THE NEW BIRTH
T.P. Simmons
The last thing considered in the former chapter is the inward
call. This call is communicated to men in the new birth. Thus we are brought
logically to a study of the new birth or regeneration.
I. THE NECESSITY OF THE NEW
BIRTH
1. THE FACT OF ITS NECESSITY
Jesus left no doubt as to the indispensable necessity of the new
birth as a prerequisite to entrance into God's kingdom when He said to
Nicodemus: "Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God"(John 3:5).
The new birth is necessary because-
(1) God's spiritual blessings are for His spiritual children only.
Rom. 8:16,17. Man by nature is not a spiritual child of God,
though he is a child naturally. Adam is called "the son of God" Luke
3:28). This sonship was based, not on birth, nor on mere creation, but on the
likeness that inhered in the image of God in man.
That image was two-fold. Adam had a moral
or spiritual likeness to God in holiness. He had a natural likeness to God in
personality. For further discussion of these see chapter on "The Original
State and Fall of Man." When man fell he lost the moral or spiritual
likeness to God, and thus ceased to be a spiritual child of God. But he did not
lose his personality, did not fall to the level of a brute, and thus he
retained a natural basis of sonship. This explains Acts 17:28,29.
Spiritually and morally man is a child of the Devil (John 8:44; 1
John 3:10), because he bears a spiritual and moral likeness to the Devil. Thus
he must be born again to inherit God's spiritual blessings, because these, as
Rom. 8:16,17 clearly shows, are for none except His spiritual
children.
(2) Man is spiritually dead and God's kingdom both here and
hereafter is spiritual in nature.
Rom. 5:12; Eph 2:1; Col. 2:13; 1 John 3:14. The statement that man
is spiritually dead means that man is, because of sin,
devoid of divine spirit life; although he has natural spirit life. His spirit
has lost all real affinity for God. He has no affection for God or spiritual
things (Rom. 8:7,8). He has no ability in spiritual things (Jer. 13:23; John
6:65).
Hence there is nothing in man's nature that qualifies him for
citizenship in a spiritual kingdom. One that is dead
spiritually can no more inhabit a spiritual kingdom than one that is dead
physically can inhabit a physical kingdom. Thus man must be born anew in order
to enter God's kingdom.
(3) Being in God's kingdom implies submission to the rule of God
and man by nature is at enmity with God.
Rom. 8:7,8. God's kingdom is His rule over the hearts and lives of
His saints. To enter His kingdom, therefore, is to submit to His rule. But man
by nature cannot do that because he is at enmity against God. The new birth is
necessary in order that this enmity may be overcome.
II. THE NATURE OF THE NEW
BIRTH
1. NEGATIVELY CONSIDERED
(1) It is not an eradication of the old
nature.
The new birth may be called a "change of heart" in the
sense of a change of the ruling disposition (including the mind and affections
as well as the will), but the new heart does not displace the old. The old or
carnal nature remains. See Rom. 7:14-25; Gal. 5:17. The new heart
or nature is placed alongside the old, and the saint has two natures, as
indicated in the foregoing passages. The new birth leaves the old nature
unaltered.
The old or carnal nature, as distinguished from the new nature or
ruling disposition established in the new birth, is designated in various ways
in the New Testament. It is called (1) the flesh- Gr.
"sarx" (John 1:13; Rom. 7:18,25; Rom. 8:4,5,8,9,13; 1 Cor. 5:5; II
Cor. 10:2; Gal. 5:13,16,17, 19,24; Eph. 2:3; Col. 2:11,23; 1 Pet. 3:21; 11 Pet.
2:10,18; 1 John 2:16); (2) body-Gr. "soma" (Rom. 6:6; 7:24; 8: 13; 1
Cor. 9:27; Phil. 3:21; Col. 2: 11); (3) old man-Gr. "palaios
anthropos" (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9); (4) indwelling sin-Gr.
"oikousa en emoi hamartia" (Rom. 7. 17,20); (5) carnal mind--Gr.
"to phronema tes sarkos" (Rom. 8: 7).
