In the initial stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of regeneration, the believers are made a new creation by being regenerated, by receiving the Holy Spirit, by having God’s eternal life, and by being renewed.
When man was first created, he was not crooked, wicked, or unclean, but upright, good, and clean (Eccl. 7:29). At that time man was without sin, corruption, or defect; therefore, in the eyes of God man was very good (Gen. 1:31). However, through the fall Satan entered into man with the satanic life (John 8:44; 1 John 3:10), man became mixed and unclean, and he also became the old man. Furthermore, sin (Rom. 7:23) and lust were constituted into the human body, because Satan’s life, the poisonous element of sin, was mixed into it; therefore, the human body was transmuted and became flesh (Gen. 3:7). Thus, man became the devil’s possession (1 John 3:8), being obedient to the evil spirits (Eph. 2:2). Not only so, man is also brought forth in iniquity (Psa. 51:5), his heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9), and nothing good dwells in his flesh, which is filled with all kinds of wicked things (Rom. 7:18; Mark 7:20-23). Moreover, he is at enmity with God, not subject to the law of God, nor can he be, and he cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8). Therefore, man needs to be renewed. Only through renewing can God dispense the divine essence of the new creation into man, that man may pass from his old state into a wholly new one, from the old creation into the status of a new creation.
All the work of renewing that God does in us is carried out by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The work of the Holy Spirit within us begins with regeneration and continues with renewing. The Holy Spirit renews us by imparting the divine essence into our being that we may become a new creation. He is the divine Person, the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. He washes and renews us with the divine essence that we may become a new creation, having the divine life and nature, and may be heirs of God in His eternal life, inheriting all the riches of the Triune God. Therefore, renewing is carried out by the Holy Spirit.
God does the renewing work in us through the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). The washing of regeneration is the process of God’s new creation to make us a new man. It is a reconditioning, remaking, or remodeling, with life. This washing of regeneration begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The washing of regeneration begins in us at the time of our regeneration, through which we obtain from God His life and nature. This divine life and nature cause us to be delivered from our natural life and nature, which through the fall have become defiled. Thus, when we are delivered from our natural life and nature through God’s divine life and nature, we are cleansed from all defilement. This purging is carried out through the washing of regeneration at the time of our new birth. Immediately following this, the Holy Spirit continues to do the work of renewing within us, imparting into us the divine essence of the new creation. The divine elements of the new creation produce in us a metabolic change that causes the old and natural elements within us to be replaced. This is the continuing work carried out by the washing of regeneration together with the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Both the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit are a continual working in us throughout our whole life until the completion of the new creation.