EXCERPTS FROM THE MINISTRY

WHAT IS REGENERATION?

God’s salvation is exceedingly full and complete. It includes forgiveness and cleansing of sins, redemption from the demands of the law, reconciliation to God, sanctification, justification, freedom from bondage, regeneration, and much more! Of all these aspects of salvation, only regeneration is related to life. It is by regeneration that the very life of God is imparted into us.

THE CENTER OF THE EXPERIENCE OF SALVATION

Regeneration is the center of the experience of salvation, because God’s central purpose in saving us is that we may have His life. It is for this that He has forgiven our sins and cleansed us; it is for this that He has sanctified and justified us; it is for this that He has set us free. He has accomplished all these things for one purpose—to regenerate us. Regeneration, therefore, is the central part of God’s salvation.

By regeneration we begin to experience the very life of God. Before we were regenerated, we had no dealings with the life of God. But now we have many experiences of the life of God because the moment we were regenerated, His life came into us.

BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT

In John 3:5 the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born of water and the Spirit. What does this mean? In his ministry, John the Baptist told people that they had to repent and to realize that they were sinful and were good for nothing except burial. Those who heard John’s preaching and repented were baptized in water. This meant that, as sinful, fallen men of the old creation, they were being terminated. Repentance and baptism with water was the central point of John the Baptist’s ministry. This is what it means to be born of water.

Regeneration, then, is to terminate people of the old creation with all their deeds and to germinate them in the new creation with the divine life. Whenever a person repents, confessing that he is a sinner who is good for nothing except burial, he is accepting John’s ministry. After repenting, he must believe in the Lord Jesus and accept His ministry of life in order to be germinated. For salvation, we need both repentance and faith. This is what it means to be born of water and of the Spirit, and this is regeneration.

John told people that his ministry was for the ministry of the Lord Jesus. The termination of our old life is for the germination of His life in us. The center of the ministry of the Lord Jesus is the Spirit, that is, to germinate people with a new life in the new creation.

“Born of water and the Spirit” does not imply regeneration through or by means of baptism. While the Bible does speak of being saved through water (1 Pet. 3:20-21), it never speaks of regeneration through water. These are not equivalent terms. To be saved through water mainly refers to being separated from this present evil age. During the time of the flood in Genesis 6—8, Noah and his family were saved from the judgment of God by being in the ark, which is a type of Christ. On the other hand, they were saved from that perverted and evil generation by the waters of the flood. The waters terminated that generation, separating and saving Noah and his family from its corruption.

THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW MAN

Regeneration is also the beginning of the new man within us. All our experiences of spiritual life are matters of the new man who begins within us at the time of our regeneration. Before we were regenerated, we were in Adam, a fallen sinner, an old man. Once we were regenerated, God’s life in Christ entered into us. This life is a new element, and when it mingles with our spirit it becomes the new man within us. Therefore, every one of us who has been regenerated is a double man. We are on the one hand the old, fallen man in Adam, and we are on the other hand the new, regenerated man in Christ.

BORN OF THE SPIRIT

According to the Bible, to be regenerated is to be born of the Spirit (John 3:3-6). Before regeneration our spirit was dead. “And you, though dead in your offenses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). But at the time we believed, God’s Spirit came into us and mingled with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:16). Thus, our spirit obtained God’s life and was made alive. Whereas our parents gave us our natural birth, God’s Spirit has given us our spiritual birth.