Jesus was the power to become sons of god

JESUS WAS THE POWER TO BECOME SONS OF GOD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 1:12 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those
who believedin his name, he gave the right to become
children of God-
Open Heart For The Great Savior
BY SPURGEON
“But as many as receivedHim, to them gave He power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: who were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:12
DIVINE Truth is one, but it is many-sided. When you have lookedat it from
one point of view you may reverse your position, and, though the Truth at
which you look will be the same, you will marvel at its freshness as seenfrom
another aspect. This morning we soughtto show you how Jesus Christ
receivedsinners [Volume 11, Sermon #665–OpenHouse for All Comers.]
Tonight it shall be our endeavor, as the Holy Spirit may enable us, to setforth
how sinners receive Christ.
It is perfectly true that the work of salvationlies first and mainly in Jesus
receiving sinners to Himself to pardon, to cleanse, to sanctify, to preserve, to
make perfect. But, at the same time the sinner also receives Christ. There is an
act on the sinner’s part by which, being constrained by Divine Grace, he
opens his heart to the admissionof Jesus Christand Jesus enters in and dwells
in the heart, and reigns and rules there. To a gracious readiness ofheart to
entertain the Friend who knocks atthe door, we are brought by God the Holy
Spirit, and then He sups with us and we with Him.

We shall take, tonight, the view of the subject openedup before us by this text.
We shall begin by simply and shortly describing how the sinner receives
Christ. Secondly, the privilege, or power, which is conferred as the result of
this receptionof Christ. And thirdly, the greatchange which is involved in the
fact that the sinner has receivedChrist, the fact that the sinner has been born
againfrom above, “not of the will of man, but of God.”
1. As briefly, then, as may be, and very simply, indeed, we will describe
WHAT IT IS FOR THE SINNER TO RECEIVE CHRIST. This
receiving Christ lies in severalthings. If a man would receive Christ he
must, first of all, receive Him in His Personas He is revealedin the
SacredScriptures. We are taught over and over again in Scripture that
Jesus Christ is Immanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh,
Jehovah’s equal in fashion as a man.
The “WORD”–that“Word” ofwhich it is said, “the Word was God”–was
“made manifest” in flesh among men, and they “beheld His glory.” Though
He “thought it not robbery to be equal with God,” yet “He made Himself of
no reputation, but took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness ofmen.” This was a new and startling doctrine when first preachedto
heathen sages, that God should take humanity into so intimate a connection
with Himself, as really and truly to be Man and God in the same Person.
But it is a doctrine which must be receivedby you or else you cannotreceive
Christ. My Masterwill not be satisfiedwith the acknowledgmentthat His
Characteris lovely, His doctrine pure, and His moral teaching super-
excellent. He will not be content with your admissionthat He is a Prophet
greaterthan any Prophet that ever came before or after Him. He will not rest
satisfiedwith your admission that He is a teachersent from Heaven, and a
Being who, on accountof His virtues, is now peculiarly exalted in Heaven.
All this is well, but it is not enough! You must also believe that He, who as
Man was born of the Virgin, and was dandled upon her lap at Bethlehem, was
as God none other than the everlasting Lord, without beginning of days or
end of years. You do not receive Christ in very deed and truth unless you
believe in His proper humanity and actual Godhead. Indeed, what is there for
you to receive if you do not receive this? A Savior who is not Divine can be no
Savior for us! How cana mere man, howevereminent, deliver his fellows from
sins such as yours and mine? How canhe bear the burden of our guilt any
more than we canourselves bear it, if there is no more about him than about
any other singularly virtuous man?

An angelwould staggerbeneaththe load of human criminality, and much
more would this be the case with even a perfect man. It needed those mighty
shoulders–“Whichbearthe earth’s huge pillars up,” to sustainthe weightof
human sin, and carry it into the wilderness of forgetfulness!You must receive
Christ, in order to be saved by Him, as being God though man. But, my dear
Friends, the mere belief of this doctrine will not save anybody! There are
many persons who have no need to fear the curses of the Athanasian Creed,
nor the test of any other dogmatic way of expressing the factof the Deity of
Christ. But they are, nevertheless, very far from having receivedChrist Jesus
Himself! A man may believe another to be a clever physician, and yet if he has
a personalobjectionto him, he may refuse to receive him as such.
If a man would receive Jesus rightly, he must, in the next place, acceptHim in
all His offices. Our blessedLord has three main offices. We find Him spoken
of as “Prophet,” “Priest,” and“King,” and men must be willing to take Him
in eachand all of the three. As a “Prophet” He teaches–whatHe has received
of God He manifests to man. Am I willing to abide by His teaching? Do I take
His words, and the words which He delivered by His Apostles, as being my
directory and rule? I have a certain “doxy” which some call, “heterodoxy,”
but which, perhaps, I think to be “orthodoxy.” Can I sincerelysay that Jesus
Christ is the Dictatorof my orthodoxy?
Do I take Him and His teaching to be the Truth by which I will abide? I find
one Church holding one creed, and another Church holding another. Do I
look at all these standards of faith, and say of them, “I will follow them as far
as they follow Christ, but neither to cardinal, bishop, synod, nor presbytery
will I yield my faith”? I must first know whether the teaching of these men is
in accordancewith the teaching of Him whom I take to be my Masterand my
Teacher. Whetheryou are Calvinists, or Arminians, or anything else, dear
Friends, be first and chiefly Christians–Christians following Christ–receiving
Him as the greatExpositorto you of God, and of the greatTruths of
Revelation.
You will tell me you have your “bodies of divinity.” There never was but one
“body of divinity,” and that was the “body” of the Man, Christ Jesus!Do you,
abating all prejudices and self-formed opinions, receive our Lord as the great
embodiment of Truth? The truest and the best systemof theologyis Jesus
Christ! If you learn Him you have all Truth–you have nothing in excess,and
nothing is omitted. He is the mold of Truth into which your prepared mind
must be delivered to receive form and shape from His perfectwisdom. Our
hearts must receive Him as the Truth of God–

“You are the Truth, Your Word alone
True wisdom can impart.
To You I yield a willing mind,
And open all my heart.”
If I receive Jesus as “Prophet,” Imust also take Him as “Priest.” Herein,
indeed, mainly lies His work. He came to purify men from sin. He stoodbefore
God offering a sacrifice ofpropitiation by which the guilt of man is removed.
If I am not willing to receive Him as an atoning sacrifice, it is in vain for me to
esteemHim as an exemplar. His Cross ofAtonement is inseparable from
Himself. We must not only glory in Christ but in Him Crucified, or else we
shall surely be led forth with His enemies. Jesus must be my only ground of
confidence for pardon. I must leave all human priests. I must have done with
all trusting in priest-craftin any shape or form, whether it is in the Popish,
Anglican, or any other fashion.
I must neither make myself a priest, nor look upon any other man as being
priest for me. I must look upon Jesus Christ as being the only Priestin whom
I confide–for, mark you–my Masterclaims the sole prerogative ofpriesthood
and He only permits us, His people, to hold it as being in Him. And then we
all, without exception, can say–“He has made us kings and priests unto God.”
But any specialform of priesthood, peculiar to a certain class, is as alien to the
spirit of Christianity as any dogma can possibly be. Every regeneratedman
becomes a priest by virtue of his union with Christ Jesus. Butout of this
union, it is treasonto think of priesthood.
You have not receivedChrist as the truly regeneratedchildren of God have
receivedHim unless you have acceptedHim as the Anointed of God, the only
Priestin whom to trust for the salvation of your soul–
“I other priests disclaim,
And laws, and offerings, too.
None but the bleeding Lamb
The mighty work cando.
He shall have all the praise, for He
Has loved, and lived, and died for me.”
If I yield to the Lord Jesus Christ as Prophet and Priest, I must also give Him
allegiance as my “King.” He will reign where He purifies. He is not content to
teachme, but He will also govern me. What do you say, my Hearers? Will you
give yourself up, body and soul, to be ruled absolutely by Christ? Shall His
Laws be binding upon your conscience andcarried out in your life?

Do you say now, as before the Searcherofall hearts–“Idesire in everything to
be guided by Him, to submit myself to His absolute control”? You cannot
really and truly receive the Savior unless you are willing to do this. God has
not sentHis Son to be the messengerofsin! He will forgive your pastoffenses,
but you must in the future submit yourselves to His gentle sway. “Kiss the
Son,” is one of the first Gospelcommands–“Kiss the Son, lestHe be angry,
and you perish from the Way when His wrath is kindled but a little.”
Remember the doom of those men who said, “We will not have this Man to
reign over us.”
Take His easyyoke. Bow before His Throne of love. Touch the silver scepter
of His Divine Grace. “He is your Lord, and worship Him.” Crown Him in the
palace of your soul and set Him on the throne of your affections, forHe is the
King of angels and should be the King of men–
“My King supreme, to You I bow,
A willing subject at Your feet.
All other Lords I disavow,
And to Your government submit.
My SaviorKing this heart would love,
And imitate the blest above.”
Can we, dear Friends, thus acceptChrist tonight, as Prophet, Priest, and
King? If not, it is idle to talk about receiving Jesus Christ–we do not know
Him–and are not knownof Him! Our Lord is not to be divided and parceled
out. You must have Him altogetheror not at all. You must admit Him in all
His offices, orHe will not come under your roof.
But a man may agree to all this and yet not receive Christ! All this is
necessaryas a steppingstone, but we must go on to something more. I must
receive Jesus Christas being all this to me. I must give myself to Him and take
Him as mine, as having near relationship to me and influence upon me.
Another man’s Christ will not save you. He must be your Christ. You have
been accustomedto go to a place of worship and you think, perhaps, “Well, I
have gone with the rest, and therefore it is all right with me.” And when you
have heard a sermon it has been addressedto the congregationin the plural
and you have been contentto geta little share of it, but a very little one,
indeed.
Now, you have never heard aright unless the Truth has come to you in the
singular number, as to you alone. The gate of salvationis too narrow for two
persons to go through arm-in-arm. You must all singly and separatelypass
the portal of Eternal Life just as you did the portal of natural life. You must