There are several things which these Scriptures do not mean, viz.,
(1) They do not mean that the physical matter of which the body is composed is
sinful. There is in these passages no suggestion that matter is inherently
evil, as the Manicheans taught. (2) They do not mean that there are in the
saint two souls or two spirits. (3) They do not mean that the believer has two personalities. (4) They do not mean that the believer has two
faculties of will
These passages do mean that out of the physical body while
animated by the regenerated soul there arise lusts- evil desires (Gal. 5:
16,17; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:5; Jas. 1:14,15; 1 John 2:16), which tend always to
produce all the works of the flesh mentioned in Gal. 5:19-21; and thus the regenerated soul is hindered in putting forth effective
executive volitions fully conformed to its immanent preference or its fixed
choice of holiness as an ultimate end, as set forth especially in Rom. 7:15-25;
Gal. 5:17.
(2) It is not a mere getting of religion.
Man is naturally religious. Note the heathen Athenians in Acts 17.
Recall also the various religions and forms of worship in heathen lands today.
No matter how religious a man may become, without the new birth he remains
essentially sinful. In a Methodist tract we read: "We believe that one may
'get religion,' may lose it, and be eternally lost." On the margin we wrote: "I will go you one better than that. I believe a
man may get religion, may keep it, and go to Hell, taking his religion with
him."
(3) It is not human reformation. Human reformation is superficial,
leaving the whole nature essentially the same. For that reason human reformation
is not likely to be lasting. The new birth will be followed
by reformation, but it is reformation that issues from a fundamental change in
the ruling disposition, and not that which is founded on a mere resolution of
mind. Human reformation can never purge sin from the soul and implant a new
disposition.
(4) It is not adoption.
Adoption is a legal term. It is the immediate result of
justification. It is not the same as regeneration. Adoption makes us children
of God legally, while regeneration makes us children of God experientially.
Adoption brings a mere change of legal relationship. Regeneration changes our
moral nature. Adoption has to do with us as the spiritual and moral
children of the Devil by nature. Regeneration has to do with us as those who
are by nature devoid of spiritual life.
(5) It is not an alteration of the substance or essence of the
soul, nor an infusion of new substance into the soul, nor the creation in the
soul of any new faculties.
In the fall man suffered no loss of, or alteration in, the
substance or essence of the soul. Neither was he deprived of any natural
endowment or faculty. After the fall, man was still able to know, to feel, and
to will. He still had conscience.
The fall involved an ultimate choice of
evil as an end. This perverted and blinded the mind to spiritual truth (Gen. 6:
1; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14; 11 Cor. 4:3,4), corrupted the heart (Jer. 17:9; John
3:19; Matt. 15-19; Heb. 3:12; 1 John 2:15), defiled the conscience (Titus 1:
15; Heb. 10: 22), and enslaved the will (Jer. 13:23; John 6:65; John 8:34;
12:39,40; Rom. 6:16,17). In regeneration all of this is reversed as we are
enabled by the quickening power of the Spirit to make an
ultimate choice of holiness as an end.
2. Positively considered. Regeneration or being born again is a
supernatural, instantaneous work of God in the region of the soul below
consciousness, whereby the sinful bent imparted to the faculties of the soul in
the fall of the race is rectified and, through the instrumentality of the Word
of God, the initial exercise of the holy disposition thus
imparted is procured.
From this definition of regeneration and from the Scriptures let
us note that-
(1) It is a work of God.
Man cannot give birth to himself. John plainly attributes regeneration
to God when, in speaking of our being born again, he says: "Not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John
1:13). This passage tells us that the new nature is not hereditary; that it
does not issue from the will of the old nature (flesh); and that it is not accomplished by the will of any man, but is wrought of God.
This passage also means that regeneration is not the joint work of God and the
human will. Repentance and faith are never made conditions of regeneration, but
are gifts of God. In regeneration we do not have a man acted upon by himself or
by some other man, but a man acted upon by God. Hence we may amplify the
statement heading this paragraph and say that regeneration is a sovereign act
of God. John 3:8. In its initial phase (quickening) it is
unconditional. Man does not by any act of his own dispose God to regenerate
him. The agency of the Spirit in regeneration is declared in John 3:5.
(2) It is a supernatural work.
