There is another point we ought to pay attention to. That is, regeneration not only restores us to the condition of Adam before his fall, but it also affords us something additional. Adam had a "spirit," but that spirit was only created by God and did not contain the uncreated life of God Himself, as signified by the tree of life. There was no life-relationship between Adam and God. As the angels were called sons of God, Adam was also called a son of God (Luke 3:38), because he was created directly by God. We who believe in the Lord Jesus are "begotten" of God (John 1:12-13) and thus have a life relationship with God. The life of a father is the life inherited by the sons. Since we are born of God, we automatically have the life of God (2 Pet. 1:4). If Adam had been willing to receive the life which God offered him by means of the tree of life, Adam would have had the eternal life, the uncreated life of God. His spirit came from God and exists forever, but how this life would become everlasting depended on how he regarded God's command and how he made his choice. What we Christians obtain at regeneration is God's life, a life which was possible for Adam to obtain, but he did not obtain it. Regeneration serves not only to restore man's spirit and soul from the original state of confusion and darkness but furthermore puts man in possession of the supernatural life of God.
Man's deadened, fallen spirit is made alive by receiving God's life imparted through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is regeneration. The basis upon which the Holy Spirit regenerates man is the cross (please read John 3:14-15). The eternal life in John 3:16 is the life of God which is put into man's spirit by the Holy Spirit. Because this life is God's life, which can never die, all who have been regenerated have this life and are said to "have eternal life." If God's life were to die, man's eternal life would immediately perish!
After regeneration, man's relationship with God is that of birth. Regardless of what happens, once a man has been born of God, God cannot deny that He has begotten him. Therefore, man, once born of God, despite how long eternity may be, has a relationship and position which cannot be canceled. Man obtains this through regeneration by believing in the Lord Jesus as Savior and not through his progress, spirituality, or holiness gained after believing in the Lord. What God gives to the regenerated ones is eternal life. Therefore, this position and life can never be annulled.
When man is regenerated, he obtains God's life. This is the starting point of a Christian life. This is the minimum for every believer. Whoever has not believed in the death of the Lord Jesus and received a supernatural life which he originally did not have, regardless of how zealously he may be progressing in the areas of religion, morality, and learning, is still a dead man in God's sight. All who do not have God's own life are dead.
With regeneration as the starting point, the spiritual life now has the possibility to grow. This rebirth is the first step in the spiritual life. At such a time the spiritual life is complete but not mature. The capabilities of this life are complete and able to reach the highest plane. However, because this life is newly born, it is not grown-up or mature. It is like a fruit which is green; the life is complete, but it is still unripe. The completeness is in its life capabilities, not yet in all of its organic parts. Man's regeneration is the same. After regeneration there is still an immensely great capacity in God's life that will allow him to advance unceasingly. From here on, the Holy Spirit can lead him forward until the body and soul are totally overcome.
The apostle in 1 Corinthians 3:1 classified all Christians as either spiritual or fleshy. A spiritual Christian is one who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his spirit and ruling over his whole being. What then is a fleshy one? The flesh in the Bible signifies all of the nature and life of an unregenerated man—the totality of the unregenerated man, including all the matters belonging to his sinful spirit, soul, and body (Rom. 7:18). Therefore, a fleshy Christian is one who, having been reborn and having received God's life, is unable to overcome his flesh, and is instead overcome by his flesh. We have already seen that in a fallen man, his spirit is deadened, and he is governed by his soul and body. A fleshy Christian, therefore, is one who follows his soul and body to sin, act, and behave.
If after regeneration, a believer remains for a prolonged period of time in the flesh, God's saving way will not be manifested to be perfected in him. It is when he grows in grace to become spiritual that salvation is perfected in him. The saving way of Golgotha is that God has already prepared salvation for every sinner to be regenerated, and that every regenerated one may attain to the status of a spiritual man who is able to overcome the "old creation."