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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:8-9; John 1:1, 4; Rom. 5:10, 18b
I. God’s original desire and purpose:
А. To be life to man — Gen. 2:8-9.
B. With the tree of life as a symbol — v. 9; Rev. 2:7b; 22:2, 14, 19.
II. God’s full salvation consisting of two great elements — redemption and salvation:
А. God’s redemption, with the precious blood of Christ as the focus, meeting the need in the judicial aspect — Rom. 3:20-26; Eph. 1:7.
B. God’s salvation, with the life of Christ (the life of God) as the focus, meeting the need for authority (power) — Rom. 5:10.
C. God’s redemption dealing with man’s fall; God’s salvation carrying out God’s intention, which is to give Himself as the Spirit to be life to man — 2 Cor. 3:6.
D. The redemption through Christ’s precious blood laying the foundation and paving the way for the salvation in God’s life — Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:17b-18, 21b.
E. The four major steps of God’s salvation in life — regeneration, transformation, conformation, and glorification.
III. The definition of regeneration:
А. To be begotten of God — John 1:13.
B. To have God’s eternal life in addition to man’s natural life — 3:16.
IV. God’s ordination:
А. That man, who was chosen and created by God, should be regenerated in addition to being created — Gen. 2:9a.
B. That man, who was fallen and dead in sins, should be redeemed and regenerated — Acts 11:18.
V. The accomplishment of regeneration — 1 Pet. 1:3:
А. Through Christ’s resurrection.
B. At the time of Christ’s resurrection.
VI. The experience of regeneration:
А. Everyone who believes into Christ experiencing the regeneration, which was accomplished through Christ’s resurrection — John 3:7.
B. At the time they repent and believe into Christ — v. 15.
VII. The way to experience regeneration:
А. To be born of water — v. 5:
1. To be convicted concerning sin — 16:8-11.
2. To repent and confess our sins — Acts 2:38.
B. To be born of the Spirit — John 3:5:
1. To call on and receive Christ — Rom. 10:13; John 1:12.
2. To believe into Christ — 3:36a.
VIII. The issue of regeneration:
А. Becoming children of God with the divine life and the divine nature — 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:4; cf. Eph. 4:18.
B. Being members of the household of God, those who are of the household of the faith — 2:19; Gal. 6:10.
C. Being indwelt by the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — Eph. 4:6b; Rom. 8:10a; John 14:17.
D. Becoming the brothers of Christ and being begotten of God the Father with Christ to become the many sons of God — Rom. 8:29b; Heb. 2:10-12.
E. Being the members of Christ to be the increase of Christ — 1 Cor. 12:27; John 3:30a.
F. Constituting the Body of Christ as the fullness, the expression, of Christ — Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:23.
G. Becoming the new creation — 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15.
H. Becoming a part of the new man — Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11.
I. Entering into the kingdom of God and becoming citizens of God — John 3:5; Eph. 2:19.
J. Being citizens in the heavens — Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:6b.
K. Being Israel, God’s elect — Gal. 6:16.
In this Chinese New Year’s conference we will specifically consider the subject of God’s salvation in life. Salvation in life means that God comes into us as life to save us. This salvation in life is not outward but inward because it is God Himself coming into us to be our life.
God’s desire and purpose in creating man is that He may be man’s life (Gen. 2:8-9), and this is symbolized by the tree of life (v. 9; Rev. 2:7b; 22:2, 14, 19). The Bible is a wonderful book. At the beginning, in the first two chapters, it speaks of how God created the universe with all the things therein, including mankind. After reading these two chapters we may ask, “After creating man, what did God want man to do?” The readers will be surprised and also a little disappointed to learn that after God had created man, instead of telling man what to do, He prepared a garden for man. Those who have studied the Bible refer to this garden as “Paradise,” the garden of Eden. God brought the created man into the garden and wanted him to live there.