In a sense the falling of rain, the blowing of the wind, and the
flashing of the lightning are the works of God. But they occur according to
natural laws. The fleshly birth represents a work of God, but it is according
to the natural laws of reproduction. The new birth is different. It is not
accomplished basically by natural law or natural processes. The natural thing
is for the sinner to go in sin. Neither the sinner himself,
nor any other natural force or agency of itself, has any more power to reverse
a sinful course of life than an Ethiopian has to change his skin or a leopard
has to change his spots. Jer. 13:23.
(3) It is an instantaneous work.
Says A. H. Strong: "Regeneration is not a gradual work.
Although there may be a gradual work of God's providence and Spirit, preparing
the change, and a gradual recognition of it after it has taken place, there
must he an instant of time when, under the influence of God's Spirit the
disposition of the soul, just before hostile to God is changed to love. Any
other view assumes an intermediate state of indecision
which has no moral character at all and confounds regeneration either with
conviction or with sanctification" (Systematic Theology, p. 458).
Regeneration consists of a begetting and a bringing forth, a
quickening and a birth. And, because of this, some have
tried to make out such an analogy between the physical and spiritual births as
would interpose a lapse of time between begetting and birth. But separation in
point of time between begetting and birth in the physical realm is brought
about by conditions that are peculiar to the physical realm. No such conditions
prevail in the spiritual realm.
Some have tried to interpose a time element between begetting and
birth by making a distinction between passages of Scripture, listing some as
referring to begetting and others as referring to birth or bringing forth.
There are three Greek words used with reference to the new birth. They are:
"apokueo," used only once (James 1:18); "anagennao," used
only twice (I Pet. 1:3,23) ; and "gennao," used
many times and translated by both "beget" and "born". The
Greek words have the same substantial meaning. They refer to the entire work of
regeneration, and so do the passages in which they are used.
(4) It takes place in the region of the soul below consciousness.
That there is a subconscious region of human personality is a
proposition demanded as a basis for sound analysis of psychological phenomena,
such as certain mental trends, amnesia, sleep, and dreams. Moreover this
proposition is also demanded as a basis for understanding the workings of the
Spirit in inspiring Biblical writers, and divine revelations through dreams, trances, and supernatural visions. See Gen. 20:3;
31:11-13; 1 Kings 3.5; Job 33:14-18; Isa. 1.1; Dan. 2:19; 7:1; 8-1; Obad. 1;
Nah. 1: 1; Hab. 2:2; Matt. 1:20; 2:12; Acts 10:10-16; 16:9; 18:9,10; 27: 23-25;
2 Cor. 12:1-4; Rev. 1:10; 4:1, et seq.
Delitzsch says quite appropriately that we "who live in an
earthly body have, as the background of our being, a dim
region, out of which our thinking labors forth to the daylight; and in which
much goes forward, especially in the condition of sleep, of which we can come
to a knowledge only by looking back afterwards." Then he says further:
"Certainly the depth of man's internal nature, into which in sleep he
sinks back, conceals far more than is manifest to himself. It has been
[published in 1855] a fundamental error of most psychologists hitherto, to make the soul only extend so far as its consciousness extends:
it embraces, as is now always acknowledged, a far greater abundance of powers
and relations than can commonly appear in its consciousness" (A System of
Biblical Psychology, pp. (Jer. 17:9).
That it was in this subconscious region that depravity took place
is evidenced by the fact that we are said to be dead in sin
by nature (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13) and to have a heart whose deceitful wickedness
we cannot fully know (Jer. 17:9).
That this is the region where regeneration takes place and where
the Spirit dwells in union with the regenerated soul and carries on His work is
proved by (1) the fact that quickening must occur in the
same region where we are dead- that the natural state of spiritual death is
back of the will (and, therefore, below consciousness) is further proved by the
fact that whereas in the natural state we can will we cannot will that which is
pleasing to God (Jer. 13:23; John 6:65; 12:33-40; Rom 8:7,8; 11 Cor. 4:3,4; 11
Tim. 2:24-26); (2) the fact that the life-giving power of the Spirit is said to
operate as the wind- beyond our control and understanding,
and apprehended by us only in its effect (John 3:8); (3) the fact that the Holy
Spirit dwells in us and seals us (John 7:37-39; 14:17; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph.
