The Word in His World
John 1:9–13
© Mike Riccardi
Introduction
If someone asked you, “What was the greatest moment in the history of our country?” what would you say? No doubt, there have been some truly great moments in United States history. It would be difficult not to start with the winning of American independence from the British in the Revolutionary War. The debilitated Colonial Army fending off the world’s greatest military superpower in search of personal liberty and freedom from tyranny—it’s the stuff of legends. Truly remarkable. An event for which we bless the name of God for His kind providence.
You’d also have to think about the ending of the Civil War and the eradication of chattel slavery in the United States. To think of the horrors endured by so many image-bearers of God for so many years, and then to hear of tyranny ended, and liberty won for such precious people—lives laid down for the freedom of one’s fellow man, even if they look different than each other—it was a glorious event in our nation’s story to see slavery sent to the ash heap of history.
We could speak about the invention of the steam engine that powered the industrial revolution, transforming transportation, and making it possible to transport huge machinery. We could speak about the invention of the light bulb by Thomas Edison in 1879, and the subsequent ability to harness electricity for energy. We could speak about the invention of the motorcar in the late 18- and early 1900s. Or maybe we would think of D-Day—the United States military’s storming of the beaches at Normandy, which would overthrow the forces of Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and eventually end World War II. Or perhaps the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, or the ending of the Cold War and the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. There have been some truly great events in the history of our country.
But what if we expanded the question, and asked, “What is the greatest moment in the history of the world?” It’s almost too much to consider, isn’t it. The origin of the written word in cuneiform tablets in 3200 BC; the invention of the Greek city-state around 700 BC; the Roman Republic; the sealing of the Magna Carta; the invention of the printing press; the invention of the internet. Which of these events would you choose as the greatest event in the history of the world?
Well, if you’re a believer in Christ, you’d have to say, “None of them.” None of those glorious achievements has been the event that has most changed the world, most benefited humanity, most improved the lives of the citizens of earth. No, that honor belongs to one event, and one event alone. And that is: the incarnation of God the Son: the coming into the world of the Creator of the world; the invasion into human history of the Almighty God of heaven and earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every last one of those “Greatest Events in World History” must take a backseat to this one—to the miracle of all miracles.
I never tire of celebrating it: the infinite and eternal God, takes on the nature of finite and mortal humanity, all without becoming any less God than He was from all eternity. The unchangeable God becomes what He wasn’t, while never ceasing to be what He was. There truly are no words to adequately capture the glory of this truth, but I’m grateful that as we approach the Christmas season, the Lord is bringing these truths into the foreground in our study of the Gospel of John, so that we may contemplate the wonders of the incarnation for weeks and weeks—and not just for a few days when the holiday hustle and bustle dies down.
So far in our study of the prologue of John’s Gospel, the Apostle has been introducing us to the Word of God. He’s spoken of the eternal Word—the Word that was, that was existing, in the beginning. As we quoted Matthew Henry saying, “The Word had a being before the world had a beginning.” This Word always was! And John has told us that this eternal Word was with the Father—eternally distinct from the Father, and yet in the nearest possible relationship to the Father. So closely associated with the Father is this eternal Word that this Word was also God Himself—consubstantial with the Father; of the identical nature; fully and truly God, just as the Father is.
John tells us that this Word is the Creator of all things—that nothing that has come into being has come into being apart from the creative power of this Word Himself. Everything in the category of “made” was made by the Word, which, of course, means that the Word was not made. John tells us that this Word was the self-existent fountain of all life, the One who sustains the existence of everything that exists. And he tells us that the life that was eternally in this Word is the Light of all people. As we said, He is the Light of truth that conquers all lies, and the Light of holiness that conquers all wickedness.
And then, verse 5, he says that when all the powers of darkness roused every ounce of wickedness that they could summon, and attempted to extinguish this Light that was the Light of men, to snuff out the One in whom was life, John says: the darkness did not overcome the Light. Jesus told those who came to arrest Him, “This hour and the power of darkness are yours.” But the Light conquered the darkness, as, through death, He rendered powerless him who had the power of death! And John says, “The Light shines”—present tense—“in the darkness.” This Word is the Light that still today shines through the darkness, as He reigns from heaven, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named” (Eph 1:21).
