Finally alive by John Piper (available from Amazon or free on the internet here)
(i) It confronts us with our hopeless spiritual and moral and legal condition apart from God's regenerating grace;
(ii) It refers to something that is done to us, not something we do;
(iii) It confronts us with the absolute freedom of God.
Then Pipers answers the question, 'What happens in the new birth?', with three statements:
(i) It is not getting new religion but getting new life;
(ii) It is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus but experiencing the supernatural in yourself;
(iii) It is not the improvement of your old human nature but the creation of a new human nature (this is the subject of Chapter Two).
I liked Piper's clarification that new birth doesn't completely destroy the old person: 'When we say that new spirit (or a new heart) is given to us, we don't mean that we cease to be the human being - the morally accountable self - that we have always been. I was the individual human being John Piper before I was born again, and I have been the individual human being John Piper since I was born again. There is a continuity. That's why there has to cleansing. If the old human being, John Piper, were completely obliterated, the whole concept of forgiveness and cleansing would be irrelevant. There would be nothing left over from the past to forgive or cleanse.'
So I also really liked Piper's heading for that Second Chapter, 'You are still you, but new'. Catchy!
Next week's reading
Chapters Three and Four.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
3 comments:
In Chapter one, I felt like Piper was laying a foundation for the rest of the book by defining terms and explaining some of the Gospel. I never tire of hearing the good news that Jesus Christ saves and transforms lives, so it was excellent! Going into chapter 2, I enjoyed Piper’s distinction that being born again is a transformation of the same person. You are still you, you just become clean and new! Speaking of becoming clean, I am pretty sure I was still somewhat confused on what it meant to be “born of the spirit” but thanks to Piper’s masterful explanation, I am no longer!
Correction: I meant to say I was confused on what "born of water" meant.
from Margo
I like how Piper explains where we are going and what we are going to look at. I find he's very easy to follow. The whole concept of the new birth - I find awesome! I really like his references to Ezekiel:
'The Holy Spirit (gives us) spiritual, moral shape ... according to His own shape. By being Himself within us, our heart and mind take on His character - His Spirit... And the Spirit replaces our hard, unresponsive heart with a soft heart that treasures Jesus above all things and is being transformed by the presence of the Spirit into the kind of heart that loves to do the will of God.' AMAZING!
Post a Comment