The Gospel of John
John 1:12 — 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
For the past two weeks we have looked at John’s description of Jesus as ‘Life’ and ‘Light’ … ‘Grace’ and ‘Truth’.
These four words define who Jesus is and what His ministry is;
Jesus is life, a life not limited by time nor hindered by death.
Jesus is light, the only exclusive source of spiritual light and eternal life.
Jesus is the manifestation of God’s grace who offers salvation.
Jesus is the truth incarnate…the Word of God made flesh.
I purposely skipped verse 12 because I wanted to highlight the words John used to describe Jesus’s ministry…life…light…grace…truth…I want us to back up a few verses to a verse that gives a condensed summary of the Gospel.
This morning I want to spend some time unpacking verse 12 because it is conveying the idea of what happens when we become a Christian.
One of the significant things about John 1:12 is that it starts out with the conjunction we translate as ‘but’(δὲ) …here’s what important about this little two letter Greek word that is used over 4000 times in the Bible.
Whenever you encounter this contrasting word ‘but’… ask yourself what the author is contrasting…it’s like the word ‘therefore.’
The word ‘therefore’ marks the transition from what was said and what the results or consequences are of what was said…whenever you see the word ‘therefore’ in the Bible ask yourself what is it there for.
Example…the first four chapters of Romans paints an ugly picture of humanity… according to Scripture there is not…nor has there ever been one single righteous person… everyone is guilty before God… ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ [3:24] …that includes everyone including Jews and Gentiles.
BUT…beginning in [5:1] Paul says not all is lost… ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God thorough Jesus’ …the ‘therefore’ makes the transition from what was said…’we’re all doomed’ …to what the results are…
That we are justified by faith.
In this case the word ‘but’ is a hinge so to speak by contrasting the unbelief of those in v. 11 ‘He came to His own, but his own did not receive him.’ with the belief by the many in v. 12.
We know that when Jesus came into the world there were those who despised and rejected him, especially the scribes and Pharisees.
BUT…for those who did receive Him … ‘as many as,’ …unlimited atonement…no matter whether they be Jews or Gentiles…rich or poor…bound or free…illiterate or learned…all who receive Christ as their personal Savior to them is given the right to become the sons (better “children”) of God.
So…the word ‘but’ is contrasting things that are unalike…unbelievers vs. believers and by doing so it makes something sharp and clear by highlighting the differences.
For those who believed in Jesus…and receive Jesus into their hearts through faith, ‘He gave them the power to be the children of God.’
Four things about this phrase:
FIRST…the word ‘gave’ (1325 didomi) in Greek has the same definition as it does in the English…to freely transfer the possession of (something) to (someone) based on the decision of the giver to give something without any merit of the recipient.
The clear implication is that salvation is a gift of God’s sovereign grace…who freely gives us the right to be…or become…children of God.
That brings up the SECOND fact regarding the phrase ‘He gave them the power to become the children of God.’
The word ‘become’ is actually ‘to be’ …we have the right to be the children of God…here’s the significance in using the Greek word (1096 ginomai) ‘to be’ because it means to come into existence.
John 3:16 may be the most famous verse in the Bible…it is certainly the most-memorized verse in the Bible… ‘God so loved the world that he gave His—’one and only Son’…or ‘One of a kind Son’—which is a more accurate translation than “only begotten” because it captures the uniqueness of who Jesus is.
Remember last week we said that Jesus is not God’s ‘begotten son’ …that John 1:14 and John 3:16 are mis-translated because the word ‘begotten’ in English implies that Jesus was created or born and therefore is not an accurate translation.
Jesus was not created or born…the Greek word μονογενοῦς (monogenes) translated as “only begotten” has nothing to do with being born…it means “one of a kind… unique,” …this is the wording that is reserved for Jesus.
This is opposed to the word γενέσθαι (ginoma) John uses in v. 12 which does mean born again…it’s the word John uses to describe our new life in Christ…the wording ‘to be’ means I come into being…I am born…I come into existence.
Here’s what’s interesting about the word γενέσθαι (ginoma) ‘to be’ …it’s in the aorist tense…let me tell you the importance of that…the aorist tense conveys the idea that something occurred at a point in the past without specifying when this event occurred.
If you’re a Christian you made the decision at some point in the past to trust Jesus as your Savior…at that time you were given the right to be γενέσθαι a child of God.
