05.07 - Chapter 30 - A New Life Begins

Chapter 30 A NEW LIFE BEGINS What Regeneration is Not

" Regeneration is not a Change in the Substance of the Soul. "Regeneration is not a physical change. There is no physical seed or germ implanted in man’s nature.

Regeneration does not add to, or subtract from, the number of man’s intellectual, emotional or voluntary faculties. But regeneration is the giving of a new direction or tendency to powers of affection which man possessed before." (A.H. Strong) Prior to regeneration the heart has the capacity to love, but the love is primarily set on self. In the act of regeneration, the heart is transformed so that love is supremely focused upon God and others (Matthew 6:33). The soul has been "created [i.e. regenerated] in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10).

" Regeneration is not a New Faculty Added to the Soul. The new life that God imparts to the soul must not be conceived as a substance imparted or infused. The new life is a new direction and activity in the affections and will. "There is, indeed a union of the soul with Christ; Christ dwells in the renewed heart; Christ’s entrance into the soul is the cause and accompaniment of its regeneration. But this entrance of Christ into the soul is not itself regeneration. We must distinguish the effect from the cause; otherwise we shall be in danger of a pantheistic confounding of our own personality and life with the personality and life of Christ. Christ is indeed our life, in the sense that, after our union with him, our individuality ceases. The effect of union with Christ is rather that our individuality is enlarged and exalted." (A.H. Strong) Jesus said, "I am come that they may have life, and they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)

" Regeneration is not a Moral Persuasion of Sin, Though that has its Place. No one will ever be converted who has not caught sight of sin and self and hates it as a principle and the source of all pollution. Nevertheless, no reformation can ever take the place of regeneration.

" Regeneration is not the Co-operation of Human Power with Divine Power. This process is called synergism. Man is not the agency in his regeneration; nor one half of that agency, nor any part of it. He who is dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1) must be the subject of regeneration. "A dead man cannot assist in his own resurrection." (W.G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology 2:503).

" Regeneration is not Dependent on the Unity of the Human and Divine Minds. It is God alone who is sovereign in the act of regeneration. It is God alone who can impart life into whomsoever He wills and when he will--even if a person is in the height of open rebellion. In a high handed manner Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians. He hated the name of Christ until the hour when he was subdued by the Sovereign and began to cry out, "Who art thou, Lord?" (Acts 9:5).

What Regeneration Is

" Regeneration is the Instilling of a Life Principle in the Soul. Life precedes birth. The initial act of the Spirit is to quicken or make alive the spiritually dead soul, which can then be born again.

♦ John 6:63 "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

♦ 1 Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

Birth is neither the cause nor the beginning of life itself: rather it is the manifestation of a life already existent. There had been a Divine "quickening" before the child could issue from the womb. In like manner, the Holy Spirit "quickens" or makes alive the soul. He imparts spiritual life to it, before its possessor is "brought forth".

♦ James 1:18 "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

" Regeneration is First and Foremost the Illumination of the Understanding Concerning Sin and the need for a Savior.

♦ 2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

" Regeneration is the Elevation of the Heart. "The first and last and closest trial question to any living creature is, ’What do you like?’ God out into the street and ask the first man you meet what his taste is, and, if he answers candidly, you know him, body and soul. What we like determines what we are, and is the sign of what we are; and to teach taste is inevitably to form character." (John Ruskin) The Bible confirms what the honest heart must admit. Prior to salvation, there is a love for sin. The heart is filled with all unrighteousness (Romans 1:29). But after God instills a new life principle in the soul, there is an elevation of the heart towards heaven. It is when God creates a clean heart and renews a right spirit in the soul that the desire is present to "teach transgressors thy ways" so that sinners are converted. (Psalms 51:13).

" Regeneration is Absolutely Essential to Salvation.

♦ John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

" Regeneration Is Instantaneous. There is nothing gradual about regeneration "although there may be a gradual work of God’s providence and Spirit, preparing the change, and a gradual recognition of it after it has taken place." (A.H. Strong). "Conviction of sin is an ordinary, if not an invariable, antecedent of regeneration. It results from the contemplation of truth. It is often accompanied by fear, remorse, and cries for mercy. But these desires and fears are not signs of regeneration. They are selfish. They are quite consistent with manifest and dreadful enmity to God. They have a hopeful aspect, simply because they are evidence that the Holy Spirit is striving with the soul. But this work of the Spirit is not yet regeneration; at most, it is preparation for regeneration." (W.G.T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:512)

♦ Ephesians 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened [lit. made alive] us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”

" Regeneration Is Irresistible. Man can no more resist the new birth than he can resist his natural birth. God gave us being without the exercise of our power or even our consent being asked in the matter.

♦ Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”

♦ Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

Summary Statement on Regeneration

While regeneration does not change the substance of the soul nor add new faculties, it does produce a moral change, in disposition, in character, in the direction of the soul’s activities.

It brings in a new principle of life dominating and regulating the conduct. In short, regeneration imparts spiritual life.

♦ 1 John 5:12 “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”