The initial stage, the stage of regeneration, is composed of redemption, sanctification (positional—1:2; 1 Cor. 6:11), justification, reconciliation, and regeneration. Redemption, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation are all for regeneration. Regeneration is the totality of redemption, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation. Regeneration is the result of these four matters.
In the stage of regeneration God has justified us through the redemption of Christ (Rom. 3:24-26), and He has regenerated us in our spirit with His life by His Spirit (John 3:3-6). Thus, we have received God’s eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9) and His eternal life (John 3:15), and we have become His children (John 1:12-13), who shall not perish forever (John 10:28-29).
God has regenerated us in our spirit. The element, the substance, God used to regenerate us is His own life. Furthermore, this regeneration with God’s life was accomplished by a Person, that is, by God’s Spirit. As a result of this regeneration, we have received God’s eternal salvation and His eternal life. In this sense we have already received God’s salvation. No one can deny that we have received God’s salvation in its first stage. There is no need for us to grow unto this stage, and it is not necessary for us to wait until it is revealed to us. We have received two things that are eternal—eternal salvation and eternal life. This is not my teaching, theology, or opinion; it is the revelation of God’s pure Word.
Because we have been regenerated and have received God’s eternal salvation and eternal life, we have become God’s children. As children of God, we shall never perish. This truth should strengthen us and keep us from the erroneous teaching that says if we sin after we have been saved, we shall perish. That teaching is nonsensical and is absolutely not according to the truth. Once we have received God’s eternal salvation, we are saved forever, for eternity. God’s eternal salvation is not dispensational; it is not temporary. Because it is an eternal salvation, we shall never perish.
This initial salvation of God has saved us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition (John 3:18, 16). However, although this initial salvation saves us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition, it does not save us from God’s discipline. During our lifetime God will discipline us and may even punish us. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul indicates that God judges, disciplines, and even punishes the believers. This does not mean, however, that those who are disciplined by God will lose their salvation. According to Scripture, on the one hand, we have been saved for eternity. We shall never be condemned by God, and we shall never perish. On the other hand, while we are living on earth in the flesh, God will deal with us and discipline us. Sometimes He may even judge us or punish us. By this we see that through the initial stage of God’s salvation, we receive eternal salvation and eternal life. Although we shall never perish, we may experience God’s discipline during our lifetime. But it is altogether contrary to the Bible to teach that to be disciplined by God means that we shall lose our salvation. God may punish us for certain things, but we have been saved for eternity and we shall never lose this eternal salvation.
The second stage of God’s full salvation, the progressing stage, is the stage of transformation. This stage is composed of freedom from sin, sanctification (mainly dispositional— Rom. 6:19, 22), growth in life, transformation, building up, and maturing. The sanctification in this stage is mainly dispositional, although there is still an amount of positional sanctification. In the first stage sanctification is altogether positional; in the second stage sanctification is mainly dispositional.
In this stage of transformation God is freeing us from the dominion of indwelling sin—the law of sin and death—by the law of the Spirit of life through the effectiveness of the death of Christ working subjectively in us (Rom. 6:6-7; 7:16-20; 8:2). In the second stage God is also sanctifying us by His Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16), with His holy nature, through His discipline (Heb. 12:10) and His judgment in His own house (1 Pet. 4:17). God is now sanctifying us by a Person, and this Person is the Holy Spirit. The element, the substance, God uses to sanctify us is His holy nature. The means through which we are sanctified is God’s discipline and judgment, the judgment He exercises in governing His own house.