Epistles of Paul 91

Let's briefly recap, brethren, what we've covered the last time. Paul's first visit to Ephesus was at the end of his second missionary trip. I have a little picture showing his missionary trip. We see at the end of his trip, on his way back, he stopped by Ephesus. And so there, when he was there, he left Arakila and Priscilla. And they helped to raise the church out in that area. And then we now read that also in Acts 18 towards the end, that then Apollos came to visit them there in Ephesus. And then on his second visit to Ephesus was actually then on his third journey. In his third journey, he stayed there for three years. So he came through from Antioch through this area of Galatia. And then he stayed in Ephesus for about three years. And it was a period of great development and growth in the church, as we see in Acts 19-11. And through it, the gospel spread out throughout Asia. And indeed, Ephesus then became like a launch pad or the center of the church after the destruction of Jerusalem. And we know that the Apostle John later became the pastor responsible for Ephesus after Paul's death. And so on this third journey, he was there at the beginning of the journey. Then he went through all the way to Macedonia, went to Corinth. And then on his way back, he did not stop at Ephesus, but he stopped in a town called Miletus. Miletus is kind of 30 miles southeast of Ephesus. And then he exhorted them, the brethren in Ephesus, because he asked the ministry there from Ephesus to come to Miletus. And he called those elders and he exhorted them to stay fast on the truth. And we see that section about when he spoke to them in Acts 20 from verse 18 onwards. He also told them what would happen to them. And then he went to Jerusalem. And then when he was in Jerusalem, he ended up being imprisoned. And then he ended up then going to Rome. So around about AD 59. And from Rome, he wrote the prison epistles, namely Philharmon, which already covered Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. So those, Philharmon was more of an epistle to an individual. Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were two church areas.

The basic purpose of the book of Ephesians is unity in Christ. And it focuses in this book about about Christ. And the first three chapters contain a summary of Christian doctrines, as Paul taught them, the key points that he emphasized. And the last three chapters are practical Christian behavior points, like principles about marriage, about ministry, about family, about our Christian fight, etc. And the last time we covered up to verse four, and we see in Ephesians 1 through 4 that his authority comes from God. And he explains then that they are great spiritual blessings, as he says in verse three, that God has given to us.

And he talks quite a lot about this great spiritual blessing that we have, that God has bestowed upon us to be his children, that God has chosen us. And that's his plan, that human beings are ultimately to be holy and without blame before him, as we can see that at the end of verse four, we are to be holy and without blame before him.

Basically, then, as we see is and as we know and understand God's plan, is that God determined that yes, all mankind would ultimately, if they don't reject the truth, would ultimately be in his family. But God determined that it would be a small group of called out ones, which is the church that called out ones. That would be the first fruits, the first few to receive the Holy Spirit, as we read in Romans 8-23. And those are the ones that would be trained first. When God then later sets up his kingdom on earth during the millennium, he will then have a group of well-trained men and women that are faithful to serve him.

That would be the priesthood, the ministry, also referred to as the bride or teachers or as kings and priests. So those would be qualified, and some would take different positions of responsibility. Some would have positions of rulership. Those would be qualified to teach in various other functions. And therefore, yeah, it says that he has chosen us, as it says in verse 4, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

That means he chose us. It doesn't mean that he chooses individually by name before the foundation of the world, but he had a plan that there would be a group of called out ones. In other words, of ones that would be chosen before others, which is now. And the reason being, as I mentioned at the end of verse 4, that would be without blame to be holy.

And so how is that possible? That's possible through the power of God's Holy Spirit, because God's Holy Spirit is what helps us to overcome and to become completely, let's call, quote-unquote, clean, incorruptible and unblameable. In other words, without blame, as it says, before him in genuine love and care for others. So let's now read verse 5. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. So the Father is predestined, a number, to adoption as it is translated here in verse 5. It could also be translated as as for sonship, which we'll cover a little bit more about that.

But he has predestined us to be his sons in the kingdom of God, predestined us to be heirs of God. If we just read briefly in Romans chapter 8, in Romans chapter 8 verse 16 and 17, Romans 8, 16 and 17 says, the Spirit itself, God's Spirit, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God. And what do you mean by heirs of God?