feel not only that such and such things are true, but that they are true to you.
If you receive our dear Redeemeras a Prophet, He begins to exercise that
office by telling you that you are naturally lost, ruined, and undone. Do you
believe this? Do you believe it to be true of you–not of chimney-sweeps, notof
streetwalkers,not only of thieves in prison, but of you–that you are
condemned under the Law of God? Do you take home the doctrine of the Fall,
and of the depravity of human nature as being true to you?
He tells you, next, that the only wayto remove your sin is by His precious
blood. Has that blood any reference to you? Have you trusted it? Has it
washedyou from sin? You have not takenthe Lord Jesus as a Priest unless
you have believed in His blood as presenting a propitiation for your sins, and
as cleansing you before the holy Presence ofthe MostHigh God. You have not
truly acceptedJesus as King unless you have personally submitted yourself to
Him. In everything else people are so selfishthat nothing but personal
possessionwillcontent them! Why are they not thus carefulin religious
matters?
They do not rejoice in the goldin the bank cellars–theyaspire to have a good
accountat their own bank account. They do not considerthemselves fed
because there may happen to be a fine dinner provided at the London
Tavern–theywish to see a feaston their owntables. But in eternal matters of
infinitely more importance, men are, alas, so satisfiedwith generalities. “Yes!
Oh yes, we are a Christian nation.” Wonderfully so! “Ofcourse, we, as a
family always go to a place of worship. We are not heathens!We were born in
a Christian land.” A “Christianland.” It is, we must all admit, a very
Christian land!
Very Christian, indeed! Look at our gin palaces andour divorce courts!But
what of that? How cannational religion content private conscience anymore
than national wealth canconsole personalpoverty? Still, the most of men care
so little about their souls that they are satisfiedwith generalities!They do not
come to particulars, to personalities. Why should they be so particular in
other matters and not in religion? Why seek a personalinterest in gold and
land and estates,and then leave Heaven and the eternal world to be matters of
universal speculation? You have not receivedChrist truly if you have not
gripped Him with your own hands and claimed Him as your own!
You must getright hold of Him for yourselves. There is no receiving a thing
unless the thing receivedis held by the receiver. Wateris poured into a vessel
and anything receivedis contained within the thing receiving it. So Christ
Jesus must come right into you, into personal, conscious relationshipwith

your own spirit so as to actupon you and influence you or else you have not
receivedHim! I hope I shall not make what is very plain, very difficult.
One is sometimes afraid, in giving explanations, that one may do what a good
Divine did with Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”whichhe edited with
explanatory notes. He went round among his flock and said to one good
woman, “Do you understand Mr. Bunyan’s Pilgrim?” “Oh yes, Sir,” was the
answer, “very well, indeed. And I hope that one day I shall be able to
understand your explanations.” So, perhaps, you will sayof me, that you
understand the text very well, and you hope that one day you will be able to
understand my explanations!
Well, I really do not know how to make it more plain. My desire is to say very
distinctly that we must receive the Lord Jesus Christ as a Divine Being–
receive Him in all His offices–andreceive Him to ourselves in all those offices.
The pith and marrow of receiving Christ we find in the next remark: we must
trust Him. The true reception of Christ is explained in the text, “Even to them
that believe on His name.” To “receive” then, is to “believe,” or, in other
words, to credit, to rely upon, to trust.
Now this is the simplest matter in all the world, and yet, by reasonofits
simplicity, it is the hardest possible actfor human nature to perform. So hard,
that although faith still remains the act of man, it is an act which he never
performs till he receives faith as the gift of God. We do not naturally care for
a plan of salvationso simple and devoid of merit–but there it is and we cannot
alter it–nor ought we desire to do so. As many as trust Christ, to them He
gives power to become the sons of God. The whole act of faith lies in the
simple matter of believing that Jesus is God’s appointed Savior, and then
throwing ourselves upon Him to save us.
You know what trust is in earthly matters. You rely upon a friend in cases of
difficulty, and then you do not trouble yourself about the matter any more. A
person offers to pay your debts and you go home and consideryourself out of
debt–you trust the person. Now Jesus says to you, “I have suffered for the sin
of all Believers. Godcannow forgive sin and yet be a just God. He has
punished Me instead of sinners who believe on Me. Trust Me. Rely upon Me
and your reliance will be at once evidence to you that I died for you–that I
carried your sin–that God punished Me for you. He, therefore, never can
punish you because in justice He cannotpunish both Substitute and offender
for one and the same sin.”
God can never punish Christ for your sin and then lay the sin at your door.
He will not send your Substitute to the wars for you and then demand you to

go for whom the Substitute has already gone. The act of trusting Jesus Christ
is the actwhich brings a soul into a state of Grace and is the mark and
evidence of our being bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus. Do you trust
Him, dear Hearers? Then, if so, you receive Him. When the soul has thus
trusted Christ there comes another form of reception. The outer golden door
of faith being first opened, the inner pearly gate of affectionis next thrown
open. They who trust Christ, love Christ–
“Sure I must love, or are my ears
Still deaf, nor will my passions move?
Lord! Melt this flinty heart to tears–
This heart shall yield to death or love.”
I do not love Christ first, and then trust Him. I, in the dawn of spiritual life,
trust Him to save me. I find He does save me and I then love Him because He
first loved me. I trust Him to deliver me out of the bondage of my daily sins.
And then I find that I am strongeragainstthose sins than I ever was before–
that I cantread a corruption under foot when I trust Jesus, whichI could not
battle with before I trusted Him. I find He really does come to my rescue, and
therefore I then say to him, “I love You, O my Helper and Friend.” And from
that time on Jesus Christ lives in my heart!
We cannothelp using expressions suchas, “Christ living in us,” “Jesus
formed in us,” and the like, when talking about these things. And to spiritual
men they are very simple, but to the carnalmind they are very difficult. Let us
in a word expound them. Just as when a man is attachedto a certain friend,
that friend is said to, “live in his heart.” So Jesus lives in the hearts of His
people because theylove Him.
And, just as when a man has devoted himself to the pursuit of science, that
science fills his soul, lives in his soul, makes an abode of it, makes a kingdom
of it where it will rule and reign. So, love to Jesus, faith in Him, and devotion
to His cause enterinto the soulof the Believerand fill it, and thus that soul
receives Him. The first door is the door of simple faith–a door which has been
opened in many a sinner’s heart by the loving hand of the Holy Spirit–a door,
which we pray, may be opened in yours tonight. Oh, how gently does the door
of faith turn on its hinges! A babe taught of God may push it open!
You may not understand all the doctrines of the Bible but you can understand
this–if you trust in Jesus Christyou will be a son of God! You cannot perform
a complex act of an educatedmind. Sympathy with poetic imagery and
enjoyment of metaphysicalrefinements are quite beyond you. But if the Holy
Spirit teaches you, you will see that the actof faith is not a complex act, but a

very simple one, indeed! It is so simple that children of three and four years of
age have doubtless been capable of it. And there have been many persons but
very little removed from absolute idiocy who have been able to believe.
A doctrine which needs to be reasonedout may require a high degree of
mental development–but the simple act of trusting requires nothing of the
kind. If you cannotread a letter in a book you may believe this–that God
came down from Heaven in the Personof Jesus Christ and suffered for sin
Himself that He might forgive sin and yet be just. I wonder that a man can
hear it and not believe it! It is an amazing thing that such goodnews is not at
once believed. Let me repeatit, and oh, may the blessedSpirit work faith in
you who hear it! God was so just that He could not forgive sin without
violating His Nature! He must award punishment to transgression.
But to make mercy consistentwith the severestjustice, the Lawgiver came
Himself among men and gave His own shoulders to the scourge, andstretched
out His own hands to feelthe nails, to suffer, bleed, and die! And now if you
trust God in the Personof Christ, and do rely upon Him to put awayyour sin.
And if you take Him from now on to be your King and Ruler, you shall be
saved! Godbe thanked that we have so simple a Gospelto preachand may the
Lord bring many to receive it, that they may become His sons!
II. We now turn to THE GREAT PRIVILEGE, which is said in the text to be
given to those who trust in the Son of God. “But as many as receivedHim, to
them gave He powerto become the sons of God.” The word “power” here may
be translated “privilege,” and one of the older commentators and translators
renders it “honor.” “To them gave He the honor to become the sons of God.”
Now, what is it to be a “sonof God”? This theme demands a seraph to
discourse upon it! Yes, even an archangelmight fail to describe what it is to be
a son of God!
Certainly it is a point of dignity beyond what any angel everattained. “Unto
which of the angels said He at any time, You are My son, this day have I
begottenyou?” But every man, woman, and child that believes in Jesus Christ
is from that time on a child of God. You know what it is to be the son of a
goodman and true, and some of you would not willingly renounce your
birthright. You claim from your father a child’s privileges. You expect, that
being a son, you shall inherit certain rights, and those rights you will duly
receive.
If I could stand here tonight and say I were a king’s son, many would be
wonderfully envious. But what do you sayto this–I claim to be one of the sons
of God? Does no man’s heart aspire to this felicity? Are there no spirits which

pine for this dignity? Oh, the stolid baseness whichdoes not rise to a desire
after this glory! Do not suppose that when we say“sonof God,” we merely use
a metaphor without meaning! No, every person who believes in Christ Jesus is
entitled to all rights and privileges which go with son-ship relationship in any
case, but which emphatically go with son-ship in the case ofa son of God!
What, then, are we entitled to, and what do we receive? A complete list I
cannot attempt to make out for you, but as my mind suggests the gifts of
adoption, they shall come before you. If we are the sons of God, we are dearly
beloved of God. Did you ever try to getthat thought into your mind, that God
loves you? I can understand that God pities me–that is a feeling which so
vastly superior a Being might well feel to so inferior an existence–butthat He
loves me is scarcelyconceivable, althoughit is most sure and certain!Who can
drink this well dry? Who can bear home this fruitful sheaf of delights, this
purple clusterof Eshcol?
Sons of God are loved of their Father with a love surpassing thought! They
are, indeed, intimately related as well as dearly loved. There is a union
betweenGod and His sons. There is the same Nature in the sonas there is in
the Father, for we become “partakers ofthe Divine Nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust.” These are no words of mine,
but of the Holy Spirit! One would not have dared to have uttered them if
inspiration had not made them ready to our hand. We are most near and dear
to the blessedGodwho fills all in all. Being sons we are graciouslytreated.
“Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fearHim.”
“He spares them as a man spares his own sonthat serves him.” Goodness and
mercy shall follow us all the days of our life and we shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever.
Being sons, again, we are wiselyeducated. Parents do not think they have
done their duty unless they bring their children up to understand knowledge,
and to be fitted to take their part with full grown men. We are trained in the
schoolof God. We receive chastisementand are made to smart under His rod.
We read in the illuminated Book of His Grace, and are “made meet,” when
fully educated, “to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” “All
your children shall be taught of the Lord.” There is no schoollike that in
which love is the head master. As children we are admitted to a familiarity
which servants cannot know. A child may say and do to his father what no
strangercould.
God manifests Himself to us as He does not unto the world. The secretof the
Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His Covenant. We
have access to God at all hours! The Father’s door is never lockedagainstHis