There were two special trees in the garden. Actually, there were many trees in the garden, but two of them were special. One was called the tree of life. We all have heard of the apple tree, the grape vine, the apricot tree, and others, but we probably have not heard of the tree of life. The tree of life at the beginning of the Bible has become a big problem to Bible readers. Genesis 2 was written three thousand five hundred years ago. Since then, readers of the Bible have been asking, “What is the tree of life?” However, no one can answer that question. Not only so, after mentioning the tree of life in the first two chapters, the Bible does not mention it again until at the end. In the Bible from Genesis 2, thousands of other things are mentioned, but you do not see the tree of life again until the very end of the sixty-six books. In the last two chapters of the entire Scriptures the tree of life reappears. This shows us that the Bible begins with the tree of life, and it also ends with the tree of life. The tree of life is the beginning and the conclusion of the Bible. Therefore, it must be something significant.
The tree of life in Genesis 2 shows us the desire of God. What was God’s desire concerning man when He created man? The Bible tells us that God created man in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26). Actually, what God created was not a man but a “god.” For example, if you try to make a dog, but you make it according to the human face and body, people would say that that is not a dog but a man. Genesis shows us that God created a man, but what He created had the appearance of God because this man looked like God in image and in likeness.
The Bible tells us that God created the heavens, the earth, the animals, the plants, and the creeping things, and then He created man. If you say that what God created was a man, I may argue with you and say that this man was actually God. What was God’s purpose in creating such a God-resembling man? In Genesis 2 we see that God placed the created man in front of the tree of life. This is very significant. God’s intention was for Adam to eat of the tree of life. Dietitians tell us that we are what we eat. Those who eat the tree of life will look like the tree of life.
What is the tree of life? This requires a careful study of the Bible. After Genesis 2, which mentions the tree of life, you must continue to read until you come to the Psalms. Psalm 36 says, “They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. / For with You is the fountain of life” (vv. 8-9a). Here life is mentioned again; Psalm 36 tells us that in God there is the fountain of life. In other words, God is the source of life. When you dwell in the house of God, the source of life is placed before you, and it is for you to enjoy. What this picture means is that God’s desire is to work Himself into man to be man’s life. How can God be wrought into man? It is by the way of eating. It is no wonder that when the Lord Jesus came, He told us in John 6 that He is the bread of life (v. 35); then He said that those who eat Him shall live because of Him (v. 57b). Not only so, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word,...and the Word was God,” and then verse 4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Moreover, John 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” From these verses we can see clearly that the tree of life is God Himself.
As Spirit, God is mysterious and invisible to man. Therefore, He used the tree as a symbol, an allegory. When you see this tree, you will wonder, “To whom does this picture refer?” This is neither an apple tree nor a peach tree; it is the tree of life. What is life? We know that there is the plant life, there is the animal life, there is the human life, and there is the divine life. Life is always mysterious. Therefore, to make it clear to us, it was not enough for God merely to use words to explain that He is life. Thus, He showed us a picture. When you see this tree, gradually you will realize that you must eat this tree. This means that you need to receive God into you to be your life. Therefore, the tree of life in Genesis 2 expresses the heart’s desire of God, which is that God wants to enter into man.
John 3:16 says that God loves the world. However, our understanding of this word is too shallow. That God loves the people of the world does not mean that He merely likes them; rather, He loves them to the uttermost, to the extent that He wants to enter into them. In the entire universe there are thousands and millions of items created by God, but that which is the most precious to Him is man, because man is His object to be a vessel to contain Him. God desires to be in man. Therefore, at the beginning the Bible expresses the desire of God, and at the end it shows us again the purpose of God. The sixty-six books of the Bible give a record of God’s works, the ultimate consummation of which is that man can receive God as the tree of life. As the tree of life, God will grow within man to be man’s life. This is God’s purpose.
After God created man, He wanted man to take in the tree of life; that is, He wanted man to receive God Himself into him to be his life supply. However, in the universe besides God there is another one, who in the Bible is called the devil. Before man ate of the tree of life and would thereby receive God, the devil seduced man to eat of another tree and receive him. The devil is symbolized by the other special tree in the garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When man ate of that other tree, the devil entered into him. Before God could enter into man, the devil entered into him. Once the devil entered into man, the evil nature of the devil was mingled with the nature of man.