We're going to be sons of God, so we're going to be heirs of God. So God has willed a plan to be carried out, and it will be carried out. And in that plan, God predestined the method through which we will get into God's family, into God's kingdom.

That method is first through repentance. In other words, we're going to believe in God, we're going to repent, we're going to be baptized. And we see that in Acts 2 verse 38 when people realized that they had murdered the Lord and Christ, they said, what shall we do?

And then Peter in his sermon, in Acts 2 verse 38 says, repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and then you shall receive the Holy Spirit. And obviously, that means that as we read later in Acts chapter 8 verse 15, let's just turn there to Acts chapter 8 verse 15, because it's a section that maybe many people don't see or don't understand. And is that we see in chapter 8 that people in Samaria had received the Word of God, says there in verse 14. And so when the apostles were dead, they sent Peter and John to those brethren in Samaria.

In verse 15, who? When they had come down, they prayed for them that they might receive God's Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And as yet, they had not received God's Holy Spirit, and they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So they had been baptized or immersed into the body of Christ by the authority of Jesus Christ. And then verse 17, and then they laid hands on them and they received God's Holy Spirit.

So they received God's Holy Spirit. We look also at chapter X verse 19, a bigger part of X chapter 19, X chapter 19 verse 5 and 6. And we see then when they heard this, they were baptized into the ice, which is Greek ice, which means into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied showing them that they had received God's Holy Spirit because that was going to the brethren in Ephesus.

And so, so God has predestined the method through which we will get into God's family. And that method is through repentance and being baptized and receiving God's Holy Spirit. Now, God's Holy Spirit is very important because it's how it helps us to grow and overcome, helps us to overcome our own frailties and weaknesses. So the world has a different understanding of predestination. The world's understanding of predestination has to do with either being saved or lost. And so their understanding is God has predestined some people to be saved and God has predestined some people to be lost.

Well, this is not what Paul is talking about because that belief is completely wrong. What Paul is talking about is predestination. That means has to do with some being called now and predestined that we all ultimately will be in the kingdom of God if we don't reject God. But some have been predestined to be called first.

In other words, some are the first fruits are called now. In other words, the first fruits of the Holy Spirit, as we read in Romans 8. In fact, let me just go there to Romans 8 to show you that we have have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. It's important the verb that because it says we have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit doesn't say that we are the first fruits of God.

So let's look here at Romans 8 verse 23. Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. So we are the ones that have God's Holy Spirit, the first few to have God's Holy Spirit. And but it does not mean that we are now already the first fruits to God and to the Lamb. You see, salvation is a process.

It's much more than just faith, repentance and baptism. Salvation involves a whole life-saving process called conversion. And conversion is a miraculous life-transforming process. It begins with a calling. God opens our minds and then we must respond. As we respond, we learn, and then we reach a point in our knowledge and understanding that we commit. Make a commitment, make a promise, make a vow at baptism. And at that time, conversion, then as when we received baptism, that is not the end of the conversion process. In a sense, it is a new beginning of a new life as begotten children of God, and that has been initiated by God the Father. Because we receive God's Holy Spirit, it comes from the Father, as I'll show to you in a moment.

Upon receiving the Holy Spirit after baptism, we are then fathered from above. I specifically use the expression fathered from above because that is probably a better translation as far as John 3 verse 3 than born again. If you look at John 3 verse 3, John chapter 3 verse 3, we see the story about Nicodemus, and then he comes to Jesus by night, you see, in verse 2.

And he says, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him. So it appears Nicodemus came specifically to talk to Christ privately because he knew that others didn't quite agree with him.

So even though he was one of the rulers of the Jews, he knew that others were not in the same, let's call it, mindset. And so he came to him, and then Jesus at that time says to him in verse 3, Jesus answered and said to him to Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now, born is now, which a better translation is maybe begotten, but it can also be fathered. In other words, when a child is begotten in a mother's womb, an English expression could also be fathered. He's been fathered. The father has, quote unquote, caused that begettle process. And then the word again in my margin says, he's got a little, my Bible's got a little one next to the word again, and it says from above. So the word here is ganal, begotten or fathered, and the other word is anothim, which means from above, from above, literally from above.

