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I. The need of regeneration.
II. The meaning of regeneration.
III. The accomplishment of regeneration:
А. Through the “finished” redemption of Christ.
B. Through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
C. Through man’s believing (regeneration occurring as soon as one believes).
IV. The results of regeneration.
V. The proof of regeneration.
VI. The security of regeneration.
Regeneration is a great subject in the Scriptures and a very important part of God’s salvation. The aspects of God’s salvation in the previous chapters — forgiveness, cleansing, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation with God — are all related to regeneration. God forgives us, cleanses us, sanctifies us, justifies us, and reconciles us to Himself so that He can regenerate us. Man assumes that he would be free from all problems if he only received the forgiveness of sins and was justified before God. But the salvation that God accomplished for us does not stop with these items. God’s salvation not only grants us an outward position of being accepted by Him but also involves our inward regeneration, through which we receive a life that pleases Him.
1. “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God”; “You must be born anew” (John 3:3, 7).
The Lord Jesus said that we must be born anew because unless we are born anew, we cannot see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the realm where God rules. In this realm God does His will and manifests all that He is, and everything is spiritual and heavenly. The fleshly and the earthly cannot understand what occurs in this realm. This is the meaning of cannot see. To understand, one must be born anew.
Every kind of life is a sphere, a kingdom with its own realm and boundaries, and the things in it can be apprehended only by those who possess its life. For example, the bird life exists in its own realm, and only those with a bird’s life and nature understand this realm. Those who are outside the sphere of birds cannot understand the things of the bird kingdom because they do not have the life of a bird or the function of a bird’s life. In the same way, the life of God has its own realm. This realm is the kingdom of God, and the things in it can be understood only by those who possess the life of God. Since man is outside the kingdom of God and without the life of God and the function of God’s life, he cannot understand things that belong to the kingdom and sphere of God. In order to see the kingdom of God, he must be regenerated and obtain the life of God.
No one can understand the things of a particular realm apart from the life of that realm. It is also impossible for the life of a lower realm to comprehend things that belong to a higher realm. How high is God’s life compared to man’s life! In order for man, who belongs to a lower realm, to understand the things of God’s higher realm, he must obtain the life of God’s higher realm. To possess this life, he must be regenerated.
Man and God have two fundamentally different lives in two different realms, two different kingdoms. In order for man in the human sphere to enter into the kingdom of God or the sphere of God, he must have the life of God. If a man has the life of God, he will share in the kingdom of God spontaneously. To possess the life of God, one must be born anew.
Many presume that a human being needs to be born anew because he is evil. However, we need to be regenerated whether we are good or evil. We need to be born again because our life is not the life of God, not merely because our life is evil. Even if our life is good, it is still only human. It is not the life of God, it does not have the function of God’s life, and it cannot understand or do the things of God. Therefore, even if our life is faultless, we still need to be born anew, to receive the life of God, so that we can understand the things of God’s realm and participate in the kingdom of God.
2. “Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6).
Our human life is incapable of understanding the things of God’s realm and God’s kingdom, and it is also of the flesh since it was born of the flesh. It does not matter how we feel about our own life; in actuality, our life is of the flesh and comes from the flesh. Whatever is of the flesh and comes from the flesh is flesh. The flesh is “brought forth in iniquity” (Psa. 51:5), originating from sin; it is “sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14) and belongs to sin; in it “nothing good dwells” (v. 18), and there is only evil; it is “weak” and “profits nothing” pertaining to the things of God (8:3; John 6:63); it is “incurable” (Jer. 17:9); it is at “enmity against God,” “not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be,” and it “cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7-8); it is “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4:18), having nothing to do with God; and it is unchangeable. Most people think that man can change for the better. This is especially true of the Chinese teachers of ethics who suggest that human beings can be reformed. Yet in the Bible, God uses two unchangeable things, the skin of a Cushite and the spots of a leopard, to illustrate how man cannot be changed. In essence, God is saying that if these two things could be changed, the flesh of man, or the man of flesh, could also be changed (Jer. 13:23).
