New Birth

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Originally Posted by Chateau d'If

Nicodemus asked Jesus a specific question to which Jesus gave a very specific answer. He did not hedge. He did not tell Nicodemus to stay tuned for further instructions.

Jesus stopped at redirecting the conversation to the fact that people must be born again. Only after Nic asked how that could be did Jesus say water and Spirit and those born of the Spirit are like what happens with wind. AND He STOPPED AGAIN.

Nic then showed his unbelief and Jesus finished by having dealt with getting to first base by trusting all the Son says.

You use John 3 as proof text for Water/Spirit doctrine yet Jesus never, ever, told Nicodemus to fulfill all three steps.

I do not use that as a proof text. Acts 2 is the proof text. Acts 2 is what Jesus told them to preach in Luke 24:47-49 BEGINNING ONLY AFTER they received the Spirit.

He never told him to be baptized and speak in tongues. The latter was an impossibility since the baptism of the HG was not yet given.

Agreed. But he told the disciples to BEGIN preaching what later is shown as the Acts 2:38 message. And BEGIN implies it had not been preached previously.

Nicodemus did not, and could not, have access to what would occur in Acts. He wasn't privy to those conversations and experiences. Jesus clearly related to Nicodemus that the New Birth was an immediate possibility, not something to arrive in the future.

That is absolutely impossible because Atonement had not even been made yet by His resurrection and ascension into heaven. You are saying new birth is possible without the cross, and that is impossible. New birth is directly related to Christ's resurrection which is the newness of life we all identity with in new birth.

That thinking leads to a crossless new birth. I don't think you want to go down that road.

It is hard to imagine Jesus ministering for 3 and a half years without clearly stating the means to salvation.

Sorry, but that's precisely the way it was. And I cannot stress enough for the need for you to study Luke 24:47-49 showing a message NO ONE PREACHED BEFORE, that would not be preached til after He left them and filled them with the Spirit.

In fact, He clearly asks for trusting faith repeatedly, and ties it directly to salvation. This was evident in his conversation with Nicodemus.

...FOR LATER REFERENCE.

If your position is that Nicodemus could not have spoken in tongues at the moment of the conversation you must also believe that speaking in tongues is not what it takes to be born again.

Wrong. No one could be born again before the atonement after the resurrection. Please think about what you are saying.