II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
II. Regeneration.Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God's turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul's turning itself to God, of which God's turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God's operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.
This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”
This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration seems to be intimated inEph. 2:5, 6—“made us alive together with Christ,”and“raised us up with him.”Lazarus must first be made alive, and in this he couldnotcoöperate; but he must also come forth from the tomb, and in this hecouldbe active. In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the object emitted.
Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may compare God's initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God's work; not all the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for a whole lifetime. We may add that“heredity affects regeneration as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment affects regeneration as the focus affects photography”(W. T. Thayer).
Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked:“Are you a Christian?”but always:“Have you ever been born again?”E. G. Robinson:“The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.”We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul's great words are, justification, and righteousness; John's are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life-union with Christ.”
Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre[pg 810]to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God's action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.”Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.”Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell onRev. 21:5—“Behold, I make all things new”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”
1. Scripture Representations.(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.[pg 811]Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”(g) It is a change wrought by God.John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.
John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”
John 3:7—“Ye must be born anew”;Gal. 6:15—“neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”(marg.—“creation”);cf.Heb. 12:14—“the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation;Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”;Rom. 3:11—“There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God”;John 6:44, 65—“No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father”;Jer. 13:23—“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”
(b) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.
John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.
John 3:3—“Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”;5:21—“as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will”;Rom. 6:13—“present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead”;Eph. 2:1—“And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins”;5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”InJohn 3:3—“born anew”= not,“altered,”“influenced,”“reinvigorated,”“reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or character, a new family likeness to God and to his children.“So is every one that is born of the Spirit”(John 3:8) = 1. secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3. evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good, that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity aims to purify the springs of action.
(c) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.
Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Mat. 12:33, 35—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things”;15:19—“For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings”;Acts 16:14—“And a certain woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul”;Rom. 6:17—“But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered”;10:10—“with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”;cf.Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”;Jer. 31:33—“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts will I write it”;Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh.”
Horace Mann:“One former is worth a hundred reformers.”It is often said that the redemption of society is as important as the regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to construct a stable and happy community from persons who are selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:“Get your circumstances changed!”Christ's first call is:“Get yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be changed.”Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and self-reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a coal-fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes out. We need God's work at the very basis of character and not on the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.Mat. 6:33—“seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
(d) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.
Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.
Eph. 2:5—“when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”;4:23, 24—“that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth”;Col. 1:13—“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution. 1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there issomething wrong about us, as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are savedfrom the wrongnessby making proper connection with the higher powers.
(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.
James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.
James 1:18—“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means;1 Pet. 1:23—“having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth”;2 Pet. 1:4—“his precious and exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature”;cf.Jer. 23:29—“Is not my word like fire? saith Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”John 15:3—“Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you”;Eph. 6:17—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”;Heb. 4:12—“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart”;1 Pet. 2:9—“called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”An advertising sign reads:“For spaces and ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.”In regeneration, we need both the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to God for both.
(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.
John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”
John 5:24—“He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life”;cf.Mat. 6:24—“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”John 3:8—“The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”;cf.Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”;2 Pet. 1:10—“Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure.”
(g) It is a change wrought by God.
John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”
John 1:13—“who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”;3:5—“Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”;3:8, marg.—“The Spirit breatheth where it will”;Eph. 1:19, 20—“the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places”;2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them”;1 Pet. 1:3—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”;cf.1 Cor. 3:6, 7—“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
We have seen that we are“begotten again ... through the word”(1 Pet. 1:23). In the revealed truth with regard to the person and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Eph. 6:17). Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit, and men are said to be“born of the Spirit”(John 3:8). When Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to him:“Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on the Chinese?”“No,”was the reply;“but I think the Lord can.”
(h) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.
Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.
Rom. 8:2—“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death”;2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”(marg.—“there is a new creation”);Gal. 1:15, 16—“it was the good pleasure of God ... to reveal his Son in me”;Eph. 2:10—“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”On the Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency, 117-164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553-569—“Regeneration involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without relation to him.”
Eph. 3:14, 15—“the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.”But even here God works through Christ, and Christ himself is called“Everlasting Father”(Is. 9:6). The real[pg 812]basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator, and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship. Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so adopting us again into God's family. Hence the Holy Spirit does not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children of God, but also members of a commonwealth.Ps. 87:4—“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her”=“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become members, by adoption, of the city of God”(Perowne). The Psalm speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of individuals.