REGENERATION / BORN AGAIN

Regeneration describes the work of God in providing new spiritual life in the believer. Human beings without Christ are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1) and must be made alive or regenerated through the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). This giving of new spiritual life through Jesus Christ enables right relationships with God, the ability to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and is simultaneous with Justification (previous paragraph).

It is God’s gracious act to rekindle the spiritual life lost in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22) so one may now walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh (Romans 8:1–11). Accordingly, the individual is said to be "Born Again" or born of God (1 John 5:1). In responding to the double question of Nicodemus, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:4, 5). To be born again, then, is to become a new creation in Christ, a child of God, justified and regenerated as a result of true repentance and faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. There is no other way to enter the kingdom. This entrance into a new life of discipleship to Christ (Acts 2:42) engages the believer in actively seeking more of God, fellowshipping and worshipping with God’s people, and intentionally obeying God’s Word as the believer learns how to "possess his vessel (whole body) in sanctification and honour" (1 Thessalonians 4:4).

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