much-loved children. Our cry He knows evenas a father knows his child’s cry
from every other sound. All our needs are provided for, and our Father’s
loving heart watches overall our wanderings and forgives all our offenses.
Remember that a father’s relationship is one which cannot be suspended.
I know the old proverb says, “A father’s a father till he gets a new wife,”
which implies that he is not afterwards, but that only means as to his actions,
for he must be a father always. He cannotbreak off that relationship. He must
ceaseto be before he cancease to be a father so long as his children live. When
I have heard people saythat you may be a child of God one day and a child of
the devil the next, I have felt inclined to buy them a dictionary so that they
might know the meaning of the word “father.” What a mistake!What a
misuse of words do they commit! If I am my father’s child I am so, and there
is no power, human or Divine–I speak with reverence–thatcandisownme!
Adoption might ceaseto operate, but birth, never! I must be the child of him
that begatme. And so, if I am a child of God, begottenunto God by the
incorruptible seedof His Word, there is no power, infernal or Divine, that can
possibly rob me, as a child of God, of this privilege! As a child I am, and a
child I must be. So then, we have honorable standing, safe, abiding, blessed
inheritance, and perfected educationall belonging–to whom? Why, to as
many as receive Christ! That is, to as many as trust Him! Poortrembling
Soul, why should not you be in that number?
III. The third point was to be, THE GREAT WORK, WHICH IS
NECESSARILYINVOLVED IN THIS ACT OF RECEIVING CHRIST.
Every man who trusts the Lord Jesus has been born again. The question was
once argued in an assembly of Divines as to whether a person first had faith or
regeneration, and it was suggestedthat it was a question which must forever
be unanswerable. The process,if such it is, must be simultaneous–no sooner
does the Divine life come into the soul than it believes on Christ. You might as
well ask whetherin the human body there is first the circulation of the blood
or the heaving of the lungs–bothare essentialingredients in life, and must
come at the same time.
If I believe in Jesus Christ I need not ask any question as to whether I am
regenerated, forno unregenerate personever could believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ! And if regeneratedI must believe in Jesus, forhe who does not do so is
clearly dead in sin. See, then, the folly of persons talking about being
regeneratedwho have no faith! It cannotbe! It is impossible! We canhave no
knowledge ofsuch a thing as regenerationwhich is not accompaniedwith
some degree of mental motion and consciousness.

Regenerationis not a thing which takes place upon matter–it is a thing of
spirit. The birth of the spirit must be the subject of consciousness,and though
a man may not be able to say that at such and such a moment he was
regenerated, yetthe actof faith is a consciousness ofregeneration. The
moment I believe in Jesus Christ my faith is an index to me of a work that has
gone on within. And the secretwork within, and the open act of faith which
God has joined togetherlet no man put asunder. Those who believe not are
unregenerate, though they may have been sprinkled by the best priest who
ever had Episcopalhands laid on his head!
If a man believes not he is unregenerate, whetherbaptized or not. But if he
believes, he is regenerate, thoughhe may never have been baptized at all.
Baptism may outwardly express regenerationafterit has been received, and
then the symbol becomes valuable–but without faith there can be no
regeneration, eventhough Baptism is administered a thousand times!
Observe what kind of new birth it is which all Believers have received. It is
one which comes “notof bloods,” (so the original has it). Neither by the blood
of circumcision, nor of the Passover, norespeciallyby the blood of descent.
Sin runs in the blood, if you will, but Divine Grace does not. We are not born
Christians by the mere factof our being the children of godly Christian
people. Neither are we born Christians “ofthe will of man.” The bestmen in
the world cannot create us anew–ifthey pray for us ever so much–the power
of their will apart from the will of God cannotavail.
We are not born “ofthe will of the flesh,” that is to say, our own free will does
not cause it. If a man could will himself into a state of newness of heart, the
fact of his being willing to be in such a state would, I suppose, be evidence of
his being in that state already–but the human will is powerless in itself to
produce regeneration. We must be born againfrom above! The Holy Spirit
must, by His Divine energy, enter into us and make us new creatures–forsuch
a heavenly birth is essentialto eternallife.
Now, I think I hear some troubled consciencesaying, “Whenyou said just
now that if I trusted in Christ I should be saved, I rejoiced, but when you say
we must be born again, that saying seems so mysterious that I am troubled.”
My dear Friend, there is no need to be troubled. If you trust in Christ, then
you are born again! I have already told you that there is no possibility of a
soul ever truly relying upon the Savior unless there has been a previous new
birth to produce his faith.
If you are, tonight, able to put your whole trust in Jesus Christ as God’s dear
Son, and to take Him to be yours, though your new birth may be too

mysterious a thing for you to know much about it, for, “the wind blows where
it likes, and you hear the sound of it, but can not tell from where it comes, and
where it goes.” Yet, your faith is a sufficient index that you are really a
partakerof the new birth. I do not want to open the boiler of a steamengine
for the sake ofknowing what quantity of waterthere is in it–I am perfectly
satisfiedby looking at the “tell-tale.”
Now faith is the “tell-tale” ofthe human soul! Where there is faith there is
new life. Where there is no faith there is no life. There is no need to dissecta
man, anatomize him, and cut him up in order to find out his spirit–you would
destroy him in so doing. But when you see the man has action, motion,
energy–whenyou put your hand upon his breastand feel the heaving of the
lungs–you know that there is life. Now, if I may so say, faith is the heaving of
the spiritual lungs! If you believe in Jesus Christ you are a living man–you
have been born, “not of the will of man, but of God.”
I should like to ask one question before I am done–have all of you received
Christ? “Yes,” or“No”? You goodpeople up in the gallery there, I am not
going to ask you where you worship generally, nor to what Church you
belong, but have you receivedChrist? “Well, Sir, we were baptized.” I do not
care a farthing at this moment whether you were baptized or not! I leave that
question till we have settled an earlier one. Have you receivedChrist? “Well,
we take the sacrament.” Nevermind that! Have you receivedChrist? Do you
trust Him and Him only?
To the point now–canyour soul say–
“On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand”?
Have you receivedJesus Christ, eachone of you? And if you have not, why
not? Is there anything so hard in receiving Him? I have sometimes thought I
should like to tell the tale of the Cross for the first time to a number of savages
who would just have sufficient culture to understand it–God was made flesh
and dwelt among us. And rather than men should suffer God suffered
Himself! And because Justice required punishment, “He bore the punishment
instead” of sinners. Why, I think I see their eyes glistening, and I think their
hearts must melt! But you have heard the tale so often that it has become an
old story to you! However, I would like to put thequestion to you again–have
you receivedJesus Christ? “Well, I have not had much experience,” laments
one, and another says, “I do not know much,” and another cries, “We have
had family prayer for twenty years,” and another says, “Myname is down for
twenty guineas in severalcharitable institutions.” Well, all that is very well,

but I do not care about any of these matters tonight! All I want to know is,
have you receivedChrist?
“Oh!” says one, “Ofcourse!I was always brought up to it.” But you cannotbe
“brought up to it.” You must be brought down to it by being born again!
There must be a change in your nature. We do not preachthe Gospel, as I
have said before, to the depraved and debauched alone. We preach it to you
good, excellentpeople–youwhose honestyin trade, and whose moral
charactersetyou on high among your fellows, as upon a pinnacle. Even YOU
must be born again!Ladies and Gentlemen, you must be born again, as well
as the lowestof the low and the poorestof the poor. We have the same Gospel
to preach to Her Majestythe Queen as we have to the sinners in a refuge or
the rogues in a reformatory. We know of no difference in this matter between
any of you. A difference of morality there is, and we are thankful for it–but
you must be born again as much as the worstrebels in the world!
And you below here, have you receivedChrist? I know that many of you have,
and that your hearts leap at the sound of His name. You can say–
“Jesus, the very thought of You,
With rapture fills my breast.”
But there are some of you who have not receivedChrist–I mean not merely
you who are occasionalhearers–butmy constanthearers. You have received
me–you believe what I say–but you have not receivedChrist, and you do not
believe what HE tells you. It is one thing to believe in your minister, but quite
another to believe in Jesus Christ! I pray you never stop short in receiving
anything because we sayit, or because we seemto prove it–you must getit
burned into you as with a red-hot iron by God the Holy Spirit’s poweror else
it will be of no service to you.
I stooda few hours ago at the bedside of one of our Brethren in Christ who
seemedsorelysick and at the point of death. He could not speak aloud but the
soft and gentle words which he whispered in my earwere very precious. He
had not his peace to make with God in his last hour–he had not then to seek
Christ–but was full of perfect peace and rejoicing in unbroken calm. “He will
not leave me, will He?” he asked–“He cannotdeny Himself. I may sink, but I
cannot sink lowerthan He will go, for underneath me are the everlasting
arms.”
Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, the mere letter of Gospeldoctrine will not do to
die on–youmust have the spirit of it in your heart or you cannot be comforted
by it! Believe me, it is stern work to die. A Christian dies peacefully, but it is
no child’s play, even to him. Some of us, when we have been sick and racked

with pain, know that we have had to searchfor our evidences with much care
and anxiety. I have turned over many a moldy old deed that laid by in the
chestof my evidences to try if I could–
“Readmy title clear
To mansions in the skies,”
and glad enoughhave I been to light on some such word as this–
“Rock ofAges, cleftfor me,
Let me hide myself in You,”
and to sing–
“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Your Cross I cling.”
But, my Hearers, what of some of you? The day is coming when the great
assemblies ofthis house will seembut as nothing–when this immense
gathering will be but as a drop in a bucketcompared with that greater
gathering! The trumpet, ringing through earth and Heaven, shall awakenthe
dead! The righteous and the wickedshall stand in judgment. We shall all be
there–this company shall have no exception–there shall be no excuse for being
absent on that tremendous day, and then there will be no question which will
have so much weightas this one–HAVE YOU RECEIVED CHRIST?
I think I see the Reapercoming. He is hastening to gatherthe vintage of the
world, for the grapes are fully ripe. The ungodly must be gatheredfirst and
there they are–thrownin clusters into the winepress ofthe wrath of God–
while the dread angels of avenging Justice tread the grapes until the blood
flows out. Will you be there among the accursedclusters ofSodom and
Gomorrah? Will you be there, you men of London, you dwellers in Newington
and Walworth, who hear the Gospelconstantly–willyou be castinto the
winepress of Jehovah’s wrath? And shall the streets be red with your blood?
Or will you be yonder, where, with goldensickle, trusting no angelto do the
work, Christ Himself shall reap His golden corn, ear after ear, and take it all
home with shouts of delight to His Father’s garner? Will you see Him, in that
day, as the God that died for you? Will you see Him with exultation? Will you
meet Him in the air, and so be forever with the Lord? If so, then receive Jesus,
and He will receive you. Take Him into your hearts and He will take you into
Heaven. Take Him, His Cross, His people, His Gospel, His doctrines! Take
Him, to “have and to hold” Him, “for better and for worse,” and then not
even “death” shall “part” you, but you shall be with Him “in the day of His
appearing.”

