Sunday.....Christianity.....John 3: "18"

The most famous Biblical verse is deemed to be John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you are  old enough, you may remember the Rainbow Man, whose hair was dyed the colors of the rainbow, holding a sign with John 3:16 on it. Or more recently you may recall it stencilled below University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's eyes. Stop in any Christian bookstore and it will be on cards, necklaces, bumper stickers and t-shirts. I write these Sunday blogs primarily for those who may be passing through and are in the beginning stages of inquiry into the Christian faith and diligently searching to find out who Jesus of Nazareth was. I try to point people to certain ministries that are, in my opinion, extraordinary ministries where you cannot but find the truth in these matters. John MacArthur's Grace To You (www.gracetoyou.org) would be one. Michael's Horton's White Horse Inn (http://www.whitehorseinn.org/) would be another but R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries (http://www.ligonier.org/) would be my first recommendation. Your search may not be over upon entering here, but it would no longer be a mere inquiry but a full fledged journey. I was listening to the latest cd sent out from Ligonier the other day and one emphasis of it was John 3:18 which reads He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God, continuing on into the next verse, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light...  Do we come into this world in the graces of God, only to be tested as to whether or not we will lose them, or do we come into this world condemned already as this verse indicates? Today's prevailing opinion is the former and the implications are enormous. Not all Christians would use the phrase born again in describing themselves, this partially because the phrase has come to incorporate a certain theology a la Billy Graham, Jimmy Carter, Charles Colson and even  George W. Bush, but all true Christians are indeed...born again. The phrase was spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus who had come to him by night, when He said to him Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. These are those who were condemned...and are now redeemed. They are new creatures. People who know me might be little impressed by my saying this. This would be my failure but there is more to this equation being formulated and I hope that it would ultimately encourage you. I didn't  take Latin in school but I did, over the years, develop the ability to pick up enough understanding of this classic language to love it immensely. Having said that, Martin Luther constructed a phrase, Simul iustus et peccator or at once righteous and a sinner. Looking at this from the first perspective, one would be brought into this world with salvation only to eventually be indwelt with sin. The second perspective has one brought into this world already lost, and then made righteous. Both would be simul iustus et peccator but only one would bring rejoicing for it would not be a good thing for one would be born righteous but then indwelt by sin but it is the greatest of hope, graces, joy and thanksgiving to know you are a sinner but redeemed through the perfect life, death and resurrection of another!  If you are an inquirer, you are a member of the human race but you may one day become adopted...not because of how good you are but because of how good the One who adopts you is. You won't please Him as well as you want to, and it will hurt. By seeing Him more clearly, you will see yourself more clearly also and you will realize that you were not only adopted, you were redeemed, and you will see what you were redeemed from. You will understand what loving darkness means. Two chapters later in the book of John, in verse 24 Jesus said Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgement but has passed from death into life. We are born with no spiritual life. My question to many with either modernity or postmodernity worldviews and philosophy, who may consider from time to time whether their salvation is still secure is, had you attained it to begin with? Are you relying on that which there was no change to begin with? If this is so, then salvation in itself must be boring to the utmost for how could one rejoice is something never lost and then found, never lifeless and now fullly and abundantly alive, never condemned and now redeemed? The book recommendation today, although not directly related to the theme of the blog, was very important to me in the early 1990s as to the direction my reading would take.