Chapter VIII: Section II: The Application Of Christ’s Redemption In Its Actual (2)

In the Johnston Harvester Works at Batavia, when they paint their
machinery, they do it by immersing part after part in a great tank
of paint,—so the painting is instantaneous and complete. Our
baptism into Christ is the outward picture of an inward immersion
of the soul not only into his love and fellowship, but into his
very life, so that in him we become new creatures (_2 Cor. 5:17_).
As Miss Sullivan surrounded Helen Keller with the influence of her
strong personality, by intelligence and sympathy and determination
striving to awaken the blind and dumb soul and give it light and
love, so Jesus envelops us. But his Spirit is more encompassing
and more penetrating than any human influence however powerful,
because his life is the very ground and principle of our being.

Tennyson: “O for a man to arise in me, That the man that I am may
cease to be!” Emerson: “Himself from God he could not free; He
builded better than he knew.” Religion is not the adding of a new
department of activity as an adjunct to our own life or the
grafting of a new method of manifestation upon the old. It is
rather the grafting of our souls into Christ, so that his life
dominates and manifests itself in all our activities. The magnet
which left to itself can lift only a three pound weight, will lift
three hundred when it is attached to the electric dynamo.
Expositor’s Greek Testament on _1 Cor. 15:45, 46_—“The action of
Jesus in ‘_breathing_’ upon his disciples while he said, ‘_Receive
the Holy Spirit_’ (_John 20:22_ _sq._) symbolized the vitalizing
relationship which at this epoch he assumed towards mankind; this
act raised to a higher potency the original ‘_breathing_’ of God
by which ‘_man became a living soul_’ (_Gen. 2:7_).”

(_b_) Union with Christ involves a new exercise of the soul’s powers in repentance and faith; faith, indeed, is the act of the soul by which, under the operation of God, Christ is received. This new exercise of the soul’s powers we call _Conversion_ (Repentance and Faith). It is the obverse or human side of Regeneration.

_Eph. 3:17_—“_that Christ may dwell in your hearts through
faith_”; _2 Tim. 3:15_—“_the sacred writings which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus._” Faith is the soul’s laying hold of Christ as its only
source of life, pardon, and salvation. And so we see what true
religion is. It is not a moral life; it is not a determination to
be religious; it is not faith, if by faith we mean an external
trust that somehow Christ will save us; it is nothing less than
the life of the soul in God, through Christ his Son. To Christ
then we are to look for the origin, continuance and increase of
our faith (_Luke 17:5_—“_said unto the Lord, Increase our
faith_”). Our faith is but a part of “_his fulness_” of which “_we
all received, and grace for grace_” (_John 1:16_).

A. H. Strong, Sermon before the Baptist World Congress, London,
1905—“Christianity is summed up in the two facts: Christ _for_ us,
and Christ _in_ us—Christ _for_ us upon the Cross, revealing the
eternal opposition of holiness to sin, and yet, through God’s
eternal suffering for sin making objective atonement for us; and
Christ _in_ us by his Spirit, renewing in us the lost image of
God, and abiding in us as the all‐sufficient source of purity and
power. Here are the two foci of the Christian ellipse: Christ
_for_ us, who redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made
a curse for us, and Christ _in_ us, the hope of glory, whom the
apostle calls the mystery of the gospel.

“We need Christ _in_ us as well as Christ _for_ us. How shall I,
how shall society, find healing and purification within? Let me
answer by reminding you of what they did at Chicago. In all the
world there was no river more stagnant and fetid than was Chicago
River. Its sluggish stream received the sweepings of the
watercraft and the offal of the city, and there was no current to
carry the detritus away. There it settled, and bred miasma and
fever. At last it was suggested that, by cutting through the low
ridge between the city and the Desplaines River, the current could
be set running in the opposite direction, and drainage could be
secured into the Illinois River and the great Mississippi. At a
cost of fifteen millions of dollars the cut was made, and now all
the water of Lake Michigan can be relied upon to cleanse that
turbid stream. What Chicago River could never do for itself, the
great lake now does for it. So no human soul can purge itself of
its sin; and what the individual cannot do, humanity at large is
powerless to accomplish. Sin has dominion over us, and we are foul
to the very depths of our being, until with the help of God we
break through the barrier of our self‐will, and let the floods of
Christ’s purifying life flow into us. Then, in an hour, more is
done to renew, than all our efforts for years had effected. Thus
humanity is saved, individual by individual, not by philosophy, or
philanthropy, or self‐development, or self‐reformation, but simply
by joining itself to Jesus Christ, and by being filled in Him with
all the fulness of God.”