May the Lord sealHis Word with His own blessing!
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The RejectedAnd ReceivedSaviour
John 1:11, 12
B. Thomas
These words bring under our notice a most interesting subject - the great
subject of the first fifteen verses ofthis chapter, viz. the coming of the Son of
God, the manifestation of the EternalWord in the flesh. We have here one of
the peculiar aspects ofhis coming in order to carry out the greatscheme of
human redemption. We have Jesus here -
I. AS COME TO HIS OWN.
1. This is a specialcoming. He was in the world before and after his
Incarnation. But here we have a specialdescriptionof his manifestation. "He
came." He had to do with the Jewishnation for ages, but no previous
movement of his could be accuratelydescribedin this language. He came now
physically, personally, and visibly.
2. This is a specialcoming to his own. His own land - the land of Palestine;his
own people - the Jewishnation. He came to the world at large, but came
through a particular locality. He came to humanity generally, but came
through a particular nation. This was a necessity, and according to pre-
arrangement. The Jewishnation were his ownpeople:
(1) By a Divine and sovereignchoice. Theywere chosenout of the nations of
the earth to be the recipients of God's specialrevelations of his will, the
objects of his specialcare and protection, and the specialmedium of his great
redemptive thoughts and purposes. There was a mutual engagement.
(2) By a specialcovenant. Godentered into a covenantwith them by which
they were his people, to obey and serve him; and he was their God, to bless
and save them.
(3) By specialpromises. The central one of which was the promise of the
Messiahand the blessings of his reign. This promise permeated every fibre of
their constitution, and became the soul of their national and religious life.

(4) By a specialtraining. They were divinely disciplined for ages forhis
advent. They were taught to expect him, and trained to receive him, and,
under this training, their expectationgrew into a passion. The Messianic idea
was fosteredamong them by a long and carefultraining, by promises, by the
occasionalappearanceof"the Angel of Jehovah," who was doubtless no other
than the EternalWord himself. They were trained by specialprivileges,
revelations, and protection; by an economyof ceremonialrites and sacrifices,
which all pointed to the Messiahas coming. In the light of these facts he was
their own Messiah. andthey were his own people;and it was necessary, as
welt as natural, that he should come to his own. There was a specialattraction
and affinity felt on his part, and there ought to be on theirs. Had he appeared
in any other land than that of Israel, or identified himself with any other
nation than the Jewish, he would not have come according to the volume of
the book written of him. But there were the most cogentreasons, the fittest
propriety, and the most absolute necessitythat he should come to his own, and
he came.
3. This was a specialcoming to all his own. Not to some, but to all. Not to a
favoured class, but to all classes - rich and poor, learned and unlearned. The
unlearned and poor being the large majority of the nation as well as the
world, he identified himself rather with them; for he could reach the higher
classesbetterfront below, than the lowerclassesfrom above. He taught all
without distinction, offered the blessings ofhis coming to all without the least
partiality, and invited all to his kingdom by the same road, viz. repentance
and faith.
II. AS REJECTEDBYTHE MAJORITY. "And his own receivedhim not." A
few receivedhim; but they were exceptions, and they receivedhim
individually, not nationally; as sinners and aliens, and not as his own. So
complete was the rejectionthat it is a sadtruth, "his own receivedhim not."
Their rejectionof him:
1. Was a saddereliction of duty. A duty they owedto their God and Defender;
a duty most sacred, important, and obligatory. A duty for the performance of
which they had been chiefly chosen, speciallyblessed, preserved, and
prepared for ages;but when the time came, they sadly failed to perform it.
"His own receivedhim not."
2. Was most inexcusable. It is true that they knew him not to be the Son of
God, the promised Messiah. This is stated by the apostle. But this is not a
legitimate excuse;they ought to know him. They had the most ample
advantages;they were familiar with his portraits as drawn by the prophets,
and he exactly corresponded. His holy character, his mighty deeds, and his

Divine kindness were well known, and even confessedby them. They had the
mightiest proofs of his Messiahshipand Divinity. So that they had no excuse
for their ignorance, and consequentlyno excuse for their rejection.
3. Was cruelly ungrateful. Ingratitude is too mild a term to describe their
conduct. It was cruel. Think who he was - the Son of God, the Prince of Life,
their rightful King, their promised and long expectedMessiah, come to them
all the way from heaven, not on a message ofvengeanceas might be expected,
but on a messageofpeace and universal goodwill, to fulfil his gracious
engagementand carry out the Divine purposes of redeeming grace. Leaving
out the graver charge of his crucifixion, his rejectionwas cruelly ungrateful
and ungratefully cruel. "His own receivedhim not."
4. Was most fatal to them. They rejectedtheir best and only Friend and
Deliverer, who had most benevolently come to warn and save them - come for
the lasttime, and their receptionof him was the only thing that could deliver
them sociallyand spiritually; but "his own receivedhim not." This proved
fatal to them. There was nothing left but national dissolution and ruin, and
that was soonthe case;and they are the victims of their own conduct to this
day. To rejectJesus is ultimately fatal to nations as well as to individuals.
5. Was most discouraging to him. To be rejected, and to be rejectedby his
own - by those who it might be expectedwould receive him with untold
enthusiasm. Betterbe rejectedby strangers and spurned by professedfoes, -
this would he expected;but to he rejectedby his own is apparently more than
he can bear. And not satisfiedwith leaving him an outcastin his ownworld,
they banish him hence by a cruel death. What will he do? Will he be
disheartened, leave with disgust, and hurl on the world the thunderbolts of
vengeance?No;but stands his ground, and tries his fortune among strangers,
according to ancient prophecy, "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged," etc.
III. AS RECEIVED BY SOME. "Butas many as receivedhim," etc. He was
receivedby a minority - a small but noble minority. With regardto the few
who receivedhim we see:
1. The independency and courage oftheir conduct. They receivedhim, though
rejectedby the majority, which included the most educatedand influential. It
is one thing to swim with the tide, but another to swim againstit. It is easyto
go with the popular current, but difficult to go againstit. This requires a great
independency of actionand decisionof character. Those who receivedJesus at
this time did this - they received"the Despisedand Rejectedofmen." They
acceptedthe Stone rejected, and rejectedof the builders. This involved
admirable independency of conductand courage ofconviction.

2. The reward of their conduct. "But as many as receivedhim, to them gave
he power," etc.
(1) The closestrelationshipto God. His children: children first, then sons;the
seedfirst, then the ripe fruit.
(2) The highest honour that men canenjoy. Children of God.
(3) This is the gift of Christ. "To them gave he power," etc. This word means
more than power; it means right as well - power first, then right. Men had
neither to sonship, but Christ gave both. The fact is patent - he gave the
power. The title is good- he gave the right.
(4) This is the gift of Christ consequentupon receiving him. "But as many as
receivedhim, to them," etc. And to none else. But to as many as receivedhim
he gave the power. There was not a single failure, not a single exception. They
receivedthe Sonof God, and became themselves the children of God in
consequence.Theywere not disappointed, but had reasons to be more than
satisfiedwith their choice, and more than proud of their unexpected and
Divine fortune. If Jesus were disappointed in his own, those who receivedhim
were not disappointed in Jesus - only on the best side; for "to them gave he
power," etc.
3. The explanation of their conduct. How did. they receive him while the
majority rejectedhim? How came they possessedofsuch a high honour - to
become the children of God? The answeris, "They believed on his Name." It
was by faith. We see:
(1) The discerning powerof faith. Faith has a discerning power; it cansee
through the visible to the invisible, through the immediate present to the
distant future. In this instance, faith saw through the outward the inward;
through the physical it saw the Divine; through the outward humiliation and
poverty it discovereda Divine presence. In "the Man of sorrows"faith saw
the Sonof God, and in "the Despisedand Rejectedofmen" the Saviour of the
world.
(2) The receptive power of faith. Jesus was receivedby faith. Faith saw,
recognized, and consequently received, him as the Messiah. Godspeaks,faith
listens; God offers, faith accepts.
(3) The regenerative and transforming powerof faith. "They became the sons
of God." How? By the given powerof Jesus in connectionwith faith. Christ
gave himself as a Divine Seed;faith received, appropriated, and nursed him so
as to result in a Divine regenerationand birth. Faith transforms its objectinto
its possessor;so that the believer in the Son of God becomes the son of God

himself. This is a Divine process from beginning to end, in which faith - a
Divine gift - plays a prominent part.
(4) Faith in Christ produced the same result in all. "As many as received
him," etc. No matter as to position, education, or character.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. The minority are often right, and the majority wrong. It was so on the plain
of Dura, in Babylon, and so here.
2. The minority, generally, are the first to acceptgreattruths; the majority
rejectthem. Think of scientific, reforming and redemptive truths. The Jewish
nation rejectedthe Saviour; a few receivedhim.
3. It is better to be with the minority when right, than with the majority when
wrong. They have truth and right, and will ultimately win all to their wayof
thinking. The few that receivedJesus are fast gaining ground. The Saviour of
the minority win soonbe the Saviour of all.
4. We should be very thankful to the minority for receiving the Saviour.
Humanly speaking, they savedthe world from eternal disgrace and ruin -
from sharing the fate of those who rejectedhim.
5. We should be infinitely more thankful to the Saviour that he did not leave
the world in disgust and vengeance whenrejectedby his own. But inspired by
infinite love, he turned his face to the world at large, stoodby the minority,
and the minority stoodby him. The river of God's eternal purposes cannot be
ultimately checked. Ifcheckedin one direction, it will take another, and the
result will be more glorious. Christ comes to us every day. Do we receive him?
Our obligations are infinite. - B.T.

Biblical Illustrator
As many as receivedHim, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.
John 1:12-14
St. John's first view of Christ the keyto his Gospel
W. G. Blaikie, D. D.
I. These verses DESCRIBE THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCEOF ST. JOHN.
In this point of view the order of time is different from the order of the
statements. The severalsteps are these —
1. The apprehension of the glory of Jesus,
2. The receiving Him and believing on His name.
3. The effect of the power to become sons of God.This agrees withthe actual
experience of the evangelist.
1. He sees Jesusas pointed out by the Baptist. But where was the glory?
(1)That of "the Lamb of God."
(2)The revelationof grace and truth in him. God's infinite love, holiness,
justice: His own self-sacrifice.
2. He goes home with Jesus and gave himself up to His gracious influences,
believed on His name.
3. What followedwe know. He became a sonof God.
II. THIS EXPERIENCE DETERMINED THE STRUCTURE, SUBSTANCE,
AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL.
1. It serves to accountfor the subordinate place which miracles and Christ's
external life generallyhold in it. John's grand purpose, as marked by his own
experience, was to illustrate the self-commending glory of Christ as the Word
and only-begottenof the Father, that those who had never seen Him with the
eye of sense might come to the blessedness ofthose who had not seenand yet
had believed.
2. It serves to accountfor the prominent place which the inner life of Christ
and the manifestation of His Sonship-glory occupies here. The two grand
pivots on which the Gospelturns are Christ the LIGHT, and Christ the LIFE.
Christ the Light, revealing the Fatherand all that concerns the Father; Christ
the Life, communicating by the Spirit a new life to men so as to make them
God's sons. Its twofold purpose is to setforth Christ as the Incarnate Word

