Signs in John's Gospel - The Lamp Broadcast

86 SIGNS IN JOHN’S GOSPEL
John and the context surrounding these ten usages of the expression,
it appears quite evident that the message pertaining to the
matter is simply a continuation of that introduced in his gospel
(to the Jew only during the original offer of the kingdom [when the
recorded events occurred (Matt. 10:5, 6; 15:24)], and to the Jew first
during the reoffer [when both the gospel and first epistle, because
of their subject matter, were undoubtedly written (Rom. 1:16; 2:9,
10)]). But during the reoffer, as seen in the referenced verses from
Romans, the message, though not the reoffer of the kingdom itself,
was “also to the Greek [‘also to the Gentile’].”
(The “reoffer” of the kingdom was solely Jewish. Even though the
message was to both Jew and Gentile during this time [saved Jews as
distinguished from saved Gentiles], the “reoffer” of the kingdom was
“to the Jew” alone, as in the original offer. This reoffer of the kingdom
had nothing to do with the one new man “in Christ.” Rather, it was this new
man who carried the message to Israel.
The original offer and the subsequent reoffer of the kingdom had
to do with the entire nation of Israel, not with individual Jews and,
particularly, not with saved Gentiles. Both the offer and the reoffer had
to do with the same thing, attended by the same signs, for it is the Jew
who requires a sign [I Cor. 1:22]. It had to do with repentance on the part
of the entire nation. The matter was either all [the entire nation repenting] or
nothing in this respect.
For additional information on this subject, refer to Chapter I in this
book, pp. 11, 12, along with material beginning on p. 87 in this chapter.)
Then, the matter of being brought forth from above in I Peter
(1:3, 23), contextually, has to do with Christians, with those taken
from both the Jews and the Gentiles. It has to do with the one
new man, a new creation “in Christ,” where the distinction between
Jew and Gentile does not, it cannot, exist (Eph. 2:11-15; 3:1-6; cf.
Gal. 3:26-29).
From a contextual standpoint, whether dealing with being
brought forth from above, out of God, from John’s gospel, his first
epistle, James, or I Peter, it would be very forced and unnatural to
view any of these texts as referring to an unsaved person believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ and passing “from death unto life.”