![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Baptism.jpg\")
I receive the\u00a0Sword Of The Lord<\/em>, a Baptist publication that claims to be the largest religious weekly in America. In a recent article on the new birth, the above caption was highlighted in the middle of the article. It jumped out at me. Never have I seen so much false doctrine taught in such a small space. That is the nature of error, especially since one need not (cannot) list Scriptures that teach the views expressed.<\/p>\nSome of my best friends and favorite relatives are Baptists. By examining the five short statements made, it is certainly not my intention to hurt them. This is not an attack on people but an investigation of a view that affects our eternal salvation. We should not fear investigation and we cannot afford to be wrong on this issue.<\/p>\n
The New Birth Is a Miracle<\/h2>\n
A miracle is a supernatural, instantaneous occurrence that supersedes the normal. It is an open, obvious thing for which there is no earthly explanation. In the vegetable kingdom, God created the first plants. He then set in order the law of reproduction, whereby God does not need to keep creating plants full-grown. By merely sowing the seed a plant is reproduced. God’s law of reproduction is a marvelous thing, but it is not a miracle.<\/p>\n
In the animal kingdom and the human kingdom, it works similarly. God created the first animals and the first humans. But when we want additional animals or desire children in the family, we do not expect God to miraculously make another dog or cat, nor do we expect Him to create another baby from the dust or from a woman’s rib. Instead, God’s law of reproduction is that when the male seed is sown in the womb of a female, offspring are produced. It is a marvelous thing, but it happens according to the law.<\/p>\n
In the spiritual kingdom, miracles were involved in the beginning of the age (Acts 2; I Corinthians 12:28). Some had miraculous knowledge and ability in the infancy of the church. But God set up a law of reproduction which involves the sowing of the seed (the word of God, Luke 8:11) into good soil (the mind of man, Luke 8:8,15). The good seed in the good soil germinates, producing faith, repentance, confession, and baptism. Through the teaching of the Spirit, a man is led to obey. “Except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom….<\/em>” Just as we cannot see what causes the seed to germinate in the plant, animal, and human kingdoms, neither can we see this in the spiritual realm. But it happens according to God’s spiritual law rather than miraculously.<\/p>\n This is partially true if one means we cannot comprehend the knowledge and the power of God which brought about the new birth. But by “being rooted and grounded in love,<\/em>” we may be “strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge…<\/em>” (Ephesians 3:17,18). There was a time when it was needful for Jesus to speak in figurative language about the new birth (John 3) since some wanted to take Him by force and make Him a king and others wanted to take Him by force and crucify Him. However, Jesus later taught that being “born into the kingdom<\/em>” meant the same as being “converted” (Mt. 18:3) and “doing the will<\/em>” of His Father (Matthew 7:21). His apostles taught that being in Christ made one a “new creature<\/em>” (born again, II Corinthians 5:17). One is said to be “baptized into Christ<\/em>” (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27). They also taught that one is raised from baptism to walk in “newness of life” (born again, Romans 6:4).<\/p>\n If this cannot be comprehended, why did Christ and the Apostles explain it? Why are we admonished to study it (II Tim. 2:15)? Such would be an exercise in futility and reduce the biblical exhortations to absurdity.<\/p>\n Jesus told it, as we have previously shown. The apostles also told it. If we tell the same thing they told, then we are telling it.<\/p>\n Certainly, the tongue cannot tell what the vocabulary cannot express. And there are some things that fit into that category. For example, the “peace of God passeth all understanding<\/em>” (Philippians 4:7). But if the tongue cannot tell it and the vocabulary cannot express it, then how can we preach it? Men are not preaching the new birth when they say these things about it. Jesus and the apostles had the vocabulary to express it. If we study what they taught and say what they said, then we can express it. But how many denominational preachers are willing to say what Peter said in Acts 2:38 or I Peter 3:21?<\/p>\n The Bible never says this. Very little emphasis is put on feelings in connection with a conversion. From the Scriptures and from experience, we should be overwhelmed with the knowledge that feelings often mislead. Saul of Tarsus felt saved. He thought Christ was an imposter and Christianity was a hoax. The followers of Jim Jones felt right about what they were doing. We are impressed with the devotion of Paul and others for wrong causes. The way we can know we have been born again is not by a “good feeling” but by whether we have taken all (not part) Christ and the apostles taught about salvation and obeyed it. If you have taken faith but have neglected obedience to the Lord in baptism (Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5), regardless of how you feel, you have not been born again (“new creature,” “newness of life,” etc., II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 6:3,4).<\/p>\n Rejoicing (good feelings) was mentioned in some cases of conversion, after baptism (Acts 8:39; 16:34). This is not evidence, but a byproduct of salvation. Measure your actions by the word, not your feelings.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dick Blackford Guardian of Truth Volume XXIX: 5, pp. 144-149, March 7, 1985 I receive the\u00a0Sword Of The Lord, a Baptist publication that claims to be the largest religious weekly in America. In a recent article on the new birth, the above caption was highlighted in the middle of the article. It jumped out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[52,1388],"class_list":["post-58128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-baptist-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12167,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-new-birth-of-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":0},"title":"The New Birth of Water","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by James E. Cooper in\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 5, No. 2, Feb. 2005 Question: \u00a0\"Does 'born of water' in John 3:3,5 refer to baptism? Answer: \u00a0Jesus said to Nicodemus, \"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,\" and \"Unless one is born of water and the Spirit,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Baptism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65058,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/estimating-jesus-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":1},"title":"Estimating Jesus’ Birth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chas D. Mayfield To understand when Jesus was born, we have to go back about 18 months to the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Add up the weeks 2 (for the Passover and Pentecost weeks) + 8 (Zachariah served the 8th division of Abijah) + 1 (Luke 1:23\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/birth-of-Jesus.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84477,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-babe-and-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":2},"title":"The Babe and Child","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Luke, a first-century physician and an inspired historian, lets us see how an unborn and born baby are fully human, whether in or out of the womb. In other words, birth is not the moment of becoming human and now worthy of life-support! When John the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-must-be-born-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":3},"title":"You Must Be Born Again","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 3:1-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I had a fellow ask me if I had been born again. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In particular, he wanted to know how I came to believe such a thing. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I replied with I John 2:3-6; 4:6; 5:2-3, he became quite upset \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He wanted to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-alexander-campbell-establish-the-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":4},"title":"Did Alexander Campbell Establish the Church of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill J. Humble via The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 8, June 1952. A Preceptor reader from Texas has submitted a list of questions that request a statement of what Alexander Campbell actually did. Since members of the church are often asked such questions as \"The church of Christ began\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Alexander-Campbell-200x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4650,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pre-campbell-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":58128,"position":5},"title":"Pre-Campbell Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ken Chumbley via\u00a0Gospel Gazette, Vol. 2, No. 8, p. 18, August 2000 The following is an excerpt from an article by Carroll Sites that has been found in a number of bulletins over the last few years: Many people identify churches of Christ as owing their roots to Alexander\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Mind Cannot Comprehend It<\/h2>\n
The Tongue Cannot Tell It<\/h2>\n
One’s Vocabulary Cannot Express It<\/h2>\n
But The Heart Can Feel It<\/h2>\n