Do We See Any Gospel Connections in the Book of Numbers? But God did find a way whereby He could remain just and at the same time justify the guilty who would do no more than believe. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:2, 3). This is Perfect Sanctification. By faith power is received which enables the sinner to overcome sin, to "sin no more" (John 8:11). The Christian who is out of Gods will is an unsaintly saint. We know that there is something wrong with the human race. The wind blows where it will and it is the Spirits will, not yours, that causes a person to be born from above (John 3:3). Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6). The garment, the gift of the inviting king, had been refused by the unhappy guest, who, in consequence, was `cast out into the outer darkness' (Matthew 22:13). How does one mature in the Christian life? His Epistle is rather ethical than dogmatical in tone, still his ethics are based on the dogmatical presuppositions which fully agree with the teaching of other apostles. There is none righteous, no, not one . The turning of Israel to God was necessarily meant to be an inward change of attitude toward Him, in other words, the sprinkling with clean water, as an outward sign, was the emblem of a pure heart. While in the post-apostolic days we frequently find traces of a proper appreciation of an underlying spiritual value in baptism (compare Didache vii) many of the expressions used are highly misleading. Regeneration is, therefore, one of the saving benefits of redemption purchased by Christ and applied to the elect by the Holy Spirit. The subject of regeneration lies outside of the scope of the Epistle to the Hebrews, so that we look in vain for a clear dogmatical statement of it. In the new birth, the Spirit implants in the souls of Gods people new wills, affections, and desires. The will of God is the present sphere of Christian obligation. Of course he was! This wrong attitude can lead to discouragement and even disaster. Some students make the mistake of confusing Adoption with Regeneration. God said to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). This promised regeneration, so lovingly offered by Yahweh, is to be the token of a new covenant between God and His people (Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 11:19-21; 18:31,32; 37:23,24). There is, of course, in these passages no reference to mere water baptism, any more than in Ezekiel 36:25. But on the other hand, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). Regeneration, Justification and Sanctification | Bible.org This aspect of the believers Sanctification is then a matter of choice on our part. Paul is equally explicit regarding the author of this change. Tribulation cannot touch the security of the justified. The Pharisees made open and loud professions before men, but their hearts were full of covetousness. The idea of regeneration here occurs therefore--though no technical expression has as yet been coined for the process--in the first meaning of the word elucidated above. Pauls summary of his argument of this great truth lists the blessings which accompany it. The First Corinthian Epistle contains some pregnant passages on this theme. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy Spirit from me. Interested in joining the Ligonier team? Had death triumphed over Him, our justification would have been forever impossible. In Christs day miracles were a substantial aid to ones faith. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). teleios) (I Corinthians 14:20). Philo (ed. everything hiding the divine image in which we are created, and leading up to the life above" (Ullmann, Gregor v. Nazienz, 323). Christian psychology thus traces to its deep-lying retreat the divine elaboration of the regenerated life. Here God works in the depths of the soul as silently and securely as if on the remotest world of the stellar universe" (H. E. Warner, Psychology of the Christian Life, 117). Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him (I John 5:1). The symbolism of regeneration in baptism is drawn from Gods typical works of water-judgment acts of re-creation in the Old Testament. Still he alludes very plainly to the regeneration of individuals (1Peter 1:3,13). All these expressions go back probably to a word of the Master in John 15:3. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be? (John 3:9). Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5). God can make bad men good only through the death of His Son, for we are justified by His Blood. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). It is the greatest miracle in the universe that sinners are made sons of God through regeneration. By taking heed thereto according to thy word (Psalm 119:9). The surrender of our bodies to God is absolutely essential to Practical Sanctification. Remember, we could never open the way nor introduce ourselves to God. The Word of God shows us that the Son of God came into the world to bear the sinners judgment through His substitutionary death for the sinner (Matthew 20:28; Luke 19:10; I Corinthians 15:3, 4). Sprouls new book on the hard sayings of Scripture. Divine foreknowledge is not limited to mere foresight of what men will do at some future time. These passages of Scripture all lend support to the fact that Gods Word is the Divine means used in the regeneration of sinners, and that the water in John 3:5 is used as a symbol of the Word of God. Many Christians either withdraw from it completely or else they associate it with fanatical fringe groups. In a similar sense he says in his Second Epistle, after mentioning "the day of God": "We look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2Peter 3:13). 