However, the skin of a Cushite will never turn white. Even if the skin were painted white, it would still be essentially black. We all have considered changing ourselves for the better. In whatever way we might change, however, it would merely be like applying white paint on the outside. Inside we would still be dark. We also think that we can stop sinning. Even if we do not sin outwardly, we would still be sinful inwardly. We may succeed in changing our outward behavior, but we cannot alter our inward nature.
The leopard’s spots also cannot be changed. We may clothe a leopard with a spotless garment, but its spots will be untouched underneath. We may decorate and dress ourselves up on the outside, but inwardly we are still the same. We may change our outward form, but we cannot change our inward essence.
The man of the flesh, or the fleshly man, is unchangeable. No matter the amount of outward adjustment, our inward nature cannot be changed. Regardless of correction, a man of flesh is still the flesh. The flesh is the flesh, and it will never become the spirit. Only spirit can be born of the Spirit, and only what is born of the Spirit is spirit. To be born of the Spirit, there is the need of regeneration.
Since the kingdom of God is of God, it is also spiritual, because God is Spirit. Fleshly man can never have a part in a spiritual kingdom. In order for man to partake of this spiritual kingdom, he must have a spirit that is born of the Spirit. Therefore, he must be regenerated.
1. “Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
The literal meaning of regeneration is “to be born again.” Nicodemus understood this to mean that he had to enter into his mother’s womb a second time (3:4). Although he understood the meaning of the word regeneration, he misunderstood the significance of regeneration. Although, literally speaking, regeneration is a rebirth, the significance of regeneration is not about entering a mother’s womb to be born again. Regeneration involves receiving the Spirit. Even if we could reenter into our mother’s womb and be reborn, which is utterly impossible, we would still be flesh born of the flesh, not of the Spirit. Our spirit must be born of the Spirit. Only spirit can be born of the Spirit. To be born of the Spirit is to be born of God, for God is Spirit. Therefore, regeneration is to be born of God.
Regeneration is not a birth according to blood, according to the will of the flesh, or according to the will of man, which only enables man to receive another fleshly life. Rather, regeneration is to be born of God so that man may receive a spiritual life. We were originally born of blood, of the will of the flesh, and of the will of man. In our first birth we received a life of the human flesh, which cannot share in the kingdom of God. Therefore, we need to be born again of God so that we may receive God’s spiritual life and participate in God’s kingdom. Since this birth from God is a rebirth, it is regeneration.
2. “Born anew” (John 3:3).
In John 3:3 the word anew is synonymous with from above in verse 31; therefore, to be “born anew” also has the meaning of being “born from above.” Our first birth from our parents was from the earth and from below, since our parents were on the earth and below, but our second birth from God, regeneration, was a birth from the heavens and from above, since God is in the heavens and above. Since the regenerated life is from above, a regenerated person also delights in the things that are above. Whatever man’s life issues from and belongs to, it enjoys. A fleshly life of the earth likes the things of the earth because it is from the earth and belongs to the earth; a spiritual life from the heavens loves heavenly things because it is from the heavens and belongs to the heavens. Regeneration enables one to gain this heavenly life.
3. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Verse 5 is the Lord’s explanation of regeneration. When Nicodemus heard Him speak of regeneration, he thought that he had to go back into his mother’s womb and be born again. Therefore, the Lord explained that regeneration means to be born of water and the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is not related to going back into a mother’s womb and being born again of the flesh; rather, it involves being born of water and the Holy Spirit. Some think that being born of water means to be born of the word of the truth. They say that water refers to the word. But we do not agree with this because the Lord said that one must be born of water and the Spirit. The Spirit spoken of here is the Holy Spirit; all Bible scholars agree on this. Therefore, why should we think that the water spoken of here is more than just water; that is, what is the basis for interpreting it as the word? If we interpret the end of the verse literally, we should interpret the beginning of the verse literally. We should not interpret Spirit literally in the second part of the verse and interpret water spiritually in the first part of the verse. If we interpret water literally, it must refer to just water. In fact, John the Baptist had already spoken with the Pharisees about the matter of “water and the Spirit.” He said, “I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me...will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 3:11). He meant that he wanted the Pharisees to receive both the baptism in water that he preached and the baptism in the Holy Spirit that the Lord would give. The Pharisees, however, rejected the water baptism that he preached (Luke 7:29-30). Therefore, the Lord brought up the matter of water and the Spirit with Nicodemus who came to visit Him. When we read this word today, we do not easily understand what it refers to; however, when Nicodemus heard the Lord’s word, he was very clear that it referred to the water baptism preached by John the Baptist and to the Holy Spirit whom the Lord would give. Thus, the Lord’s speaking about being born of water and the Spirit was in reference to passing through the water of John’s baptism and to receiving the Holy Spirit given by the Lord in order to be regenerated.
The water baptism preached by John the Baptist requires people to repent and to confess that they are incurably corrupt and worthy only of death and to then enter into the waters of baptism to be buried and terminated. The Holy Spirit given by the Lord enables those who believe in Him to obtain life and be resurrected. Together these two things mean that one must repent, confessing that he is corrupt and worthy of death, believe in the Lord, and receive the life given by Him in the Spirit. After one passes through these two processes, he is regenerated. Thus, on the one hand, regeneration is a termination of the old self-life through repentance, and on the other hand, a receiving of new life in the Spirit through belief in the Lord.
4. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
Regeneration is of God’s Spirit, and through regeneration we obtain God’s life from God’s Spirit. In regeneration God’s Spirit enters into us and gives us His life. The life we obtain in regeneration is just the Spirit because in regeneration we obtain God’s spiritual life from God’s Spirit. In regeneration our spirit is born of the Spirit; that is, our human spirit is born of God’s Spirit.
5. “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
Because the life a person receives in regeneration is spiritual, it is invisible; it can be felt but not seen. Just as the wind can be felt without being seen, the life from God’s Spirit in regeneration has a power that can be felt without being seen. Although we cannot see this life, we can feel it; although we cannot show it to others, others can sense it. After being regenerated, we feel as if there is something marvelous within us. Even those around us can sense our marvelous condition. The marvelous thing within us is the life we gained in regeneration, and the marvelous condition that others sense is the expression of this life.
6. “I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 36:26).
Regeneration does not change our outward actions; rather, it changes our inward heart. It does not improve our old man; instead, it gives us a new spirit. Our old heart was stubborn and as hard as stone. When God regenerates us, He takes away our heart of stone and gives us a pliable new heart, one that is soft as flesh. Moreover, God puts a new spirit in us. Regeneration causes us to obtain a new heart and a new spirit, which begin to inwardly transform us.
1. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
The bronze serpent was lifted up on a pole to be judged by God in place of the sinning Israelites so that those who were poisoned and should have died would live when they looked at it. Similarly, the Lord Jesus was lifted up on the cross to be judged by God in place of us sinners so that we who deserve death would obtain eternal life as soon as we believe into Him. Thus, our deadened spirit within us could be enlivened and regenerated.
2. “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
The Lord Jesus was crucified not only to redeem us from our sins but also to release His life. He was a grain of wheat with God’s life hidden within Him. Without His death, God’s life would have remained only in Him, the unique grain of wheat, and would not have been released. When He died, He released the life of God that was hidden in Him into us, giving us His life and making us the many grains.
3. “Regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).
The Lord’s death released His life, and His resurrection caused His life to enter into us and regenerate us. Therefore, God regenerated us through the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.
The Lord’s death and resurrection accomplished redemption and everything for us so that we would be regenerated. On the one hand, His death redeemed us from all our sins, and on the other hand, it released His life. His resurrection caused His life to enter into us and regenerate us.
1. “Born of the Spirit” (John 3:8, see also v. 5).
