Posted on 01/16/2015 5:56:35 AM PST by metmom
CLASSIFICATION IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT of all tasks. Even in the realm of religion there are enough lights and shades to make it injudicious to draw too fine a line between men and men. If the religious world were composed of squares of solid black and solid white classification would be easy; but unfortunately it is not.
It is a grave error for us evangelicals to assume that the children of God are all in our communion and that all who are not associated with us are ipso facto enemies of the Lord. The Pharisees made that mistake and crucified Christ as a consequence.
With all this in mind, and leaning over backwards to be fair and charitable, there is yet one distinction which we dare make, which indeed we must make if we are to think the thoughts of God after Him and bring our beliefs into harmony with the Holy Scriptures. That distinction is the one which exists between two classes of human beings, the once-born and the twice-born.
That such a distinction does in fact exist was taught by our Lord with great plainness of speech, in contexts which preclude the possibility that He was merely speaking figuratively. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," He said, and the whole chapter where these words are found confirms that He was speaking precisely, setting forth meanings as blunt and downright as it is possible for language to convey.
"Ye must be born again," said Christ. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." This clear line of demarcation runs through the entire New Testament, quite literally dividing one human being from another and making a distinction as sharp as that which exists between different genera of the animal kingdom.
Just who belongs to one class and who to the other it is not always possible to judge, though the two kinds of life ordinarily separate from each other. Those who are twice-born crystallize around the Person of Christ and cluster together in companies, while the once-born are held together only by the ties of nature, aided by the ties of race or by common political and social interests.
Our Lord warned His disciples that they would be persecuted. "In the world ye shall have tribulation," He said, and "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."
These are only two of many passages of the New Testament warning of persecution or recording the fact of harassment and attack suffered by the followers of the Lord. This same idea runs through the entire Bible from the once-born Cain who slew the twice-born Abel to the Book of the Revelation where the end of human history comes in a burst of blood and fire.
That hostility exists between the once-born and the twice-born is known to every student of the Bible; the reason for it was stated by Christ when He said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." The rule was laid down by the apostle Paul when he wrote, "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now."
Difference of moral standards between the onceborn and the twice-born, and their opposite ways of life, may be contributing causes of this hostility; but the real cause lies deeper. There are two spirits abroad in the earth: the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and the Spirit of God. These two can never be reconciled in time or in eternity. The spirit that dwells in the once-born is forever opposed to the Spirit that inhabits the heart of the twice-born. This hostility began somewhere in the remote past before the creation of man and continues to this day. The modern effort to bring peace between these two spirits is not only futile but contrary to the moral laws of the universe.
To teach that the spirit of the once-born is at enmity with the Spirit of the twice-born is to bring down upon one's head every kind of violent abuse. No language is too bitter to hurl against the conceited bigot who would dare to draw such a line of distinction between men. Such malignant ideas are at odds with the brotherhood of man, says the once-born, and are held only by the apostles of disunity and hate. This mighty rage against the twice-born only serves to confirm the truth they teach. But this no one seems to notice.
What we need to restore power to the Christian testimony is not soft talk about brotherhood but an honest recognition that two human races occupy the earth simultaneously: a fallen race that sprang from the loins of Adam and a regenerate race that is born of the Spirit through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
To accept this truth requires a tough-mindedness and a spiritual maturity that modern Christians simply do not possess. To face up to it hardly contributes to that "peace of mind" after which our religious weaklings bleat so plaintively.
For myself, I long ago decided that I would rather know the truth than be happy in ignorance. If I cannot have both truth and happiness, give me truth. We'll have a long time to be happy in heaven.
ping
Thank you for the ping to this reminder.
This Tozer piece illuminates the prevailing reason why the animosity continues against the born-again on this and any forum.
But, animosity from the deeply religious once-born is not a valid reason for shrinking back from posting (speaking) when the Holy Spirit is prompting.
Those who focus on something or someone else take note.
Thanks great article and series from Tozer. Thanks.
Yes, it does.
The animosity runs deep judging by the response to using the term *born again*.
And yet, Jesus Himself said that we must be born of the Spirit, have the second birth.
