Rules and Regualtions

All quotations of the Bible are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Ah, rules and regulations! I remember when I worked for the IRS. I worked in the Problem Resolution office which then became known as the Taxpayer Advocate Office. We used to get the thornier issues sometimes and try to resolve them, not always to the taxpayer's liking. The law is the law we would often times tell someone. My understanding was (and still is) that everyone had to go by the law, as written. Nobody was above the law. It represented the rule to us as citizens of the United States. The regulations were somewhat different. They were the IRS's interpretation of the law. The IRS had to apply the law to each person and because each person's situation is somewhat different, they ruled how the law applied in that particular situation. This was a regulation. 

The IRS is required to follow their own regulations. The regulations of the IRS was sometimes overruled by a lower court and the Commissioner could choose to acquiesce to the ruling and he could let the ruling stand, or he could choose to non-acquiesce. If a taxpayer took the IRS's interpretation of the law and made it to the Supreme Court the law itself could be ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. then the IRS Commissioner would back off entirely and obey the ruling of the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court's decision became the law of the land.

The Bible is our rule book! The regulations are how we interpret it. It is evident that what the Lord Jesus said in Mark 16:16,  "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned," applies to everyone. There seems to be a controversy on how to be baptized! We know that baptism is a rule based on the words of Jesus. In Matthew 28:19 the Bible has the Lord saying, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost..." This is the formula that is used today by most churches. The doctrine of the Trinity stems from this. The Apostle Peter however used the singular name of Jesus when he commanded his Jewish listeners to be baptized. (See Acts 2:38) In fact nowhere in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles (or anywhere else in the Bible) was anyone anywhere ever baptized using the formula found in Matthew 28:19, not even in the Book of Matthew. 

There seems to be some controversy regarding John 3:3-5 where Jesus said to Nicodemus, "...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." It is not controversial whether one must be born again to make heaven, but the controversy seems to be how being born again happens.

President Jimmie Carter famously declared he was a born again Christian. Many Evangelicals voted for him as a result. My question comes as a result of John 3:8 where in the Lord's conversation with Nicodemus He said, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." We hear the sound of the wind but we don't see it? Jesus said, "...so is every one that is born of the Spirit." This reminds me of the birth of the church which Acts 2:1-4 tells us about.  "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Those Jews that were there that day did indeed hear a sound, the sound of the early apostles and other believers speaking, "...with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."  It must have sounded like the wind.  

Friend of mine if you have never received the Holy Ghost as they did on the Day of Pentecost, you have not been born again! When I turned to the Lord in 1965, my repentance was real. The Lord Jesus really did deliver me from foul language and He put in my heart a desire to serve Him and please Him for the rest of my life. But He also told me to read His word and to start in Matthew. I obeyed Him! As my mother pointed out to me I needed to be baptized in Jesus name. I went to church that Sunday and heard that I had to be filled with the Holy Ghost. I needed to be born again of the water and of the spirit if I wanted to make heaven my home someday. I wouldn't have known about these things if I didn't read the Word of God. I'm glad that I read in the Bible of my need to do what it said. If you have never been born again as they were on the Day of Pentecost, I urge you to obey the scriptures. In Acts 2:38 the Bible says, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." God's promise is to you also.