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Regeneration: New Life from God


                       The regenerated person has a consuming love for God. The center of
                    his or her interest is now God and no longer self. God’s love has been
                    poured out into his or her heart
                    by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5),
                    and he or she responds by loving
                    (1 John 4:19). One who is truly       The newborn believer
                    born  again  loves  not  only  the     becomes aware of the
                    God who has given new life but
                    also  his  or  her  fellow-person      prompting and leading
                    (1 John 4:21; 5:2). This love for      of the Holy Spirit within,
                    one another is one of the great
                    evidences  that  the  old  nature      which is additional
                    has died and the new one reigns:       proof of salvation.
                   “We know that we have passed
                    from  death  to  life,  because  we
                    love our brothers” (1 John 3:14).


                       The  born-again  person  is  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  sin
                    (Romans 6:12). But if he or she should sin, someone pleads with the
                    Father on his or her behalf—Jesus Christ the Righteous One (1 John 2:1).
                    His or her sin is cleansed by the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7) and he or she
                    finds forgiveness and restoration. However, this person must forsake sin
                    as a habitual practice: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin,
                    because God’s seed remains in him” (1 John 3:9).

                       By  claiming  the  promises  of  God,  regenerated  people  come  to
                    participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and they grow to be like
                    their Savior (Romans 8:29). As they grow in spirit, they overcome the
                    world with all its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24; 1 John 5:4). They
                    do right because they are right. Their old habits are replaced by new
                    habits of righteousness (1 John 2:29). These evidences become proof
                    that they have been truly born again.

                    Fulfillment of Regeneration

                       Regeneration  begins  spiritual  life  in  us.  The  new  birth  experience
                    initiates a potential for development that has as its goal Christlikeness
                    (1 John 3:2). We have been set apart to become like Jesus (Romans 8:29).
                    Development of spiritual life will continue as long as each one of us lives
                    and will not be completed until we are glorified. As we look forward to


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