What the Bible says about Spiritual Attitude
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Zechariah 7:4-6 This actually confirms that God permits national observances. His complaint is not with the observance of the fasts per se, but with the attitude in which the Jews observed them. The Jews' attitude abused something permitted but not commanded. God expresses His disapproval of the ethical and spiritual attitudes that underlay their outward observance. He questions their sincerity and motivation during their fasts, which should have been times of prayer and repentance. They should have used the time to recall the sins that had led them into the slavery that made calling the fasts so necessary. They should have been searching for any remnant of those sins still residing in them and repenting of them. In Isaiah 58:5, God asks, "Is it a fast that I have chosen?" God is scolding the Jews in the same way. John W. Ritenbaugh Thanksgiving or Self-Indulgence? Related Topics: Attitude | Fasting | Fasting and Humility | Hypocrisy | Insincerity | National Holidays | Repentance | Repentance and Fasting | Sincerity | Spiritual Attitude

John 3:6 In the context of His instruction, Jesus gives not one indication that, when He refers to being "born of the Spirit," He intends us to think of a post-resurrection event. The context is strictly one of birth and its products. In addition, He is not even speaking of being composed of spirit. He is describing the present and near future of the born-again person while he is still flesh and blood as well as what he produces or gives birth to in his life—especially his new spiritual life. Thus, the so-called "hatpin test" does not apply here at all. It entirely misses the point Jesus is making! Barnes' Notes ("John," p. 203) comments regarding John 3:6: "Is Spirit. Is spiritual, like the spirit, that is, holy, pure." It is the birth of the spiritual heart and mind that enables a person to be spiritual in his attitudes, conduct, and perspective. Barnes goes on to say, "Here we learn, first, that all men are by nature sinful. Second, that none are renewed but by the Spirit of God. . . . Third, that the effect of the new birth is to make men holy." Being "born of the Spirit" is not a "pregnancy" produced by God's gracious act of imparting His Spirit, but the birth—beginning—of a holy, spiritual mind, the mind of Christ. That the person is "seeing" the Kingdom of God, has "entered" into it, and is producing the fruits of the Spirit are evidence that he is already born of the Spirit. John W. Ritenbaugh Born Again or Begotten? (Part Two) Related Topics: Birth of a Spiritual Mind | Born of the Spirit | Hatpin Test | Mind of Christ | Spiritual Attitude

 

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