And so when a person receives God's Holy Spirit after baptism, we are fathered from above. And this is very important for us to understand. We have to be, in other words, begotten of the heavenly seed that comes from the father.

Now, let's look at Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Titus chapter 3 verse 5 is another very interesting scripture that I want to spend a little bit of time looking at it because it's very important what we read here. It says, it says, not by works of righteousness which we have, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now it's talking about that the Holy Spirit has a action of regeneration and renewing. Regeneration is basically being generated again.

In other words, you and I have been fathered from a physical dad at our first time that we are begotten. But when we're begotten again, or a second time, we were begotten or fathered from above. Inwards is a second regeneration, but it's a regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Now, I read verse 5, but I want to read this in a different way, or rather focusing in a different way. And start with verse 4. It says, but when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior toward man, appeared. Now think about that. When the kindness and the love of God, our Savior toward man, appeared.

Think about it. The kindness and the love of God, God being God the Father, our Savior appeared toward man, appeared. So the love of the Father appeared, how? By sending His only begotten Son.

If you read in John 3 verse 16, let's just read there very quickly. John, keep your finger in Titus because we're going to come back to it. But in John 3 verse 16, this is for God's so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. You see, so the love of the Father towards us is by Him giving us His only begotten Son. So going back to Titus chapter 3, and now we see in verse 4, we see the love of God, our Savior, the kindness and the love of God, our Savior.

That kindness and love of God, God the Father, our Savior, towards us is Him giving us Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. And when His only begotten Son appeared, right? So when the application, the execution, the actual fulfillment of God's love towards us appeared, which is Him sending His begotten, the only begotten Son, and Christ came, right? Not by works of righteousness, which we have done.

We see that in verse 5. Christ did not come by works of righteousness that you and I have done. Christ came because of the kindness and the love of God towards us. That's why Christ came. And then He says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, according to God's mercy. And through that, Christ coming and Christ dying for us, He opened up the way, the process, the way for salvation so that we could be saved.

You know, but according to His mercy, He saved us. He opened up the way for us to be saved, and ultimately we will be saved. We're not saved yet. There is a whole process we're talking about here, but He opened up this way of salvation, He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

And we're not saved yet through because we are now fathered from above by God's Holy Spirit. And God's Holy Spirit not only begets again, but renews us. It's the renewal of our mind through the workings of God's Holy Spirit working in us. And so let me restate again what I said a little earlier.

Salvation is much more than faith, repentance and baptism. It involves a whole life-saving process, which is conversion. And conversion is a miraculous life-transforming process, which begins with a calling, and God opens our minds. Then we must respond, we must learn and apply that and commit, and then we get baptized. And then we begin a new continuation of that conversion process, but a new life as children of God and this all has been initiated by God the Father. You see, so the biblical analogy of a new begettle or a second begettle or regeneration or being fathered from above, which is comparing to being fathered physically at conception, but now is a regeneration.

In other words, that analogy of a new begettle is valid. So the term born again to exclusively apply to when we receive God's Holy Spirit is an incomplete understanding of the conversion process. And therefore it is not advisable for us to use it because it gives people an incorrect understanding. All right, so let's continue reading in Titus 3. We were reading in verse 5. So God started this through His mercy by sending Jesus Christ. He started the soul process of salvation. He has opened up this process for us to be saved, so ultimately will be saved.

So and he says, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He, God, poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. You see, God pours His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, on us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

All right, let's look at some key points here. I'm going to highlight a few key points here so that it's very clear that you understand. I'm going to highlight five key points here. Number one, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. You see, it says here that God the Father, He poured out on us.

So the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. And this is backed up by John 15 verse 26. So let's look at John 15 verse 26. Very powerful section here from John 13. You know that's all the way through John 17. That's part of the wars that Christ gave and that we read every year at Passover ceremony. But in John 15 verse 26, but when the Helper, which is God's Holy Spirit, it's what helps us to overcome. It's what helps us to renew our mind. It says, when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you, that's Christ, will send to us from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father.

God's Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. And God's Holy Spirit, as it renews our mind, as it works in our mind, as it makes us think correctly and works with changing us, it will help us understand of Christ and of the soul. It will testify of what Christ told us. Right, so that's the first point. God's Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Second point, it is Jesus Christ that gives us the Holy Spirit. You see, he even says here in verse 26, but when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you, it's Jesus Christ that gives us the Holy Spirit.