1:10). Then we saw the record of the pure love and grace of God, in sending Jesus Christ to die in the sinners place and for sin, showing that the sinner could be justified before God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, says Paul, in view of what God in His Son has done for man, these are the blessings that pour forth from God to all who receive His justifying grace.. We will not mature spiritually if we labor under the false idea that the Christian is free from temptation. God gives away His justification freely; and if you bring anything to pay for it, He will throw it in your face and will not give His justification to you.. . God is here telling of a day, still future, when He will set Himself apart as the one true and living God, and that all peoples in the earth will acknowledge Him as such. The Adoption (Greek huiothesia) is not a word of relationship, not the making of a son, but son-placing. While Reformed theologians defended the doctrine of regeneration against the sacramentalism of Rome, they affirmed that baptism is a sign and seal of the regeneration of believers. The Word of God is the means by which the Holy Spirit accomplishes the New Birth. . And now, on the background of these preliminary thoughts, let us pursue our study in the doctrine of Sanctification in its relation to the believer in Jesus Christ. That which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:6). We have here a new creation as against the old creation. One further thought. This is incorrect and therefore misleading. In regeneration, God implants a new hearttogether with a renewed will, affections, and desiresin the elect to enable them to walk in a manner pleasing to Him. Our standard of living, viewed from the financial and material side, has risen to an all time high, but our standard of living, viewed from the spiritual side, has dropped to an all time low. When great numbers of Samaritans heard Philip and believed and were baptized, Simon also accepted the facts and came forward to be baptized. The mass of the people of Israel are therefore as yet scarcely aware of the fact that the conditions on which these divine promises are to be attained are more than ceremonial and ritual ones. Those who are justified by faith can take pleasure in tribulation (II Corinthians 12:10), for we know that it is but for a moment, and that it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (II Corinthians 4:17). One day the pastor visited the home to congratulate the boy and his mother. (2) A building and its contents can be sanctified. Paul, indeed, lays more stress on the specific facts of justification and sanctification by faith than on the more comprehensive head of regeneration. It was all according to Gods eternal purpose and grace. Knowledge precedes faith, because faith always has an object. Accordingly, Rome teaches that regeneration is conferred to individuals in the sacrament of baptism _ex opere operato _(through the work performed). Here the apostle uses well-known Old Testament expressions foreshadowing New Testament graces (Isaiah 61:6; 66:21; Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6), but he individualizes the process of regeneration in full agreement with the increased light which the teaching of Jesus has brought. Two words in this verse stem from a common root; they are the verb sanctified (Greek hagiaso) and the noun saints (Greek hagios). If a man is not guilty of a charge made against him, he should be justified. However, a day, a tabernacle, a house, or a mountain cannot sin. . It is not the tranquility and quietness of our own feelings and emotions. Here Peter is saying the same as Jesus said in John 3:5. Our bodies belong to God by a two-fold right, His right by creation and by redemption. As I look back upon that experience, I know now that, during those weeks of struggling before I was saved, the Holy Spirit was doing His work of preparing me for the great transaction. You must be born of the Spirit (John 3:5, 8). This we see from the testimony of some of Israel's best sons and daughters, who also knew that this grace was found in the way of repentance and humiliation before God. 22 Bible verses about Regeneration - Knowing Jesus Spiritually speaking, you are either born or unborn. As the wind moves wherever it wills, the Spirit moves in whomever He wills. . (I Corinthians 12:13). All that is born of human blood is depraved and is therefore heir to death (Romans 5:12). The tribunal of Heaven differs from all earthly tribunals. Sanctification is not merely a single act, but a continuous process. The answer is, When he receives the Holy Spirit. But in the case of biblical justification, all men are sinners, and since all sin is against God, He only must be satisfied. When William Carey was pleading for missionaries to carry the Gospel