Blog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 

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Born Again (continued) – 7 March 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

In the Apostle Peter’s first letter to the believers who were exiled in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1), he uses the expression “born again”:

1 Peter 1:3-6

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4. to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

5. who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7. that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

8. and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9. obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

~ New American Standard Bible

I think that Peter makes it clear that life on earth is merely a stepping stone to the eternal life promised to believers; and he urges them, now that they have had their spiritual eyes opened, to live by a higher standard: “…do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior….” (1 Peter 1:14-15) So much for the “cheap grace” that Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned about! *

In 1 Peter 1:22-25, the Apostle once again uses the words “born again”:

22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

23. having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

24. because "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,

25. But the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
~ New King James Version

* http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/5dec98.html

Go on to: Born Again (continued) – 8 March 2007
Return to: Born Again – 6 March 2007
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