Replies

You are standing alone on that scripture, by your implied reasoning all who are baptized will now speak in tongues.

I suggest you review ALL the other scriptures that clearly state Jesus’s death alone and faith in Him is ALL that is needed for the sufficiency of his grace.

I do not allow myself to fall into the trap of one scripture being the definitive statement. That is not how our Lord inspired the writing of the Bible.

You are standing alone on that scripture, by your implied reasoning all who are baptized will now speak in tongues.

You are a bit confused. Where did I say that? Where does God say that?

Go back and reread it with eyes to other words. Speaking in tongues is not the only result.

I suggest you review ALL the other scriptures that clearly state Jesus’s death alone and faith in Him is ALL that is needed for the sufficiency of his grace.

So what do you do with the following? Jesus says you MUST be born again in the Spirit. There is not an option.

I don’t disagree with what you have said but there is MORE. Many can say and have said your very words and have not been sufficient. Some have cast out demons in His name yet, Jesus says “go away”.

Your faith is a gift of God, not of your own doing. Jesus dying on the cross is a gift of God and not your doing. Without being baptized in God’s Spirit we are lost. Get over the idea that God’s Spirit is only speaking in tongues.

I repeat, get over the idea that being baptized in the Spirit is ONLY speaking in tongues. I thought the same at one time.

Joh 3:5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
Joh 3:6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
Joh 3:7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
Joh 3:8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

We are told we can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit. It is a mystery, but we can still explore the mystery with God.

Do you have any thoughts on the mystery?

I do not allow myself to fall into the trap of one scripture being the definitive statement. That is not how our Lord inspired the writing of the Bible.

Nor should you.

We are living under the New Covenant. What exactly is the New Covenant?

God tells us twice in the OT and NT, “This is the New Covenant.....................” Actually, only once, the second time is a direct quotation. We should have gotten it the first time. He tells us in some detail what it is. Jesus does build on it.

Do you see a connection between the New Covenant and being born in the Spirit? Do you see why God destroyed the Temple, the priestly system, the sacrificial system and TORE THE CURTAIN?