to unevangelized peoples of the world, a group of preachers in England tried to silence him with the words, If God wants to evangelize the heathen He will do it without your help or ours. It was true, and still is, that God can reach the heathen with the Gospel without the help of any of us. For usage information, please read the Baker Book House Copyright Statement. The Holy Spirit is a gift, not given discriminately to some believers, but rather to all believers, as the following passages teach: John 7:37-39; Romans 5:5; I Corinthians 2:12; II Corinthians 5:5. The Fountainhead of the new creation is Christ, so that a profound and radical change has taken place in the believer. This is far from the truth. But after we are born again, Christ becomes our righteousness (I Corinthians 1:30). By union with Christ, believers experience the application of what Christ accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection. Man as he is by nature stands in direct contrast to the demands of the spiritual life. This connects regeneration to the resurrection of Christ. The Blood of Christ and the grace of God compose the basis of justification and the principle upon which it is offered to man. As a matter of fact, I have never met an advocate of the death to self movement who could tell me how I might die to self. Little wonder that one theologian suggested that the holy and righteous God faced the greatest riddle ever when He set out to justify the ungodly. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6). This grace and salvation must then be applied to the elect, and thus the Holy Spirit applies the effects of salvation to the elect by regenerating their spirits and drawing them into salvation (irresistible grace). Considering the differences in the personal character of these writers, it is remarkable that such concord of views should exist among them. Peace with God means that the strife between God and the believer has ended, hostilities have ceased, and no longer are we His enemies. They are the spiritual birthmarks of the born again ones. The above mentioned verses from Gods Word show clearly that Sanctification is the state predetermined by God for every believer, into which He calls them by His grace, and in which they commence their Christian life and experience. It was no mere incident when I enrolled as a student in The Philadelphia School of the Bible in 1935. It is God that justifieth (Romans 8:33). Is Christ speaking of the water of the word in John 3:5? Regeneration is God working in us; Justification is God working for us. WebRegeneration then, may be defined as an act of God whereby He bestows upon the believing sinner new life. Most of us have at one time sought to improve ourselves by turning over a new leaf and attempting to throw off bad habits. Regeneration is a miraculous normality: it is miraculous because man is born of God and God is brought into man to make a sinner be a son of God, and it is normal because this is what we are made for, to receive God and be filled with God! What He said is that the Father set Him apart and sent Him from Heaven to earth to accomplish the Divine mission of redemption. WebThe theological term "regeneration" is the Latin translation of the Greek expression palingenesia, occurring twice in the New Testament ( Matthew 19:28; Titus 3:5 ). Now the New Birth does not eradicate the old nature, but it does give new life to control it. Theologically speaking, regeneration and conversion are two sides of the same coin. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:3, cf. For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods (I Corinthians 6:19, 20). Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee. That is Preparatory Sanctification. Now I am critical of my sons when I see them dealing in this same way with their children. WebRegeneration, producing faith, is accompanied by justification, and by actual holiness of life, or sanctification begun, and completed when the "babe in Christ" reaches in heaven "the It is the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18), for whom he justified, them he also glorified (Romans 8:30). Some Christians believe sincerely that when a child of God sins, his Positional Sanctification is lost by the Holy Spirit withdrawing Himself from that one. (4) A mountain can be sanctified. By nature, we are unable to do anything pleasing to God. This is understood more clearly when we realize that the Word of God is both living and life-producing. Having become partakers of the Divine Nature we now see sin as God sees it. . The question arises, How can God justify the guilty sinner and at the same time remain just? God requires all men to repent and turn unto Him (Acts 17:30) before He will or can effect regeneration. The word wholly (Greek {olotelhs) is found only here in the New Testament and is made up of two words, complete and end. The ideas of wholeness and completion are in view, meaning entire Sanctification, through and through, the whole of you, every part of you. The grace of God which brings Salvation also teaches Sanctification (Titus 2:11, 12). Did you ever question why Christ died on the Cross? Paul says, Do not depend on your good works to justify you. James says, Do not neglect to perform good works