Thank you for your faithfulness and diligence in posting these Tozier threads!
I am enjoying them. :-)
Unbelievable that the author is dividing the human race into two human races without defining the terms. Is twice-born a movie, a singing group or Hindu social system?
I presume that he meant Baptism like the Sacrament initiated by Jesus in the Jordan that forgives original and actual sin.
Apparently the twice-born are the good guys and they can’t reconcile with or influence the bad guys.
We are all sinners (both groups) and as human beings made in the likeness of God. We have free will to either follow God’s will or not. And we often fail (sin) as indivduals not as a bad group. Some may practice their own religious belief or intrepretation and ignore God’s word and teachings. Each indivdual makes decisions to be moral or immoral and we find out when we die as we are judged.
The purpose and goal of the Church is to bring human beings to follow God’s will and to salvation.
The author’s statement: “The modern effort to bring peace between these two espirits is not only futile but contrary to the moral laws of the universe.”
We need to endure and follow Christ’s path and live by Jesus’s two great commandments. God’s Truth will prevail. Our role is to spread the Good News and by example bring as many as we can to God.
I am enjoying them. :-)
Me too, and I think it is GC who posts RC Sproul. I have also seen D L Moody articles too, which are also very good. If I remember right, Moody was in Chicago during the Chicago Fire of 1871.
Perhaps you would give your definition of “salvation” and the “Good News” we should spread.
So you are talking about Sacrament of Baptism.
It is through the sacrament of Baptism that we become Christians, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Baptism also takes away sin: “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins” (Acts 22:16). Baptism and Confirmation are the sacramental elements of being born again, and the normal means by which we receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us in John 3:5, “Unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” And in Acts 2:38-39, Peter says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Him.”
John 3
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Nope...It's a term used by Christians who have been born twice...Born once in a natural birth (water) and born a second time in a spiritual (Spirit) birth...We were born once, and then born again, from above...
I presume that he meant Baptism like the Sacrament initiated by Jesus in the Jordan that forgives original and actual sin.
Nope...Getting water baptized is not a new birth...
We need to endure and follow Christ’s path and live by Jesus’s two great commandments. God’s Truth will prevail.
Our role is to spread the Good News and by example bring as many as we can to God.
Again, nope...A twice born person learns to trust the words of God put to paper by God...Being an example will bring no one to a 2nd birth...Bringing people to God is not the 2nd birth...
You must read to people or tell people or show people in the scriptures...
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Vatican Council II addressed this point in its “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium),” “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation” (no. 16). In short, those who are truly unaware of what God requires of them are not held responsible; rather they are judged by what they did with the truth they had.
Protestants have their own version of “No Salvation outside the Church”. They believe that unless a person accepts Christ as personal Lord and Savior he or she is headed for hell. No allowances are made for people who don’t know any better. The Catholic Church rightly portrays God as both just and merciful – as opposed to legalistic.
Traditionalists view God in the same way that Protestants do. Do it right or you are lost. They reject Vatican II’s qualification of the doctrine. They contend that Vatican II ignored earlier councils and introduced something new. Thus it is invalid and to be ignored. This of course is false. The Church’s teachings before and after the council are the same.
The other side: Who will not gain salvation:
185. Who is punished in hell? Those are punished in hell who die in mortal sin; they are deprived of the vision of God and suffer dreadful torments, especially that of fire, for all eternity.
69. What three things are necessary to make a sin mortal? To make a sin mortal these three things are necessary: First, the thought, desire, word, action, or omission must be seriously wrong; second, the sinner must know that it is seriously wrong; third, the sinner must fully consent to it.
So only a mortal sin can damn you to hell. And in order to be guilty of a mortal sin, you must know that you are committing one! Hence, if you don’t know, you are not guilty. Jesus Himself teaches this very thing in John 9:40-41 where He says to the Pharisees: “Some of the Pharisees near Him heard this, and they said to Him, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say ‘we see,’ your guilt remains.’” In other words because they knew better they were guilty of sin. Had they not known better, they would not have been guilty.
Yes. That’s why I’m not a Roman or any other rite catholic church member.
There seems to be a gulf between us that neither can cross.
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