And then, as we saw last week, John the Apostle introduces us to John the Baptist—or, perhaps more aptly named for his role in this Gospel account, John the Witness. We learn of the one who “came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.”
But as we come to our passage this morning, we discover for the first time that this Light—that was eternally, was withthe Father, was God Himself, the Creator and Sustainer of all things—this Light, for whom John the Baptist came as a forerunner and a messenger—this Light was, verse 9, “coming into the world.” This eternal Word, who existed before the world and who made the world, was going to enter into the world! And it was the greatest event in the history of the world.
But it was not received as the greatest event in history. At least not by the overwhelming majority of those to whom this Light came. And so, now that John has introduced us to the Word—the eternal, distinct, consubstantial Creator, fountain of life, light of men, and victorious conqueror of darkness; and after introducing us to the Word’s witness—speaking of his humanity, his commission, his dignity, his work, his theme, his purpose, and his negation; now the Apostle John turns to speak of the coming of that Word into the world, and, specifically, of the only two possible responses to the Light. And those are: faith or unbelief.
Light has come into the world! How will the world respond? Well, either, they will disbelieve Him, and continue to walk in darkness; or God will shine spiritual light and life into their hearts, raise them from their spiritual death, and grant them the gift of saving faith. Let’s read our text for this morning. John chapter 1, verses 9 to 13. John writes, “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
In this text, John announces the coming of the Light into the world, and then speaks of two responses to that Light. And so we’ll work through this passage in three points, with each point focusing on a different character or group of characters in this glorious drama of the incarnation of the eternal Light. We’ll look, first, at the true Light, in verse 9; second, the blind world, in verses 10 and 11; and third, the believing children, in verses 12 and 13.
I. The True Light (v. 9)
Number one, let us consider, the true Light. Verse 9: “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
Jesus is the true Light. This comes on the heels of John’s last comment about John the Baptist, in verse 8, that “He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.” And as we said last time, it’s true that Jesus Himself calls John the Baptist in chapter 5 verse 35, “the lamp that was burning and was shining,” in whose light the people “were willing to rejoice for a while.” But while John was the luchnos—the portable oil lamp—Jesus is the phos—from which we get the prefix photo- in words like photograph or photosynthesis. Jesus is the essential Light! John may have been a luminary, but Jesus was the source of all light from which John’s light was derived! He was the true Light: the real or genuine Light!
Not, again, that other lights were false; but that they were partial, or incomplete, or derivations from the true Light. It’s similar to how Jesus calls Himself “the true bread out of heaven” in John 6:32. It’s not that the manna in the wilderness wasn’t real bread, or was somehow not genuinely from God (cf. Carson, 122). It’s that Jesus is the true and ultimate bread from our heavenly Father, the bread which truly and ultimately and enduringly satisfies our spiritual hunger and longings, which truly and ultimately and enduringly nourishes us and feeds our souls! In a sense, all bread in the world is just a picture—an object lesson—that points to how Jesus is the One who truly satisfies mankind.
Well, in the same way, Jesus is the true and ultimate and enduring Light: the Light from which all other light derives its radiance. Other lights are “flickers of the truth,” one commentator said; “faint glimpses of reality” (Barclay, as in Morris, 83–84). It’s not wrong to say that there is light in the world distinct from God Himself. There are good gifts of God’s common grace that bless the world; we referred to some of them just a moment ago: inventions and ideas that bring understanding and intelligence and blessing to mankind. But John is saying that these partial lights are only reflective of the true Light. And if you follow after these derivative lights as if they were the true Light, you will ultimately find yourself in the darkness of idolatry, because you are looking to what is derived as if it were ultimate. And so Calvin says, “whatever is luminous in heaven and in earth borrows its splendour from some other object; but Christ is the light shining from itself and by itself, and enlightening the whole world by its radiance; so that no other source or cause of splendour is anywhere to be found” (37).
And so John the Baptist may have been a lamp. The disciples themselves may be called “the light of the world,” Matthew 5:14. The church may be told that she is “light in the Lord,” Ephesians 5:8. And other truths and discoveries and insights in the realm of nature may offer real illumination and insight. But all other lights are only reflections of the true Light—the eternal, uncreated Light that has shone from all eternity—the One who is Himself, Hebrews 1:3, the radiance of the glory of God. Other stars may shine in the heavens, but He is the sun that lightens and outshines them all. And so if you want true understanding, true illumination, true knowledge about who you are, about what the world is and how it works, and certainly about who God is and what the truth is, you must look to the true Light, alone.
