Regeneration

      In the well-known passage in John 3 where Jesus is discussing spiritual matters with Nicodemus, He tells the Pharisee: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3 KJV). Some versions translate the word for “born again” as “born anew” or “born from above”. In 3:5 Jesus Himself explains “… Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be ‘born of water and of the Spirit’, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. Thus we see there are multiple synonyms for “born again” and it is quite legitimate to use any one of them to mean regeneration.

      Now there are two aspects Jesus brings about in His discourse:

      (1)  Even the most zealous practitioners of the Mosaic Law is spiritually “dead” and is unable to live up to God’s expectation. Only He who gave life at the beginning can give man the (spiritual) life necessary to do God's will.

      (2) Man has fallen from his original, God-appointed spiritual status in the Kingdom of God, and is now living in a doomed world controlled by Satan. Only by having a new spiritual nature given him by God--by being a “born again” creation--can he live the spiritual life which God requires of man. 

      This rebirth is more than life, it is also purity. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (3:6). As God is pure and sinless, none but the pure in heart can see God. In Matthew 5:8 Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.
            That purity of heart can never be achieved through human efforts is not necessarily a New Testament concept. Job who lived centuries before Moses or Abraham remarked “Who can bring purity out of an impure person?  No one!” (Job 14:4). According to Psalms 49:7-9 “… they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever…” Joel 2:13 exhorts the Israelites “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead”.       Jesus came into the world in order to change man’s lost condition and to impart the lost race of Adam a new life by paying the price with His blood. He made this absolutely clear in His various proclamations:

      Luke 19:10  The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.

      John 10:10  I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

      John 10:28  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me.

      John  6:63  The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life.

      This life can be received on the condition of faith in Christ or by “coming to Him” (John 14:6). By faith, power is received which enables the sinner to overcome sin, to “sin no more” (John 8:11). The parables of Jesus further illustrate this axiom. The prodigal son is declared to have been “dead” and to be “alive again”. Ezekiel’s vision of the dead bones (Ezekiel 37:1-10) clarifies this point further. It is the “breath from Yahweh,” the Spirit of God, who alone can give life to the spiritually dead, the vision demonstrates.

      This regeneration, this new life, is explained as the knowledge of God and His Christ: “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth”, Jesus prays in John 17:3. Speaking through the prophet Hosea (4:6) God says: “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests”. The teaching of the apostles on the subject of regeneration is the development of the teaching of Jesus. Considering the differences in the personal character of these writers, it is remarkable that such a unanimity of views should exist among them. St. Paul says all mankind is “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God” (Eph 4:18).

      Paul then distinctly teaches that, thus is a new life in store for those who have been spiritually dead. He emphasizes a new birth was necessary for the salvation for all men. “The body is dead because of sin” Romans 8:3-11; Ephesians 2:1. “The flesh is at enmity with God (Ephesians 2:15).  To the Ephesians, he writes: “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.” (Ephesians 2:1), and later on: “God, being rich in mercy,... made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians   2:4, 5). A spiritual resurrection has taken place. This new birth causes a complete transformation in man. He has thereby passed from under the law of sin and death and has come under “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). The change is so radical that the born again person is called a new creature or a new man—“Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:24); “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” (Colossians 3:10). “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

            Paul is equally definitive regarding the author of this change. The “Spirit of God,” the “Spirit of Christ” has been given from above to be the source of all new life (Romans 8). By Him we are proved to be the sons of God (Galatians 4:6); We have been adopted into the family of God (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5). Thus he speaks of the “second Adam,” by whom the life of righteousness is triggered in us; as the first Adam became the author of transgression, Christ is “a life-giving spirit” (1Corinth 15:45). Paul personally experienced this change, and from this point onward he displayed the powers of heaven in his ministry. “My old self has been crucified with Christ” he asserts, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

      Peter uses, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, the words “refreshing” (Acts 3:19) and “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21) while talking about the final completion of God's plans concerning the whole creation. Expanding this theme in his Second Epistle he writes: “But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.”  (2 Peter 3:13). Yet he points very plainly to the regeneration of individuals (1Peter 1:3, 1Peter 1:13). The idea of second birth of the believers is clearly suggested in the expression, “newborn babes” (1Peter 2:2). He goes on further to make the explicit statement in 1 Peter 1:23: “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God”.   

            It is in this sense that the apostle refers to God as “Father” (1Peter 1:17) and the believers as “obedient children” (1Peter 1:14). We have seen above that the agent, by whom regeneration is brought about, the incorruptible seed of the word of God, finds a parallel in Paul's and James's theology. See also John 15:3. (You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given) We are made partakers of the word by having received the spirit. This spirit, the “mind” of Christ (1Peter 4:1), is the power of the resurrected Christ who is active in the life of the believer. Peter refers to the same thought in 1 Peter 3:15, 21. Through regeneration, we become a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, we can show others the goodness of God, Who called us out of the darkness into His wonderful light (1Peter 2:9).

      The numerous quotations I have used above from John’s Gospel illustrate the teaching of the Lord. The pronouncements of John’s views about regeneration agree completely with those of Jesus.

      Nicodemus would have known From the Bible that God’s kingdom would be restored on earth incorporating God’s people. Jesus revealed to him that the kingdom would come to the whole world (John 3.16), not just the Jews and that Nicodemus would not be part of it unless he was personally “born again” (3:5). This was a revolutionary concept. The Kingdom is personal, not national or ethnic and its entrance requirements are repentance and spiritual rebirth. Jesus later taught that the Kingdom of God has already begun in the hearts of believers (Luke 17:21). It will be fully realized when Jesus returns again to judge the world and abolish evil forever (Revelations 21, 22).

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