From our perspective, the accomplishments of the Lord’s redemption are objective and outside of us; they still need to be worked into our spirit. Based on the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit works these accomplishments into us. While the Lord Jesus accomplished the fact of our regeneration, the Holy Spirit causes us to experience regeneration. The Holy Spirit comes to convict us concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (16:8). He causes us to see that we are sinful, that the Lord has borne our sins for the sake of our justification, and that if we do not believe in the Lord, we will be judged. The Spirit convicts us of these things. Then He uses the word of the truth, the gospel, to regenerate us (James 1:18; 1 Cor. 4:15). He convicts us and causes us to repent, and then He causes us to believe the gospel and to be regenerated by receiving the Lord Jesus and all His accomplished work on our behalf. By means of the living word of God, He operates in us, regenerating us (1 Pet. 1:23), causing us to receive the life that was released by God through the Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection.
1. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten...of God” (John 1:12-13).
In addition to the redemption of the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit, there is also the need for believing before one can be regenerated. The Lord accomplished redemption and the Holy Spirit is operating, but if man refuses to believe, he will not be regenerated. If one wants to be regenerated, he must believe. The only requirement is to believe. Whenever a person believes in the Lord and receives Him as his Savior, he is regenerated, begotten of God, and obtains the life of God and the authority to be a child of God.
2. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God” (1 John 5:1).
We must believe that Jesus is the Christ sent by God to be our Savior before we can obtain the life of God. We do not need to do anything but believe this in order for the Holy Spirit to enter into us, give us God’s life, and cause us to be regenerated, to be born of God.
3. “Everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life” (John 3:15).
The Lord Jesus accomplished everything that was needed for our regeneration. He did not leave anything for us to do except to believe in Him. The original meaning of believing in Him is to believe into Him or to be joined to Him by faith. The life of God is within Him, and we are joined to Him by faith; therefore, we spontaneously obtain the life of God within Him and are regenerated.
The only way for a person to be regenerated is to believe in the Lord. The Lord Jesus accomplished redemption, and He is waiting for us to believe. The Holy Spirit is also operating, hoping we will believe. As soon as we believe, the Holy Spirit immediately enters into us and regenerates us.
1. “Made us alive”; “Has the life”; “Has eternal life” (Eph. 2:5; 1 John 5:12; John 6:47).
In the past our spirit was deadened. Now that God has regenerated us, our deadened spirit has been made alive. We have the life of God, which is the eternal life.
2. “Become children of God”; “Partakers of the divine nature” (John 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:4).
Regeneration causes us to obtain the life of God, to have the authority to become children of God, and to partake of the divine nature. Regeneration causes us to obtain the divine life, which is our authority to become children of God. Once we have the life of God, we have the authority to become children of God. Moreover, this life causes us to partake of the divine nature. Regeneration makes us children of God with the same life and nature as God, and it makes us like God, loving what God loves and hating what God hates.
3. “I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezek. 36:26).
Regeneration also causes us to obtain a new heart and a new spirit. The new heart gives us new likes and preferences; the new spirit gives us new spiritual abilities and fellowship. In the past we did not like or prefer the things of God, and we did not fellowship with God or understand and practice the things of God. We had no heart for or interest in the things of God; we even felt strange, disoriented, and weak when we touched them. Now that we have a new heart and a new spirit, we not only love and prefer the things of God, but we can also fellowship with God and understand and practice the things of God. We have a heart for and an interest in these things, we are able to understand them, and we have the strength and ability to practice them. These are the results of our regeneration.
4. “I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36:27).
When God regenerates us, He not only gives us a new life, a new nature, a new heart, and a new spirit, but He also puts His Spirit within us to strengthen the new life within and the function of our new nature, to increase the interest of our heart for matters of God, and to reveal the spiritual things in our new spirit, making it strong, living, able to understand the things of God, and quick to carry out God’s will.
5. “Jesus Christ is in you” (2 Cor. 13:5).
