Search
Scripture Reading: John 1:12-13
John 1:12-13 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This portion contains at least ten crucial points that are indicated by the following words and phrases: received, Him, authority, children of God, believe into, His name, blood, the will of the flesh, the will of man, and begotten...of God. We covered the point of receiving in the previous chapter, and now we need to consider the matter of being begotten of God. Receiving is the procedure by which we are begotten of God.
New believers often do not have an accurate understanding of the truth contained in the Bible. For example, in regard to receiving the Lord, many of us think of ourselves only as sinners who were in anguish and bondage, who were destined to perish, and who were in need of salvation and a Savior. Hence, we believed in the Lord Jesus as our Savior. This concept is quite common, and while it is not wrong, it falls short of the view contained in the Bible. The Bible shows that God wants us to receive His Son for a higher purpose.
Some of us also think that our believing in the Lord is for the purpose of improving our behavior. This sounds reasonable, but strictly speaking it is incompatible with the truth of the gospel. In the Lord’s salvation the goal is not to improve our behavior. The Lord is focused on regenerating us, not improving us. Receiving the Lord is not a matter of improving our behavior but a matter of receiving another life. When we believe in the Lord, we receive another life, which spontaneously changes our living and behavior. Hence, the Lord’s salvation is focused on regeneration, not improvement.
Sages, philosophers, and religionists throughout the ages have focused on self-improvement. Nicodemus was a religionist who wanted to improve himself, and so he came to Jesus at night (3:1-2). But God does not want us to improve our behavior; He wants to give us His life. He does not want us to improve our life; He wants us to receive Him as life. The concept of improvement is not accurate. Although the word repent is in the Bible, this word in Greek refers to a change of mind, not to the improvement of behavior.
When we receive the Son of God as our Savior, God not only forgives our sins but also begets us. God’s forgiveness of our sins and His deliverance of us from perdition are secondary matters. The Bible shows that God redeemed us so that we could be born again. God not only saves us but also begets us. God wants to beget Himself in us. He saves us so that we could be born of Him. Salvation is secondary; begetting is primary.
Although unbelievers do not have this concept, even many Christians do not have this concept. This is the reason that the apostle John clearly says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten...of God” (1:12-13). The authority that John speaks of is the life of God. Those who have the authority to become children of God are those who have been begotten of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (v. 1); in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (v. 4); the light shines in the darkness (v. 5); and as many as received Him, that is, those who believe into His name, to them He gave the authority, the life, to become children of God (v. 12). This is the apostle John’s thought and concept. His emphasis in writing these words is not on the forgiveness of sins or blessings, but on the authority of life that makes believers children of God. Hence, he speaks of those “who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (v. 13).
We need to see how truly momentous it is to receive the Lord. Once we receive the Lord, God’s life enters into us, and we immediately have a union with God in life. Our believing into the Lord is for our being begotten of God, that is, for God to come into us to be our life. This is not a natural concept. We would never think of God entering into us to be our life by regenerating us. In addition to our own life, we need to receive God as life. No religionist or philosopher sees that man’s problem is related to life.
I hope that these words will deliver us from the concept of doing good and being moral. The Bible says, “Who were begotten...of God.” Once we receive the Lord, we are begotten of God. Some saints may ask, “Although this is a good word, what about our behavior, our living, and the way we conduct ourselves?” We should realize that our living comes out of life. Once we have God’s life, every matter of our living is spontaneously addressed. The Gospel of John has a total of twenty-one chapters, and John carefully selected the content from thousands of events (21:24-25). In his entire Gospel there is no verse, sentence, or word that tells us how to behave. John did not address the matter of behavior; he only spoke of the matter of life because he knew that everything depended on life. Once our focus is on life, there is no problem with behavior.
In 1:13 the apostle John says, “Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.” John emphasized the matter of begetting with three words in the negative — not, nor, nor — so that we would clearly know that our begetting is completely of God and that it has nothing to do with man.
