After the fall men became enemies of God (Rom. 5:10a). Men are in enmity against God and are not subject to the law of God (Rom. 8:7); they do not approve of holding God in their full knowledge (Rom. 1:28); they have no fear of God before their eyes (Rom. 3:18); they hate God (Rom. 1:30) and blaspheme God (1 Tim. 1:13); and they even say that there is no God (Psa. 14:1). Hence, they are sons of disobedience and children of wrath (Eph. 2:2-3). However, through His death and the shedding of His blood on the cross, Christ has made peace between God and man (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:20). Therefore, when a person believes in the Lord, he can be reconciled to God and also accepted by God through all that the Lord Jesus has accomplished.
Through the aforementioned items—forgiveness of sins, washing, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation to God—the outward problems between man and God have been solved. However, besides having problems with God outwardly, man also has problems inwardly in his life and nature. Therefore, when a person believes in the Lord, God not only solves his problems without but also regenerates him within that he may receive His life and partake of His nature (1 John 5:12; 2 Pet. 1:4). Based on what is revealed in the Bible, man is regenerated, that is, he is begotten of God, at the moment he believes.
The life a person receives at regeneration is the eternal life (John 6:47), the life of God (1 John 1:1-2). Since a person is regenerated at the moment he believes, by this believing he receives the eternal life of God and has passed out of death into life (John 5:24).
Once a person believes in the Lord and is thus regenerated and possesses God’s life, God gives to him His Holy Spirit, the One who regenerates man (Eph. 1:13). The Holy Spirit is God Himself entering into man to be the divine life and essence in man.
Once a person believes in the Lord and receives forgiveness of sins, he is freed from God’s judgment and condemnation (John 3:18; 5:24), from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9; John 3:36; 1 Thes. 1:10), and from the fear and slavery of death (Heb. 2:14-15). Moreover, because he is begotten of God and has received the eternal life of God and the Holy Spirit of God, he is freed from sins (Matt. 1:21) and the power of sin (John 8:34, 36; Rom. 6:6) as well as from the law (Gal. 4:4-5; Rom. 7:6) and the bondage of the law (Gal. 5:1; 4:7). Furthermore, He is released from the flesh (Col. 2:11), the old man (Col. 3:9), Satan’s oppression (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38), the religious world and its ordinances (Gal. 1:4; 6:14-15; Col. 2:20), and his vain manner of life handed down from his fathers (1 Pet. 1:18). He is therefore completely set free (John 8:36) and is no longer under any kind of bondage or confinement.
Once a person believes in the Lord, he is saved (Eph. 2:8; Acts 16:31; Luke 7:50). Salvation includes God’s calling, the Spirit’s sanctification, the union between the Triune God and man, and the aforementioned items, namely, forgiveness of sins, washing, sanctification, justification, reconciliation to God, regeneration, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, and freedom. All the grace God has bestowed upon man is included in this salvation. Once man believes, he receives this full salvation with all its riches. After believing, he does not receive anything additional, but rather experiences continually what he has already received.
Immediately following the Spirit’s sanctification and man’s repentance is man’s faith, or man’s believing. To believe is to receive; it is also to “believe into.” The believers receive Christ into them that He may be mingled with them; on the other hand, they believe into Him that they may be joined to Him. Once a person believes, he receives Christ, who is the Word, the very God, and the light, into him. He also believes into His name, into the Son of God, and into the Son of Man, who died and was resurrected, to be joined to the Lord Himself and receive the eternal life. At the same time, his sins are taken away, his evil nature is dealt with, and Satan is destroyed within him. Moreover, once a person believes in the Lord Jesus, he immediately receives the blessings of forgiveness of sins, washing, sanctification, justification, reconciliation to God, regeneration, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, freedom, and salvation. Thus, through faith man receives all the grace with all the riches that God bestows upon man.