“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13)
These words have a dependence on what goes before, and therefore we must direct you to it for the right understanding of them. You have it thus: “”He (Christ) came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” In the words before us, you have two things. 1. Some of Christ’s own nation rejecting him when he offered himself to them. 2. Others of his own receiving him and making him welcome. Those that reject him, he also passes by; but those “that receive him, he gives them power to become the sons of God.” Now, lest anyone should look upon it as good luck or fortune, he says, “They were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” They that did not receive him, were only born of flesh and blood; but those that did receive him, they that receive the doctrine of Christ with a vehement desire, they have God to their father.
Why must we forgive? Jesus was unequivocal on this point: As his followers, we are required to forgive those who sin against us (Matthew 6:15). But what if we don’t feel like we’ve forgiven them? How do we know, then, if we have truly forgiven? The Holy Spirit, thank God, often enables people to forgive even though they are not sure how they did it. But forgiving and knowing that we’ve truly forgiven, comes easier when we understand the realities of forgiveness. In our discussion of this subject, we give you prospective from the New Testament point of view.
We continue to study New Testament in our ongoing series “Book of Books”. The Book of Acts, like the four Gospels, does not name its author. However, the widespread belief that this book, along with the third Gospel, was composed by a man named Luke who was a companion of the apostle Paul (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24), has persisted from early times, particularly since the late second century. Both the third Gospel and Acts have prologues that tie the two together with references to a man called Theophilus and lead one to believe that they are the first and second volumes of a continuous history. The “we sections” of Acts (16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16) imply that the writer of Acts was a companion of Paul part of the time, and after one eliminates most of the people the author mentions by name in Acts, the most logical identification is Luke the physician. Thus, the strong testimony of the earliest Fathers and this internal evidence, reinforced by the presence of medical language (which alone is not decisive), have led the majority of scholars, ancient and modern, to consider Luke the author. Luke puts his narrative together from his own observations (thus the “we sections”) as well as other possible eyewitness accounts, written and oral. This is implied by the statement of Luke 1:3, where the author refers to his investigations. The style and vocabulary of the speeches of Paul and Peter conform remarkably to their own writings, so that one gets the impression that someone, probably Luke in the case of a few of Paul’s sermons, took careful notes during their delivery.
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