and Only Begotten, full of grace and truth; and also the reception of Christ,
the believing on His name as the commencementof the new life of sonship.
Thus it is that so much prominence is given to Christ's relation to the Father
on the one hand, and to the fellowship of Christ with His people on the other.
3. From these considerations we see the groundlessness ofthe objections
againstthe Johannian authorship of the Gospel. GivenJohn's conversion, as
here shadowedforth, and his warm, fervid nature, his life of Jesus could not
well have been any other than it is.
III. THE MORE GENERALRELATIONS OF THE SUBJECT, as setting
forth the essentialgloryof Christ and the glory communicated to all who, by
receiving Him, become sons of God.
1. What is the connectionbetweenthe two? That there is a connectionis seen
in the difference betweenJohn and his companions and the mass of the Jews.
The one perceived His glory, the other saw it not. To the one He appeared a
miserable pretender, to the other the Eternal Son. Moreoverthey recognized
in Him the Saviour that takethawaythe sins of the world. They received Him,
and then the standing and spirit of sonship became theirs.
2. How is it that this view of Christ's glory is followedby such effects?(1)By
such means we see our emptiness, guilt, and misery.(2) But He invites us to
Him, tells us of His fulness, pardon, grace, asks us to receive Him and let Him
put forth His power.(3)Must we not welcome Him? The blessedchange is
wrought in the very actof seeking it.
(W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Receiving Christ and becoming sons
S. Martin.
I. CHRIST WHO HAS COME INTO THE WORLD SEEKS ADMISSION
TO THE HEART as a lawful and everlasting tenant. The Christ in the book,
in the creed, in the church, effects but little for us. Christ in the heart becomes
all our salvationand desire.
II. THE RECEPTIONOF CHRIST IN THE HEART IS FOLLOWED BY
SENSING.
1. There is a natural sonship pertaining to all men; for we are all His
offspring.
2. There is a special, redemptive, restoredsonship bestowedon those who
receive Christ.

3. All that pertains to this sonship is supernatural. Adam was not a son by
blood, nor by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God; and a restoredson is
as marvellous a creationas Adam.
III. THIS SONSHIP INVOLVES A NEW BIRTH AND ELEVATION TO
THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE POSITION. There is nothing higher than being
admitted to sonship with God. What we want is not some new spiritual
dignity, but the recognitionof this exalted condition.
IV. TRUE FAITH IS HERE DESCRIBEDAND EVIDENCED.
1. Faith in receiving. Christ comes into the believer. Christ without does not
save, but Christ within.
2. Faith is evidenced by the opening of the eyes to see the glory of Christ, and
the affiliation to God which follows.
V. GOD HERE RECEIVES ALL THE PRAISE.
1. The power and the will are of God. Ascribe to Him the wisdom and the
glory.
2. The Christ whom we receive is God's "unspeakable gift."
3. Faith and its attendant privileges are by powerbestowedby God.
(S. Martin.)
The connectionbetweenreceiving Christ and becoming sons
C. C. Tittman, D. D.
I. These two things are connectedIN RESPECT OF GOD;it is the will of God
that all should believe in Christ, and He has appointed the mediation of Christ
as the channel through which all should receive salvation, and all that is
necessaryfor its attainment.
II. These things are connectedIN RESPECTOF CHRIST:for, in
consequence ofwhat He has done, all may become the sons of God, and, may
be enriched with all the blessings of His grace.
III. They are connectedIN RESPECTOF MEN:all who would obtain
salvationmust receive Jesus Christ as the only Saviour.
(C. C. Tittman, D. D.)
That act by which we do effectually apply Christ to our ownsouls
I. THE NATURE OF THIS RECEIVING OF CHRIST.

1. No man can do this in the darkness ofnatural ignorance. If we know not
His nature and offices we do not take, we mistake Christ. The receiving act of
faith, then, is guided by knowledge.
2. This receiving of Christ implies the assentof the understanding to the
truths of Christ in the gospel — His Person, offices, incarnation, satisfaction
— which assent, althoughit is not saving faith, is its groundwork. This is more
than conjecture or opinion, it is belief.
3. This also implies hearty approbation, liking, and estimation; yea, the very
acquiescence ofour souls in Christ as the most excellentremedy for wants,
sins, and dangers (1 Peter 2:7). There are two things in Christ which must
gain the approbation of the soul.(1)That it can find nothing unsuitable to it in
Christ as it does find in the best creatures — no weakness, pride, inconstancy,
or passion. He is the altogetherlovely.(2)That it can find nothing wanting in
Christ necessaryordesirable. In Him is the fulness of wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption.
4. It consists in the consentand choice of the will; and this is the opening of
the heart and stretching forth of the soul to receive Him (see Christ's
complaint, John 5:40, and Ephesians 1:19).
5. The respectthat this actof acceptance has unto the terms upon which
Christ is tendered to us in the Gospel. Faith answers the gospeloffer, as the
impress on the wax does the engraving on the seal(1 Corinthians 15:11).
There is no receiving Christ but on His own terms.(1) He is offeredsincerely
and really, and is receivedwith a faith unfeigned (1 Timothy 1:5).(2) He is
offered entirely, and is receivedin all His offices as Christ Jesus the Lord
(Acts 16:13).(3)He is offeredexclusively, and the soul singly relies on Him
(Acts 4:2; 1 Corinthians 3:11), and not partly on His righteousness andour
own.(4)He is offered freely as the gift, not the sale of God (John 4:10; Isaiah
55:1.; Revelation22:17). So the believer comes to Him with an empty hand.(5)
He is offeredorderly. First His Person, then His privileges (Romans 8:32), so
the believerdoes not marry His portion first.
II. THIS IS THE JUSTIFYING AND SAVING ACT OF FAITH.
1. The faith which gives the soulright and title to spiritual adoption, with all
the privileges and benefits thereof, is true saving faith.
2. That only is saving faith which is in all true believers, in none but true
believers, and in all true believers at all times.
III. THE EXCELLENCY OF THIS ACT OF FAITH (2 Peter1:7; James 2:5;
John 6:29).

1. Consideredqualitatively it has the same excellencythat all other precious
graces have. It is the fruit of the Spirit. It is singled out to receive Christ. As it
is Christ's glory to be the door of salvation, so it is faith's glory to be the
golden keythat opens that door.(1) It is the bond of our union with Christ
(Ephesians 3:17).(2)It is the instrument of our justification (Romans 5:1).(3)
It is the spring of our spiritual peace and joy (Romans 5:1; 1 Peter1:8, 9).(4)
It is the means of our spiritual livelihood and subsistence. Take awayfaith
and all the others die (Galatians 2:20).(5)It is the greatscope and drift of the
Gospelto getmen to believe. The urgent commands aim at this (1 John 3:23;
Mark 1:14, 15;John 12:36). Hither, also, look the greatpromises and
encouragements (John6:35-37;Mark 16:16). The opposite sin of unbelief is
everywhere threatened (John 16:8, 9; John 3:18, 35).
IV. APPLICATION:
1. Forinformation: If there be life in receiving Christ, there must be death in
rejecting Him.
2. If faith be accepting Christ, then there are fewer believers among
professors than were thought to be, and more believers than dare conclude
themselves such.
3. Those who have the leastdegree ofsaving faith, have cause forever to
admire the bounty of the grace ofGod to them therein (Ephesians 1:3).
4. Forexamination:(1) The antecedents of faith — illumination (Acts 26:18);
conviction (Mark 1:15); self-despair(Acts 2:37); vehement and earnestcries
to God for faith.(2) The concomitants of faith — seriousness(Acts 16:29);
humiliation (Ezekiel16:63;Luke 8:38); a wearycondition (Matthew 11:28); a
longing condition.(3) The consequents of faith — evangelicalmeltings
(Zechariah 12:10); love to Christ, His ways, and His people (Galatians 5:6);
heart purity (Acts 15:9); obedience (Romans 16:26).
5. Forexhortation:(1) What is in Christ whom you are to receive?(2)What is
the offer of Christ by the gospel?(3)Whatis in the rejecting of that offer?
(J. Flavel.)
Receptionof Christ our introduction into sonship
H. Bonar, D. D.
I. THE HONOUR. To become sons of Godnot merely by adoption, but by
generation(Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1). On our side is sonship, on God's
Fatherhood. Sonship is —

1. Higher;
2. Nearer;
3. More blessed;
4. More glorious than — creaturehood. There is sonship in the angels, in
unfallen man; but this is beyond these. As —
(1)Introducing us into a more intimate intercourse;
(2)Making us partakers of the Divine nature.
II. THE GIVER OF IT. Christ Himself; elsewhere it is the Father. All gifts are
in Christ's hands — living water and bread of life, Himself, sonship. This
right or power of sonship He purchased for us; for those who had no right, or
power, or title.
III. THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT.
1. Receiving Him — doing the reverse of what Israel had done; accepting and
owning Him for all that God announced Him to be.
2. Believing on His name, i.e, Himself.
IV. THE PERSONALCHANGE THROUGH WHICH THIS IS REACHED.
"Born:"
1. Notof natural descent.
2. Notby natural generation.
3. Notby human adoption.
4. But of God (James 1:18).
(H. Bonar, D. D.)
The grace ofChrist to those who receivedHim
A. Beith, D. D.
The grace appears in —
I. HIS PREVAILING WITH MEN TO EMBRACE THE OFFER MADE TO
THEM, and in what is implied in that.
1. Christ offers Himself, and we welcome and receive Him. The first acting of
true faith is to acceptHimself; not merely the specialbenefit He brings.
2. We exercise implicit confidence in Him. We have a right knowledge ofHim;
rejoice in His character;acceptand hide Him in our hearts.

3. In the form in which Jesus is proclaimed in the Gospel, His saved ones
receive and believe in Him. "So we preach; so ye believed." There is a
correspondence betweenthe Gospeland faith of the same kind as that
betweenthe sealand the wax.
(1)Christ is offered sincerely, and He must be acceptedwith a faith unfeigned.
(2)He is offered exclusively, and must be acceptedas the sole basis of our
hope.
(3)He is offered as a gift; we must not attempt to merit Him.
4. The actual committing of our all to Christ When we receive Him. What is
the saving act of faith?
(1)Notassent, although that must be a part of it.
(2)Notassurance, althoughthat will follow it.
(3)But acceptance ofHim and confidence in Him.
II. THE SPECIAL PRIVILEGE WHICH HE BESTOWSON THOSE WHO
RECEIVE HIM.
1. The saved are by nature the children of wrath; but in His person God is
reconciledtowards them.
2. Having reconciledthem, He makes them sons — co-heirs with Himself.
3. Of Him also is the comfortand dignities of sonship.
III. THE CHANGE WROUGHT IN THEM WHO RECEIVE HIM, to which
their accepting Him is ascribed.
1. A new form of existence — a new birth; all things have become new.
2. This change is
(1)not by natural inheritance;
(2)nor by the operation of the natural will;
(3)nor the fruit of superior endowment or acquisition;
(4)but of God, by the office and operation of the Spirit.
(A. Beith, D. D.)
Man's part in the advent
Bishop Huntington.
I. THE RECEPTION.A true receptionof Christ for every man alike is of
three parts.