There are two schools of thought among the Chinese sages. One school says that man is evil by nature, and the other school maintains that man is good by nature. Is man’s nature good or evil? Both schools have their bases. The man whom God created originally was considered by God as very good because man was created in God’s image. God is love, God is light, God is holiness, and God is righteousness. Therefore, according to these divine attributes, God created man also to be love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Within us, we prefer light to darkness. Moreover, we have love; we love our parents, we love our relatives, we love our neighbors, we love our schoolmates, and we love others. We are also holy; we do not like to drift with the worldly people. Furthermore, we like to be righteous and just. We all have these characteristics within us. But we have discovered that we also have the evil nature in us. Are we good or evil? According to the Holy Scriptures, we are good with regard to God’s creation, but with regard to the devil’s corruption we are evil. Therefore, fallen man is quite complicated. We have the devil and sin within us. The sin within us is also called “the evil” (Rom. 7:21). In Romans 7 Paul says that sin dwells in us (vv. 17, 20). Because it can dwell in us, we know that sin is not dead but living. This is what the apostle Paul calls “the evil.”
Not only so, man has transgressions outwardly, so he is a transgressor. Thus, inwardly we are sinners, and outwardly we are transgressors. We are sinners within and transgressors without. As a sinner within, we have greed, lust, and other wickedness. As a transgressor without, we lie, cheat, steal, and do whatever evil things we like to do. The older one becomes, the more shrewd and cunning he becomes. An older person becomes shrewd within and cunning without. When a person gets older, the sin within him also becomes older; hence, he becomes an experienced sinner. When a man gets older, he becomes older in his outward transgressions and thus becomes an experienced transgressor.
Since man became so corrupt, did God then abandon him? No, God so loved man that He would not give him up. Furthermore, God has His eternal purpose. God could not allow Himself to be so easily defeated by Satan. Therefore, He brought in redemption. Redemption was added because man became fallen and was corrupted and thereby became a sinner and a transgressor. In order to use man again as His vessel, God had to thoroughly deal with his situation. God had to rescue man, cleanse man, and make man complete again before He could dwell in him. According to His righteous law, God was obligated to do this. Also according to common logic, God had to do this. God had to first carry out redemption for man before He could use him. Therefore, there are two elements in God’s full salvation. First, God came to redeem; second, He came to save. Redemption was to meet the need in the judicial aspect. Suppose God ignored the fact that man had been corrupted and still used man for His purpose. Then the angels and the devil would shake their heads and say, “You are a God of righteousness, light, holiness, and glory. How can You use such a dirty, base, corrupted, evil, and filthy man? This is not right judicially.” Therefore, God’s redemption, with the precious blood of Christ as its focus, was necessary in order to meet the need of the judicial aspect (3:20-26; Eph. 1:7).
Although man would want to be God’s vessel, it is such a pity that in this universe there is an evil power, symbolized by the other tree in the garden. In our surrounding environment, whether in our school, our office, or our society, there is an evil power enticing us not to do good but to do evil. Therefore, although you have made up your mind to do good, it is not up to you when you are surrounded by the power of evil. This is not a matter of redemption but a matter of salvation. In this full salvation that God has prepared for us fallen sinners, one of its elements is to redeem us, and the other element is to save us. God’s salvation is to save us from the evil power that is within us, around us, and above us. Hence, God’s salvation, with the life of Christ (the divine life) as the focus, is to meet the need for authority, for power (Rom. 5:10).
Because of the fall, man now has a sinful nature within him. I have been saved for seventy years, and I have been studying the Bible also for seventy years. In these seventy years I have contacted all kinds of people and have discovered that in man’s sinful nature there are four “monsters.” Every one of us, whether young or old, noble or base, has these four monsters. The first monster is covetousness. When you see someone who has a nice pen on his desk, you begin to think, “How good it would be if he gave me the pen.” This is covetousness, out of which comes stealing. The second monster is lust. Look at society today. Children who are still in elementary school begin to be attracted to the opposite sex, and old men with white hair still go to dancing parties; this is lust. The third monster is pride. Everyone seeks vainglory and craves high positions. In a certain university in America, among the top students there was a student in second place who tried to kill the best student. It is a wonder that someone would even try to commit murder in order to become number one. Pride and vainglory are in all of us. In politics the one who is a bureau director desires to be a department head. After becoming a department head, he wants to be the vice-president, and after becoming the vice-president, he hopes to be the president. After that I do not know what else he would want to be. Maybe he would like to go to heaven and make himself like God just as the devil desired. Many important persons in the government fight with one another because of their love for vainglory and their struggle for power and position. This is pride.
