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In the initial stage of God’s full salvation the believers experience God’s calling, the Spirit’s sanctification, and their repentance, believing, being baptized, being joined to the Triune God, and being redeemed. In the same stage the believers also experience their being regenerated, receiving the Holy Spirit, obtaining the eternal life, being renewed, being transferred, being freed, and thereby being made a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The believers’ being made a new creation is the most crucial part, even the lifeline, of God’s full salvation. The believers are made a new creation first through regeneration. God’s redemption, including the forgiveness of sins, washing, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation to God, is for the regeneration of the believers. The reason God forgives us, washes us, sanctifies us, justifies us, and reconciles us to Himself is that we may be regenerated. Our concept might have been that as long as we could be forgiven of our sins and be justified before God, we would have no problems. However, what God’s salvation has accomplished includes much more than this. Through God’s salvation we not only obtain an outward position that is acceptable to God, but we also are regenerated within to receive a life that is pleasing to God.
Man needs regeneration because man is born of the flesh and is of the flesh (John 3:6). Regardless of how we feel about ourselves, in reality we are from the flesh and of the flesh. That which is from the flesh and of the flesh is flesh. The flesh is born in sin (Psa. 51:5) and is from sin; it is sold under sin (Rom. 7:14) and is of sin. In the flesh there is nothing good (Rom. 7:18); there is only wickedness. The flesh is weak and unprofitable in the things of God (Rom. 8:3; John 6:63), and it is desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9) and incurable. Furthermore, the flesh is enmity against God; it is not and cannot be subject to the law of God, and it cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8). Being estranged from the life of God (Eph. 4:18), the flesh has nothing to do with God. Moreover, the flesh cannot be changed (Jer. 13:23). Regardless of how much it is changed outwardly, its inward nature cannot be changed at all. No matter how it is changed, it is still the flesh. The flesh is the flesh, and it can never be changed to spirit (John 3:6). Only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and only it can receive God’s life and partake of the divine nature, escaping the corruption which is in the world by lust (2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, man needs to be regenerated, that is, to be born of the Spirit, to be born of God, who is the Spirit.
Many think that man needs to be regenerated because man is evil. The fact is that man, whether good or evil, is from the flesh and of the flesh; hence, man needs to be regenerated. We need to be regenerated not only because our life is evil, but because our life is the life of the flesh, not the life of God. Even if our life were good, it still would be the human life, not the divine life. Regardless of how good and pure the human life might be, it still is not the divine life that God desires. Hence, man needs to be regenerated that he may receive God’s life.
Man needs to be regenerated that he may enter into the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus said that man must be born anew (John 3:7), for unless a man is born anew, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). This word reveals that regeneration is the unique entrance into the kingdom of God.
A kingdom is always related to life. The vegetable kingdom is constituted of the vegetable life, and the animal kingdom, of the animal life. If you intend to share in a certain kind of kingdom, you first need the life of that kingdom. Man and God have two entirely different lives and are in two different realms, in two different kingdoms. In order to enter into the kingdom of God, man must have the life of God, and if he has the life of God, spontaneously he can participate in the kingdom of God. However, in order to have the life of God, man needs to be regenerated. Therefore, man must be regenerated that he may have the divine life and enter into the divine kingdom. Because man’s life does not correspond to God’s nature, it cannot qualify man to enter into God’s kingdom. Even if man had not been corrupted, man still would need to be regenerated that he may have God’s life and correspond to God’s nature. Only then can he enter into the kingdom that matches God’s nature, which is the kingdom of God.
To be regenerated means to be born anew. This is why Nicodemus thought that a man needed to enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born (John 3:4). He understood correctly the literal sense of the words “born anew,” but he appreciated incorrectly the significance of rebirth, or regeneration. To be regenerated is to be born anew, but it does not mean to enter into the mother’s womb and be born a second time.
To be regenerated is to be born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). Whoever is born of the flesh receives the human life, which is of the flesh; whoever is born of God obtains the divine life, which is of the Spirit. Hence, as the regenerated ones, we have received the divine life in addition to our human life.
To be regenerated is to be born from above. John 3:3 says, “Unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Here the word “anew” in Greek is the same word as “from above” in John 3:31. Hence, to be born anew also means to be born from above. When we were born the first time of our parents, we were born of the earth, from below, and the human life of the flesh which we received was out of the earth and of the earth. But when we are born the second time of God, that is, when we are born again, we are born from above, from heaven, and the divine life of the Spirit which we receive is from heaven and of heaven. Hence, to be regenerated is to be born from above to receive the heavenly life.