1. Beliefthat He is what He says He is. For any messengerthe first condition
of acceptanceis that He be found to be what He claims to be — much more
the Saviourof mankind.
2. Sympathy. A plenipotentiary, an agent, a purely mental operator does not
need this. But the moment you include a moral purpose, spiritual influence,
there must be common feeling and assimilation. Interests must be felt to be
identical. Loyalty must bind the subject to his king. Enthusiasm must mount
at the leader's name. If Christ's purpose was to fill human hearts with love,
we cannot be His without loving Him.
3. Service:not compulsory, but that which love disdains to call service. In the
hungry, sick, ignorant, etc., the Lord makes new advent to your heart every
week;and Christ will not be receivedtill everybody within our reachis made,
somehow, betterby our faith in Him.
II. THE BLESSING. Servants and creatures we were before, and, in a sense
— but not the full and glorious sense — children of God. Now sons of God, a
royal line, conquerors, sufferers rejoicing in the midst of temptation. Born
now, their immortal seedremained in them.
III. THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN CHRIST'S NAME WILL SEEKTO
RECEIVE HIM.
1. By giving up the dearestpreference that hurts the simplicity and humility
of their faith.
2. In the New Testament, Christianinstruction, prayer, doing God's will; and
counting faith, not doubt, the glory, and power, and joy of man.
3. In the communion of His body and blood.
(Bishop Huntington.)
A new year's guest
C. H. Spurgeon.
The text in connectionwith Matthew 25:35. Suggestedby the motto on a new
year's card.
I. A STRANGER TAKEN IN. House-room is a largergift than refreshment at
the dour. We must not be satisfiedwith benefactions to His representatives.
Notice three strange things.
1. That He was in the world and the Makerofit, and yet a stranger.(1)When
born in the Bethlehem of His father David, there was no room for Him in the

inn.(2) Soonthere was no room in the village itself, whence He had to flee into
Egypt, a strangerin a strange land.(3) On His return, there was no room
among the mass of the people. Jew and Gentile proved how truly He was a
stranger. All this a sadly singular thing; and yet we need not wonder, for how
should a wickedand selfish world know Jesus or receive Him.
2. That we should be able to receive the Lord Jesus as a stranger. He has gone
to glory, but we can yet receive Him.(1) By owning Him when and where
believers are few and despised.(2)By showing brotherly kindness to a poor
saint.(3) By holding fast His faithful Word when its doctrines are in ill-
repute.(4) By taking up our cross where Christ's precepts are disregarded, His
day forgotten, and His worship neglected.(5)Byreceiving the gift of spiritual
life. Professionis abundant, but the secretlife is rare.
3. That Christ will deign to dwell in our hearts. This is a miracle of grace, yet
the manner is simple enough.(1)A humble, repenting faith opens the door,
and Jesus enters.(2)Love shuts to the door with the hand of penitence, and
holy watchfulness keeps outintruders.(3) Meditation, prayer, praise, and
obedience, keepthe house in order.(4) And then follows the consecrationof
our whole life as His people.
II. THE STRANGER MAKING STRANGERSINTO SONS. The moment
Christ enters the heart, we are no more strangers and foreigners, but of the
household of God.
1. He adopts us and puts us among the children.
2. The designationof sons brings with it a birth, with the actualcondition of
sons.
3. Living, loving, lasting union seals our sonship.
4. This union creates in us a likeness to God. A small window will let in the
greatsun; much more will Jesus let in the life, light, and love of God into our
souls, making us like God.
III. HAVING RECEIVED JESUS AS A STRANGER, WE FEELA
TENDERNESS HENCEFORTHTOWARDSALL STRANGERS;for we see
in their condition some resemblance to our own. When Christ is in us, we
searchout opportunities of bringing prodigals, strangers, and outcasts to the
greatFather's house.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Receivers andsons

I. BELIEVING IS A RECEIVING OF CHRIST.
1. Under what notion should we receive Christ? As our Mediator. (Isaiah
61:3-4).(1)Our Prophet, receiving His doctrine as delivered by Himself
(Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 2:2, 3); by His prophets and apostles (Hebrews 1:1;
Matthew 10:40); by His ministers (2 Corinthians 5:19, 20; Hebrews 4:11,
12).(2)Our Priest (Hebrews 7:23-26);and so we must believe —
(a)His satisfactionfor our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 2:2),
to the justice and law of God (Galatians 3:13);
(b)His intercessionfor our souls (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:11, 12, 24).(3)Our
King (Psalm 110:1, 9): so we must —
(a)acknowledgeHis sovereignty(Matthew 28:18);
(b)obey His laws (Luke 6:46; John 14:15);
(c)submit to His penalties (Colossians 3:24, 25).
2. How should we receive Him?
(1)Penitently (Acts 2:36).
(2)Willingly (Psalm 110:3).
(3)Affectionately(Luke 14:26).
(4)Constantly (Revelation2:26).
(5)Only (Acts 4:12).
II. BELIEVERS ARE THE SONS OF GOD.
1. In what sense? Notby generation, but regeneration(John3:31).(1) Man lost
the favour of God (Romans 5:19).(2)The Son undertakes his redemption —
(a)by becoming man;
(b)by dying, whereby He purchases all believers to Himself, to be members of
His body (1 Corinthians 6:20; Titus 2:14);
(c)and so from Himself the dead conveys His own spirit unto them (Titus 3:5,
6).(3) The Spirit regeneratesand makes them new creatures (2 Corinthians
5:17).(4) Being new creatures, they are receivedinto the favour of God
(Romans 8:15), and made His sons (Romans 8:14).
2. With what privileges?(1)Privative. They are freed from the slavery of sin
(Romans 6:14); from., slavish fears (Romans 8:15); from the curse of the law
(Galatians In. 13).(2)Positive.
(a)They have access to God(Galatians 4:6).

(b)They are interestedin God's providence (Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians
6:18).
(c)They rejoice in God (Philippians 4:4).
(d)God rejoices overthem (Zephaniah 3:17).
(e)Their glorious inheritance is assured(Colossians1:12, 18).
(f)This inheritance is witnessedto them here (Romans 8:16, 17), and sealed
(Ephesians 4:30), whereofthey now have the pledge (Ephesians 1:13, 14).
3. How known?
(1)By prayer (Galatians 4:6).
(2)Obedience (1 Peter1:14, 15).
(3)Parity (2 John 3:9).
(4)Conformity to the Divine image (Romans 8:29).
(5)Faith (Song of Solomon3:26).USES.
1. See the honour of believers.
2. Live like the sons of God.
(1)By despising the world.
(2)By patiently enduring all chastisements (Hebrews 12:6-9.
(3)By longing to come to your inheritance in heaven (Psalm42:1, 2).
(Bishop Beveridge.)
Faith and its attendant privileges
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. FAITH MAKES THE GRANDESTOF DISTINCTIONS AMONG MEN.
"He came to His own, and His own receivedHim not" — that is one company;
"but as many as receivedHim" — that is another.
1. There are many distinctions among men — rich and poor, governors and
governed, teachers and taught. But these will pass away. The grand
distinction, which will out-lastall time, is that of faith or the want of faith.
2. This distinguishing faith is —(1) A receptive faith; one which accepts Christ
by confiding, trusting, and depending on Him.(2) Faith in His name, as —
(a)The Word: receiving His messages fromthe Father.
(b)The Life: receiving His vitality in spirit.

(c)The Light: seeing all things in the light of Christ..
3. This distinction is one which obliterates all others. If a chimney-sweep
receives Christ, he is a child of God; so is an emperor — but not the one more
than the other.
II. FAITH OBTAINS THE GRANDESTOF ALL ENDOWMENTS."Sons of
God."
1. There is a distinction here betweenson and servant. The believerceasesto
be a slave, and becomes a child; and yet he becomes a servant. Christ was first
His Father's Son, and then His servant; so we, being sons, have the joy of
serving our Father.
2. We are also sons by likeness — miniatures, and sometimes caricatures, yet
resemblances.
3. We are sons, in having the privilege of free accessto our Father.
III. FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE OF THE GRANDEST EXPERIENCE.
Every believer is a regenerate man. It is of no use to attempt to mend the old
nature. A man brought his gun to be repaired. The gunsmith told him it
wanted a new stock, lock,and barrel. That lookedlike making a new one. You
must begin de novo. Baptism cannotregenerate;nor blood, the natural way of
birth; nor man's carnal will, nor his bestwill; but God, who, as the Creator,
newcreatesthe soul.
IV. FAITH RAISES THE BELIEVER TO THE NOBLEST CONCEIVABLE
CONDITION. He is fitted to be a child of God.
1. Notice the inconceivable honour. All others pale before it.
2. The safety.
3. The happiness.
4. The duties. There is an old French proverb which says, "nobility obliges."
There is an obligationon nobles. If you are a sonof God, you must actlike
one.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Faith is receiving
C. H. Spurgeon.
It is the empty cup placed under the flowing stream; the penniless hand held
out for the heavenly alms.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sonship more than adoption
J. Calross, D. D.
The sonship is not effectedin virtue of a mere act of adoption on the part of
God. A child may be takenout of the family to which he originally belonged,
and be planted in another; he may geta new name; he may be trained to
forgetthat he had other birth; he may be made heir to greatestates;he may
be as dearly loved and as tenderly cared for as if he were own child to those
who have adopted him: but the fact remains that he is really the child of
another, and nature may prove too strong for the new bonds, and he may pine
for his native home, and at length go back to it. The "sons of God," however,
are sons by birth, for such is the significance ofthe word here used, having not
only a new name and position, but also a new life. It is not simply that they are
calledsons;they are sons, partakers ofthe Divine nature, with a filial
relationship, and a filial resemblance to the eternalGod. The sonship is
already establishedin fact and in principle, though it awaits its full
manifestation hereafter(1 John 3:1, 2).
(J. Calross, D. D.)
Comfort for the dying
R. Besser, D. D.
When Philip Melanchthonwas dying, he said aloud and distinctly to his
surrounding friends, "I have those words of John concerning the Son of God,
my Lord Jesus Christ, before me continually: 'The world receivedHim not;
but as many as received Him, to them gave He powerto become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His name.'"
(R. Besser, D. D.)
Receiving the light
J. Edmond, D. D.
Suppose you were in a dark room in the morning, the shutters closedand
fastened, and only as much light coming through the chinks as made you
aware it was day outside. And suppose you could say to a companion with
you, "Let us open the windows, and let in the light." What would you think if

he replied, "No, no; you must first put the darkness out, or the light will not
enter"? You would laugh at his absurdity. Just so we cannot put sin out of our
hearts to prepare for Christ's entering; we must open and take Him in, and
sin will flee; fling the window open at once, and let Christ shine in.
(J. Edmond, D. D.)
The honour of adoption
C. H. Spurgeon.
I have heard of some fine gentleman in London, dressedin all his best,
walking out in the park. He had a poor old father who lived in the country,
add who came up dressedin his rustic raiment to see his son. As the sonwas
not at home when the father reachedthe house, he went into the park to find
him. Now the fine gentlemandid not absolutelydisown his father, but he went
out of the park at a pretty sharp trot, for fear anybody should say, "Who is
that country fellow you were talking with?" He did not like to own his father,
because he was a labourer. We could not thus wonder if the glorious Lord
refused to own us. There is such a come-downfrom the loftiness of His
holiness to the depth of our faultiness. But yet He has suchlove, such a
manner of love, that He bestows upon as this honour, that we should be
openly calledthe sons of God.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The treasure unreceived
Sunday SchoolChronicle.
A nobleman once gave a celebratedactressa Bible, telling her at the same
time that there was a treasure in it. She, thinking he meant religion, laid the
Bible aside. She died, and all she had was sold. The person who bought the
Bible, on turning over its leaves, found a £500 note in it. Poorcreature!had
she read the book, she might not only have found the note, but the "pearl of
greatprice."
(Sunday SchoolChronicle.)
Christ must be received
H. W. Beecher.