John goes on to say that this true Light was “coming into the world.” And that is the proper translation of the verse. There’s been some debate about this throughout history, because the word order in the original language allows for two interpretations. One is the way the NASB interprets it—that the phrase, “coming into the world” modifies the “Light,” and speaks of the incarnation of the Son: the entrance of the true Light into the world of men in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But another way is that “coming into the world” modifies “every man.” That’s how the King James Version translates it: “That [One] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” So, according to that translation, John is speaking about every human being who comes into the world, not the Son who was coming into the world.
But I think the modern translations get this one right—that “coming into the world” modifies Christ and not men, in this verse. In the first place, to speak of “every man coming into the world” is somewhat redundant. The only place where men exist is in the world! It’s not as if there are some people who come into the world and some who don’t. So, to call such people, “everyone who comes into the world” is not at all distinct from just saying “everyone.” And so it makes the phrase entirely superfluous. A second reason to follow the more modern translation is that if you followed the older one, John would be speaking of people’s responses to Christ coming into the world before ever mentioning that Christ came into the world. We’re about to hear that He was in the world, and the world did not know Him. But if “coming into the world” doesn’t refer to Jesus, then John speaks of Him being in the world without saying He came into the world. That doesn’t seem to work well.
But I think the most important reason to read “coming into the world” as a reference to the incarnation is because the phrase is often used that way in John’s Gospel, and it’s never used to refer to a person being born. In fact, “the Coming One” is something of a technical Messianic title. So, in John 6:14, for example, the people observe the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, and they say, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Literally: “This is the true Prophet, the Coming One into the world.” Or take John 11:27, where Martha tells Jesus, that she does believe He is the resurrection and the life. She says, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God,” literally, “the Coming One into the world.” And we see other relevant examples in chapter 16 verse 28 and chapter 18 verse 37. So, I agree with James Montgomery Boice, who says we should understand the passage like this: “John the Baptist was not the Light. He was only sent to bear witness to the Light. Nevertheless, the true Light, which shines upon every man, was even then (i.e., during the lifetime of John the Baptist) coming into the world” (58).
And then, in the final part of the verse, we’re told that this true Light, who was coming into the world, “enlightens every man.” And, as you might imagine, there has been much controversy about the precise meaning of this phrase as well. The heretical sect known as “The Quakers” used this as the primary prooftext for their “inner light” doctrine. The Quakers believed that God had planted something divine in every human being—an inner light that allowed them to discern the voice of God speaking directly to them, guiding them much in the same way the Charismatics popularized in the 20thcentury. John chapter 1 verse 9 has absolutely nothing to do with that.
But other orthodox Bible teachers disagree on this as well. Some say that this enlightenment refers to the light of nature and reason that comes to every human being as a result of, one, being created as a rational creature in the image of God, and, two, as a result of general revelation. They find it akin to what Paul mentions in Romans 1:20: that “since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” And while I confess that’s possible, I don’t think it’s the best interpretation.
Others claim that the enlightenment in John 1:9 is spiritual rather than natural. The problem with that, of course, is that John says such light enlightens every man. And it’s plainly evident that not every person is spiritually enlightened. As the next verse is going to make clear, this true Light was in the world, and the world did not know Him. Even His own people didn’t receive Him! And so, in response, some claim that such spiritual enlightenment is only partial, or potential—that Christ gives each person enough spiritual light to accept or reject Him, and, since many reject Him, they are not fully enlightened so as to be saved.
But this text makes absolutely no mention of such a “potential grace” theology, and neither does the rest of the New Testament. There is just no such thing as what the Arminians call “prevenient grace”—some sort of blend of special grace and common grace, which remedies the effects of the fall, and places man in a spiritually neutral state, similar to Adam, in which he might accept or reject the Gospel by his own free will. That’s simply not the picture of unregenerate man that the New Testament paints. Man is dead in his trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1, totally unable to accept the things of the Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 2:14, hostile to God, Romans 8:7, and unable to subject to their minds to the law of God. Scripture nowhere gives us reason for such an optimistic view of man as partially enlightened. In fact, it says man is spiritually blind (2 Corinthians 4:4), that he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3), “because,” as John says in 1 John 2:11, “the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Other interpreters acknowledge the weakness of that view and they say “enlightens every man” just means that if anyone is enlightened, they are enlightened by Him. It’s not that all without exception are enlightened, because not all without exception are saved. Instead, John is saying that Christ is the Light for every man. Whoever is enlightened, they’re enlightened by Him. But here again, that’s just not what the text says. John doesn’t say, “He is the Light for every man,” or that “He enlightens every man that is enlightened.” He says He actually does enlighten every man.
