Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? The one you think is the most important and stands out to you in some special way. For Luther it was Romans (see his preface), for Calvin it was the book of Ephesians (see this TGC article), and for Wesley it was 1 John.
I began expounding the deepest part of the Holy Scripture, namely, the first Epistle of St. John; by which above all other, even inspired writings, I advise every young preacher to form his style. Continue reading
John Wesley was someone who focused on the practical matters of living out the Christian life. But he did not ignore the essential doctrines of the faith.
In sermon #45, entitled “The New Birth”, John Wesley explores the doctrine of regeneration. Continue reading
One night a Pharisee named Nicodemus visited Jesus. He had seen the miracles that Jesus was doing and knew that He must have been sent by God. We can infer that Nicodemus must have known or at least suspected that these signs were pointing to “the one who is to come” (see Jesus answer to John the Baptist in Matthew 11:2-6). And he probably heard Jesus proclaim that the “kingdom was at hand” (Mark 1:15).
Knowing that Nicodemus’ thoughts were on the kingdom and the coming King, Jesus responds to Nicodemus by telling him (John 3:3 NET):
I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
This statement confused Nicodemus. He did not fully understand what regeneration was or why it was needed. Continue reading
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