1:12-14, moving us to pray Gal. 4:6), interpreting our unutterable groanings
(Rom. 8:26,27), and yet are not conscious of a second person within us; (4) the
fact that God works in us to will (Phil 2:13), and thus must work back of the
will. In this way alone can God guarantee that the child of God
"cannot sin" (I John 3:9) in the sense of renouncing the ultimate end
upon which the will is fixed in regeneration.
(5) It rectifies that which occurred in the soul in the fall of
the race.
Before the fall, the bodies and souls of
Adam and Eve were harmonious in holiness, their bodies being under the perfect
control of their holy souls. The real fall was internal. "The eating of
the forbidden fruit is only the external performance of the deed which has
already been internally committed" (Delitzsch, ibid, p. 147). Under
temptation, their moral natures being permitted of God (He not supplying the
extra grace that would have prevented the fall) to weaken,
bodily desires becoming inordinate, overpowered the soul and brought it into
harmony with them. Thus the faculties of the soul were turned away from God. In
regeneration these faculties are turned back to God. The body is allowed in
this life to remain the seat of inordinate affection. But no sin remains in the
soul, so that whereas before salvation, the soul, in departing from the body,
is ready for perdition; after salvation it is ready for
entrance into the presence of Christ upon its departure from the body. Faith
wrought by the regenerating Spirit of God purifies the soul. 1 Pet. 1:22.
Thus the believer has the image of God restored in the soul (Eph.
4:24) and partakes of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) as the holy faculties of
the soul are brought to expression.
(6) It is not complete until repentance and faith have been
wrought in the soul.
It is to these that we refer when we speak in the foregoing of
"the initial exercise of the holy disposition," which exercise is
procured by regeneration. Repentance and faith should be thought
of as a part of regeneration rather than as fruits of regeneration. The soul is
not renewed so long as it remains in impenitence and unbelief. These attitudes
of the heart are brought about in regeneration. This is confirmed by the fact
that the truth is used instrumentally in regeneration. If regeneration did not consist
of the working of repentance and faith in the heart, there would be no need of
the instrumentality of the word.
From the foregoing we see that man is not wholly passive in
regeneration. He is passive in the initial impartation of life, in which the
moral faculties of the soul are recovered from the depravity of the fall and a
holy ruling disposition is established; but in the initial exercise of this
holy disposition, man is active.
III. HOW THE NEW BIRTH IS
ACCOMPLISHED
1. NEGATIVELY CONSIDERED
(1) Not by education or culture.
Education and culture can bring nothing out of man that is not in
him. Hence, since man is essentially sinful and totally depraved, education and
culture can never produce that holy ruling disposition that is wrought in
regeneration.
(2) Not by baptism.
That baptism is not instrumental in the new birth is proved by the
following facts:
A. There is no conceivable way in which
baptism can remove sin from the soul or impart a holy ruling disposition.
Physical means can never work a spiritual change. The idea of baptismal
regeneration 'is part and parcel of a general scheme of mechanical rather than
moral salvation, and is more consistent with materialistic than with a
spiritual philosophy" (Strong). If it be said that in baptism we come into
contact with the blood of Christ, the reply is that this is
an unscriptural and childish subterfuge that could be adopted by none except
those who are defeated and do not have the honesty to admit it.
B. Peter affirms that baptism is not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, (carnal nature) but the answer of a good conscience toward God (I
Pet. 3:21). A good conscience is one that has been purged
by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14). Until thus purged, the conscience is evil
(Heb. 10:22). And when one has been purged there is no more conscience of sins
(Heb. 10:2). Hence one who has a good conscience will never do anything in
order to be saved, for he has no conscience of sins, no feeling of need of
salvation. All of this proves that one is saved prior to baptism, and not
through baptism.
C. The words of Jesus in Matt 3:15 imply that baptism is a work of
righteousness, and Paul says we are not saved by works of righteousness (Titus
3:5).
D. Faith must precede baptism (Acts 2:41; 8:37; 19: 1-5), and when
faith is exercised one is already saved (John 3: 18; 5:24;
I John 5:1). This is an argument that no advocate of the instrumentality of
baptism in salvation has ever had the courage to face squarely.
