Foolishness from you Johann i never expected.
Not foolishness-seeking to rightly divide the Scriptures and not impose MY opinions upon the text-right?
“HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN”
“HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT”
“AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM”
CHRIST CAME UNTO HIS OWN
Who is His own? Christians?
“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John
1:11 and 12.
The study of John 1:11 and 12 has proved so interesting and helpful to me that I want to
share with others some of the blessings I have received in this study.
If you are a child of God, of course you know the truth of Galatians 3:26:
“FOR YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.”
This is the only way that any child of Adam can become a child of God. The same
Apostle John, who was directed by the Holy Spirit to write the verses which we are considering,
also wrote:
“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” “He that hath the Son hath
life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” I John 5:1 and 12.
He also wrote II John 9:
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He
that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
It was Christ Himself Who spoke the words of John 5:23 and John 14:6
“That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth
not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.”
Again note these words of the Lord Jesus:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the
Father, but by Me.”
Then the Holy Spirit directed the Apostle Peter to write I Peter 3:18:
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us
to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
All of these Divine statements help us to understand John 1:12:
“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name.”
Only receivers and believers become God’s children or sons. There is positively no way
to Divine sonship except through and by the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the Son of God and His
once for-all sacrifice on the cross. Unbelievers are by nature the children of wrath. Ephesians 2:1
to 3.
Whether we call the believer’s relationship. to God, “Divine sonship,” “regeneration,”
“redemption,” “reconciliation,” “salvation,” or “membership in Christ’s Church,” this
relationship is established always and only by faith in the true Christ of the Bible and because of
the application of the precious blood of this eternal Son of God.
This Divine process is clearly stated in Colossians 1:20 and 21, Ephesians 1:6 and 7 and
Ephesians 2:8 to 10:
“And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that
were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He
reconciled.”
“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the Beloved, In
Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His grace.”
“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM
“As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on His name.” John 1:12.
This should all be very clear to Gentiles and Jews during this period of grace in which we
are so extremely fortunate to live.
But this economy and age of grace did not begin until after
“His own received Him not.”
Note carefully the message of Acts 2:22 and 23:
“Ye men, of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye
yourselves also know; Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”
Jesus of Nazareth was a Man approved of God; that is, Jesus was put on display by God.
Where and for whom? In the land of the Jews; for Israel.
Some years after the Lord Jesus was
rejected by Israel, crucified, buried, raised, and ascended, He said to a converted Jew:
“Depart; for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles.” Acts 22:21.
Then that converted Jew wrote:
“The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11.
Then note his message in I Timothy 2:3 to 6:
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men
to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified
in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and
lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.”
All of this is quite different from the statements of Jesus of Nazareth in the land of the
Jews, in the midst of Israel. Note the Lord’s instructions:
“THESE TWELVE JESUS SENT FORTH, AND COMMANDED THEM, SAYING,
GO NOT INTO THE WAY OF THE GENTILES, AND INTO ANY CITY OF THE
SAMARITANS ENTER YE NOT: BUT GO RATHER TO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE
HOUSE OF ISRAEL.” “BUT WHEN THEY PERSECUTE YOU IN THIS CITY, FLEE YE
INTO ANOTHER: FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, YE SHALL NOT HAVE GONE OVER
THE CITIES OF ISRAEL, TILL THE SON OF MAN BE COME.” Matthew 10:5, 6 and 23.
Read this plain, positive statement of Christ:
“BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I AM NOT SENT BUT UNTO THE LOST
SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.” “BUT HE ANSWERED AND SAID, IT IS NOT
MEET TO TAKE THE CHILDREN’S BREAD, AND CAST IT TO DOGS.” Matthew 15:24
and 26.
Christ came unto His own. While on earth, as Jesus of Nazareth, He did not say to His
twelve apostles, “depart, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles.” No, He positively
commanded them, “go not into the way of the Gentiles.” “You are to go to the cities of Israel.”
“Go to the lost sheep of Israel.” “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of Israel.”
So while Christ was on earth it certainly was not true that the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men.”
Not being facetious with you @DavidTree
J.