And we also saw in Titus chapter 3 verse 6 that says that God poured on us abundantly, so he spread through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So the giving of the Holy Spirit to us is through Jesus Christ. In other words, it is Jesus Christ that baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. And if you read at Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, when it's talking about John the Baptist, and in Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, he says, I, John the Baptist, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me, that's Christ, is mightier than I, who settles I'm not worthy to carry.

He, that's Christ, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire meaning if we are disobedient, we'll end up in the lake of fire. So you don't want to be on that part, but you want to be on the first part being baptized with the Holy Spirit. So you don't need to be baptized with fire, which is the second death, the lake of fire.

So the second point is that Jesus Christ gives us the Holy Spirit. It is him that gives us the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and Christ then has the authority delegated to him by the Father to give us the Holy Spirit. That's why the minister, after baptism, because the minister baptizes you in water for forgiveness of sins, but after that the minister lays hands on you and prays and asks you, our bigger part, asks God to honor the promise to give his Holy Spirit to the newly converted baptized member.

And he prays and asks the Father through Christ to give you his Holy Spirit. Third point is that the Holy Spirit is the power of God to regenerate and renew us. And that's what we read here in Titus chapter 3 verse 5. It says, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So God's Holy Spirit begets us again, fathers us from above, and renews us.

Also look at 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. Second Peter chapter 1. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. It says, grace and peace be multiplied unto you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. It's interesting because 2 Peter ends in chapter 3 verse 18, you know, that you may grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and save Jesus Christ. But at the beginning of this epistle, it says the grace and peace that be multiplied. In other words, that you may grow, that grace and peace may multiply, you may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So you can see the themia in this epistle is about growing in the grace of God and in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. But yeah, God's Holy Spirit is the power because look at the in verse 3. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ has His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godness.

In other words, you grow in grace and knowledge because God has given us His divine power that has all things that you and I need to have eternal life and to be like God and Godliness. And so, once again, number one, God's Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Number two, it's Jesus Christ that baptizes of His Holy Spirit. And number three, the Holy Spirit is the power of God to regenerate us through God, the seed, the divine seed to beget us again, to begotten again. In other words, to regenerate us, to be fathered from above and renew us as we in our lives live.

God's Holy Spirit is working in our minds and renewing us, cleaning our minds through this process. In other words, that's why it talks about in Romans 12, if I'm not mistaken, that we have to be renewed. Our minds need to be transformed through the power of God's Holy Spirit. The fourth point, it's an interesting one, if you look here at Titus, at Titus chapter four, I beg your pardon, Titus chapter three verse four.

If you look here at Titus chapter three verse four says, it says, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior. So it's calling the Father our Savior. And look in verse six. He says, yeah, and He poured out on us. God, the Father poured out on us. He's our Holy Spirit abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So you can see both the Father and Christ are our Savior.

Why? Because the Father is architecting us and it's executing us through His plan, being the owner, being the one that is giving the instructions. And Christ is the one that actually gave His life and died for us. So Christ is our Savior, but the Father is our Savior because they're working together on the same purpose.

So that's point number four. And point number five, I want you to mention this, to notice this, because you see in these verses, it's talking about God the Father, God our Savior, God the Father, verse four. Then it's talking about God's Holy Spirit in verse five and in verse six, talking about Jesus Christ. So you can see all three are mentioned together, the Father, the Son and Jesus Christ. But it's not talking about a Trinity. You see, the Father is the architect, the plan. Christ is the one that is the executive officer, the one that is doing everything.

Under the delegated authority that has been given to Him by the Father. And God's Holy Spirit is the power that they give us to help us to change, to grow in grace and knowledge. And so this is very, very powerful little verse here in Titus chapter three, verse four, five and six. That says a lot when you start meditating about it. So we receive God's Holy Spirit. When we receive God's Holy Spirit after baptism, we are farther from above.

And that's what it says in first John chapter three. First John chapter three verse one. Behold what matter of love the Father bestowed on us, then we should be called the children of God. Yes, because we've been fathered spiritually speaking already by the Father, by receiving that spiritual seed, that seed that proceeds or that came from the Father. That's what it says in verse nine. Verse nine says, His seed remains in us, in Him, whoever has received God's Holy Spirit. We've got His seed.