Finally, there is the top monster, and the name of this monster is anger. Do not consider anger to be a small thing. When a person is angry, he easily becomes enraged and gets furious. Then in his fury he will quarrel and fight. I know these things because while preaching the gospel and teaching the truth, I mainly contact and serve people. For example, there was a very good couple, both about thirty years old. One day the husband was offended in the office and was still full of anger after he left the office and got into his car. He wanted to find a place to vent his anger and thought that he could do it at home with his wife. By coincidence, on that day the wife was also full of anger at home because the children had been unruly, a neighbor had come to quarrel with her, and a relative had scolded her over the telephone. Thus, when the husband got home, it was a situation of anger versus anger. When these two came face to face, both became inflamed with anger. When anger comes, who can overcome it? When the husband and wife are angry, they become enraged and get into a fury; then they quarrel and fight. Eventually, they either separate or get a divorce. Therefore, covetousness, lust, pride, and anger are the four monsters within us that cause us to not behave properly as human beings.
Every day we are under the manipulation of these four monsters: covetousness, lust, pride, and anger. Every one of us fallen sinners has become unseemly because of these four monsters. There are many things you do in secret that you dare not tell anyone. There are some things you do in secret that you would not tell your parents. There are other things that you would not reveal to your wife or that you would not let your husband know. God created us in His image and according to His likeness, yet we are not like Him. We have become unruly and have gone astray because of the sinful nature that is within us.
Therefore, first we need redemption, and second we need salvation. God’s redemption is to deal with man’s fall, whereas God’s salvation is to carry out God’s intention, which is to give Himself as the Spirit to be life to man (2 Cor. 3:6). It is notable that the founders of the religions of the world did not have the term redemption. What they taught is the need to atone for mistakes by meritorious service. Do you think you have merits? Even if you did, what about your former sins? Only the Bible tells us clearly that the Lord Jesus came to accomplish redemption for our sins. He not only redeems us but also saves us by giving Himself as the Spirit to be our life.
The redemption through Christ’s blood lays the foundation and paves the way for salvation in God’s life (Acts 11:18; Rom. 5:17b-18, 21b). One day, four thousand years after man was created, God was incarnated to become a man, and His name was Jesus. At that time God came and entered into man to be joined with man as one. Thus, He was God, and He was also man. His becoming a man effected His union with the human race. You and I are included in Him. One day He went to the cross and shed His blood to die for us, to bear our sins, and to solve all our problems.
The death of Christ on the cross is a mysterious death. Since He was in union with mankind, when He died as a man, we also were brought by Him to the cross to die there. This is a very mysterious teaching in the Bible. The Bible tells us that we are crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). He brought us, as mankind, with Him to the cross to be put to death there. Therefore, when He was crucified, we also were crucified in and with Him. Then He was resurrected, and in His resurrection He imparted God to us to be our life. Romans 5:17b shows that the grace and the gift of righteousness, which were brought to us through Christ’s redemption, can be abundant to such a degree that we are able to reign in the life of God — not only to overcome but even to conquer and reign over all things.
In the universe among the human race there is such a history. There was a man who was openly crucified, but three days after He was buried, He was resurrected. When He was resurrected, we also were resurrected with Him. In resurrection He imparted God to us. Therefore, the Bible says that we were crucified with Him, and we were raised up together with Him. To be crucified with Him is for redemption, and to be raised up with Him is for salvation. The salvation of God is carried out by His imparting Himself to us to be in us through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, today we are also the resurrected ones in Him.
The Lord is in us, that is, in our spirit. He wants not only to be born in us but also to live and move with us day by day. When we speak, He participates. Whatever we do, He is with us. This is unknown to the unbelievers. The unbelievers think that to believe in Jesus is to believe in a religion and reform one’s outward behavior. However, the Bible teaches us that God is life, and that apart from Him there is no life. Only His life is the eternal life. This God who is life wants to enter into man to be man’s life. He created man in order that man might be a vessel to contain Him. Therefore, today anyone who is without God or without Christ is an empty man; he does not have reality. The reality of man is Christ, who is God. God Himself was incarnated to be a man. In this man, He brought the human race to the cross to die there with Him. Then He brought the human race with Him to be resurrected, and in this resurrection He regenerated those whom He had chosen.
