children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
- natural descent (NIV) “blood” (KJV) (“bloods” in Greek) (Mt 3:9, 1Peter 1:23) What man produces out of himself must of necessity be fallen as he is (Gen 5:3). The same principle holds true in being born of God.
Matthew 3:9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Genesis 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. - “human decision” (NIV) or “will of the flesh” (KJV) (The word flesh is from the Greek sarx which speaks of the body of humans, the soft part which covers the bones of men and animals; the sensuous or human nature of man as apart from the influence of God and thus prone to sin). John doesn’t use sarx the same way as Paul; there is no sense of depravity associated with it (note the usage of flesh attributed to the incarnation of the Word in the next verse).
- The “will of man” (man in the Greek is aner, a male) could be translated as “the will of a husband.”
- “of God” The children of God do not come into that relationship by any human initiative whatsoever. “Nothing human, however great or excellent, can bring about the birth.” (Morris p.101) Jewish descent, even with its lineage traced through Abraham is of no value; only the action of divine intervention can cause this birth. (Titus 3:5, John 3:6)
Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Those who have believed upon the Person of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for them, and have entrusted their lives to Him as their Lord and their Savior, have been given the “right” to be adopted into God’s family, after which God not only gives them the rights of being His child, but also changes their nature and their dispositions into that of His children (2Cor 5:17). God is working in us, from the inside out, to make us to be just like His Son Jesus.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!