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Browse at Your Own Pace

Begin wherever your curiosity leads. The studies will be here when you’re ready. When I shared my first Matthew study on Facebook today, I mentioned that I planned to post daily, though I might not share every post on Facebook. As I continue setting up this blog, I’ve realized that what matters most to me is making my past studies available for anyone who wants to explore them. For now, I’ll be adding posts to my heart’s content as I work through those studies. Some days that may mean one post; other days it may mean several. I’ll continue reading through and preparing each one before sharing it. There is no need to keep up with everything as it appears. This blog is becoming a place you can browse at your own pace—begin with a book, a question, or a study that interests you, and follow from there. The Bible Books page gathers studies by book, while Study Threads helps connect topics that travel through more than one book. The labels on individual posts also bring related material to...
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1. Born Again: What Does It Mean to Receive Life?

What does it mean to be born again?

Someone may begin believing in Christ, make a declaration of faith, and immediately be told that they are born again. But what has that assurance actually established? Has the person understood what Jesus describes, or simply accepted what someone else has said about them?

This is where I want to begin.

In my understanding, being born again concerns receiving life from the Spirit. It reaches inward and changes how a person lives. I cannot reduce that relationship to a title someone gives me or a moment when I begin using the language of belief.

Beginning With Nicodemus

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, recognizing Him as a teacher from God because of the signs He performs. Jesus answers by speaking of the birth necessary to see God’s kingdom.

Nicodemus asks how someone who is old can be born again. His question concerns returning to the womb. Jesus speaks of water and the Spirit, then makes this distinction:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

John 3:1–8, ASV

That distinction matters to my study. Ordinary human birth and birth from the Spirit are not interchangeable. Nicodemus’s religious position and recognition of Jesus do not remove the need to understand what Jesus is telling him.

Believing and Being Born of God

Earlier, John connects receiving Christ and believing in His name with becoming children of God. He then identifies God as the source of their birth, distinguishing it from human descent and human will. John 1:12–13

Believing matters. My concern is what we mean when we say we believe.

Have we reduced belief to agreeing with a statement? Have we treated a declaration as though it gives us complete knowledge of what has happened within someone?

I do not understand a sudden profession of belief, by itself, as sufficient grounds for declaring that the inward birth has taken place. The relationship comes from God. Our words must not replace the reality they claim to describe.

Who Knows the Heart?

Paul makes a searching observation in 1 Corinthians 4:3–5. Even being unaware of anything against himself does not establish his innocence. The Lord judges him and will reveal the hidden purposes of hearts.

That gives me reason for humility.

I can examine my conduct. I can recognize harmful teaching or behavior. But I cannot claim complete knowledge of another person’s heart, and another person cannot supply that knowledge about mine.

Romans 8:14–16 places being led by the Spirit alongside adoption and the Spirit’s witness with our spirit. This is an inward relationship that another person’s confidence cannot create.

Someone may teach or encourage me, but I must bring the question before God myself—with prayer, Scripture, and a willingness to be corrected.

The Life That Follows

Receiving the Spirit is not something I can purchase through good works. Yet receiving does not make my conduct unimportant.

Paul rejects continuing in sin on the grounds that grace is available. He connects participation in Christ’s death with walking in newness of life. Romans 6:1–4

For me, this is where the study becomes deeply practical.

If I have lied, am I willing to tell the truth? If I have harmed someone, will I acknowledge it and seek to make things right? Am I allowing what I learn to change how I respond?

Acknowledging that I am imperfect should make me willing to examine myself. It should not become an excuse for refusing correction.

Examining Our Own Work

Galatians 6:3–5 warns against self-deception and directs each person to examine their own work. The chapter continues by contrasting sowing to the flesh with sowing to the Spirit.

I want readers to take that responsibility seriously, including me.

The question is not whether I appear more faithful than someone else. It is whether I am honestly examining the life I live before God.

As this study continues, I will explore water and cleansing, the Spirit giving life, and the continuing work of learning to hear, discern, and follow. Receiving and responding must both remain visible.

Threads to Follow

  • Water, cleansing, and leaving old ways behind.

  • Birth from the Spirit and receiving life.

  • The natural and the spiritual in 1 Corinthians 15.

  • Hearing, recognition, and discernment.

  • Self-examination, love, and the life that follows.

The books were opened…

🌿 By Maria Emilia

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