Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Eight

                                                                                                                                              Verse 12

Jesus returned to preaching boldly about salvation by grace. Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the Light of the world, that is mankind. Jesus preached that whoever would follow Him; that is, believe in Him as their Savior, He would bring them out of darkness; that is, out of the dark evil of the world and into His Light of truth and love. This message from Jesus happened to be very similar to that which He taught Nicodemus. John 3:1-21. To repent and believe in Jesus as one's Savior causes a person to become "born again," that is, to become completely transformed in spirit and soul by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Light, which is the Spirit of Christ, comes into the inner being of the believer and completely dispels all of the dark evil inside that believer and translates that believer into the kingdom of God. Colossians 1:12-14. The Spirit of God completely cleanses that believer's soul and spirit of all sin and evil with the blood of Jesus and forgives that believer and wholly recreates that believer's soul and spirit by giving him or her the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself by the means of which God can accept that person into Heaven to live with Him there forever. Revelation 1:5; I Corinthians 6:11; I Peter 1:2-4; II Corinthians 5:17; II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.

The Spirit's transformation and recreation of the inner being of the believer happens instantaneously the moment that believer repents and believes in Christ as his Savior. The Holy Spirit lights up that believer on the inside which annuls the dark and evil nature of that believer. The believer immediately passes "from death unto life." John 5:24. Once a believer saved by grace has received the very righteousness of Christ which recreates his soul and spirit, then that believer can no longer sin in his or her soul and spirit. I John 3:9; I John 5:18.

But the Spirit does not immediately cleanse and forgive the fleshly nature of the believer saved by grace. The fleshly nature of the believer can still cause that believer to sin. Romans 7:15-25; I John 1:8. The Spirit uses a different method to cleanse and forgive the fleshly sins of the believer saved by grace. The believer must repent of his sins and ask for forgiveness every day. I John 1:9. When he does this, the Spirit washes him clean with the spiritual water that flowed from Jesus' side on the cross and the Spirit forgives him. Jesus shed material water on the cross, but the Spirit transforms that water into spiritual water. John 13:1-11; I John 5:6-8. But this raises the question: Does the believer saved by grace who fails to daily repent lose his salvation by grace? John 10:28-30. The Almighty Power and Love that is God can never lose anything that He ever creates, and He never takes back any gift that He gives. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 11:29. God also never fails to make His Word good. Numbers 23:19. God also never breaks His part of any covenant that he makes with humans. Psalm 89:34. God will cause every backslidden believer to repent of all of his or her sins and become fully sanctified by the Holy Spirit just prior to His Rapture of His Church. I Thessalonians 3:13; Ephesians 5:25-27. Not only this, but the Almighty Power of God has gained complete victory over all sin and evil, and He will purge it all from His creations and recreate it all to be righteous. II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 1:17-18; Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12; John 5:28-29.