See the difference between the word μονογενοῦς (monogenes) which defines Jesus as being unique or one of a kind…and the word John uses in v. 12γενέσθαι (ginoma) describing us as being born again when we accept Jesus as our Savior.
1 Peter 1:3 puts this whole thing in perspective…Peter says that Jesus, because of His great mercy…has given us new birth…the word Peter uses in the Greek is a compound word (ἀναγεννάω an-ag-en-nah’-o) which includes part of the same Greek word γενέσθαι (ginoma) that John uses in describing us as being born again.
Here’s what Peter is telling us about how God works in the life of a Christian …the phrase in 1 Peter 1:3 has caused us to be born again is in the passive voice indicating we are ’…living a new life that was produced by a Source outside of the recipient…that Source is “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
THIRDLY…the word in Greek is not ‘sons’ υἱός…the word is children τέκνα.
Is it a big deal…no it’s not…These two words are used interchangeably throughout the New Testament…the use of these two words…sons and children…both describe our relationship to God.
Here’s what’s interesting…see how the writers of the New Testament used their own individual understanding of what it means to have a relationship with God…some describe us as being ‘sons’ of God while others use the word ‘children’ of God.
John’s choice of wording to describe the Christian’s relationship to God is the word children τέκνα…he never uses the word ‘sons’ when referring to Christians because John regards our position not as a result of adoption…but of a new life.
Paul…on the other hand…does use the term ‘adoption’ in describing our position in Christ from a legal standpoint…he describes us as being adopted.
[Eph. 1:5] (NLT) 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.
John sees our relationship with God as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ… as children we inherit everything our Father has…which is what being adopted means as well…so… it’s not that John is correct and Paul is wrong in their description of our standing before God…it’s a matter of interpretation…both are correct.
As sons of God we are the children of God
1. Because we are “adopted” by Him, [Romans 8:15].
2. Because we are “like Him;” we have His Spirit [Rom. 8:9].
3. Because we are united with Christ, we are regarded by Him as His brethren [Matt. 25:40] and are therefore regarded as the children of God.
FOURTHLY…there are six words used for power in the New Testament…the word used in this instance for ‘power’ in the phrase ‘He gave them the power to be the children of God’ which implies doing something.
On the basis of being part of the family of God…God has given to us the power to be a child of God…this is described using the Greek term ἐξουσίαν (ex-oo-see’-ah) which can be translated as a ‘right’ or ‘privilege’.
God has bestowed upon us as believers the power or the ‘right’ or ‘privilege’ to be the children of God…and here’s what’s exciting about the word ‘power’…in the New Testament this word is referring to the authority God gives to His saints.
It is “delegated power” authorizing us to act to the extent they are guided by faith and His revealed word.
Want to share something with you for a moment…looking at the term delegated power…it’s what God gives to us so we can pray guided by His Word.
We pray for all kinds of things in our lives—healing… guidance in our lives…help with temptation…help with raising children—but have you ever asked God to help you not to be stupid?
When the Bible talks about stupidity, it’s not merely addressing lack of being book-smart or street-smarts…having a high I.Q… or knowing lots of information about a lot of things…you can be really smart and still be stupid.
In fact…God addresses being stupid…we just completed a six month study in the Sermon on the Mount…in this sermon Jesus is essentially telling the disciples not to pray stupid prayers…like the hypocrites and pagans do [Matt. 6: 5, 7].
What God is focusing on more than our stupidity is…our lack of wisdom—here’s the emphasis…think what it is we’re praying and praying about before we pray it.
A common question among Christians is; why doesn’t God answer my prayers? you know why…because some of them are stupid…God doesn’t do stupid things.
No matter how many times we say “please”.
No matter how much faith we have.
No matter how hard we pray.
God doesn’t do stupid things.
Does He do strange things…hard-to-understand things…hard to explain things…
even things that can seem totally messed up and even cruel things from our limited vantage point… YES He does. But He never does stupid things.
I’ve come to believe that one reason for unanswered prayers is that we…I…keep praying stupid prayers…asking God to do stupid things.
I can hear some of your objections already. “There are no stupid prayers!” Yes, there are. I know. I’ve prayed some…people regularly ask God for stupid things.