if you are justified. Both are right. What is regeneration according to the Bible? It was written to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ (verse 1), and all such are assured that God is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (verse 24). Regeneration But since all are guilty and deserving of judgment, how can He save those whom He loves? If a mans obedience to some part of the law is his boast, he may glory before man but not before God (Romans 4:2). But give the divine Spirit the glory He deserves! Put another way, regeneration is the root and conversion is the fruit. This new life derives its power not from mere Nature; it is a manifestation of divine life within us (Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie, Leipzig, 1912, 17; Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt, Leipzig, 1907; Grundlinien einer neuen Lebensanschauung, Leipzig, 1907; Johannes Muller, Bausteine fur personliche Kultur, 3 volumes, Munchen, 1908). As God takes the initiative in making the covenant, the conviction takes root that human sin and depravity can be effectually eliminated only by the act of God Himself renewing and transforming the heart of man (Hosea 14:4). This seems to be an allusion to the passage in Hosea (4:6): "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.". Heaven may be reached without education, wealth or worldly acclaim, but it will not be inhabited by those who have not been regenerated. Preparatory and Positional Sanctification are entirely the work of the Triune God, but in the matter of our Practical Sanctification there is that element of human responsibility. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, one of the great theological battles concerned the doctrine of regeneration. Heaven was bankrupt to make you righteous. Somewhere I heard or read of a tragedy at sea in which a young fisherman was washed overboard and lost. Positional Sanctification takes place at the time of Regeneration. The following passage teaches that water is sometimes a symbol of the Holy Spirit--In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. If we had it now we would not be waiting for it. This Paul did in detail in his Epistle to the Romans. Surely He would not set apart a man for a ministry without providing the enablement to carry out all of the responsibilities attached thereto. I interpret Peters scathing rebuke to mean that there was a man who, though he was baptized, was never regenerated. . Christians in this dispensation are blessed with the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is the Divine enablement for our living a holy life. Accordingly, theologians have commonly spoken of regeneration as spiritual resurrection. It is nowhere taught by Christ nor expressed in the writings of the Apostles that infant baptism was believed by them. It blows where it pleases, and it is invisible, inscrutable, irresistible and inexplicable. Beloved brethren, think of it! 2. The question of mans justification before God was raised early in mans history. Regeneration is Gods sovereign activity by the Holy Spirit in the soul of one who is spiritually dead in sin. I can testify with Paul that God put me into the ministry and has enabled me to continue (I Timothy 1:12). Still the need of it is plainly stated by Paul. It was no mere coincidence that I was present at 3314 I Street in the city of Philadelphia on December 25, 1927, the day I was saved. Apart from the mediate dealings of God with man through word and sacraments, there is therefore an immediate communication of life from God to the regenerate. In Romans Paul is merely emphasizing the truth that faith is the means of justification, while James stresses the fact that good works are the fruit of justification. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life (Job 33:4). However, a general meaning is common to all. In his Epistles, John shows that this Spirit bestows the elements of a Godlike character which makes us to be "sons of God," who before were "children of the devil" (1John 3:10,24; 4:13, etc.). Paul was telling them that if they hoped to be justified by the Law, they had to be more than hearers--they must be doers. Let us look now at the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers Positional Sanctification. Its meaning is different in the two passages, though an easy transition of thought is evident. Related Topics: Regeneration, Justification, Sanctification, Lehman Strauss taught Old Testament history for eight years at Philadelphia Bible Institute, and served as pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, Bristol, Pennsylvania, from 1939 to 1957. Our Lord said to His disciples, Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you (John 15:3). When a man says he has been justified by God, his fellowmen have a right to expect him to prove his faith by his good works. Other passages affirm this teaching. