The believers in Christ have been regenerated of the Spirit to generate the new man. John 3:5 says, “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Here we see that regeneration requires two elements—water and Spirit. On the negative side, the water terminates us; on the positive side, the Spirit germinates us, thereby generating the new man. In this way we experience a new birth and become a new being. Birth always produces a being. When a child is born, a new being is produced. Likewise, when we were regenerated of the Spirit, we were enlivened to become a new being.
According to the Bible, to be regenerated is to be born of the Spirit (John 3:6). Before regeneration our spirit was dead (Eph. 2:1). But at the time we believed in Christ, God’s Spirit came into us and mingled with our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:16). Thus, our spirit obtained God’s life and was made alive. Whereas our parents gave us our natural birth, the Spirit has given us our spiritual birth.
In John 3:6 the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Lord spoke this word in reply to what Nicodemus had said in verse 4: “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” In verse 6 the Lord makes it clear that the new birth has nothing to do with the flesh. To be born again, to be regenerated, is to be terminated and to have a new being produced. What is terminated is of the flesh, and what is generated to become the new being is of the Spirit.
Regeneration of the Spirit is the beginning of the new man within us. All our experiences of spiritual life are matters of the new man, who begins within us at the time of our regeneration. Before we were regenerated, we were in Adam, a fallen sinner, an old man. Once we were regenerated, God’s life in Christ entered into us. This life is a new element, and when it mingles with our spirit, it becomes the new man within us.
In John 3:8 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The Greek word for wind, pneuma, is the same word as for spirit. Whether it means wind or spirit depends on the context. A regenerated person, a person born of the Spirit, is like the wind, which can be realized but which is beyond understanding.
The believers have been regenerated from above. John 3:3 says, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Greek word rendered “anew” can also be rendered “from above.” We have not only had an earthly birth; we have also been born from above, from the heavens.
Regeneration takes place in the believers’ spirit. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). This indicates that regeneration is of the Spirit in our spirit. The divine Spirit regenerates the human spirit with the divine life. Regeneration, that is, receiving the divine life, is a matter that takes place in our spirit, not in our body or soul. The function of the human spirit is to contact God. Our spirit was made by God for the purpose that one day we would exercise it to contact Him and receive Him into our being. In our spirit we have been regenerated of the Spirit.
Regeneration takes place in the realm of our spirit. Regeneration takes place in the human spirit by the Spirit of God with the divine life. Hence, regeneration is not a birth of the flesh that brings forth flesh; it is a birth of the Spirit, God’s Spirit, that brings forth spirit, our regenerated spirit. Flesh is our natural man, our old man, our outward man, born of our parents, who are flesh. But spirit, our regenerated spirit, is our spiritual man, our new man, our inward or inner man (2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16), born of God, who is Spirit (John 4:24). When we were born of our parents, we were born flesh. When we were born again of God the Spirit, we were born spirit. The nature of the flesh is born human, but the nature of the spirit is born divine. Before we were regenerated, we lived by our flesh and had our being in our flesh. By regeneration the divine life was imparted to our spirit by the Spirit of God, and our spirit was made alive, regenerated.