E. When faith has been exercised, regeneration is complete; hence
baptism which follows faith cannot be instrumental in regeneration. That faith
is wrought in the heart in regeneration has been shown
already, and will be made even clearer in the chapter on conversion
F. The thief on the cross was saved without baptism. The
supposition that this thief must have had John's baptism previous to his
crucifixion is groundless. Such baptism would have been no
better than the baptism received by the twelve at Ephesus, because it would
have been, like theirs, without faith in Christ, and hence not valid. The
notion that the thief and others during the personal ministry of Christ were
saved apart from the gospel by some special dispensation of God or Christ
implies Christ's death was unnecessary. If God could save a few apart from the
gospel, He could just as well save all thus. The effort to make out that Christ's words to the thief formed a question instead of a
declaration is absurd and without the slightest pretext in the Greek. That
paradise is Heaven, the immediate presence of the Father is evident from Rev.
2:7 and 22:1,2.
Passages thought by many to teach that baptism is necessary to
salvation are treated in chapter on Baptism.
2. POSITIVELY CONSIDERED
Regeneration is wrought-
(1) By the Holy Spirit.
John 3:5 tells us that the new birth is by the Holy Spirit. There
are two serious errors with reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in
regeneration. One is that He operates (in some cases) at
least entirely independent and apart from the written Word of God. This is held
by the Hardshells. Consequently they believe that men may be saved without
knowledge of the written Word. The passages that ascribe to the Word of God a
place in regeneration, which passages will be noted under the next heading,
refute this notion. The other error we refer to here is the teaching that the
Spirit in regeneration does not act immediately upon the soul, but
only immediately through the Word. This is the teaching of Campbellites.
"The scriptural assertions of the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit and of His mighty power in the soul forbid us to regard the divine
spirit in regeneration as coming in contact, not with the soul, but only with
the truth. Since truth is simply what it is, there can be no change wrought in the truth. The phrases, 'to energize the truth,' 'to
intensify the truth', 'to illuminate the truth,' have no proper meaning; since
God cannot make the truth more true. If any change is wrought, it must be
wrought not in the truth, but in the soul" (Strong, Systematic Theology,
p. 453).
Man's depravity and inability by nature to
receive the truth and turn from sin to Christ and righteousness (Jer. 13:23;
John 6:65; 1 Cor. 2:14) also show the absolute necessity of the immediate impact
and operation of the Holy Spirit upon the soul in regeneration. "No mere
increase of light will enable the blind to see; the disease of the eye must
first be cured before external objects are visible. So God's work in
regeneration must be performed within the soul itself. Over
and above all influences of truth, there must be the direct influence of the
Holy Spirit upon the heart" (ibid).
(2) Using the instrumentality of the Word.
The instrumentality of the Word in
regeneration is taught by John 3:5; Eph. 5:26; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23. It is
evident from I Pet. 1: 25 that the word in these passages is the written or
preached Word rather than the incarnate Word (which is Christ). In I Pet. 1:23
the Word is characterized as that "which liveth and abideth forever."
Then in verse 24 the perishable nature of other things is referred to. And in
verse 25 the endurance of the Word is again referred to,
and it is plainly specified that the Word referred to is "the word of good
tidings which was preached unto you" (correct translation).
However it needs to be understood (as we have before implied) that
in the first phrase of regeneration (quickening) the Spirit operates on the
soul independent of the Word. The spiritually dead soul
must be given life before it can see and act upon the truth. It is by quickening that one is enabled to
come to Christ (John 6:65). It is thus that God gives men over into possession
of Christ (John 6:37).
Here again, as we would expect, the falseness of Charles G.
Finney's theology is manifested. He flatly contradicts
himself. He makes regeneration the personal work of the Holy Spirit, and yet
denies that the Spirit makes direct impact upon the soul. This he thinks would
inject a physical influence into regeneration. He affirms that man has the
natural ability to obey God, and yet teaches that no man can be saved apart
from the work of the Holy Spirit. After one reads his treatment of
regeneration, then he fully understands why Mr. Finney for a time wavered on the matter of the perseverance of the saints.
