Semantics, Salvation, Symbols, and Spirit
Today’s message will focus on four different but related themes.
Before I get into the meat of my thoughts, I want to mention the beginning of the miracles; turning water into wine. This miracle, along with the miracle of the loaves and fishes, baffles me. It is easier for me to understand the healing of individuals and even raising the dead because they don’t transform one thing into another, but they involve people’s faith and restore things to what they should be or once were. I can only speculate that elements can be transformed in some way by either spirit or intelligence. I will leave it at that.
John 2:23 reads, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.” The part of the verse that intrigued me was, “many believed on his name.” To believe on a name implies that his name means something. In our time, the meaning of names is not a thing, but in Biblical times, names carried a great deal of importance. Here is what I learned about the name Jesus. The name Jesus is derived from the Hebrew name Yeshua/Y’shua, which is based on the Semitic root y-š-ʕ (Hebrew: ישע), meaning “to deliver; to rescue.” Since the Jews were subjected to the Roman empire, the idea that their deliverer or rescuer was among them was very appealing. They knew it would take some miracle to deliver them from the occupation by the Romans. So when the people saw the boldness of Jesus as he cleansed the temple, they began to see someone with the zeal necessary to stand up for their liberation.
However, the Jews did not understand the more significant nature of deliverance and salvation the Savior offered. John explained the true blessing of believing on the name of Jesus in chapter one, verse twelve, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons (and daughters)of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
That covers the semantics; now on to salvation. John 2:24-25 and 3:18 reveal the nature of people without salvation. In other words, our unsaved natural state. Here is what they say, “24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” and “18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
The first two verses show that Jesus understood or knew what the people were thinking (that they were not prepared for spiritual deliverance), and the last verse explains that we are condemned already if we don’t believe on his name. Without the blessing of thinking that God can rescue us and by believing that God is working to deliver or rescue us, we are in a state of condemnation.
Now I will look at the symbols of being born again in reference to the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus did not understand the concept of being spiritually reborn when Jesus explained the necessity of the process. He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Also, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
The symbols of water and spirit are only two of the three necessary components of birth or re-birth. In Moses 6:59-60 the comparison of natural birth and spiritual re-birth, along with the components and their symbolic representations, is explained. “59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;”
When we are baptized by water, we keep the commandment, we then qualify to have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and subsequently are sanctified or cleansed by the blood of Jesus that was shed in Gethsemane and on the cross.
While being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost are events, being born again is a process. While a single event may trigger a radical change in our desire to be born again, I believe it is more of a process. We ebb and flow with our commitments to God, and we must remind ourselves of our covenants. We can renew our covenants by taking the sacrament each week. We can attend temples and be reminded of the covenants we make there.
Now I want to briefly touch on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Here again, we have another reference to water. John 4:14 reads, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Later Jesus teaches that God is a spirit. This verse is used by most of the Christian world to provide evidence of the trinitarian god. I believe that concept is based on a contextual miscalculation and is logically inconsistent with what Jesus taught. He said, “God is a Spirit:” and the rest of the verse is, “and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” By that logic, if God, in reality, is a spirit and we must worship him in spirit, we would have to transform in some way to worship Him.
When Jesus talks about who God is, he refers to him generally as his Father in Heaven. When he refers to Him in abstract forms, like in the verse above, he uses God. This concept is beautifully illustrated in John 20:17 when Jesus talks to Mary after his resurrection, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
I know today’s thoughts have been all over the place, but they all have a common theme; that is, salvation comes by believing on the name of Jesus, repenting, worshiping God in spirit, being born again, being baptized, and receiving the Holy Ghost.
If you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, don’t hesitate to contact me or missionaries in your area to explain more about the concepts and doctrines I have discussed. Substack provides you with a way to reach me.