To be born anew is to be born of water and the Spirit. In John 3:5 the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” The Lord’s word here concerning being born of water and the Spirit refers to the birth through the water of baptism preached by John the Baptist and through the Holy Spirit given by the Lord.
Water here signifies death and burial for the termination of the repentant people; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and resurrection for the germination of the terminated ones. This water denotes and signifies the all-inclusive death of Christ. The believers have been baptized into this death (Rom. 6:3), burying not only their old man but also their sins, the world, and their past life and history; they have also been separated from the God-rejecting world and from its corruption. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, who is also the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). To be baptized into the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into the Spirit of Christ, into Christ Himself (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and even into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), which is joined to Christ in one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Through baptism in water and in the Spirit, the believers in Christ have been regenerated, leaving all the old things of man and entering into the kingdom of God, into the realm of the divine life and the divine ruling (John 3:3), that they may live by God’s eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom.
To be born anew is to be born of the Spirit in our spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit regenerates our human spirit with God’s divine life. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” In this verse, the first Spirit is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God; the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with the divine life, the eternal, uncreated life of God. Hence, when we are regenerated, the divine Spirit dispenses the divine life, the divine element, into our spirit, enlivening it (Col. 2:13) and making it a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26-27a). This new spirit is our regenerated spirit, our spirit which is born of the divine Spirit. Regeneration, therefore, is the Spirit begetting spirit.
Regeneration is accomplished according to the purpose and mercy of God the Father (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3). The Epistle of James tells us that God brought us forth according to His purpose, that we should be a certain firstfruit of His creatures. This is our divine birth, our regeneration. First Peter 1:3 also tells us that God the Father has regenerated us according to His great mercy. Mercy goes farther than grace. Grace is applied only to a worthy situation, but mercy reaches farther than grace, extending even to the unworthy ones. According to man’s condition, no one deserves God’s grace. Man is in distress and in a pitiful condition; hence, mercy is needed to bridge the gap between God and man. Therefore, as the fallen and undeserving ones, we have been regenerated according to the purpose and mercy of God the Father.
Regeneration is accomplished through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead (1 Pet. 1:3). On the one hand, the death of Christ redeemed us from our sins, and on the other hand, it released His life (John 12:24). Through the resurrection of Christ, His life entered into us to regenerate us. When He was resurrected, we, His believers, were all included in Him. Thus, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In this resurrection, He imparted the divine life into us and enlivened us with the divine life, bringing us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God, and making us the same as He is in the divine life and nature. This is regeneration. Hence, God the Father has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead.
Regeneration is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5, 8). Through His resurrection from among the dead, the Lord Jesus accomplished only the objective fact of our regeneration. Not until the Holy Spirit comes to operate in us and applies the objective fact to us do we have the subjective experience of regeneration. When the Holy Spirit comes, He first convicts us concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment (John 16:8). He causes us to see that we are sinful, that the Lord bore our sins for us that we might be justified, and that unless we believe in Him we shall be judged. Therefore, He convicts us of these things and causes us to repent. Immediately following this, He causes us to believe in the gospel and to receive the Lord Jesus and what He has accomplished for us. Thus we are regenerated, having received the life released by Christ through His death and resurrection.
Regeneration is accomplished through the word of God. First Peter 1:23 says, “Having been regenerated, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.” Here we are told that we have been regenerated of incorruptible seed. A seed is a container of life. The word of God as the incorruptible seed contains God’s life. Just as God’s life is living and abiding, so the word of God is also living and abiding. Through His living and abiding word of life, God conveys His life into our spirit for our regeneration.
After the accomplishment of the fact of regeneration by the Lord Jesus through His resurrection from among the dead, and after the operating work of the Holy Spirit, there is still the need of man’s believing (John 1:12-13; 3:15) that regeneration may actually take place. Although the Lord has accomplished the fact of regeneration and the Holy Spirit is also moving and working, unless a person believes, he cannot be regenerated. In order to be regenerated, a person needs to believe, and he needs only to believe and not to do anything else. When a person believes into the name of the Lord and receives the Lord as his Savior, he is regenerated, that is, he is born of God and receives God’s life with the authority to be a child of God.
The first result of our being regenerated is that we receive the life of God (John 3:15-16; 1 John 5:11-13). Since regeneration is the impartation of God’s eternal life into our spirit by the divine Spirit, the first and primary thing we receive through regeneration is, of course, the eternal life of God.
The eternal life of God is the contents of God, even God Himself. All that God is and all that is in God are in the life of God. God’s nature and all of the divine capabilities and functions in God are contained within this life. Therefore, when we receive God’s eternal life, we receive all that God is in Himself and all that is in God, and we have God’s nature and the capabilities and function in God Himself. Hence, we can be as God is and do what God does, that is, we can be like God and live God out.
