We live in the century of 'sound bites' and although slick phrases and epigrams may have their place it is certainly not in bible study. I understand the urge to 'get on' and say what you are saying but we need a little patience when examining such vital Bible truths.In touching on a topic which runs through John's 'gospel' and his first letter, it is important that we start with a solid foundation. Our reaction might be, how complicated can this be, we are talking about three words! 'born of God'! Well let's presume we know who God is, so now we are down to two words and the topic quite plainly is 'birth'. The word is used almost 30 times in John's writings (John 1:13; 3:3-8; 8:41; 9:2,19-20,32,34; 16:21; 18:37; 1John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18) but it is when the word is used in conjunction with the preposition 'of' that it focuses our thoughts. The Greek preposition 'ek' means 'out of' as a point of origin. It speaks of the origin of things. Dog breeders and horse breeders still describe a pedigree by saying 'out of' or 'ex'. In using the phrase 'ek theou' John is telling us very plainly of an origin in God. Regeneration is 'of God'; there are no other origins or partners in this birth.The word 'born' is also used constantly in the great pedigree of Matthew 1 and includes the section...“And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;” (Matt. 1:3, KJVS)Here we are told that 'Judah begat Phares and Zara of Thamar. The origin of Phares and Zara was dual; Judah AND Thamar. The birth that John has in mind only has one origin 'of God'.The British police force has a way of questioning many people when a crime has been committed. If you were to ask 'are they suspects' the standard answer would be 'we would like to eliminate them from our enquiries'. In other words reasoning is often a process of elimination. Some individuals who are 'helping the police with their enquiries' can be can be eliminated immediately... they were in another country, or addressing the Police Federation at the time... John would have appreciated this process; he uses it in this verse. It is very helpful in understanding Bible concepts to eliminate all other suspects and John does so very plainly. This is Young's Literal Translation“who — not of blood nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of man but — of God were begotten.” (John 1:13, YNG)The birth to which he refers is1. not 'of blood' (literally bloods, plural),2. not from the choices/desires of flesh, 3. not from the choices/desires of manThe birth to which he is referring does not have its origin in any of these 'possible suspects'.1. T Austin-Sparks sees the plural reference to bloods as indicating the origin of a normal physical birth. I think he is right and in this context we can add 'it not hereditary' not 'by descent'. This is an important point for those who saw their relationship to God as guaranteed by their pedigree. “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Matt. 3:9, KJVS) 2. I think 'flesh' here must simply mean 'human' in the light of the next verse which tells us that the Word became flesh. This 'begetter' is not human.3. 'man' is andros, the male. The 'birth' is not the consequence of a male's choice/will/desire. This birth does is not the result of a male's initiation.I think there is intentional overlap in these catagories and that what John is doing is eliminating every possible 'earthly' origin for such a birth.On the contrary, this birth is 'ek theou', these are 'God-begotten' ones. The mind inevitable connects this with “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again (anoœthen, from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, KJVS)If we want more details about John's understanding of 'born of God' we shall have to broaden our scope to include 1 John.Here are six characteristics of being 'born of God'. (begotten and born are the same Greek word here). A score of 1 out of 6 does not 'new birth'.1. 1John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 2. 1John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 3. 1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 4. 1John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 5. 1John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 6. 1John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
