The terms regeneration, quickening, and being born again, are used in Scripture to express that change or new existence, which is originated in a child of Adam when he is vitally, or from the heart, turned to God. We have seen in the paper on " Man's Condition by Nature," that man in the spirit of his mind is alienated from God-at enmity with Him; and still more, that he is unable in the most convincing circumstances, to recognize or appreciate what is divinely good. All this being proved and` admitted, it now becomes us to inquire and note, what is that change commonly called conversion, and which the Scriptures designate as regeneration; how it occurs, and by what is it characterized?
The new birth must be the introduction of a new principle into the soul of man, at once so distinct and so effective, that it maintains for itself not only its unique existence, but also its supremacy in spirit and intent over the old nature; often influencing it silently, where it does not control. The influence being a silent one simply for this reason, (which I hope on a future occasion to show more fully,) that the new, on account of man's willfulness and self-satisfaction, does not assert its superiority until the old is convinced of its necessity. But notwithstanding, the new is there all the time, a positive reality, and a positive rein and awe to the conscience, though often for the moment there may be little or no evidence of it in the walk. If the change be not of this distinct and effective order, how could it be termed regeneration, or, as the Lord Himself said to Nicodemus, " being horn again?" We all know that in order to dislodge or master any power in actual possession, it requires a power greater than that by which the possession is maintained. Consequently, if man by nature, alienated from God, and at enmity with Him, be vitally turned to Him, it must be by a power not only greater than the will of man, but also one proportionate to the service required; which service is nothing less than to establish happy relations with God in a soul hitherto in the terrible distance of ignorance and enmity. This is accomplished in the new birth by the first principle of its existence, even faith; a principle which is always propagated by the Spirit of God blowing where He listeth. Called into being by the Holy Ghost, the way in which it reaches man, is (as we read) " by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
The word of God is deposited in the soul. The intelligence of that word is not so much the question as the effect of it; which effect is to convince the soul, in the first place, that God is; and next, as to what His nature is according as it has been revealed; though often a long period may intervene between these two, which should not be disunited; and in the end, and for peace and happiness of soul, are not.
The first principle, then, of this new existence, and its first utterance, is faith. Faith is the first characteristic of regeneration. The old man is an unbeliever in every degree; the new is a believer in every degree. Adam's fall was in consequence of disobedience of God's word, the offspring of unbelief and distrust of God Himself. His nature thus became a prey to this adverse sentiment, which, acting and re-acting on his fellow-men, have produced all the contumacy toward God of which man is guilty. The grace of God in every age has been above man's guilt, and therefore He has compelled many to come in; in one way or another awakening the soul to the sense of the existence of God, either as a relief or a correction to its ignorance; in a word, giving it faith in God, through the word of God. The Spirit of God has always been the propagator of this new principle, so that where the smallest germ of it exists, there, blessed be God, the Holy Ghost has worked. The old man is utterly incapable of faith in God; therefore, wherever faith works, however feebly, regeneration has taken place.
And mark! it has been thus in all dispensations. The difference between the Old-Testament times and the New, or the present, consists not in the principle of existence, for that is the same in both; and, moreover, it is begotten by the same Holy Spirit; but the distinction lies in the strength and scope of the sense of the existence. Now, the sense of eternal life is assured to us as God's gift through our Lord Jesus Christ; then, though the activity of that life existed, it was as yet unassured, because Christ had not died and risen.
Regeneration, then, is a new existence, (" if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,") of which faith in God is its very principle-its first and simplest characteristic, and eternal life its portion. How evident, then, is it that they who judge of or describe it as an improvement in morals and tastes, wholly misapprehend the simple quality and radical nature of the new birth. Man in the old nature was characterized by unbelief; the new man is characterized by exactly the opposite, which it declares as just and compensatory: and thus faith is its peculiar mark, and the proof of its existence. New birth exists wherever faith exists, and vice versa. If I be ever so changed or improved and have no faith in God, there can be no conscious new birth, for the first utterance of the newly-born soul is that of faith. It knows that God is to be trusted, and let its trust be ever so feeble, the response returned to it from God is eternal life-he that believes bath eternal life. And this eternal life is the second characteristic, the inalienable possession, of new birth. In all times, as I have remarked, faith in God was the first expression and utterance of the quickened soul: and this simple fact clears away much of the confusion and uncertainty with which the subject has been surrounded. Both teachers and souls have been diverted from the plain and true ground by looking for an improvement in feelings and manners, instead of first insisting on the necessity of the existence of faith, from which in true power the other would follow. A remarkable change and improvement may be wrought in me from many other causes; but faith in God in my soul is proof positive that it is newly born; for nothing but His Spirit could have produced it, and this entitles me to nothing less than eternal life.
Now I may find many a newly-born soul, who, though he believes in God, does not apprehend that, as born of God, he has received eternal life. I do not question his regeneration because he is not sensibly enjoying the highest privilege of it; but it is evident that such an one is inadvertently ignoring the legitimate portion of his new existence, without which his regeneration must be unsatisfactory to himself, and defective in expression toward God.
In all dispensations there has been an enlightenment corresponding to the revelation made of God to the soul. That which is conferred now is eternal life; and if I am not assured of that which God has assured to me, I am not apprehending His revelation in its range and scope-nay, in its very essence.
Life, the sense of living by Christ and with Him, belongs now to regeneration. Christ died for our sins; but having risen from among the dead, and the power of death being destroyed, He is Head of the new creation in everlasting life; and we who were dead in trespasses and sins are quickened together with Him, being by grace, through faith, made partakers of His life; and that on the ground of righteousness, inasmuch as He has borne death for us, and made us thereby the righteousness of God in Him. It is most important that we should see that eternal life is now coexistent with regeneration. However, God in past ages accepted the sinner, and linked his soul to Himself by faith in a new existence, eternal life was not manifested until Christ carne. " The life was manifested," says the Apostle John, " and we have seen it, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." The Son was the manifestation of the eternal life that was with the Father, and " as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." He came here to do the will of God in a body prepared for Him, and in that body to bear our sins on the accursed tree, God laying on Him the iniquity of us all: made sin for us who knew no sin, in order that God might be just and the justifier of every one who believeth in Jesus. What would any gift be to me from God if I did not believe in the source of it, even in His Son? God can now do what He never could do before-He can give His love full scope; and therefore the moment faith in Him is engendered in any soul, (the action of which faith is to look at God's revelation of His grace in Christ,) the blessing-the portion-the gift of God to that soul is, eternal life. Nothing less would answer to the love of God, now at liberty to indulge itself (if I may so say) through the righteousness established for the sinner by His own Son, and to express the full range and purpose of itself. Therefore it meets the sinner at the very start and threshold with this wondrous truth: (see John " He that believeth bath everlasting life." Other blessings and great glories follow, but God meets the condemned, lost sinner at the point at which He had met the serpent-bitten Israelite aforetime; and He says to him, " I have so loved you, that I gave my Son to bear the judgment of sin; and as in Him is manifested the eternal life which He has with me, so every one that believes in Him shall share it with Him."
In fine, I would lay stress on this important point of our subject, that the essence of the old nature being unbelief, the soul that has a particle of faith in God has entered on a new existence. That existence is " regeneration;" the characteristics and essential properties of which are, faith and eternal life,