33. Regeneration
REGENERATION A certain man in our church is quite a student of the Scriptures. He claims we are not born again until the Lord comes. He says that “born again” inJohn 3:33, means “born from above,” and quotesGalatians 4:22-31, especially verse 26. He claims that this does not take place until the Lord comes. I am afraid this will cause confusion. He gave meJohn 3:12as the reason why I could not see it his way.
It is true that the new birth is from above, but it is also true that the new birth takes place here and now the moment we receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior. According to James 1:18 God has already begotten us with the word of truth. According to 1 Peter 1:22-23, we have already been born again, “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” Do not let anybody worry you about a thing like this, for the Word of God is perfectly clear on the subject.
What is the meaning ofJohn 3:5, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”? Four explanations are given of the birth “of water”: (1) that it refers to water baptism; (2) that it means the Word of God; (3) that it relates to the Holy Spirit, as inJohn 4:10-15; and (4) that it points back to the first birth, sometimes described as a “water birth.” Which of these interpretations is correct? The second is correct. Water baptism cannot be meant, for that would make water baptism an essential to salvation, which would contradict all the teaching of the Word of God elsewhere, as well as that of our Lord Himself. Water baptism is a duty and a privilege, but it is not a procuring cause of salvation. The third explanation indicated cannot be the true one, for the birth “of the Spirit” is mentioned in the same verse by our Lord. And the fourth explanation is also aside from the point, for though there be those who call the physical birth a “water birth,” as a matter of fact it is nothing of the kind. The second explanation really explains, and is in keeping with, the testimony of Scripture elsewhere on the subject. The water is a symbol of the Word of God, and the new birth is of the Word and of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit uses the Word in bringing it about. In John 7:37-39 the double type is again found. The water is the Word of God, supplied and applied by the Spirit of God; the drinking of the water is believing on Christ “as the Scripture hath said.” In John 3:10 our Lord rebuked Nicodemus, “a teacher in Israel,” because he knew “not these things,” for the same figure is employed in the Old Testament Scriptures, and Nicodemus should have been familiar with that fact (see, for example, Ezekiel 36:25-27). In the New Testament the symbol is frequendy used (see Titus 3:5-7; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:22-23; Ephesians 5:25-26; John 7:37-39). Is it possible for a child to grow into relationship with the Father and be a genuine Christian without having known when the change took place? Your question is somewhat complicated. Children do not “grow into relationship with the Father.” No one becomes a Christian without being born from above. Yet it is possible for a child to be born again “without having known when the change took place.”
Please make it plain why theScofield Reference Biblestates thatLuke 11:24refers to self-reformation and not to a born-again one.
It cannot refer to a born-again person, because regeneration is by no means the casting out of an unclean spirit and leaving the “house” empty. When a person is born again the Holy Spirit moves into the “house” and ever after abides there (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30; 1 John 2:20-27).