So we've been fathered from above. That's why we should be called the children of God. The world does not know us because it does not know Him. So the world doesn't understand us. And then in verse two says, Beloved.

And this is very, very important here in verse two of first John three. It says, Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. You see, it has not yet been revealed because we're not yet born again. We're not yet spirit beings in the family of God. We have been fathered. We have been begotten. We are going through, let's call it, this growth process in the spiritual womb, which is the church, the mother of us all. But we are still not what we shall be. That's what it says in verse two. Now we are beloved. Now we are the children of God, but it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when Christ is revealed, we shall be like Him, like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is. We will be like He is, like Christ of the same kind, of the same type of being. And we'll be able to see Christ and we'll be able to see God because we'll be like they are of that kind of beings. And so, as we read a little earlier in Romans 8.23, now we have the first fruits of the Spirit. We are the first that have been fathered from above. We are the first that were begotten from above, but we're not yet born again. So baptism, followed by receiving of God's Holy Spirit, moves us in this process now as a newly begotten children of God. And now you and I need the help of God's Holy Spirit. That means that renewing of the mind so that it helps us to overcome and grow in grace and knowledge, as we read in 2 Peter 3 verse 18. So it is a lifelong process. It is a lifelong process, a new life of spiritual growth. In Romans 12 verse 2, let's look at that, Romans 12 verse 2. It says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That replacing of our selfish human nature with God's divine nature is the renewing of our mind, which is done by God's Holy Spirit. And that's why in Titus it says the regeneration and the renewing. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 2.

Talking about, says Peter and the apostle to the dispersion brethren, to the pilgrims of the dispersion, says elect, it means selected, according to the knowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit.

Sanctification is the setting apart, is the separating, is making us holy, making us saints, renewing of our minds, so that we are different, that our mind is not dirty, unclean, but our mind is clean. It's just like clean and unclean foods. That whenever we approach foods, we got to look carefully. Is this clean or unclean? Do we eat or don't we eat? The same thing. What are we allowing our minds? Is this clean or unclean? We got to have a clean mind. We got to allow things into our mind, only things that are clean. And so that we use God's Holy Spirit to break our conscience and to say, hey, don't do that, don't think that, don't allow that in your mind, don't whatever. And that is sanctification of the Spirit. For what? Keep reading. For obedience.

The sanctification of the Spirit for us to be obedient to God and to Christ and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. You see, when you and I, after we baptized, we are now we have God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is working our minds and renewing our minds. And now we realize, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have acted that way. Whatever. Then you and I are repentant. We go to God's throne on our knees.

We pray. And then Christ is our high priest. Sprinkles is blood, the blood of Jesus, for any of those little things that we may have thought or said in a way that you and I shouldn't have said. And so we are going through this process of renewal, of renewing of our minds, in words, the sanctification of the Spirit, together with the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, so that we are being washed, so that our consciousness is being clean and being made right before God. You see, brethren, this is a lifelong process of overcoming until God determines that you and I have qualified.

And there are at least two well-clearly explained end points of this time period of overcoming for us. One is, that's why it says, overcome till the end. One is when we die, and another one is when we transformed at ease coming. And that's why it says in Revelation 17 verse 14. Revelation 17 verse 14, it says we are called, chosen and faithful. You see, in Revelation 17 verse 14, because it's talking about those that are that will be fighting, that are influenced by the beast and by the false prophet, and they will make war with Christ, the Lamb at Christ's coming.

And the Lamb will overcome them, because He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those who are with Christ as is coming are called. Yes, we've been called by God. We are chosen because we've responded. And three, we've remained faithful till the end, through the sanctification of the Spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. You see, so we today are the few that are going through this process today. The vast majority of people will go through that process in the millennium and or depending if they did now or in the Second Resurrection.

If therefore we repent, and this is an important point, if we repent and we now are growing in the womb as babies till the end, till when the end is for you and I. I don't know when the end is for me. I don't know when the end is for you. Whatever it is, as I mentioned, there's at least two well-defined ends in the Bible that I can see. So if we remain faithful till the end, we'll be of Christ. But if we repent and we are not faithful till the end, it's an example like a baby is in a womb and you can still miscarry.