There is dew in one flower and not in another, because one opens its cup and
takes it in, while the other closes itself, and the drops run off. God rains His
goodness andmercy as wide-spreadas the dew, and if we lack them, it is
because we will not open our hearts to receive them.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Believing is receiving Christ
J. H. Wilson.
He comes to your door. He wants to getin. He knocks. He waits. Is not that
wonderful? I was lately visiting that part of the country where our beloved
Queen stays when she comes to Scotland. She visits among the poor. I saw
some of the cottagesto which she is in the habit of going. In the house of one of
her servants I saw her own likeness, andthe likenesses ofseveralofher family
— all gifts from themselves. You say, What kindness!what condescension!
And so it is: But what would you think if I told you — what I am glad I cannot
tell you, for it would not be true — that when they saw the Queen coming,
they lockedtheir doors and pretended to be out, and kept her standing
knocking at the door, refusing to let her in, though she came to speak kindly
to them and to do them good? You would say, Surely the people must not be
in their right mind. And yet that is just what King Jesus does — Queen
Vietoria's King. He comes to your door to bless you, to save you. He says,
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock."Mostpeople keepHim out, and will
not have anything to do with Him. They say, "Depart from us, for we desire
not the knowledge ofThy ways." Opening the door to Him, saying, "Come in,
Lord Jesus, come in" — taking Him to our heart, and only fearing lestHe
should evergo awayagain— is believing. The believing heart is the heart that
has let in Jesus, and in which he dwells (Ephesians 3:17).
(J. H. Wilson.)
Privileges of adoption
By adoption, God gives us —
1. A new name (Numbers 6:27; Revelation3:12).
2. A new nature (2 Peter 1:4). Whom God adopts He anoints; whom He makes
sons, He makes saints.
3. A new inheritance (Romans 8:17). When the Danishmissionaries in India
were translating a catechism, with some of the convettednatives by their side,

and when they came to a part where it was saidof Christians that they were
the sons of God, one of the natives, startled at so bold a saying, as he thought
it, said, "It is too much; let us rather translate it: 'They shall be permitted to
kiss His feet.'"
Adoption and justification
Dr. Guyse.
Justificationis the actof God as a Judge, adoption as a Father. By the former
we are dischargedfrom condemnation, and acceptedas righteous;by the
latter, we are made the children of God and joint-heirs with Christ. By the
one, we are taken into God's favour; by the other, into His family. Adoption
may be lookedupon as an appendage to justification, for it is by our being
justified that we come to a right to all the honours and privileges of adoption.
(Dr. Guyse.)
Which were born
Three great negations
J. Vaughan, M. A.
The children of God are born —
I. NOT OF BLOOD. Grace does not run on the lines of nature. Many
beautiful and gracefulthings do come by gentle and noble blood, but not this.
It needs a very narrow field of observationto convince us that no parent,
howeverpious, can command the conversionof his children. Else why should
there be in this world that bitterest spectacleofa pious parent's heart being
broken by a wickedchild!
II. NOT OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH. The expressionrelates to any
desire which, ruling in a man's mind, might be supposedto lead him to some
act whereby he should become a child of God, and the idea is utterly repelled.
Every one who is a subject of the grace ofGod is so first passively, that
afterwards he may be so actively. He is first actedupon by a will and power
without him, and then he acts out that will and manifests that power.
III. Not of the will of man. Observe the steps. Notof parents, not of self, nor of
any creature whatsoever. One man, indeed, may will the conversionof
another; and if he clothe that will with prayer, if he offer that will with faith,
and if he does all in his power to forward that will, God may give him that
man's soul. But God never promises He will do this. A soul passes into the

family of God and becomes an heir in the registerof sons when he receives
Christ, and only then.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The three negations illustrated
G. Cornish.
When it pleasedGod to bring Abraham and his family into covenantwith
Him, that family consistedofthree classes ofpersons;first of all, there were
his ownchildren; secondly, there were those who were born of his men-
servants and maid-servants; thirdly, there were those slaves, whom he
purchased and adopted. All these three classeswere admitted into covenant
with God, by reasonof their relation to Abraham. "Abraham took Ishmael
his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his
money, and circumcisedthem" (Genesis 17:23). Ofthese classes, Ishmaelwas
born of blood, as being his own flesh and blood, as we say; those born of the
flesh were the other children born in his house, not his own; and those born of
the will of man were those who, having no right to his protection, being yet
bought of his free will, acquired a right by purchase and adoption. To these
three classeswere the benefits of the first covenantconfined.... The truth,
which St. John here announces, is that to all who receivedthe messageofthe
Lord Jesus, allwho believed on His Name and submitted to His ordinances, to
all those He gave the same power, even to become sons of God (Genesis 3:16,
17; Romans 5:13).
(G. Cornish.)
The being born of blood and of God considered
Lange.
I. In their ANTAGONISM.
II. In their essentialDISTINCTION.
III. In their congenialCONNECTION.
IV. In the MEDIATOR OF THEIR UNION.
(Lange.)
The new

P. Schaff, D. D.
I. The aristocracyofBIRTH.
II. The aristocracyofMONEY.
III. The aristocracyofMERIT.
IV. The aristocracyofFAME.
(P. Schaff, D. D.)
Not of blood
Tholuck.
The blood through which the chyle is distributed to the different parts of the
body is the seatof life, hence the connectionbetweenchild and parents is
calledblood relationship; and in classic usagealso we have the expression"to
spring from the blood" — that is, from the seedof any one (Acts 17:26).
(Tholuck.)
Not of the will of man
J. Vaughan, M. A.
According to the teaching of some men, how is it? "I am a minister of God —
I am a man — as a man I may will to take a child and baptize it, and I may
will to baptize it by a certain hour of the clock;and just as I am going to
baptize it, I may will to put it off till to.morrow;and when to-morrow comes, I
may will that I will not baptize that child at all — for if baptized, the child
may die. And so, according to the caprice of my will, the child is baptized at
this hour, or at that, to-day, or to-morrow, or it is not baptized at all; and
therefore, following the caprice of my will, and just according to my will, the
child is inevit ably a child of God at this time of the clock, orat that time of
the clock — to-day, or to-morrow, or the next day, or never at all." What, I
ask, is this but to be "born of the will of man"?
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The simultaneity of faith and regeneration
Bishop Ryle.
We must be careful that we do not interpet the words "which were born" as if
the new birth was a change which takes place in a man after he has believed in

Christ, and is the next stepafter faith. Saving faith and regenerationare
inseparable. The moment that a man really believes in Christ, howeverfeebly,
he is born of God. The weaknessofhis faith may make him unconscious of the
change, just as a new-born infant knows little or nothing about itself. Bat
where there is faith there is always new birth, and where there is no faith
there is no regeneration.
(Bishop Ryle.)
The spirituality of religion
J. Parker, D. D.
This verse is most emphatically in the style of John. Never can he lose sight of
the perfectspirituality of Jesus Christ's work. John shows the very
religiousness ofreligion. Christianity is to him more than a history, more than
an argument, more than a theology— it is a spiritual revelation to the
spiritual nature of man. On the part of man it is to be not an attitude, but a
life — the very mystery of his spirit, too subtle for analysis, too strong for
repression, too divine to be tolerant of corruption.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
The higher generation
H. W. Watkins, D. D.
The result of receiving Him remains to be explained. How could they become
"sons of God"? The word which has been used (ver. 12)excludes the idea of
adoption, and asserts the natural relation of child to father. The nation
claimed this through its descentfrom Abraham. But they are Abraham's
children who are of Abraham's faith. There is a higher generation, which is
spiritual, while they thought only of the lower, which is physical. The
condition is the submissive receptivity of the human spirit. The origin of life is
"not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
(H. W. Watkins, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Yet the light ever shineth, and the better things lie hidden.
As many as receivedhim.—The words are less wide and yet more wide than
“His own.” The nation as such rejectedHim; individuals in it acceptedHim;
but not individuals of that nation only. All who according to their light and
means acceptHim, receive from Him an authority and in Him a moral power,
which constitutes them members of the true none to which He came, and the
true children of God. They receive in acceptancethe right which others lost in
rejection. (Comp. Romans 9-11)The word rendered “received” is not quite
the same as the word so rendered in John 1:11. The latter is the welcome
which may be expectedas due from His ownhome. This is the receptiongiven
without a claim.
To them that believe on his name repeats the width of the condition, and at
the same time explains what receiving Him means. It seems natural to
understand the “name” of the only name which meets us in this context, that
is, of the Logos orWord, the representationof the will, character, nature of
God. (See on John 1:18.) To “believe on” is one of St. John’s characteristic
words of fuller meaning. To believe is to acceptas true; “devils believe and
tremble” (James 2:19). To believe in is to trust in, confide in. To believe on,
has the idea of motion to and rest upon: it is here the going forth of the soul
upon, and its rest upon, the firm basis of the eternal love of the eternal Spirit
revealedin the Word. (Comp. PearsonOn the Creed, Art. 1, p. 16.)
BensonCommentary
John 1:12-13. But as many as receivedhim — As the true Messiah, and
according to the various offices and characters whichhe sustains:learning of
him, as a teacher, the infinitely important lessons ofhis grace;relying on him
with penitent and believing hearts, as a mediator, that is, on his sacrifice and
intercession, foracceptancewith God; applying to him, in faith and prayer, as
a Redeemerand Saviour, for the redemption and salvationwhich he has to
bestow;as many as are subject to him as their King and Governor, and
prepare to meet him as their Judge: to them — Whether Jews orGentiles;
gave he power — Or privilege, as εξουσιανimplies; to become the sons of God
— To stand related to him, not merely as subjects to their king, or servants to
their master, but as children to their father; being takenunder his peculiar
protection, direction, and care;being favoured with liberty of accessto him,
and intercourse with him, and constituted his heirs, and joint heirs with
Christ of the heavenly inheritance: even to them that believe on his name —
With their hearts unto righteousness,orwith a faith working by love. Nor are