Really, according to his view of regeneration and human nature and the method
of God in dealing with man, he has no logical reason for believing in the
perseverance of the saints; and, no doubt, would not believe in it if he could
find some way to nullify the plain declarations of Scripture with reference to
it. See pp. 254, 288, 296, 324, 325, 552, of Finney's Lectures of Systematic
Theology.
IV. EVIDENCES OF THE NEW
BIRTH
1. GENUINE TRUST IN GOD ALONE FOR SALVATION
We have noted that faith is wrought in the
heart as a part (the secondary part) of regeneration. This is necessarily so
because the new nature cannot be in unbelief. The faith that is wrought in man
in regeneration does not stop short of implicit trust and confidence in Christ
as a personal Saviour. It is not merely belief about Him, but faith and trust
in and on Him. This is so abundantly evident from all passages dealing with
faith that it needs no further argument to substantiate it.
One has not been regenerated until he is willing to trust his
eternal welfare wholly to Christ. He must have repented of dead works (Heb.
6:1). All works engaged in for salvation are dead works. No faith is counted
for righteousness, and hence is not saving faith, except the faith of him "who worketh not" for salvation (Rom. 4:5). As
long as one is looking to anything other than Christ he is not regenerated.
2. THE WITNESS AND INDWELLING PRESENCE OF THE SPIRIT
Rom. 8:16, 9; I John 3:24; 4:13. The witness and the indwelling of the Spirit
is not evidenced by some vague, mystical, impractical feeling, but by the
constant ruling power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:14) producing devotion to God and
an obedient life. It is by the constant
indwelling of the Spirit and His operation in us that God performs until the
end, the work that He begins in us in regeneration (Phil. 1:6; 2:13). The
witness and indwelling of the Spirit is evidenced in all
the ways that follow.
3. READINESS TO ACCEPT GOD'S WORD
John 8-47. A regenerated person will ever show a desire to know
the will of his Father in everything and to follow that
will when it is made known. He will not be found walking continuously in
stubborn rebellion against truth.
4. CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN
Rom. 7:14-25; 1 John 1:8. No saved person
will think himself sinless. Those who do are deceived, and are without the
truth, by which we are regenerated (Jas. 1:18) and made free (John 8:32). This
makes it plain that they are not saved. The new nature will ever recognize the
presence of sin in the body, as in the case of Paul (Rom. 7:14-25). This new
nature has in it the enlightening unction of the Spirit (1 John 2:27) and
partakes of the nature of God Himself (2 Pet. 1:4), being
created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24). It cannot be blind to
sin.
5. LOVE OF GOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
John 8:42; Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 5:17; 1 John
4:16-19. Along with the consciousness of indwelling sin will be a love of God
and righteousness, just as in the case of Paul. He found sin in the body, yet
he delighted in the law of God after the inward man.
6. A LIFE THAT IS OBEDIENT AS TO ITS MAIN TREND
John 14:21-24; Rom. 6:14; 8:6,13; Gal. 5:24; 1 John 1:6; 2:4, 15;
3:8,9; 2 John 6. The life of the saved person will not be perfect, but it will
be righteous and obedient as to its main trend. For further discussion of this
matter, see treatment of 1 John 2:4.
1 John 3:3. While the believer never attains sinless perfection in
this life, yet he ever wages war against his own sins.
1 John 3:14; 5:2. There is such an affinity between regenerated
persons that they love each other. One evidence of this love is that they
delight in the presence and fellowship of one another. But God has added
another test of our love of the brethren. If we love God and keep His commandments, we know that we love the children of God.
See second Scripture above. So we are brought back again to the matter of
obedience to God.
9. PATIENT CONTINUANCE TO THE END
Matt. 10:22; Rom. 11:22; Phil. 1:6; Col.
1:23; 1 John 3:9; 5:4. Perseverance is as much a doctrine of Scripture as is
preservation. By God's preservation of us we are made to persevere. These two
doctrines are perfectly consistent, and need to be held and preached as twin
truths. None will reach Heaven except those who hold out to the end and
overcome the world. See promises to overcomers in Rev. 3 and 4. No promises to
others. But all of the regenerated will overcome (1 John 5:4).