FOCUS ON BIRTH

John doesn't start his gospel the same way Matthew, Mark, and Luke start theirs. 

John has no Christmas story. No shepherds watching over their flocks. No multitude of angels. No manger. No mention of Mary or Joseph.

Instead John starts in a way that echoes Genesis 1. He writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

It seems to me that John wants the reader to focus on Jesus's eternal divine nature. Any talk of Jesus's birth might undercut that.

But there is talk of birth in John. 

Twelve verses in, we find this: "Yet to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." 

Look closely at how John describes our spiritual birth: 

• Not of natural descent.
• Not of human decision.
• Not by a husband's will.

The Calvinists cite these verses as simply supporting predestination - they say John is clear that we have no control over this birth. 

Is that really John's point?

It strikes me that what John says about our birth sounds a lot like what Matthew, Mark, and Luke say about the birth of Jesus. His birth was also:

• Not of natural descent. (Although Jesus's human lineage is very important in Scripture, it was only half of the equation.) 
• Not of human decision. (The nativity was God's initiative. Mary was caught off guard.)
• Not by a husband's will. (Joseph was not even consulted.)

John isn't making some point about God's sovereign election of a certain number of sinners to experience rebirth. I think John is saying that what set apart Jesus's birth is the same as what sets apart our rebirth: the work of the Holy Spirit. 

So in Chapter 1, John is foreshadowing what Jesus tells Nicodemus in Chapter 3, "You must be born again" and "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

Whatever all this means and however we interpret it, we need to devote serious thought and prayer to it because it's pretty darn important.

After all, "No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again."