You see, so spiritually, you and I don't want to miscarry. We want to remain faithful till the end. That's why Paul says, I have to discipline myself lest I be disqualified. First Corinthians 9, 27.

That's why in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12, it says, if you think you stand, be careful lest you fall. And in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 to 13 says, don't harden your heart. You see, we can miscarry. It could happen a number of things. Our heart could be hardened. We could think, oh well, I'm doing good. And therefore we neglect in prayer and Bible study and things like that. And oh, we're not disciplining ourselves, forcing or struggling and continuously striving to be overcoming. You see, God determined that he will have a family. But he did not necessarily say that everybody will be saved.

He's willing, he's desired that all will be saved, that all will come to repentance. He's willing, he's desired that everybody, every human being will be in his family, some now, some at a later time. But God has called people throughout all the ages, some people to represent different ages. And in Christ's first coming, we'll have people, I believe, from every single age in history. So we'll have a wonderful example of people from different ages. So, brethren, let's continue with verse five. I did not progress as much as I thought I would. Anyway, let's continue in verse five. He says, "'Eving predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.'" The word adopted, yeah, or to adoption, is the Greek word 5206, eotheseia, which means the placing as a son given to one that does not naturally is a son.

And so, naturally speaking, as a physical human being, you are not, as a physical human being, you are not fathered by God, by the Father. You see, there's only one, one that was fathered by the Father, and that was Jesus Christ. That's why he says, the only begotten son. So, on a physical human being point, none of us were physically begotten by the Father.

But, as in the spiritual family, we are begotten through God's Holy Spirit. Being fathered from above, we are put into his family because God's Holy Spirit marries, quote-unquote, joins with our human spirit, and we become a new person in a spiritual sense. And so, in a spiritual context, our human spirit is witnessed with God's Holy Spirit, and we are now the children of God. And so, this verse 5 could, yes, be translated as adoption because the Greek word means the placing as a son, given to one that does not naturally belong to that family, or to that genetic cult, let's call it that.

And so, in a Roman world, that makes sense as adoption, which a person will be adopted and will be considered as a son. That is correct. But it could also be translated with our understanding that we receive God's Holy Spirit, that we are fathered from above, that it's the seed from the father, and that it joins with our human spirit in that context.

You could have translated, we could have translated this, having predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ. Because the only natural begotten into the family as a physical human being and was begotten as a physical human being, as a son of God, physically, was Christ. Because there are four citations, or four places in the Bible that uses the word monogeneous, Greek 3-4-3-9, that says the only begotten.

In John 1 verse 14, John 1 verse 14, it says, then also in chapter 3 verse 16, John 3 verse 16, which we made reference to early on, says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, a guy in a monogeneous, which is mean he's the only one that the father actually begot in Mary's womb through a miracle. So through the power of God's Holy Spirit, we read in Matthew, it says, and the Spirit of God was upon him.

So through God's Holy Spirit, which is divine seed, it caused that miracle for Mary, a virgin, to have a baby. It was not through a human father. Also, 3 verse 18, the same chapter of John 3 verse 18, he who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God, the only one that was begotten this way.

And in 1 John chapter 4 verse 9, 1 John chapter 4 verse 9 uses the same word, monogeneous, 1 John chapter 4 verse 9. And it says, in this the love of God was manifested towards us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world, monogeneous.

So now he died and he's resurrected. He's in heaven. At the resurrection, we will be changed and will become a spirit being like he is. And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. Brethren, this is a mystery that the world does not understand. And it says, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Changed to spirit beings of the God-kind, as sons of God. And it says, in a moment, in a twinkly variety, the last trump for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptor must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. This is a mystery. And so, as it says in Romans 8 verse 17, Romans 8 verse 17, Romans 8 verse 17, it says that if and if children, then heirs, heirs of God. You see, we are going to be heirs of God.

And it says, and joint heirs of Christ. So, in God's eyes, he considers as a son by birth, spiritual birth, at the resurrection, being fathered by him. And so, brethren, that's where we'll stop today. And then next week, hopefully we'll then continue with Ephesians.