So what does it mean, then? Well, I believe it means that this true Light that was coming into the world shines on every person who has ever lived, in order to reveal what that man is. The Light shines in the darkness, and it exposes every man and woman’s spiritual state. John speaks about this in chapter 3, and verses 20 and 21. He says in 3:19 that Light has come into the world, and then says, “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” You see? The Light of Christ shines on every man in the Gospel, and that light exposes and manifests whether they are evildoers who flee from the Light, or whether they are believers in God who practice the truth. Those who refuse to follow the Light of the world, John 8:12, walk in darkness. But those who do follow Him have the Light of life.
And so, John says, this true Light, which is the true source and ultimate fulfillment of any lesser lights, He was coming into the world when His forerunner, John the Baptist, was testifying to Him. And coming into the world, that Light shines upon all men, and reveals what they are. And there are only two possibilities. There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who reject Jesus, and those who receive Him. Let’s meet each of these in their turn.
II. The Blind World (vv. 10–11)
The first of those responses—and therefore the second point in the sermon—we meet in verses 10 and 11. So, we’ve seen the true Light. Now let’s consider the blind world. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
John says, “He was in the world.” In verse 9, He was “coming into the world”—on His way in, as it were. Now, He is here. And even that is just something to marvel at: that the Light of heaven—the brightness of the Father’s glory—set foot into this world of darkness; that the Holy, Holy, Holy God deigned to walk about in this world of sin and corruption; that the blessed Lord of Paradise condescended to this world of misery and suffering! Amazing grace! Matthew Henry made an observation that I can’t resist sharing with you. He said, “The greatest honor that ever was put upon this world, which is so mean and inconsiderable a part of the universe, was that the Son of God was once in the world.” And then he says, “As it should engage our affections to things above that there Christ is, so it should reconcile us to our present abode in this world that once Christ was here.” “He was in the world.”
“And the world was made through Him.” He wasn’t just a visitor. He wasn’t just a guest who might have hoped for a warm reception because of the glory of His person. He was the very source of the world! The world owes its very existence to this true Light that has come into the world! Set aside the true miracle that the Creator of the world has entered into the world He created. What a glad and respectful and heart-filled welcome the Son of God could have rightfully expected as He came into the world He had made!
And yet, “the world did not know Him.” Truly an astonishing thought! The Lord of all glory was in the world that He had made, and yet He was unknown among them. Not, of course, that no one on earth acknowledged Jesus’ existence. This “knowledge” in verse 10 is more than intellectual. One commentator says it is “the failure to know intimately, to know and love as a friend, to be in right relation” (Morris, 85). Another says it’s “a knowing and responding with moral commitment. … The world failed to relate [to Him] with humble obedience and trust” (Klink, 102). Here was the One who had spoken the world into existence! Here was the One who sustained the entire cosmos with His word! Here was the One in whom the men and women of this world live and move and have their being! Here was the One who causes the sun to rise and shine on them and the rain to water their crops! Here was the One who gave them the joys of family and friendship, the Giver of all the common graces and blessings to be enjoyed in this life! And they were indifferent to Him!
Dear people, is there any greater testimony to the total depravity of man than this? John chapter 3 and verse 19: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world.” But what? “Men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” As Paul put it in 2 Corinthains chapter 4 and verse 4: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” This is the essence of spiritual death! What it means for someone to be dead in their trespasses and sins, in the language of Ephesians 2, is spiritual blindness. The eyes of their heart have been blinded, so that they cannot see the glory of Christ—so that they do not know their Creator, and Sustainer, and Savior!
Light comes into the world, and He shines on those in darkness. He displays His glory in His miracles, and in His kindness, and in His compassion, and in His perfect obedience, and in His suffering, and in His atoning death and resurrection. And God Himself even commissions witnesses to testify to these blind people that the Light has come and is ready to shine upon them in blessing. Messengers are sent to proclaim that their sins might be forgiven and heaven may be opened to them, that eternal life is theirs for the taking by faith in the Light! And they couldn’t care less! “That’s great for you. It’s just not for me.”