- “Help me win the lottery”
- “Bring my cheating boyfriend back to me”
- “Help me lose weight while I eat whatever I want and never exercise”
- “Bless me now, even though I’ve been ignoring you for years”
- “Make me smart enough to pass the test I didn’t study for”
- Praying for world hunger…world peace…or universal healing.
- “Give me a bigger ministry than the church down the street”
God has given to us the delegated power to be a child of God…here’s what’s exciting about that…God has bestowed upon us as believers the ‘right’ or ‘privilege’ to access the very throne of God in prayer.
As His child you have His listening ear whenever you need it…His throne is open to you because of the sacrifice of Christ…as such we can come before the Father boldly, bringing our needs and the needs of others to His attention…but everybody…don’t be stupid.
One more thing…God giving us delegated power to come before Him in prayer… it’s conditional …this verse specifies that this power (or right) is only extended to those who believe in His name.
Do you see the vastness of this single verse and when you dissect it how powerful it is with respect to what God has done…is doing…and is going to do in the future?
FIRST…God ‘gave’ us means He has freely transferred His possessions to us not based on something we did to earn them.
SECONDLY…God has caused us to be His children apart from anything we have done.
THIRDLY…As God’s children our relationship includes being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. As children we inherit everything our Father has.
FOURTHLY…God has bestowed upon us as believers the ‘right’ or ‘privilege’ to be the children of God.
One of the most trite and worn-out expressions in the English language is in v. 12 “in His name” …what does it really mean? …all through our Christian walk we have uttered that phrase or a variation of it… “In the name of Jesus.” “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
We have learned to say these phrases watching and listening to others…coming to believe that it was important to say them…we end most every prayer that we’ve ever prayed with a form of “in His name” …we recite it almost as if it has some magical qualities that bring healing and comfort.
Believing in His name implies that there is a truth inherent in His name…Jesus’ name has significant meaning…when the Angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph about his son, he told Joseph what to name the child, saying,
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Yeshua, for He will save His people from their sins.” [Matt. 1:21]
Hebrew names are prophetical…Jesus’ name in Hebrew is Yahshua.
HISTORY LESSON…the spelling and pronouncing of the name “Jesus” is relatively new…the name Jesus has only been in use for less than 400 years…even the original King James Bible did not use the name Jesus…it is a recent change of Jesus’ Hebrew name which is Yahshua.
In fact…if you directly translated Jesus’ name from Hebrew into English, it would be Joshua…that is the literal translation of the name Yahshua.
When they translated the Old Testament text into English, they changed the spelling and pronunciation…and when they translated the Greek text into English, they changed it again…so we have the name Jesus…which it really not His name.
Here’s the importance in knowing this…there is a message contained within His name…the name “Yahshua” is loaded with meaning because the name “Yeshua” means salvation…saying Yahshua vs. Jesus doesn’t mean you’re showing disrespect.
“Believing in His name…” when a person believes in the name of Yahshua, he is believing in what that name means—that Jesus is the Savior in human form.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [John 3:18]
When one does not believe in the Messiah…in Yahshua…he is not believing in the meaning of His name… “He that rejects Me, rejects Him that sent Me.” If you reject the Son, you are rejecting the Father that dwells within the Son…that is the exact meaning of: “… that I am in the Father and the Father is in me”.
SO…what’s the reason that some believe in Jesus and some don’t…is it because those who believe are by nature better than others? hearts are softer… kinder/gentler?
No—they were by nature just like others…the difference is revealed in v.13 …it is because they were ‘born of God’ …that is, of the Spirit of God…BUT…it also tells us what they were not born of.
not of blood. Being a descendant from Abraham, David or any other godly person does not make someone a child of God (Luke 3:8; Matt. 3:9 John 8:39,40; Gal. 3:6,7,29).
Nor of the will of the flesh. The best efforts and exertions of our own human hearts and natures can change us…can reform us…but they cannot save us (John 3:6).
Nor of the will of man. We are not begotten of God because we decided on our own that’s what we want to do.
But of God. If we have been born of God it’s not because our parents were good …or because of our best efforts to be a good person…or because it was my desire to become one…or because of a minister or friend who made us believe…it was through the power of God.
See how powerful this one verse is…when I read this it is what convinces me that God inspired the Bible…how could John develop these ideas on his own…they are theologically so deep that they had to be inspired by God.
People willfully everyday put off being a child of God…it is dreadfully true…that until we receive Him…until we believe in Christ, we are the children of Satan, and not the children of God.