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? (I John 4:20). "The body is dead because of sin" (Romans 8:3-11; Ephesians 2:1). We have seen above that the agent by which regeneration is wrought, the incorruptible seed of the word of God, finds a parallel in Paul's and James's theology. It happened in December 1927, and it has been blessedly real. Abrahams justification is the pattern of the justification of all men. He who denies the possibility of Christs Virgin Birth can hardly be expected to believe in the New Birth. Regeneration In Theology However, in the redemptive plan God restores that image and likeness. It is the Spirit Who regenerates us (John 3:5; Titus 3:5) and puts us in Christ. . When one is born again he instinctively is drawn to those persons of like precious faith. If we looked to men for a definition of the words justification and righteousness, their meaning might change with time and differ according to geographical location. Spiritually dead men and women are utterly dependent on God to sovereignly give them spiritual life. 1:2; 6:11; Acts 20:32; Heb. Paul wrote, . It is the function of the Bible to interpret experience, rather than the function of experience to interpret the Bible. I would not work my soul to save, That work my Lord has done; But I would work like any slave For love of Gods dear Son. Victory over any sin is the result of self-sanctification. The washing of regeneration refers to being born again. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes (Ezekiel 36:23). It is by means of our bodies that God gets His work done. No amount of struggling or self confidence or mimicking others will speed up the process. . For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). the clearest passage on the doctrine of regeneration, spiritual resurrection in union with Christ, regeneration is inseparably tied to baptism, a sign and seal of the regeneration of believers. 4. Regeneration | Bible.org In the New Testament the Apostle Paul, chief exponent of the doctrine of Justification, developed it more fully. Forgiveness assumes guilt; therefore, the guilty one cannot be justified. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Regeneration In this statement He was simply testifying that He had set apart Himself to fulfill the holy purpose for which He came into the world. The mere professor is easily moved by tribulation (Matthew 13:21), but in the justified, tribulation works a positive good. The Spirit regenerates. He had set Himself apart for the purpose for which the Father had set Him apart. He has set you apart for a definite purpose, and that purpose is Gods perfect will for your life. Some weeks before my acceptance of Jesus Christ I passed through a real struggle, restless and troubled because of a sense of guilt. In our consideration of Preparatory Sanctification the sovereignty of God was stressed, and rightly so. only found in Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5 . There was but One. The saving blessing of regeneration is signified and sealed in the sacrament of baptism. . The Adoption is not experienced in this life while we remain in this mortal body. The change is so radical that it is possible now to speak of a "new creature" (2Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15, margin "new creation"), of a "new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:24), and of "the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:10). This life is imparted by Jesus Himself: "It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life" (John 6:63). . . . (ie Christ) (Romans 6:6). It contains more than 2,500 Bible and Bible-related proper names and their meanings. Regeneration is the beginning of that change. Godly sorrow is what leads to repentance. The Bible warns against this false view where it says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (I John 1:8). Topical Bible: Regeneration Textbooks on Systematic Theology: articles "Bekehrung" by R. Seeberg; "Wiedergeburt" by O. Kirn in Hauck-Herzog RE3; "Regeneration" by J. V. Bartlett in HDB; "Conversion" by J. Strachan in ERE; George Jackson, The Fact of Conversion, London, 1908; Newton H. Marshall, Conversion; or, the New Birth, London, 1909; J. Herzog, Der Begriff der Bekehrung, Giessen, 1903; P. Feine, Bekehrung im New Testament und in der Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1908; P. Gennrich, Die Lehre yon der Wiedergeburt, Leipzig, 1907. . Paul wrote this to those who were boasting that the Law was given to them. The basic meaning of the verb sanctify (Gr. The regenerated person can testify that things are different now. Nor can it disclose its process; the "underlying laboratory where are wrought radical remedial processes and structural changes in the psychical being as portrayed in explicit scriptural utterances: `Create in me a clean heart' (Psalms 51:10); `Ye must be born again' (John 3:7 the King James Version); `If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new' (2Corinthians 5:17 the King James Version), is in the region of subconsciousness. But when did Abraham offer Isaac upon the altar? xxiv.3; xxv.5; see Hagenbach, Dogmengeschichte, section 137). When we meditate in Gods Word, the truth of God has its own inherent power to prevent sin. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12, 14). We lack righteousness. Therefore, it is enough to say that God, a supernatural Being, has revealed Himself in His supernatural Son and in His supernatural Book, and He will, by the power of that Word and His supernatural Spirit, impart supernaturally His own life to any person who will receive it by faith.