That is the miserable nature of spiritual death. People can look directly at the glory of Christ, and see nothing of value. Whether they’re Ancient Near Eastern Jews witnessing the carpenter’s son perform healings and exorcisms and resurrections; or whether they’re 21st century Americans reading their Bibles or listening to preaching. They behold glory,and they are entirely unaffected. More than that: they run away! They flee from Him! From Him: from the loveliest One in the universe; from the Rose of Sharon; from the Lily of the Valley; from the One who, if we had eyes to see, we would run through walls to get a glimpse of! But the unregenerate, unbelieving world loves darkness, rather than the Light, and flees from the Light, lest that Light expose the evil deeds that they cannot bring themselves to surrender because they are enslaved to their corruption!
But then, as if the depravity of man couldn’t get any worse, John ups the ante in verse 11. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” Literally, “He came to that which was His own.” “His own,” in that first phrase of verse 11 is ta idia; it’s in the neuter plural: “His own things,” or “that which belonged to Him.” But then in the nextphrase, it’s hoi idioi; masculine plural. This refers to people—the people who were His own. And who were they? Of course that’s a reference to the nation of Israel, His kinsmen according to the flesh. The depravity of man is so aggravated that it’s not just the world who has rejected their Creator; it is God’s own nation who has rejected her Messiah.
Israel was peculiarly the people of God. All throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh calls them, “My people”—most famously in the Exodus narrative, right? “Let My people go.” In Amos chapter 3 and verse 2, God says to them, “You only have I chosen”—and, literally, “You only have I known among all the families of the earth.” And what advantage has that been? Paul answers that in Romans chapter 3. He says, “What advantage has the Jew? … Great in every respect! First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” God spoke His Word to the nation of Israel! “to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,” Hebrews 1:1.
Romans 9:4–5 says, “to [them] belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory”—the Shekinah glory that filled the temple of the Lord’s presence, and that guided them in the wilderness in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. To them belongs the covenants—the solemn promises of God’s own faithfulness to bring about His gracious blessings. To them belongs “the giving of the Law”—God’s good Word that revealed His mind to them, that instructed them in righteousness and how they might please their God. To them belongs “the temple service”—the sacrificial system by which their sins could be cleansed so that they could live in the presence of a holy God. He says, “whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.” And the nation from whom is the Christ “did not recognize the time of [her] visitation,” Luke 19:44, when their Christ came unto them.
All of these advantages! The most privileged nation in the history of the world! And their Messiah comes unto them—even “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24)—and those who were His own did not receive Him! One writer said, “The Word did not go where he could not have expected to be known. He came home, where the people should have known him” (Morris, 85). If there was anywhere on the face of the whole earth that the true Light should have been received, it was Israel. But His own did not receive Him. This is the tragedy of spiritual blindness, of human depravity. It is the supreme demonstration of the wickedness of the heart of man (Boice, 68), that the One most worthy of reception, and acclaim, and adoration, and worship, was rejected by the very people who knew so many of His singular blessings to them.
III. The Believing Children (vv. 12–13)
Such is the first response of the blind world to the true Light. But now let’s turn, in the third place, to the other response to the true Light. And we see that as we consider, number three, the believing children. We find them in verses 12 and 13: “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, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
And here, we shift from tragedy to triumph (cf. Klink, 103), from the creation which rejected its Creator, to the new creation which would be fashioned by the Savior Himself. The world did not know Him, and His own did not receiveHim. But there was a remnant. A small number, chosen by God before the foundation of the world, who would be granted, according to that eternal grace, the miracle of the new birth—of regeneration; of the spiritual enlightening of blind eyes, which results in the sovereign-grace gift of saving faith; of believing in the name of this Messiah, and receiving Him by that faith in precisely the way the world had rejected Him. And then, as a result of that receiving and believing, the Word Himself sovereignly grants to those believing children the right to become the adopted sons and daughters of Almighty God.
