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Showing posts from October 1, 2026

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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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11. Born Again: Receiving Life and Continuing Faithfully

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This study began with a question: what does it mean to be born again? Following that question through Scripture brought us to the source of life, the cleansing of old ways, the distinction between flesh and Spirit, and the responsibility to continue faithfully. It also brought us to something we cannot place under human authority: the birth itself. I understand new birth as the work of YHWH (יהוה). We can seek, believe, listen, and respond. We cannot give ourselves Spirit or make the Father’s choosing our own decision. Returning to the Beginning In John 1:12–13 , receiving and believing stand alongside a birth attributed to YHWH (יהוה), rather than human will. James 1:17–18 likewise places the gift and the initiative with the Father. That source must remain visible throughout everything that follows. Obedience cannot purchase the life we receive. Religious participation cannot produce it. Another person’s assurance cannot establish what has happened within us. For me, this calls for h...
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10. Born Again: Born of His Will

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Throughout this study, we have considered the response that follows receiving life: cleansing, obedience, discernment, and remaining faithful. Before bringing those threads together, I want to make the beginning unmistakable. I understand new birth as something YHWH (יהוה) brings about according to His will. A person cannot produce that birth by deciding it has happened, and another person cannot make it happen by declaring it over them. Our responsibility to respond matters. The source of the life we receive matters too. Born of Whose Will? John 1:12–13 speaks of receiving Christ and believing in his name, then identifies the source of the birth: “nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” — John 1:13, ASV, excerpt Both verses belong in the reading. Receiving and believing are present, while the birth is attributed to YHWH (יהוה). This is the distinction I want readers to consider: believing does not place the power to bring about new birth in our hands. A dec...
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9. Born Again: In the World, but Not of It

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As our ways change, our relationship with the world changes too. Things we once accepted without question may no longer sit comfortably with us. Desires that directed our choices must be examined. Approval that once mattered may lose its hold. Yet we are still here. We have responsibilities, relationships, and ordinary decisions to make. How do we turn away from the world’s ways while continuing to live among people? Remaining Here, Belonging to the Father In John 17:14–18 , Jesus speaks to the Father about disciples who have received the Father’s word. He describes them as no longer belonging to the world, yet asks that they be kept from evil while remaining within it. He also sends them into the world. Within that prayer, he says: “Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.” — John 17:17, ASV Their separation involves belonging, truth, and purpose. They remain among people, carrying what they have received into how they live. This helps me examine what I mean by removing myself f...
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8. Born Again: Abiding and Bearing Fruit

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Receiving life brings us into a relationship that continues. After considering cleansing, discernment, and being formed, I return to a word Jesus uses repeatedly: abide . This brings the study beyond the moment something began. What am I continuing in? What is shaping my choices? Am I remaining receptive to the word, including when it corrects something I would rather keep? The Father, the Vine, and the Branches “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” — John 15:1, ASV Jesus identifies the roles within the image. The Father tends the vine. Jesus is the vine, and his disciples are the branches. The branch depends upon the vine to bear fruit. For this study, that dependence matters. I cannot receive life from YHWH (יהוה) and then treat that life as something I sustain independently. Continuing requires a relationship in which I remain willing to receive, listen, and follow. Obedience belongs within that dependence. It does not mean I have become my own source of life. Clean...
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7. Born Again: Being Refined and Formed

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Throughout this study, I have kept receiving the Spirit and the life that follows together. That brings me back to two images that help me understand continuing change: metal being refined and clay being formed in the potter’s hand. Both direct my attention to a work that reaches beneath outward appearance. In my understanding, cleansing involves becoming willing to surrender what conflicts with the relationship I profess. In the Potter’s Hand In Jeremiah 18:1–6 , Jeremiah is instructed to visit a potter’s house. There he watches a vessel become marred in the potter’s hand. The potter then works the clay into another vessel as he sees fit. YHWH (יהוה) applies the image to the house of Israel. The explanation continues through the relationship between a nation’s conduct and the judgment or good announced concerning it. The people are called to turn from evil and amend their ways. Their response is to insist upon following their own plans and stubborn hearts. Jeremiah 18:7–12 That respon...
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6. Born Again: Testing What Claims God’s Authority