By being regenerated we have become the children of God (John 1:12-13). Since to be regenerated is to be born of God and to obtain God’s life, regeneration automatically causes us to become the children of God, bringing us into a relationship with God in life and nature. The life we receive from God through regeneration enables us to become the children of God, and this life is also our authority to be His children. As God’s children, who have God’s life and nature, we can be like God, live God, and express God, thus fulfilling the purpose of God’s creation of man.
We have been regenerated to become the firstfruit of God’s new creation among His creatures. James 1:18 tells us that God has regenerated us by the word of truth according to His own purpose. The word of truth is the word of the divine reality, of what the Triune God is (John 1:14, 17), which word is the seed of life (1 Pet. 1:23). Through this seed of life, God’s word of life, God imparts the divine life into us, regenerating us to be the firstfruit of the new creation to participate in His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), that we may be filled with the vigorous life that matures first for the realization of His eternal purpose.
We have been regenerated unto a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3). Through regeneration God enlivens us with His life, bringing us into a relationship of life and nature, an organic union, with Him. Hence, regeneration issues and results in a living hope, a hope of life. This hope in our pilgrimage today is for the future. It is not a hope of objective things, but a hope of life, even the eternal life, with all the endless divine blessings. Formerly, in Adam we all were dead. Our destination was the tomb, and our destiny was death. We were born to die. Everything related to us, in particular, any expectation for the future, was dead. Furthermore, we had no hope and were without God in the world. But because of His mercy, God has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ, so that we all have been made alive in Christ unto the hope of life. Now the resurrected Christ has become our life within to completely swallow up death, that every aspect of our being may become living and every part may be “lifted.” Thus, we have the hope that everything related to us will be living and will be “lifted.” Regeneration therefore results in a living hope, a hope of life.
The living hope, the hope of life, which is brought to the regenerated believers through regeneration, may be likened to the various expectations for the future brought to the parents through the birth of a newborn babe. Expectations such as the child’s growing up, obtaining an education, entering into a career, getting married, and raising a family all are hinged on the life of the newborn child. Likewise, the life which we have received through regeneration also enables us to have a hope with numerous aspects for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity. In this age we have the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of manifesting our gifts, of exercising our functions, of being transformed, of overcoming, of being redeemed in our body, and of entering into glory. In the coming age we have the hope of entering into the kingdom, of reigning with the Lord, and of enjoying the blessings of the eternal life in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. In eternity we have the hope of being in the New Jerusalem for the full participation in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity. This living hope, the hope of life, is hinged on the eternal life which we have received through regeneration. Only this divine life can enable us to grow in life until we enter into the reality of the hope to which we were brought. Thus we will obtain the various blessings mentioned earlier as our inheritance, an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, kept for eternity (1 Pet. 1:3-4).
Through God’s salvation we not only obtain an outward position that is acceptable to God, but we also are regenerated within to receive a life that is pleasing to God and to become His new creation. Man needs regeneration because man is born of the flesh and is of the flesh, which is desperately wicked, incurable, and unchangeable. Even if man had not been corrupted, the life that he possesses still is not the divine life that God desires. Therefore, man must be regenerated to receive the divine life. Only then can he correspond to God’s nature and enter into the kingdom that matches God’s nature, that is, the kingdom of God. To be regenerated is to be born of God to receive the divine life in addition to our human life, to be born from above to receive the heavenly life of God, and to be born of water and the Spirit, that the believers may leave all the old things and enter into the kingdom of God to live by God’s eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom. To be regenerated is also to be begotten of the Spirit in our spirit, that is, to be regenerated in our human spirit by the Holy Spirit with the divine life. Regeneration is accomplished in us according to God’s purpose and mercy, through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead, through the work of the Holy Spirit, which causes man to repent and believe, and by God’s living and abiding word of life. Regeneration first results in our receiving the eternal life of God and participating in all that God is, in all that is in God, in God’s nature, and in God’s capabilities and functions. Hence, we can be as He is and do what He does, that is, we can be like Him and live Him out. Furthermore, regeneration causes us to have the authority to be the children of God, and it also enables us to become the firstfruit of His new creation, full of the vigorous life that matures first. Finally, regeneration issues in a living hope, even the eternal life, with all the endless divine blessings. This hope is a hope with many aspects for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity. It includes the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of entering into glory, of reigning with the Lord, and of participating fully in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity, which blessings will be an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, kept for eternity for us.
