Spiritual gifts part 51: The new things have come - so put them on!

John Farley
Sunday,
November 14, 2010

Spiritual Gifts Part 51: The new things have come - so put them on!

Point 2. The Giver of the Gifts: The Person and Work of God the Holy Spirit.

B. The second ministry of the Holy Spirit at salvation is called regeneration or being born again. It is taught in John 3:3-8; Tit 3:5; 1Pe 1:23.

1Co 2:14
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

1Pe 1:23
for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

Regeneration is the technical term for being “born again”. Being born again is a result of faith in Jesus Christ, and it occurs at the instant you personally believe in Jesus Christ.

Regeneration consists of all that is represented by eternal life in a human being, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Regeneration is the origination of God’s life in the new believer, and is completely the work of God.

Col 2:13
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

Every member of the human race needs to be born again.

You need both perfect righteousness and eternal life to live with God in heaven forever.

παλιγγενεσία
paliggenesia
(spiritual) rebirth (the state or the act), i.e. (figuratively) spiritual renovation

from palin meaning ‘again’ or ‘once more’ or “back again” [Wuest]
and genesis meaning ‘birth, creation’
 

genesis is from the verb ginomai which means ‘to begin to be’, ‘to be born’, ‘to enter into a new state’.

Palingenesia means “to be born again”.

Regeneration is the new birth performed by God the Holy Spirit at salvation whereby He provides the life of God, eternal life, to the believing sinner.

The Holy Spirit’s work includes (1) bringing the human spirit to life, (2) imparting eternal life to the believer, and (3) an act of creation whereby He makes the Church Age believer a new spiritual species.

Regeneration is the new birth performed by God the Holy Spirit at salvation whereby He provides the life of God, eternal life, to the believing sinner.

The Holy Spirit’s work includes (1) bringing the human spirit to life, (2) imparting eternal life to the believer, and (3) an act of creation whereby He makes the Church Age believer a new spiritual species.

Regeneration is the instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life, a work performed by God for the new believer in Christ.

The Spirit’s work in regeneration includes restoring the human spirit, bringing it to life, Joh 3:6; Rom 8:10.

Regeneration is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit at salvation in creating a human spirit, which causes the believer to become instantly trichotomous--body, soul, and spirit, 1Th 5:23; Phile 25.

At birth, we are dichotomous. We have a body and a human soul, but no human spirit.

The human soul is where human life resides, imputed at our physical birth.

The human spirit is where eternal life resides, imputed at our spiritual birth.

Paul is setting up a contrast between the human body and the human spirit for the believer in Christ.

When Adam fell, he experienced an immediate spiritual death, and the seed of physical death was also implanted in him at the same time.

If Christ is in you (and He is if you are born again), the spirit has the seed of eternal life implanted!, 1Pe 1:23

1Pe 1:23
for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

On the one hand, the human body has the seed of physical death, but on the other hand, the human spirit has the seed of eternal life, 1Jo 3:9.

The spirit of man died as the result of the Fall; but in the believer it has been made alive again.

On the basis of God the Holy Spirit providing the human spirit to the believer, God imputes and imparts His very own eternal life to that human spirit.
That is being born again.

2Co 3:6
God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Eternal life is the same life possessed by God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. As such, it has no beginning and no end.

In the new birth, the Church Age believer is given a new nature and is made a new spiritual species. This is the basis for the believer being placed into the Body of Christ under the Baptism by the Spirit, 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15.

The believer in Christ has a new self which has been created by God in the likeness of God.
[Eph 4:24; Col 3:10;
Eph 2:10]

Take off the old garments and put on the new garments.

If fabric and dye can do that.... HOW MUCH MORE can Christ and the new nature accomplish for you and me???

You have the same kind of decision to make in your everyday life, but one with far greater impact and far greater possibilities.

The Bible gives us our own list of “What not to wear”.

The Bible also describes how the new wardrobe will look once we learn how to put it on and walk in it.