they constituted his children merely by adoption, but they are made such also
and especiallyby regeneration, being born, not of blood — Not by descent
from Abraham; nor by the will of the flesh — By natural generation, orby the
powerof corrupt nature; nor by the will of man — Circumcising or baptizing
them; but of God — By his Spirit creating them anew.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:6-14 John the Baptist came to bear witness concerning Jesus. Nothing more
fully shows the darkness ofmen's minds, than that when the Light had
appeared, there needed a witness to call attention to it. Christ was the true
Light; that greatLight which deserves to be calledso. By his Spirit and grace
he enlightens all that are enlightened to salvation;and those that are not
enlightened by him, perish in darkness. Christwas in the world when he took
our nature upon him, and dwelt among us. The Son of the Highest was here in
this lowerworld. He was in the world, but not of it. He came to save a lost
world, because it was a world of his own making. Yet the world knew him not.
When he comes as a Judge, the world shall know him. Many saythat they are
Christ's own, yet do not receive him, because they will not part with their sins,
nor have him to reign over them. All the children of God are born again. This
new birth is through the word of God as the means, 1Pe 1:23, and by the
Spirit of Godas the Author. By his Divine presence Christ always was in the
world. But now that the fulness of time was come, he was, afteranother
manner, God manifestedin the flesh. But observe the beams of his Divine
glory, which darted through this veil of flesh. Men discovertheir weaknesses
to those most familiar with them, but it was not so with Christ; those most
intimate with him saw most of his glory. Although he was in the form of a
servant, as to outward circumstances, yet, in respectof graces,his form was
like the Son of God His Divine glory appearedin the holiness of his doctrine,
and in his miracles. He was full of grace, fully acceptable to his Father,
therefore qualified to plead for us; and full of truth, fully aware ofthe things
he was to reveal.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
To as many as receivedhim - The greatmass;the people; the scribes and
Pharisees rejectedhim. A few in his lifetime receivedhim, and many more
after his death. "To receive him," here, means to "believe" on him. This is
expressedat the end of the verse.
Gave he power- This is more appropriately rendered in the margin by the
word "right" or "privilege." Compare Acts 1:7; Acts 5:4; Romans 9:21; 1
Corinthians 7:37; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Corinthians 9:4-5.

Sons of God - Children of Godby adoption. See the notes at Matthew 1:1.
Christians are called sons of God:
1. Becausethey are "adopted" by Him, 1 John 3:1.
2. Becausethey are "like Him;" they resemble Him and have His spirit.
3. They are united to the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, are regarded by Him as
his brethren Matthew 25:40, and are therefore regardedas the children of the
MostHigh.
On his name - This is another way of saying believeth in "him." The "name"
of a person is often put for the personhimself, John 2:23; John 3:18; 1 John
5:13. From this verse we learn:
1. That to be a child of God is a privilege - far more so than to be the child of
any human being, though in the highest degree rich, or learned, or honored.
Christians are therefore more honored than any other persons.
2. God gave them this privilege. It is not by their ownworks or deserts;it is
because Godchose to impart this blessing to them, Ephesians 2:8; John 15:16.
3. This favor is given only to those who believe on him. All others are the
children of the wickedone, and no one who has not "confidence in God" can
be regarded as his child. No parent would acknowledgeone for his child, or
approve of him, who had no confidence in him, who doubted or denied all he
said, and who despisedhis character. Yet the sinner constantlydoes this
toward God, and he cannot, therefore, be calledhis Son.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
12. But as many—individuals, of the "disobedientand gainsaying people."
gave he power—The word signifies both authority and ability, and both are
certainly meant here.
to become—Mark these words:Jesus is the Son of God; He is never said to
have become such.
the sons—ormore simply, "sons of God," in name and in nature.
believe on his name—a phrase never used in Scripture of any mere creature,
to express the credit given to human testimony, even of prophets or apostles,
inasmuch it carries with it the idea of trust proper only towards God. In this
sense ofsupreme faith, as due to Him who "gives those that believe in Himself
powerto become sons of God," it is manifestly used here.
Matthew Poole's Commentary

But as many as receivedhim; though the generalityof those amongstwhom
Christ came receivedhim not in the manner before expressed, yet some did
own him, believed in him and submitted to him; and to as many as thus
receivedhim, not into their houses only, but into their hearts,
to them gave he powerto become the sons of God; he gave a power, or a right,
or privilege, not that they might if they would be, but to be actually, to
become, or be, the sons of Godby adoption; for believers are alreadythe sons
of God, Galatians 3:26, though it doth not yet appearwhat they shall be in the
adoption, mentioned Romans 8:23, which the apostle calls the redemption of
our body, viz. in the resurrection; hence the children of God are calledthe
children of the resurrection, Luke 20:36.
To them that believe on his name; this is the privilege of all that believe in the
name of Christ; by which term he opens the former term of receiving: to
receive Christ, and to believe in his name, are the same thing. To believe in his
name, is either to believe in him, Acts 3:16 or in the revelationof himself in
the promises of the gospel. The proposition of God’s word is the objectof faith
of assent:but the person of the Mediatoris the objectof that faith which
receivethChrist; and those alone have a right to be the sons of God, and to the
privileges peculiar to sons, who believe in Christ as revealedin the promises of
the word of God, and there exhibited to men.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
But as many as receivedhim,.... This is explained, in the latter part of the text,
by believing in his name; for faith is a receiving him as the word, and Son of
God, as the Messiah, Saviour, and Redeemer;a receiving grace outof his
fulness, and every blessing from him, as a justifying righteousness, pardon of
sin, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified; for though the
generality rejectedhim, there were some few that receivedhim:
to them gave he powerto become the sons of God; as such were very early
called, in distinction from the children of men, or of the world; see Genesis
6:2. To be the sons of God is a very specialfavour, a great blessing, and high
honour: saints indeed are not in so high a sense the sons of Godas Christ is;
nor in so low a sense as angels and men in common are; nor in such sense as
civil magistrates;nor merely by professionof religion; much less by natural
descent;but by adopting grace:and in this, Christ, the word, has a concern,
as all the three divine persons have. The Father predestinatedmen to the
adoption of children, secures this blessing for them in the covenantof his

grace, and puts them among the children, and assigns them a goodly heritage:
the Spirit, and who is therefore calledthe spirit of adoption, discovers and
applies this blessing to them, and witnesses to their spirits that they are the
children of God: and Christ, the word, or Son of God, not only espousedtheir
persons, and in time assumedtheir nature, and by the redemption of them
opened a way for their receptionof the adoption of children; but actually
bestows upon them the "power", as it is here called, of becoming the sons of
God: by which is meant, not a powerof free will to make themselves the sons
of God, if they will make use of it; but it signifies the honour and dignity
conferredon such persons:so Nonnus calls it, "the heavenly honour"; as
indeed, what can be a greater? It is more honourable than to be a son or
daughter of the greatestpotentate on earth: and it is expressive of its being a
privilege; for so it is an undeserved and distinguishing one, and is attended
with many other privileges; for such are of God's householdand family, and
are provided for by him; have liberty of accessunto him; are Christ's free
men, and are heirs to an incorruptible inheritance. This is a privilege that
excels all others, even justification and remissionof sins; and is an everlasting
one: and it also intends the open right which believers have unto this privilege,
and their claim of it: hence it follows,
even to them that believe in his name; that is, in himself, in Christ, the word:
the phrase is explanative of the former part of the verse, and is a descriptive
and manifestative characterof the sons of God; for though the electof God,
by virtue of electing grace, and the covenantof grace, are the children of God
before faith; and were so consideredin the gift of them to Christ, and when he
came into the world to gather them together, and save them; and so,
antecedentto the Spirit of God, being sent down into their hearts, to make this
known to them; yet no man can know his adoption, nor enjoy the comfort of
it, or claim his interest in it, until he believes.
Geneva Study Bible
{6} But as many as receivedhim, to them gave he {s} power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
(6) The Son being shut out by the majority of his people, and acknowledged
but by a few, regenerates those few by his own strength and power, and
receives them into that honour which is common to all the children of God,
that is, to be the sons of God.
(s) He condescendedto give them this power to take them to be his children.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary

John 1:12. The mass of the Jews rejectedHim, but still not all of them. Hence,
in this fuller description of the relation of the manifestedLogos to the world,
the refreshing light is now (it is otherwise in John 1:5) joyfully recognisedand
placed overagainstthe shadow.
ἔλαβον] He came, they receivedHim, did not rejectHim. Comp. John 5:43;
Soph. Phil. 667, ἰδών τε καὶ λαβὼν φίλον.
The nominative ὅσοι is emphatic, and continues independent of the
constructionthat follows. See onMatthew 7:24; Matthew 10:14; Matthew
13:12;Matthew 23:16;Acts 7:40.
ἐξονσίαν] neither dignity, nor advantage (Erasmus, Beza, Flacius,
Rosenmüller, Semler, Kuinoel, Schott), nor even possibility (De Wette,
Tholuck), nor capability (Hengstenberg, Brückner), fully comes up to the
force of the word,[86]but He gave them full power(comp. John 5:27, John
17:2). The rejectionof the Logos whenHe came in person, excluded from the
attainment of that sacredcondition of fitness—receivedthrough Him—for
entering into the relationship of children of God, they only who receivedHim
in faith obtained through Him this warrant, this title (ἐπιτροπὴ νόμου, Plato,
Defin. p. 415 B). It is, however, an arrangement in the gracious decree ofGod;
neither a claim of right on man’s part, nor any internal ability (Lücke, who
compares 1 John 5:20; also Lange),—a meaning which is not in the word
itself, nor even in the connection, since the commencementof that filial
relationship, which is the consummation of that highest theocratic ἐξουσία, is
conceivedas a being born, John 1:13, and therefore as passive (againstB.
Crusius).
τέκνα θεοῦ] Christ alone is the Son of God, manifested as such from His birth,
the μονογενής. Believers,from their knowledge ofGod in Christ (John 17:3),
become children of God, by being born of God (comp. John 3:3; 1 John 3:9),
i.e. through the moral transformation and renewalof their entire spiritual
nature by the Holy Ghost;so that now the divine element of life rules in them,
excludes all that is ungodly, and permanently determines the development of
this moral fellowship of nature with God, onwards to its future glorious
consummation (1 John 3:2; John 17:24). See also 1 John 3:9 and 1 Peter1:23.
It is thus that John represents the idea of filial relationship to God, for which

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