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And now, on the background of these preliminary thoughts, let us pursue our study in the doctrine of Sanctification in its relation to the believer in Jesus Christ. Only the high priest could come before the Divine Presence, and that only once each year, and not without blood. A woman, whose parents were missionaries to India, told me that she did not need to be born again because she was born right the first time and simply needed to continue being good. Regeneration is God working in us; Justification is God working for us. Paul says, Do not depend on your good works to justify you. James says, Do not neglect to perform good works if you are justified. Both are right. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). No distinctions are as much as hinted at in these verses, nor would we expect any because of the very nature of a gift. He sees the believer just as if he had never sinned. 3:1011). Hitchcock's Bible Names. The marvels of saving grace call for a life corresponding to our exalted position in Christ. In literal terms, it means birth again. When God declares a man righteous, that declaration and act finds its efficacy in the Blood of Jesus Christ, Who died on Calvary. All Christian parents would bestow eternal life on their offspring if they could, but they cannot. Ephesians 2:1-2 It is not a fellowship of the rich, the elite, or of one denomination as against another. Paul was set apart for the ministry long before the cradle. From the human viewpoint this is an insurmountable problem, one for which there is no solution. The Doctrine of Sanctification . All "old things are passed away; behold, they are become new" (2Corinthians 5:17). This is the golden age, the utopia for which man has sought in vain. The theological term "regeneration" is the Latin translation of the Greek expression palingenesia, occurring twice in the New Testament (Matthew 19:28; Titus 3:5). God could not set apart an unclean sinner for His possession and purpose, therefore, He purchased and purified the sinner by the Blood of His Son. Before the ages God planned to bestow upon the redeemed a glory, unique and appropriate only to the Church in Christ. . In John 16:8, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment in the process of regeneration and conversion. The moralists of Pauls day were men of culture, refinement, and intellect, but they too were inexcusable. By taking heed thereto according to thy word (Psalm 119:9). There is, of course, in these passages no reference to mere water baptism, any more than in Ezekiel 36:25. In at least two Epistles, according to the Authorized Version, Christians are addressed as those who are called to be saints (Romans 1:7; I Corinthians 1:2). You cannot even coerce the Spirit of God to effect your regeneration. Is regeneration a result of salvation or does regeneration result in salvation? . regeneration to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Romans 4:5). These passages of Scripture all lend support to the fact that Gods Word is the Divine means used in the regeneration of sinners, and that the water in John 3:5 is used as a symbol of the Word of God. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). The Reformed creeds and confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries carefully articulate the doctrine of regeneration in contradistinction to both of these aberrant views. This is even true where the blessings prophesied are only spiritual, as in Isaiah 60:21,22. Remember, it is by Gods perfect standard of justification that we all will be tried. The Apostle Paul wrote, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh . This is positional truth, and it is important that we continually reckon ourselves dead to self. Spiritually dead men and women are utterly dependent on God to sovereignly give them spiritual life. Paul then distinctly teaches that thus is a new life in store for those who have been spiritually dead. Here the Apostle is drawing a contrast between children and adults, exhorting them, not to sinless perfection, but to show forth the kind of understanding that would be expected of mature adults. The Word of God is the means by which the Holy Spirit accomplishes the New Birth. This is every Christians position, independent of the length of time one has been saved, how much or how little one knows about the Bible, or how spiritual that person might be. The Galatians must know that he was no self-styled, self-appointed apostle, but rather divinely set apart. There is glory for the believer which has not yet been manifested. This birth is "of the day, free, delivering from passions, taking away every veil of our nature or birth, i.e. 10:10, 14; 1 Pet. Peter likewise stresses the same truth where he writes, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby (I Peter 2:2). He is not inferring that faith is righteousness, but rather that faith is the means through which righteousness is reckoned. It refers to Preparatory Sanctification. Now the students did not learn this from the Bible. Now after 45 years of Christian experience, that work resulting in my being set apart has remained unchanged. Since we are exhorted to pursue it, then it must be the will of God for His children to do so. They believe that a person must believe, repent, confess, and Christ is our sanctification ( 1 Cor. Its varied usages in the New Testament shows shades of meaning far removed from the idea of sinless perfection. For example, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men (Gr. Grace has dug a foundation so deep that men have been drinking from its cleansing, justifying stream for centuries. The question of mans justification before God was raised early in mans history. Like the Corinthian believers, and all true believers, I was at that moment justified by God. The symbolism of regeneration in baptism is drawn from Gods typical works of water-judgment acts of re-creation in the Old Testament. The italicized words to be should have been left out. The Reformed vigorously defended the idea that regeneration precedes faith and that it is based on the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit. Christians are people who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus ( 1 Cor. One day the pastor visited the home to congratulate the boy and his mother. There is no trace of infant baptism in the New Testament. Many persons have been led astray because they substituted some personal experience for the teaching of the Word of God. Jesus had spoken of the change which faith in Him ("coming to him") would cause in the lives of His disciples; how divine energies like "rivers of water" should issue forth from them; and the evangelist continues in explanation: "But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified." In Romans Paul is merely