In 3:7 Paul goes on to say, “In order that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This verse speaks forth the issue and goal of God’s salvation (v. 5) and justification (v. 7), which include the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit (vv. 5-6). This issue and goal are to make us heirs of God according to the hope of eternal life.
According to verse 7, the believers are not merely sons but heirs who are qualified to inherit the Father’s estate (Rom. 4:14; 8:17; Gal. 3:29; 4:7). Such heirs are born (John 1:12-13) of God’s eternal life (3:16). This eternal life enables them not only to live and enjoy God in this age but also to inherit in the coming age and in eternity all the riches of what God is to them. Hence, there is the hope of eternal life. God’s eternal life is our enjoyment today and our hope for tomorrow. According to this hope, we become heirs of God to inherit all His riches for eternity. This is the climax, the eternal goal, of His eternal salvation with His eternal life, which has been given to us by grace in Christ.
Today we are experiencing and enjoying the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, we have the hope of the eternal life to inherit all the riches of God. The riches of God are not merely what we will inherit in the distant future; they should be our present enjoyment. We can enjoy a foretaste of God Himself as our inheritance today because we have the eternal life. Our present enjoyment of this eternal life is a foretaste of God Himself as our eternal inheritance.
Today we should enjoy this foretaste of God as our inheritance; we will then enjoy the full taste of this inheritance in the millennial age and in eternity. Yet if we believers do not enjoy the foretaste of what we will inherit of God, we will miss the full taste in the coming age of the millennium.
In summary, through Christ God poured out the Holy Spirit on us richly to save us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. The basic concept of God’s New Testament economy is to make us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and the way God makes us a new creation is to work Himself into our being by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration involves a change by life, with life, and in life and brings in a washing by the divine life as the washing water. The divine life which comes into our spirit to enliven our deadened spirit washes away the dead elements; regeneration washes away the old creation with sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh. The renewing of the Holy Spirit is the continuation of the washing of the regeneration in our spirit. Through regeneration our spirit was renewed, but our soul was not renewed by regeneration. Thus, after regeneration the Spirit continues to renew us by saturating our soul. The renewing of the Holy Spirit is the work of the Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ from glory to glory (3:18). The Spirit renews us in every aspect of our daily living. By this renewing we are gradually being transformed from one degree of glory to another unto glorification. Transformation, that is, renewing, is the way to enter into glorification, in which we will be heirs. At our regeneration we were born children of God by receiving eternal life; this eternal life that we are enjoying brings in a hope to inherit God Himself as the divine inheritance (Rom. 8:14, 17). Through the long process of being renewed unto glorification, we will be heirs to inherit what God promised as a reward in the coming kingdom.
In Philemon 20 Christ is unveiled as the sphere and element for the refreshing of the believers’ inward parts.
Paul asks Philemon to refresh his inward parts in Christ. The word refresh means “soothe or cheer.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “inward parts” means “bowels,” as in verse 7. Since Philemon had refreshed the inward parts of the saints, Paul now asked him to do the same for him in the Lord.
In verse 20 Paul says, “Brother, may I have profit from you in the Lord; refresh my inward parts in Christ.” The Greek word for profit here is onaimen, which is similar in sound to Onesimus (both words meaning “profitable”). Here, this word is an allusion to the name Onesimus. This is a play on words, implying that “since you owe me even your own self, you are an Onesimus to me—hence, you should be profitable to me; that is, you should let me have profit from you in the Lord.”
Onesimus was Philemon’s purchased bondslave who ran away from his master. While he was in prison at Rome with Paul, he was saved through the apostle. Now the apostle sent him back to his master. In verse 20 Paul indicates that since he sent Onesimus—whose name means “profitable”—back to Philemon, in return Philemon now should be a profit to Paul in the Lord. According to verse 20, the profit in the Lord that Paul speaks of refers to being refreshed in his inward parts in Christ Jesus. Since the imprisoned apostle was suffering under persecution, he needed Philemon, a fellow believer, to refresh his inward parts. Yet refreshing Paul’s inward parts cannot be done in or by Philemon himself but in the Lord and in Christ. The profit—being refreshed in his inward parts—that Paul sought from Philemon comes out of the Lord. It is only in Christ that we can be refreshed in our inward parts by the fellow believers. This is to enjoy Christ as the sphere and element for the refreshing of the believers’ inward parts.