And you have two saving privileges outlined in these verses: adoption in verse 12, and regeneration in verse 13. And sort of sandwiched in between them is the gift of saving faith, which lays hold of Christ. So, we’ll work through these twoprivileges. But at the outset, I want you to see the relationship: Those who believe in the name of Jesus, verse 12, were born of God in regeneration, verse 13. Sovereign regeneration issues in saving faith. And those newborn children who exercise saving faith are then granted the right to become the adopted sons and daughters of God. So: regeneration, faith, adoption. That’s the order in which those blessings come to the converted sinner.
But John talks about adoption in verse 12, and regeneration in verse 13. But he begins by saying that these blessings come to “as many as received Him, … even to those who believe in His name.” John identifies these two actions. Believing in Christ is receiving Christ. It is receiving Him for all that He is. It is receiving Him as eternal God and Creator of the world! It is receiving Him as eternal Life and the Light of all men! It is receiving Him as Prophet, Priest, and King! It is receiving Him as my ultimate and highest joy and source of all satisfaction! It is receiving Him as Lord and Master of my life! It is receiving Him as the substitutionary sacrifice that atones for my sin! It is receiving Him as all my righteousness, so that my only plea before the justice of God is that He has satisfied the law’s penalties and fulfilled the law’s demands in my place!
Saving faith is what happens when a sinner stops relying on his own inherited privileges, or his own religious achievements, or anything else in his life to avail with God for righteousness and forgiveness, and puts all his hope, all his confidence, all his trust in Christ alone for righteousness and forgiveness. It is a total transference of reliance for salvation from myself, and my good works, and my sincere efforts, to Christ’s good works, to His blood and righteousness alone. “Why should I let you into heaven,” asks God the Judge. “Because my Substitute and Savior has earned it in my place, and I won’t let go of Him!” Faith is that reception of Jesus that clings to Him and won’t let go.
John says, to such people, “He,” that is, Jesus Himself, “gave the right to become children of God.” That language of “the right to become children” is legal language. When I was born to my parents, I wasn’t granted a right to become a child; I was a child by nature. Children who receive the legal right to become children are adopted children. John is speaking of the blessing of spiritual adoption. He’s saying that all those who receive Christ in faith become the adopted children of God! We who were spiritual orphans, with no one to look after our spiritual well-being, no provision for our spiritual needs, no protection from spiritual danger. We had no hope, and nothing to look forward to, except what Hebrews 10 calls “a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”
But God has looked upon us in the wretchedness of our sin—in the hopelessness of our spiritual orphanhood—and He has acted in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ—to make children of wrath children of God, to make sons of disobedience sons of the Father. He has taken outsiders, outcasts, strangers, misfits, the natural sons and daughters of the great enemy of all righteousness—and He has adopted us!
It is glorious for a Judge to pardon a guilty criminal because a sufficient penalty has been paid in his place. But it is superabundant grace for that Judge to take that criminal into His own home, to provide for that criminal, to give him a seat at His own dinner table, to give him the family name, and to make him an heir of His inheritance. J. I. Packer famously wrote, “To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is [even] greater” (Knowing God, 207).
That is adoption. All who believe in Jesus are granted an irreversible legal status as the children of God, such that we become members of His own family, with all the protections, provisions, blessings, and privileges that belong to being children of God. The Sovereign King of the universe is your Father, Christian! Your every spiritual need is provided for by the One most suited to meet any need! You may have free access to the throne room of heaven! You are free from anykind of bondage! And you have the sure hope of an eternal inheritance, where you rule the world alongside Christ your King! John says, “When you receive Christ, He gives you that right!” And you never lose it. Your Father never disowns any of His children.
And so all who believe are adopted. But how did these sinners come to believe? “As many as received Christ,” yes. But we’ve already established that the world doesn’t receive Christ—that we’re born dead in our trespasses and sins, by naturechildren of wrath, loving the darkness and hating the Light, blinded to the Light of the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Our spiritual perception is so disordered by sin that we look upon Jesus, who is an ocean of delights, and we’re repulsed by Him! And we look upon sin, which is an ocean of misery, and we’re enamored with it! John says the only hope for such blind and dead sinners, is to be born all over again.
Look at verse 13: Those who received Christ by faith, and thus became adopted children, were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” God’s prescription for such a hopeless prognosis as man’s spiritual blindness is His sovereign work of regeneration. He gives us a new heart! He gives us eyes to see and ears to hear! He calls us “out of darkness” and “into His marvelous light,” 1 Peter 2:9. He gives us the light needed to see things as they actually are!