emphasizing the truth that faith is the means of justification, while James stresses the fact that good works are the fruit of justification. Even so, when we were regenerated, there was posited to us the holiness of Jesus Christ, Gods gift of Sanctification. Today God is implanting spiritual life to believing sinners through the redemptive process. This new life is not a fruit of the free play of the tendencies and powers of natural life, but is in sharp conflict with them. The source of justification must be in the one holy and righteous God. This is the promise of the consummation based on the finished work of Christ. Little wonder that one theologian suggested that the holy and righteous God faced the greatest riddle ever when He set out to justify the ungodly. When asked why he preached so frequently from these verses, he replied solemnly, Because ye must be born again. This is a Divine imperative. I am not suggesting that there is no experiential aspect in Sanctification in which practical holiness will manifest itself in the Christians life. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. The Cross And Unjust Suffering (1 Peter 2:19-25). Both have reference to justification before men. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. A healthy growth that leads to spiritual maturity necessitates time. And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand (Leviticus 27:14). A solemn word of warning is in order here. But our present hope and future glory are not jeopardized by tribulation. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (I Corinthians 6:19). Regeneration - The Gospel Coalition Through His incoming He sets apart that believing one. In Christ Jesus our Lord . He left his young widow and eight-year-old son penniless. only found in Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5 . What was true of Abraham was likewise true of Rahab (James 2:25). It is the time of the earths regeneration, the new order about which the prophets wrote, when Jehovah will set His King upon His holy hill of Zion (Psalm 2:6), And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3). Regeneration is in a sense a repetition of that which took place in the first man, Adam; however, the processes are different. Now this process of Sanctification goes on during the present life here on earth, but it will be perfected at (Greek en), not until, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13). It is the greatest miracle in the universe that sinners are made sons of God through regeneration. Jeremiah resisted the appointment on the ground of his immaturity and insufficiency, but God assured him that He knew what He was doing. Spiritual maturity should be the goal of every saved person. The wind blows where it will and it is the Spirits will, not yours, that causes a person to be born from above (John 3:3). It was credited, posited to his account. Both appearances are in the New Testament. View our current career opportunities. If sin in a believer could cause the Holy Spirit to depart from that believer, then that same sin could cause the person who committed it to lose his salvation, and if one could lose his salvation, he never could be saved again. It will not be realized while we are in this mortal body. It means to be complete and sound in every part. Follow . . Regeneration, Justification and Sanctification | Bible.org And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight (Colossians 1:20-22). It appears from Acts 8:18, 19 that Simon never did enter experientially into the truth of the Gospel. These items are neither moral nor immoral; they are amoral. The Greek word for washing in Titus 3:5 describes the act of cleansing something all over thoroughly. It is future--When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory (Colossians 3:4 R.V.). WebDictionaries / Encyclopedia. Man as he is by nature stands in direct contrast to the demands of the spiritual life. This was the only way that God could have reckoned to us His righteousness, and it is the one way He found of not reckoning to us our sin. The renewing and cleansing here spoken of is in reality nothing else than what Deuteronomy 30:6 had promised, a circumcision of the heart in contradistinction to the flesh, the token of the former (Abrahamic) covenant (of circumcision, Jeremiah 4:4). The necessity of regeneration for all men grew out of the depravity of mans nature. Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? WebDefinition. Apart from the mediate dealings of God with man through word and sacraments, there is therefore an immediate communication of life from God to the regenerate. God is life. Moreover, if there is going to be a healthy growth, the pace will be modified. By faith power is received which enables the sinner to overcome sin, to "sin no more" (John 8:11). After he returned from the memorial service he went to the local bank and opened a savings account in the name of the orphaned boy. Scripture often speaks of regeneration under the figure of spiritual resurrection. A complete change has come. But not many days before the deadline, she went to the bank, and after inquiring she learned that the money was there, deposited in her sons name by another person. Apart from the atoning Blood of Christ, man could not be set apart unto God. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy Spirit from me. Now it is true that some new converts appear to take off at an extremely fast pace. The transformation of the nature is the beginning of the restoration of the whole man in union with Christ. In the Book of Job we read, How should man be just with God? (Job 9:2), and How then can man be justified with God? (Job 25:4). This baptizing work of the Holy Spirit is synonymous with Positional Sanctification. Paul commences in verse 1 with the word therefore. This word definitely connects that which is to follow with that which has been said in previous chapters. Justification cannot be on arbitrary grounds. Pauls summary of his argument of this great truth lists the blessings which accompany it. Our first parents were driven out from the garden; Cain was driven out from the presence of the Lord; Israel was kept afar off from the foot of Mount Sinai lest some of the people should approach it. . What Every Christian Should Know about the Protestant Reformation. DEFINITION Spiritually speaking, you are either born or unborn. It is used of the renewal of the world in Stoical philosophy. Scripture reveals that all people are born dead in sins and trespasses (Eph. This is what Ezekiel 36:25 suggests: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." This sense is undoubtedly included in the full Biblical conception of the former meaning, for it is unthinkable that a regeneration in the eschatological sense can exist without a spiritual regeneration of humanity or the individual.