Page 81 - TH200 Abundant Life A4 Final

Regeneration: New Life from God

when He brings it into life; when He raises it from the death of sin to
the life of righteousness.” In this act, then, God takes spiritually dead
people by the Holy Spirit and plants spiritual life in them. These people
experience spiritual renewal, restoration, and re-creation. They have
been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Terms for Regeneration

In Chapter 1, we discussed the fall of Adam and the sin that he
passed to the human race. We learned that all people bear the marks
of the Fall, including a corrupted nature. Because of the Fall, people lost
their communion with God. But through the work of Christ on Calvary,
the results of the Fall were modified. As people repent, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, receive Him as their Savior, and are converted, their
spiritual life or communion with God is restored. Regeneration is thus the
restoration of spiritual life. It is the instant supernatural change brought
about by the Holy Spirit in the life of one who has repented and believed.

The most common term Bible students use to define regeneration
is “born again.” While the word rebirth appears only in Titus 3:5, the
experience that it speaks about—being reborn or born of God—is quite
common in Scripture. Apart from birth there can be no life. Natural life
begins when one enters the world through birth, and one must enter the
spiritual realm in the same way.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “A person is born physically of human
parents, but he is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised
because I tell you that you must all be born again” (John 3:6–7, TEV). Our
parents gave us natural birth, but God gives us spiritual birth, making
God our Father (John 1:13; 1 John 3:9). Paul spoke of the regeneration
experience as one of re-creation, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The old unregenerate nature is like a seed on the surface of the earth.
As long as it remains thus, it will never grow, blossom, or bear fruit.
It has the potential for life, but it needs something else so that it can
live and produce. It needs to be made alive. As we have noted above,
regeneration is the act of God by which spiritually dead people are made
alive by the Holy Spirit so that the seed of divine life planted in them can
begin to grow, blossom, and bear fruit.

::: 73 :::