Regeneration: Made Alive
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It is clear from the
Bible that in order for man to spend eternity with God, a new birth is
necessary. The need for this special birth was the very subject of a very famous
conversation between our Lord and a religious Jew named Nicodemus. “Jesus
answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Christ explained to
Nicodemus that this new birth was not optional but critical. There is no way for man to
experience the kingdom of God without it (Jn. 3:4-5). This spirit birth is designed by God
to transform us from the realm of our physical flesh and blood life into
the realm of the spiritual life of God (Jn. 3:6-18). Two Greek words can
teach us the amazing truth of regeneration. The first is the word paliggenesia. Titus 3:4-5 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind
appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in
righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing by the Holy Spirit.” This word “regeneration”
comes from a combination of the Greek words "palin", which
is translated “another,” and “genesis”, which means, “birth” or
“life.” The single word could then be translated “another birth,” or
“another life.” You Were Dead Ephesians 2:1-10. According to the apostle
Paul, the Ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins. Note the past tense
“were.” “And you were dead in your
trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1a). Every member of the
human family is born physically alive, but spiritually dead. This spiritual
death results from an inescapable connection with our human forefather
Adam. We do not become a sinner with time and evil influence; we are
born sinners. David said that his mother actually conceived him into sin. “Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psa.
51:5). The Breath of Lives “Then the LORD God formed man of dust
from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (lives).
And he became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). When God created the
first man, Adam, He breathed into him the breath of lives (Heb., Nephesh
chayim). As a result, man became a living being. As strange as it may
sound the Hebrew plural word lives is extremely important. It means
that God breathed into man a duel spiritual capacity, a soul and a
spirit. Man’s soul was created
with a living spirit. This living spirit is that which connects us to our
Creator. Man was created
different from the animals. No animal is said to have received Nephesh
chayim. The animals receive life from God’s Nephesh Chaya (singular)
(Gen. 1:24). Therefore, no
animal has the capability for fellowship with God. At the moment that God
exhaled into man His breath, man inhaled and became a living being. The word
“being” is the Hebrew word for “soul.” Adam's soul awakened him to the
consciousness of life; that is physical life. And because of the spiritual
aspect of the soul he had a relationship with God. So, in his innocent state, Adam had consciousness of life
and a relationship with God. Adam’s Test “The
LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat
freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Gen.
2:16-17). God promised Adam that
if he ate from the tree, he would die. Death in the Bible means separation.
If Adam chose to disobey God, he would instantly be separated from God.
He sinned and he did die! He did not immediately fall over physically dead
but was suddenly separated from God. His soul remained consciously
aware, but his spiritual connection to God, died. He no longer had a
relationship with God. He was no longer connected to God in the way that he
was before. This spiritual
separation made the “new birth” necessary. But God had already
prepared a Lamb before the foundation of the world. This is a wonderful truth
that emphasizes that God anticipated man’s fall. God already had His plan in
mind. Adam’s sin did not shock God! God was going to use Adam and the fall to
make known the riches of His glory upon His vessels of mercy (1 Pet. 1:20;
Rom. 9:23). When God created Adam,
He placed into him the genetic building blocks necessary to produce every
person who would ever live. The Bible teaches clearly that we all came
from Adam and Eve. The moment Adam's human spirit died, the human spirit of
every person who would ever live also died “in him.” This explains what the
Bible means by “In Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22). The death of Adam’s human
spirit was then physically passed down to every person who would ever live
upon this earth. “Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin,
and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). If we come into this
world through the usual method, we are all born into this world with a living
consciousness but a dead soul. Children of the Devil We are not sinners
because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. The nature to sin is born
within us because of our spiritual separation from God. We come into this
world with a bent to do those things that are in rebellion against God. This
evil nature is under the power of Satan, the archenemy of God. “In
which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the
sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of
our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:2-3) Read carefully the words
of Jesus Christ as He confronted the evil that was coming from men's hearts
in His day. These religious leaders knew the rumors that were flying about
concerning the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. They made the accusation that
they “knew” who their father was. They had one father. Notice how Christ responds.
“’You
are doing the deeds of your father.’ They said to Him, ‘We were not born of
fornication; we have one Father: God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your
Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for
I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not
understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are
of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He
was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because
there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’” (Jn. 8:41-44). So man is born dead and
is born a child of Satan. But God “But God,
being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with
Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). Many times it is the
small words in the Bible that carry the most spiritual weight. That is the
case here. Paul, having stated
our spiritual position of death in Adam, now gives us this tremendous
contrast: “But God” (Eph. 2:2a). God is the one who
initiates salvation. It is God who gives His life, “the new birth,” to
man. God is the one who gives grace. Understanding that we are born
dead gives us the knowledge that we need God’s life. We do not need to be
reformed because reformation cannot give us life. We do not need religion,
because religion is man's attempt to make us better. But better is not
sufficient. We need life! Mercy and Love “But God
being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in our transgression” (Eph. 2:4). God’s mercy and love
motivated Him to be gracious to us. This proves without any doubt that God’s
life does not come to anyone on the basis of good works. Think of
this! What good work of any kind can the dead perform? It should
be obvious that the dead can do nothing at all for themselves. The dead are
helpless and hopeless. The dead are dead! “For
while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly”
(Rom. 5:5). When we were dead in our
sin, God reached down to us in mercy and love. . . to do what? Made Us Alive With
Christ The second word that can
teach us the truth of regeneration is óõæùïðïéÝù ; suzoôopoieoô; “Even
when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph. 2:5). The word is a
combination of the preposition sun translated “together,” and zoopoieo
which means “to give life.” The result is translated by the phrase “to
give life together.” Paul places this word
beside Jesus Christ and the truth of regeneration comes into focus. God
has made us alive together with Christ. “Together” indicates that our
being connected with Christ is that which gives us life. God, who is rich in mercy and love,
has made us alive together with Christ. Believers were formerly
connected with Adam and his death but are now connected to Christ and His
life. At the moment that we
trust in Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit places us into union with the body
of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). And because we are placed into Him we
receive His life, which is eternal life. “And
the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is
in His Son” (1 Jn. 5:11). Our spiritual connection
to the one man, Adam, gave death, and our spiritual connection to the other
man, Christ, gives life. “For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
God, because of our
faith in Jesus Christ, instantly infuses His life into us. We are born
into this world physically alive but with a dead human spirit. When we
are born again by faith in Jesus Christ, our human spirits are “made alive.”
No longer are we dead in trespasses and sins, but we are made alive in Jesus
Christ. A Change in Positions Being alive in Christ
and children of God replaces our “dead” status and the fact that we were
children of Satan. Paul indicates this former state by his use of the
terms “formerly walked” and “formerly lived” (Eph. 2:2-3). At the moment of our
faith in Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places. “And
raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches
of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). It is from this amazing
position in Christ that God will, in the ages to come, reveal to us more of
the fabulous riches which are ours in Christ. God’s wonderful life in Christ comes to us as a gift of
grace that is simply to be received. “For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
(Eph. 2:8-9). “For if
by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God
and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many”
(Rom. 5:15). Though we were once dead
in trespasses and sins, we now are to produce good works that are pleasing to
God. These good works are the result of our being a new creation in Christ (2
Cor. 5:17). “For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph 2:10). Regeneration is all
about receiving life. It is passing from death in Adam to life in
Christ. To have Him by faith is to have His life. Not to have Him is to
remain dead in trespasses and sins. “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 Jn. 5:12).
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God gives life to the dead. |