE 2)
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