Without Qualification

August 5

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ,” Galatians 3:27-28.

When our Father God looks upon His human family, He does not see us as distinguished by our nation of origin or by our skin color or by our financial acumen or our social standing or our political clout. Our Lord does not restrict His gift of salvation to one location on the globe or to one segment of the world’s population.

Our Savior has opened His loving arms to all mankind and His edict has gone forth which says, “Whosoever will may come, and whosoever will may drink of the water of the river of life freely,” Revelation 22:17. There is no pre-qualifying requisite; there is no limited number that may respond.

The only restrictive factor is a man’s own will. “Whosoever will…” makes it clear that not everyone who’s ever born will be born again. It is only those who desire to be reborn of the spirit and the blood who will allow themselves to be “washed in the blood of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29, who will know the cleansing power of Calvary’s flood.

As John 3:16 states clearly, “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus Himself said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” John 3:3. He goes on to expound this thought in John 3:7-21:

“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 you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell from whence it comes or where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

“Nicodemus answered and said to Him, 'How can these things be?'

“Jesus responded by asking, ‘Are you a master of Israel, and know not these things? Verily, verily, I say to you, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you will not receive our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

“And no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes into the light, for fear his deeds should be found out and reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are patterned after the heart of God.”

This makes it quite clear that “God is no respecter of persons,” Acts 10:34. No man is disqualified from eternal salvation on any basis but his own volition. Only his will can prevent him from becoming a blood-washed child of the Living and True God. Should we not all receive this free gift as it is given—without qualification!