Regeneration also causes us to have Jesus Christ in us. Regeneration gives us the Holy Spirit, who is the realization of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit abides in us. He is the Lord Jesus abiding in us as our life, power, and everything. Therefore, every regenerated person partakes of the Lord Jesus because he partakes of the Holy Spirit.
6. “He is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Regeneration not only gives us a new life, a new nature, a new heart, and a new spirit, but it also makes us a new creation. In the past we were the old creation, stained by sin and corrupted by Satan; now we are the new creation with God’s holy nature and reality. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.
7. “Enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Because regeneration makes us a new creation with the life and spiritual nature of God, it enables us to enter the kingdom of God and partake of His spiritual kingdom.
8. “Unto a living hope...unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens” (1 Pet. 1:3-4).
Regeneration also gives us a living hope and an inheritance in the heavens. This heavenly inheritance is spiritual, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. Anyone who wants to obtain this inheritance must also be heavenly, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, having a life with the same nature and condition as the inheritance. Since regeneration gives us a life with a nature that is heavenly, eternally unchanging, and unable to be defiled by sin, the world, or Satan, we can inherit such a spiritual, holy, eternal inheritance. Although we are still in the world and have not yet obtained the heavenly, better inheritance, we already have the heavenly life. This heavenly life causes us to live a heavenly life on earth today, and it will bring us into this heavenly inheritance in the future. This is a beautiful hope! It is given to us by regeneration.
1. “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16, see also v. 15).
The fact of our regeneration is something we can know now. As soon as we are regenerated, the Holy Spirit comes into us and witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God with His life and nature. After being saved, whenever we pray, we love to call God “Abba, Father.” Whenever we call Him “Abba, Father,” we feel so happy within. The more we call God “Father,” the more comfortable we are inside. This proves that we are regenerated children of God.
2. “I have written these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
We not only have the inward proof of the Holy Spirit telling us that we are regenerated, but we also have the outward proof of the Bible, the Word of God, which confirms this matter. First John 5:13 says that the preceding verses, which are also the Word of God, were written so that we, who believe into the name of the Son of God, would know that we have eternal life. God placed many words in the Bible that assuredly tell us that we have eternal life and are regenerated as soon as we believe into His Son. Therefore, from God’s Word, the Bible, we know that we have God’s eternal life and are regenerated.
3. “We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers” (1 John 3:14).
In addition to the Holy Spirit within and the Bible without, the love we have for our brothers in the Lord confirms that we are regenerated. Our love for the brothers lets us know that we have passed out of death into life. Because we ourselves were begotten of God, we spontaneously love the brothers who also have been begotten of God. Thus, our love for our brothers who are born of God is a proof that we are born of God and are regenerated.
1. “I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
Once we are regenerated, we will never perish. The Lord said that He gives us eternal life, so we will by no means perish forever. Eternal life is the eternal life of God that sustains us inwardly, so we will by no means perish forever. Moreover, we also have the Lord’s powerful hand keeping us outwardly, so no one can snatch us away.
In the past, there was a young black slave in America who heard the gospel and was very joyful when she heard this Bible verse. When she went back to her master’s house, she could not contain her joy. When one of her master’s friends saw her condition, the friend asked, “Why are you so happy?” She replied that she was in the Lord’s hand, and the Lord’s hand was so powerful that no one could snatch her away. The friend made a joke and said, “You better be careful! Do not be too happy! The Lord’s hand is so big and the cracks between His fingers are also big, but you are so small. If you are too happy and are not careful, you might fall through the cracks!” She said, “Sir, let me tell you that I also have the Lord’s life, and His life is in me, so I am the little finger on His hand and will never fall off!”
2. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:29).
After we are regenerated, we not only have the Lord’s powerful hand keeping us, but we also have the Father’s powerful hand keeping us. The Father is greater than all. Since both His hand and the Lord’s hand are keeping us, who can snatch us away and cause us to perish? Therefore, once we are regenerated, we are eternally secure. We will never perish.