The first of these three words refers to our body of flesh and blood. Our body is born of flesh and blood, but our spiritual birth is not related to blood. The second and third words refer to the soul-life. Man has not only an outer, visible life of flesh and blood but also an inner, invisible soul-life. The soul has three parts: mind, emotion, and will. The will of the flesh and the will of man are related to man’s fallen will and man’s created human will. Our thoughts represent us in terms of their expression, and our will represents us in terms of its intentions. That which is begotten of blood refers to that which is begotten by flesh and blood, and that which is begotten of the will of the flesh or of the will of man refers to that which is begotten by the intentions of our soul-life.
The created soul-life that was present before the fall was affected by the fall; thus, there was the soul-life before the fall and the soul-life after the fall. The will of the flesh refers to the soul-life after the fall, whereas the will of man refers to the soul-life before the fall. According to John, those who believe in and receive the Lord Jesus are not begotten of blood, which speaks of the human life associated with flesh and blood, nor are they begotten of the soul-life, which was affected by the fall and which speaks of the intentions related to the fallen soul-life, nor are they begotten of the intentions that were present in our soul-life prior to the fall. The life that we have received from the Lord is not related to flesh and blood, and it is not related to the soul-life, either after or prior to the fall. It is only related to the life of God.
This shows that while a man of flesh and blood who has been affected by the fall certainly needs God’s life, even a pure, created man, who is not fallen and who has not been corrupted to become the flesh, would still need God’s life. The life that we receive upon believing in the Lord is not a life related to flesh and blood; neither is it related to our soul-life, either after or prior to the fall. The life that we receive from the Lord comes to us entirely apart from anything of our human life; it is the life of God that comes from God.
These words should be applied to our living. After we receive the Lord and obtain God as our life, we should not live by the will of the flesh, that is, our fallen soul-life. Neither should we attempt to live by our pure, created soul-life. Our soul-life expresses both hate and love, and it is both narrow and broad. The hateful and narrow expressions of our soul-life are related to the will of the flesh, whereas the loving and broad expressions are related to the pure created will of man. Being stingy and miserly are related to the soul-life of the flesh, whereas being generous and charitable are related to the pure created will of man. Intolerance and condemnation come out of the will of the flesh, the soul-life of the flesh, whereas tolerance and magnanimity are virtues related to the will of man, the soul-life of created man. Although God’s children know that they need to reject the will of the flesh, few know that they need to reject the will of their good humanity, that is, the good virtues of their created soul-life. Consequently, when a brother is praised for being broad-hearted or a sister is praised for being meek and loving, we may have little realization that these traits can be merely good expressions coming out of the human soul-life, not out of the life of God.
Many years ago a sister from the northwest came to Shanghai for fellowship and then left for Nanking after several days. I also went to Nanking a few days later. Upon my arrival, I heard several responsible brothers praising the spirituality of this sister. They said, “This sister walks so meekly, speaks so elegantly, and sits so properly; she is truly spiritual.” I smiled and said, “If meekness, elegance, and properness are spirituality, then the statue of Mary in a Catholic cathedral is even more spiritual.” They said, “Brother Lee, you are confusing us. Are you saying that a person can be spiritual if he speaks with a rasping voice, hops around instead of walking, and slouches when he sits?” I said, “Of course not, but being loud or being meek and quiet are not the proper measure of spirituality. You may think that this sister is spiritual because she is quiet and meek, but you have no realization that meekness and quietness are part of her natural disposition; she was meek and quiet even before she was saved.” According to John’s words, this sister’s meekness and quietness were “begotten” of the will of man; they were “begotten” by the good side of her created soul-life; they were not begotten of God.
Some sisters express their anger in very elegant ways, but others sound like they are quarreling even when they speak pleasant words. Neither expression is spiritual, and neither expression is begotten of God. Although our hatred, jealousy, and narrow-heartedness are not begotten of God, it is also possible for our love, magnanimity, and broad-heartedness to not be begotten of God.
The life that we have received from the Lord is not of man but of God. This life is not according to man’s blood, man’s fallen soul, or man’s created soul. God’s life is altogether apart from man. Just as our hatred is not out of God, our human love is not out of God. Just as our hot temper is not out of God, our human meekness is not out of God. Just as our narrowness is not out of God, our human broadness is not out of God. God wants to enter into us to be our life, and with His life we have the authority to become children of God. Becoming children of God is not only a matter of nature, position, or name; it is a matter of enjoyment. We can enjoy everything of God when we become children of God. All His riches are our blessing and our right.