The Christ who died and resurrected was God incarnated to be a man to die for us and to bring us with Him into His resurrection. In resurrection He was transfigured to be the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, God, Christ, and the Spirit are not three separately. God is Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. Today, as the life-giving Spirit, Christ applies God’s redemption and salvation to us. God’s salvation in life consists of four major steps: regeneration, transformation, conformation, and glorification. In this chapter we will look at the first step of God’s salvation in life, which is regeneration.
Regeneration does not mean that “all the things of the past died yesterday and all the things henceforth are born today,” as some may think. Nor is it a so-called daily self-renovation. Regeneration is to be begotten of God (John 1:13) and to have the life of God in addition to the natural life of man (3:16). When God begets us within, His life enters into us. The apostle Paul says, “It is no longer I who live” (Gal. 2:20a). Our old “I” has been crucified with Christ. We have died. Our baptism shows that we have also been buried. Now it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. Paul also says that Christ, the One who died and rose from the dead, is our life (Col. 3:4a). These are clear words from the Bible, and our Christian life can also testify to these matters. Why do we pray every day? Why do we have morning watch every day? We do these things so that we may draw near to the Lord and come before Him to call on Him. Our calling on Him is our breathing of Him. He as the Spirit is like the air. When we call on Him and pray to Him, we breathe Him in, and He enters into us. We all can testify that if in the morning we do not pray or call on Him, we feel empty and restless throughout the day. When we call on Him, we have the Lord within us.
God in His salvation ordained that man, who was chosen and created by Him, should be regenerated in addition to being created (Gen. 2:9a).
God also ordained that man, who was fallen and dead in sins, should be redeemed and regenerated (Acts 11:18).
Regeneration was accomplished through Christ’s resurrection and at the time of Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). Actually, it was not at the time of our believing that we were regenerated. Rather, we were regenerated two thousand years ago when Christ was resurrected. God had already chosen and predestinated us, the believers, before the ages. Before the foundation of the world, when the heavens and the earth were not yet in existence, and before we were born, God chose us. Then God used these thousands of years for us, His chosen ones, to be born into the environment He had appointed. After we were born, God again arranged various circumstances and caused us to experience different situations. God created all kinds of environments in order to save us.
At the time of our repentance and believing, every one of us who believed into Christ (John 3:15) experienced the regeneration (v. 7) accomplished through Christ’s resurrection. Through this regeneration God entered into us to be our life. He lives with us and moves with us. When we speak, He speaks with us. He lives in us as our life, and we are His living. He is our content, and we are His expression.
The way that the believers experience regeneration has two aspects. The first aspect is to be born of water (v. 5) by being convicted concerning sin (16:8-11) and by repenting of and confessing our sins (Acts 2:38).
The second aspect of the way that the believers experience regeneration is to be born of the Spirit (John 3:5) by calling on and receiving Christ (Rom. 10:13; John 1:12) and by believing into Christ (3:36a). When a person hears the gospel, his conscience is touched, and he is convicted. Thus, he repents, confesses his sins, and calls on the Lord Jesus. Once he confesses, prays, and calls on the Lord Jesus, something happens within him. He feels that someone has come into him. Previously he was alone, but now there is another One within him. This One gives him joy and peace. This One does not merely change him but transforms him. I was born into Christianity, grew up in Christianity, and was educated in Christianity. However, I reached the age of nineteen and was still not saved. But one day I heard the gospel, and I could not help but believe. I confessed my sins to the Lord, and I prayed. I became different. I used to like certain things, but after I was saved, I did not like them anymore. At that time I was only nineteen years old, but I began to love to read the Bible. I read the Bible constantly from morning until evening. When I was ready to go to sleep, I placed my Bible beside my pillow, and I would still read a couple of verses before turning out the light. Then when I woke up in the morning, I would reach for my Bible to read. Many of us can give the same kind of testimony.
