In God’s full salvation, when we believe into Christ and thereby experience the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing away of sins, propitiation and reconciliation, and sanctification and justification, we immediately receive God’s regeneration. The six steps of experience spoken of previously belong to the redemptive aspect of God’s full salvation. Regeneration (the new birth) belongs to the life aspect of God’s full salvation, and it is the beginning of this aspect. It is therefore a most crucial matter pertaining to our enjoyment of God’s full salvation, having to do with our living and work in the present age after we believe into Christ and are saved, as well as with our destiny in the coming age and in eternity.
1) “I [the Lord Jesus] said to you [Nicodemus, who sought to do good], You must be born anew” (John 3:7).
Every man is willing and ready to do good, thinking that he needs simply good deeds and morality, never realizing that he needs to be born anew, to receive another life. Thus, the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, who sought good works, “You must be born anew.” Nicodemus represents all those who desire to do good without knowing man’s need. Only God and the Lord Jesus know man’s need. This need is regeneration.
1) Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6).
Man needs to be regenerated because man is born of the flesh and is of the flesh. That which is born of the flesh and is of the flesh is flesh. The flesh is not and cannot be subject to the law of God, and it cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8). The fleshly man is brought forth in iniquity (Psa. 51:5, ASV) and is out of sin. He is sold under sin (Rom. 7:14) and belongs to sin, and he is estranged from the life of God (Eph. 4:18) and has nothing to do with God. Whether it is good or bad in man’s eyes, that which the fleshly man has is merely a human life of the flesh, not the life of God. Therefore, man needs to be regenerated to obtain the life of God.
1) “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God...unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, 5).
Man also needs to be regenerated in order to enter into the kingdom of God. Unless a man is regenerated, he cannot see the kingdom of God, nor can he enter into it. The kingdom of God is spiritual, and to see this spiritual kingdom of God is to enter into it. Regeneration is the unique entrance through which man enters into God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is the realm of what God is, just as the plant kingdom is the realm of what plants are, and the animal kingdom is the realm of what animals are. Without plants there is no plant kingdom, and without animals there is no animal kingdom. What man is and what God is are basically different, being in two different realms and in two different kingdoms. In order to enter into the human kingdom, one must be born of man to have the human life; likewise, in order to enter into God’s kingdom, one must be born of God to have God’s life. Therefore, man must be born of God, that is, he must be regenerated that he may have God’s life and may enter into the kingdom of God.
1) “Nicodemus said to Him [the Lord Jesus], 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?” (John 3:4).
The meaning of the words “born anew” is “born again”. Thus, Nicodemus thought that he needed to enter again into his mother’s womb to be born a second time. Although he understood correctly the literal meaning of “born anew,” he misunderstood the significance of the new birth. Although to be regenerated literally means to be born again, the significance of regeneration is not to enter into the mother’s womb and be born a second time.
1) “Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
To be regenerated is not to be born of blood (the fleshly life of man), nor of the will of the flesh (the will of the fallen, fleshly man), nor of the will of man (the will of the God-created man), but of God, that man may obtain the spiritual life of God. Therefore, we who are regenerated have obtained the life of God in addition to the human life which we already possess.