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In the previous post, I considered hearing, recognition, and learning to follow. That leads to another question: what happens when something claims to speak for God but leads us away from truth? A spiritual claim can sound convincing. A teacher can speak confidently, quote Scripture, and hold a respected position. Yet those things do not remove our responsibility to examine what is being presented. For me, discernment belongs within the life of faith. A Warning About Claimed Authority Paul begins 2 Thessalonians 2:1–3 by urging the believers not to become quickly unsettled by a spirit, a spoken message, or a letter presented as though it came from the apostles, claiming that the day of the Lord was already present. The claimed source matters here. A message could appear to carry authority the hearers trusted and still require examination. Paul does not instruct them to accept it simply because it arrives in a religious form. This makes me consider how readily we can confuse confidence...
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5. Born Again: Hearing, Recognizing, and Learning to Follow

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Receiving life and learning to walk in that life have remained together throughout this study. Now I want to consider hearing. When Scripture describes someone hearing, what follows? Do they recognize what they hear? Do they understand it immediately? And how do they discern what deserves their trust? These questions matter because following requires more than being impressed by a message or confident in the person delivering it. The Sheep Hear and Follow In John 10:3–5 , Jesus describes a shepherd calling his own sheep by name and leading them out. The sheep follow because they know his voice. They do not follow the stranger. Later, Jesus brings hearing, being known, and following together: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27, ASV The relationship includes recognition and response. For my study, I want to notice where that response leads. Jesus describes the good shepherd as caring for the sheep and laying down His life for them. His voice belongs...
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4. Born Again: Dead to Sin, Alive to God

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When Scripture speaks of death and life, I want to pause before assuming that every passage describes someone dying physically. A person can be physically alive while being described as dead. A person can also be described as having died with Christ while continuing to live in the flesh. Those distinctions matter to understanding the life we have been examining. The Dead Who Bury the Dead In Luke 9:59–60 , Jesus calls someone to follow Him. When the man asks first to bury his father, Jesus answers: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Those doing the burying are physically alive. The same word therefore reaches beyond physical death within this statement. For my study, this raises a question: what does it mean to be alive before God? Ordinary human activity cannot, by itself, answer that question. This is part of why I distinguish physical existence from the spiritual life received from YHWH (יהוה). Alive in a Mortal Body Romans 6:11–13 makes another distinction explicit. Paul tel...
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3. Born Again: The Spirit Gives Life

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In the previous post, I examined water and cleansing—the leaving behind of old ways and the inward change described through a new heart. Now I want to consider the life received. For me, being born again involves more than recognizing that something needs to change. It concerns receiving life from God and learning to follow the Spirit in the life that continues afterward. Formed, but Not Yet Living Ezekiel 37:1–10 presents a striking sequence. The bones come together. Sinews, flesh, and skin appear. Yet something remains absent: there is no breath in them. Then breath enters, they live, and they stand upon their feet. I pause at that distinction between being formed and being alive. The appearance of a complete body does not finish the movement of the vision. The passage identifies the bones as the whole house of Israel, whose hope has been lost. Within that restoration promise, YHWH (יהוה) connects placing the Spirit within them with their living. Ezekiel 37:11–14 I bring this beside...
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2. Born Again: Water, Cleansing, and Leaving Old Ways Behind

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In the first post, I began with the distinction between being told we are born again and receiving the inward life Jesus describes. Now I want to return to His words about water and the Spirit. In my understanding, water points to cleansing—a washing away of old ways—while the Spirit brings life. These belong together in a transformation that reaches both the heart and the life we live. Water and the Spirit When Nicodemus asks about another physical birth, Jesus speaks of being born of water and the Spirit. He then distinguishes what is born of flesh from what is born of the Spirit. John 3:4–6 I want to examine that distinction beyond the outward action of a ceremony. What is being cleansed? What needs to change? What does receiving life mean for the person who receives it? For me, washing concerns the ways I have allowed to govern my life: my desires, habits, loyalties, and responses. It reaches into what I defend, what I excuse, and what I am willing to surrender. Clean Water and a N...
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1. Born Again: What Does It Mean to Receive Life?

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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...
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