First, the Lord Jesus died on the cross for our redemption. Then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit. Now He is omnipresent, and He has come to us. Millions of people can testify to this. In 1942 we were having a big gospel campaign during the time of the New Year festival in my hometown of Chefoo. Someone from Manchuria who was working in the customs office and who made a lot of money came to see me after these meetings. He said to me, “Mr. Lee, your messages have clearly shown me all the problems within me. I have no questions at all, and I am ready to believe. Please tell me how to believe that I may receive what you have spoken in your messages.” I said, “It’s very simple. When you go home today, try to find a quiet place. Then pray to the Lord Jesus and confess your sins to Him. According to the feeling in your conscience, confess all your sins, one by one, from your youth until now. At the end you should call on the Lord Jesus.” When he went home, it was not too late but not that early either. His wife and children were waiting for him. Formerly, he liked to joke with them, but this day when he came home, he was very solemn and did not joke. Therefore, his wife and children took notice of him, and they saw him enter his bedroom and shut the door. The children looked through the window and saw him kneeling down and praying there. The next day when he went back to work at the customs office, he was a completely different person. There are many such stories. Why was he different? He was different because Someone had entered into him.
Everyone who is genuinely saved by believing into the Lord Jesus has Someone who has entered into him. This One is God, this One is Jesus, and this One is the life-giving Spirit. This is regeneration. When we are regenerated, we are born of God; that is, God is born into us. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.” These believers are born of God. We are born once of our parents. However, God’s original intention was to enter into man. Therefore, He redeemed us by dying on the cross for our sins; then He regenerated us by entering into us through His becoming the life-giving Spirit. Thus, He dwells in us to be our life.
Our being regenerated and having God living in us issue in the following eleven items.
The first issue of regeneration is that we become children of God with the divine life and the divine nature (v. 12; 2 Pet. 1:4; cf. Eph. 4:18).
The second issue of regeneration is that we are members of the household of God, those who are of the household of the faith (2:19; Gal. 6:10).
The third issue of regeneration is that we are indwelt by the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Eph. 4:6b; Rom. 8:10a; John 14:17). We have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as the Triune God dwelling in us.
The fourth issue of regeneration is that we become the brothers of Christ. We were begotten of God the Father with Christ to become the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29b; Heb. 2:10-12).
The fifth issue of regeneration is that we are the members of Christ to be the increase of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; John 3:30a). Originally Christ was alone by Himself; then He regenerated us one by one, and we all became His members, His increase. Therefore, John 3 first speaks of regeneration; then it speaks of us, the regenerated ones, being His increase, which is His counterpart and His bride.
The sixth issue of regeneration is that as the increase of Christ, we constitute the Body of Christ as the fullness, the expression, of Christ (Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:23). The Body of Christ is the church — the proper church, not the fallen, degraded church. The proper church is a group of people who believe into Christ, who have Christ living in them as their life, and who live out Christ from within. These are the members of Christ who constitute the Body of Christ, which is the church as the expression of the fullness of Christ.
The seventh issue of regeneration is that we become the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). According to what we are by being born of our parents, we are the old creation. But according to our being regenerated by God entering into us, we are the new creation. The old creation is solely man, whereas the new creation is man having God within him.
The eighth issue of regeneration is that we become a part of the new man (Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11).
The ninth issue of regeneration is that we enter into the kingdom of God and become citizens of God (John 3:5; Eph. 2:19).
The tenth issue of regeneration is that we are citizens in the heavens (Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:6b).
The eleventh issue of regeneration is that we are God’s elect, the real Israel (Gal. 6:16).
As Christians, are we men or God? Apparently we are men, but actually we are God as well as men. We are God-men. We can endure with rejoicing, and even with praising, what others cannot endure. We can be holy, whereas others cannot. In any situation, while others drift away with the worldly crowd, we are holy, sanctified. This is not we but God who lives out of us. As those who have been born of God, we have not only the divine life but also the divine nature. Originally, we did not have the divine nature. In our original, old nature are the four monsters of covetousness, lust, pride, and anger. Now we have the divine nature, which is the nature of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. What we live out are the virtues as manifestations of God’s attributes. The reason we Christians can surpass others in being loving, holy, just, and upright is not because of anything in ourselves but because God who lives in us lives out His attributes from within us. Once His attributes are lived out from us, the divine attributes become our human virtues. This is to live Christ and to manifest Christ — to take Christ as our life and live Him out as our living. Not only so, this nature of the divine life builds us together to constitute us the Body of Christ, which is His church. This is regeneration, which is the first great step of God’s salvation in life.
