The Great Gospel of John
Volume 1
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Exegesis of the biblical Gospel of John
- Chapter 3 -
Spiritual rebirth; first and second grace.
Once man in this way attains to the true sonship of God into which he is as if born of God, the Father or the love within God, he attains to the glory of the primordial light in God which actually is the divine primal essence Itself. This essence is the actual Son begotten of the Father just as the light rests latent within the warmth of love, as long as love does not stir it up and radiate it out of itself. Thus this holy light is actually the glory of the Son from the Father which is attained by everyone who is reborn and becomes equal to this glory, which is forever full of grace (God's light) and truth, as the true reality or the incarnated word. --
2
To this again John bears true witness and immediately after the baptism in the river Jordan - in order to give Him a worthy reception - he draws people's attention to the fact that the one whom he had just baptised is He of whom he had spoken to the people all the time during his sermons on repentance, that He who would come after him (John) had been before him. In a deeper sense this means as much as; This is the original fundamental light and First Cause of all light and existence that preceded all existence, and all that exists had come forth from it.
3
This primordial light, however, is also the eternally great glory in God, and God Himself is this glory; this glory was from eternity God Himself within God, and all being have received their existence and their light and independent life from the fullness of this glory.
4
Thus all life is a grace of God filling the life-bearing form through and through. Because in itself it is the same glory of God, the primal life in every human being is a FIRST GRACE of God, but this had been harmed by the weakening of the feeling of exaltation by the lowly feeling of coming into existence and the thereby resulting inevitable dependence on the primordial light and First Cause of all existence.
5
Since this first grace within man was in danger of being completely lost the primordial light itself came into the world and taught people to once more leave this first grace to the primordial light or rather to completely return into this primal existence there to receive a new life for the old light. And this exchange is the RECEIVING OG GRACE UPON GRACE or the giving away of the old, weakened, quite useless life for anew, imperishable life in and from god in all fullness.
6
The first grace was necessity in which there is neither freedom nor permanence. But the second grace is complete freedom without any compulsion and, therefore, since not urged or coerced by anything also forever indestructible. For where there is no enemy, there is also no destruction. By enemy is to be understood all that in any way impedes a free existence.