Zeal For Truth

Recently a discussion arose on this blog about the status of people who followed after God before Christ died.  In this entry I will attempt to show that old testament saints were born again and had the same status before God as we do today.  This is not to say that the experience of a believer before Christ and those who believe after Christ are exactly the same, but I believe there is more continuity between the experiences then often assumed.  We will begin our discussion with a brief examination of John 3:1-10:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?

Here Christ is explaining that one must be born again to enter the kingdom of God.  He offers no date as to when this type of experience is to begin, it reads as if one must already be born again to enter the kingdom.  But I want to draw attention to the last line in particular; Jesus assumes that Nicodemus should know this.  Jesus is not laying down a new teaching here, this is what the Old Testament teaches and as a teacher of Israel you should know this.  It is taught and shown throughout the Old Testament (as well as the new) that one is saved by being born again, this is the simplest reading of this passage.  For the purposes of this entry the question of what “water” refers to in this passage will be left aside and we will examine only the role of God’s Spirit in this action.   To prove this several passages will be examined that shows this.

So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him (Num 27:18).

With Joshua (see also Caleb Numbers 14:21) we have a clear example of an OT saint who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and  Romans 8:7-11 explains that the indwelling of the Spirit is what gives life to the believer (a more detailed explanation of what Jesus was discussing with Nicodemus). The concept of the Spirit being in the believer is therefore not something new to the New Testament, it happened in the Old. A further explanation of what this means is given in the New Testament, but although Christ’s connection to the the Spirit is not explained until the New Testament does not mean it did not exist in the Old. The OT saints understood in part, but they still understood part (or should have) and took part in the Spirit.

And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deu 30:6).

The saints in the OT had circumcised hearts, they loved God with their hearts. This can only be true of someone born again, only the Spirit can do this. Romans 2:8-29, explaining further on this as the NT does,  making it clear that this is done through the Spirit.

But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you (1Sa 13:14).

Here we see why God choose David to be king; He wanted someone who was after Hid own heart.  Could someone be after God’s heart and not be born again?  Romans 8:8 says that “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”  How does one leave the flesh but by being born again?  How can one please God but by being after His heart?

When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day (1Sa 10:9).

Often it is assumed that being given a new heart by God is what makes one born again and that it happens only in the New Testament, yet the one instance where it is explicitly said to have happened in scripture takes place in the Old Testament.  King Saul when he was made King by God was given a new heart.  We also see in Ezekiel 18:31 God telling people to turn away from their sin and embrace a new heart.  The people in the OT had an understanding of what this meant and had the ability to do so.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar (Psa 51:10-19).

Here we have King David in the OT touching on all aspects of what it means to be born again.  The Spirit, joy in salvation, true worship of God, and a heart set after God.  Of course this passage brings up the question of if someone can have the Spirit taken away from them or not, and is the answer different in the OT from the NT.  Although I have recently become convinced that someone can have the Spirit removed both in the OT and the NT, I do not believe a view that holds that the Spirit can be removed in the OT and not the NT proves that OT saints were not born again.  Is not being able to give up one’s salvation what it means to be born again?  What scriptures that discuss being born again makes that the central point?  It may be argued that it is a difference between the OT and NT (and as I admitted at the beginning there are differences) but I don’t believe it’s a difference (assuming it is different which will take a whole other entry to work out) that has anything to do with what it means to be born again

All of this now begs the questions; if the saints in the Old Testament were born again how were they before Christ?

When this topic was discussed in another blog entry a few weeks ago John 1:12-13 was brought up as proof that a direct knowledge of the incarnate Jesus was needed to be born again, but is that what that passage teaches?

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Joh 1:6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Joh 1:7  He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
Joh 1:8  He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
Joh 1:9  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Joh 1:11  He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Joh 1:12  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Joh 1:13  who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus does not come and dwell incarnate in this passage until verse 14 when the Word becomes flesh, yet verse 12 and 13 speak of being born of God.  How is that possible?  Verses 10 and 11 explain; Jesus was in the world He just was not incarnate yet.  The saints in the Old Testament received Christ in this form and were born again.  They did not fully understand who it was that they were embracing, but they trusted God and had faith that He would send a Messiah who would save them from their sin.  This was the experience of Simeon and Anna in Luke 2.  They had placed their faith in a coming saviour, they embraced Him even though He had not yet been born.  For this they were part of those who became children to God, they were born again.

The Christ was  known to those in the Old Testament through the shadows in the temple, through the prophets, and through their history as a nation.  Trusting in God and His Messiah was how one received the Spirit of god, how one was given a new heart and how one loved God.   Those who believe that the Old Testament saints were not born again must show how the born again experience we have today differs in these regards.