That’s the remedy that Paul speaks about in 2 Corinthians 4. Whereas verse 4 tells us of our blindness, Paul says in verse 6, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Just as in the beginning when God said, “Let there be light,” and by the creative power of His Word the galaxies leapt into being, in regeneration, God sovereignly speaks into the darkened and dead heart, “Let there be light,” and instantaneously births the light of eternal spiritual life where it had not existed. In magnificent love, Almighty God overcomes man’s resistance to the Gospel by powerfully summoning us out of spiritual death and blindness and imparting to us new spiritual life.
He gives us new spiritual eyes, so that we finally see sin for what it is, in all its objective ugliness; and so that we finally see Christ for who He is—in all His objective beauty and glory. And with our eyes finally opened—finally able to see and evaluate things as they actually are—we turn away in repentant disgust from the filth of sin and self, and we cling to our glorious Savior with the embrace of saving faith.
And John is especially concerned to impress upon us that this new birth is none of the sinner’s own doing. This work of regeneration is the sovereign act of God alone. Look at verse 13. John says that the children of God birthed in regeneration are born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” To say that man is not born again by blood is to say that the new birth is not passed down hereditarily. No one is born again because they are of a particular bloodline. Not Abraham’s, as the Jews would have believed, and not anyone else’s. Your heritage, or your ancestral lineage, has no bearing on regeneration. Some people think, “Well, I’m a Christian because my parents were Christians. I was born into it.” No. God has no grandchildren. The joining of the blood of a father and mother may produce physical life, but it can never produce spiritual life. Regeneration is entirely supernatural.
To say that man is not born again by the will of the flesh is to say that regeneration is not a product of an exercise of man’s will. Sinful man cannot simply decide to be born again any more than a corpse can simply decide to rise to life. No moral effort or religious activity can induce the new birth, because such acts would only be able to be performed while the sinner is still “in the flesh.” And yet Jesus says in John 3:6 that flesh can only give birth to flesh. Because the new birth is spiritual, it cannot come by the will of the flesh; only Spirit can give birth to spirit.
And finally, John says that the child of God is not born of the will of man, which establishes that no man-made religion or sacramental system can produce regeneration. This is why the imagery of the new birth is such an apt illustration for the work of regeneration. Something is so drastically and irreversibly wrong with mankind that we must be born all over again! And in the physical realm, a child makes absolutely no contribution to his conception or his birth. The child doesn’t exist until he’s conceived. And so he is entirely dependent on the will of his parents to be brought into being. Well, in the same way, Jesus chooses this analogy of new birth to illustrate the reality that dead and depraved sinners cannot contribute at all to their rebirth unto spiritual life. They’re entirely dependent on the sovereign will of God for regeneration.
And so, John says, the children of God are born of God. Regeneration is the monergistic work of God, and not at all the work of man. James 1:18: “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth.” So far from depending on man’s will, sinners are brought forth unto spiritual life by the exercise of God’s will. Ephesians 2:5: while man was dead in our trespasses, utterly helpless to bring ourselves to life, “God … made us alive together with Christ.” First Peter 1:3 says, “according to [God’s] great mercy,” He “has caused us to be born again.” Who caused our regeneration? God caused us to be born again. The new birth is a complete and utter miracle! Every time! It is impossible for any sinner to accomplish on his own. God saves sinners! Salvation is of the Lord!
Conclusion
Dear people: Light has come into the world. How will you respond? Either you will refuse to receive Him, and remain in the darkness of your spiritual blindness, hating the Light, and fleeing from it so that your evil deeds might remain hidden. Or, by the sovereign miracle of the new birth, God will remove your heart of stone, and open your blind eyes, and grant you the gift of saving faith, so that you will receive Jesus in all his transcendent loveliness, and you will be saved from sin and death, and be adopted into the family of God.
You say, “But if the new birth is the work of God alone, don’t I have to wait until He regenerates me before I can believe?” No. Scripture teaches that if there is any genuine inclination in your soul to cast itself upon Christ alone for salvation, that inclination itself is the sovereign work of the Spirit. You can pray that God would grant you the miracle of the new birth—that He would give you the gift of saving faith. But then you remember that God commands you to repent of your sin and believe upon Jesus. So you follow that command, this morning. And if you do, you can be assured that it was by His grace.