FINDING GRACE IN THE NAMES OF JESUS – PART Eleven

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HUIOS TAU THEOS /SON OF MAN, HUIOS TAU ANTHROPOS (Lesson 6)

APPLICATION OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH

Can a person be ignorant of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and still be born again?  The answer is simple; yes.

In John 4:46-54 (NKJV) we see the account of a nobleman coming to Jesus for the healing of His son.  Jesus was in Cana of Galilee and the boy was in Capernaum. 

So, Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So, the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household (John 4:46-54).

We learn many lessons of faith in this account of healing.  For instance, we discover faith’s great love both from the nobleman and from Jesus.  Secondly, we see the nobleman’s faith in humility as he seeks help from Jesus a poor man.  Next, the faith of the nobleman in just going to Jesus.  We realize the strength of his faith that allowed him to continue with his business believing that the healing had already occurred.  Finally, we detect faith leading to trust.  The nobleman trusted Jesus’ ability to heal. 

At the end of the account it says, speaking of the nobleman, “…he himself believed, and his whole household.”  The grace of God was in full action with this man of faith.  The noblemen and his entire family and staff were converted by an act of Christ’s love, the demonstration of the nobleman’s faith, and the work of the Spirit of God.  These results were performed and powered by the grace of God culminating in the salvation of many. 

When analyzing this conversion experience, there is no mention of the virgin birth.  There is no questioning by Jesus, “Do you believe that I am both man and God?”  The salvation of the nobleman and his whole family was due to the power of grace through faith (the nobleman), followed by an action of love (Jesus’ forgiveness).  An understanding of our incompleteness and our insufficiency coupled with a belief in the complete sufficiency of Jesus to grant eternal life is all that it takes for us to experience transformational life in Him.

When we analyze Christ’s discussion with Nicodemus, we see a deep theological interaction by two men who had great knowledge of the scriptures.  In John chapter 3 we see that Nicodemus was led by his own distorted, misconceived beliefs built on a lack of spiritual, not intellectual, understanding, of both the natural and supernatural.  He was blinded by his own misunderstandings of Old Testament Prophecy. 

The other man, Jesus, (God-Man) saw all things, both earthly and supernaturally through the eyes of the Spirit of God.  Nothing was concealed from Jesus except the time of His final return.  We see this discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3:1-10:

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.  He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”  Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”  “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”  Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  “How can this be?”  Nicodemus asked.  “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

At this point in his life, Nicodemus was not willing to accept the fact that Jesus was the messiah.  In his unwillingness to accept the historical prediction of the Messiah, Nicodemus was denying the deity of Jesus. 

Can a person be opposed to the teaching of the virgin birth and still be born again?  Nothing is impossible for God.  Many unbelievers had strange and unusual beliefs about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible and its teachings, believers, churches, etc. before they acknowledged that they were hopelessly lost and headed for an eternity of separation and punishment.  Once they recognized this desperate condition, they confessed their need for Jesus and by the grace of God through faith in him, they became believers.  Having, therefore, been justified by that faith, they are now are freed from the power that was responsible for their unbelief and their eyes are opened to a whole new world of truth (Romans 5:1).