(_c_) Union with Christ gives to the believer the legal standing and rights of Christ. As Christ’s union with the race involves atonement, so the believer’s union with Christ involves _Justification_. The believer is entitled to take for his own all that Christ is, and all that Christ has done; and this because he has within him that new life of humanity which suffered in Christ’s death and rose from the grave in Christ’s resurrection,—in other words, because he is virtually one person with the Redeemer. In Christ the believer is prophet, priest, and king.

_Acts 13:39_—“_by him_ [lit.: ‘_in him_’ = in union with him]
_every one that believeth is justified_”; _Rom. 6:7, 8_—“_he that
hath died is justified from sin ... we died with Christ_”;
_7:4_—“_dead to the law through the body of Christ_”; _8:1_—“_no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus_”; _17_—“_heirs of
God, and joint‐heirs with Christ_”; _1 Cor. 1:30_—“_But of him ye
are in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and
righteousness_ [justification]”; _3:21, 23_—“_all things are yours
... and ye are Christ’s_”; _6:11_—“_ye were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God_”; _2 Cor.
5:14_—“_we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all
died_”; _21_—“_Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our
behalf; that we might become the righteousness_ [justification]
_of God in him_” = God’s justified persons, in union with Christ
(see pages 760, 761).

_Gal. 2:20_—“_I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me_”; _Eph. 1:4,
6_—“_chose us in him ... to the praise of the glory of his grace,
which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved_”; _2:5, 6_—“_even
when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ ... made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in
Christ Jesus_”; _Phil. 3:8, 9_—“_that I may gain Christ, and be
found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that
which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which is from God by faith_”; _2 Tim.
2:11_—“_Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall
also live with him._” Prophet: _Luke 12:12_—“_the Holy Spirit
shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say_”; _1 John
2:20_—“_ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all
things._” Priest: _1 Pet. 2:5_—“_a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ_”;
_Rev. 20:6_—“_they shall be priests of God and of Christ_”; _1
Pet. 2:9_—“_a royal priesthood._” King: _Rev. 3:21_—“_He that
overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne_”;
_5:10_—“_madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests._”
The connection of justification and union with Christ delivers the
former from the charge of being a mechanical and arbitrary
procedure. As Jonathan Edwards has said: “The justification of the
believer is no other than his being admitted to communion in, or
participation of, this head and surety of all believers.”

(_d_) Union with Christ secures to the believer the continuously transforming, assimilating power of Christ’s life,—first, for the soul; secondly, for the body,—consecrating it in the present, and in the future raising it up in the likeness of Christ’s glorified body. This continuous influence, so far as it is exerted in the present life, we call _Sanctification_, the human side or aspect of which is _Perseverance_.

For the soul: _John 1:16_—“_of his fulness we all received, and
grace for grace_”—successive and increasing measures of grace,
corresponding to the soul’s successive and increasing needs; _Rom.
8:10_—“_if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but
the spirit is life because of righteousness_”; _1 Cor.
15:45_—“_The last Adam became a life‐giving spirit_”; _Phil.
2:5_—“_Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus_”; _1
John 3:2_—“_if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him._”
“Can Christ let the believer fall out of his hands? No, for the
believer is his hands.”

For the body: _1 Cor. 6:17‐20_—“_he that is joined unto the Lord
is one spirit ... know ye not that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit which is in you ... glorify God therefore in your
body_”; _Thess. 5:23_—“_And the God of peace himself sanctify you
wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire,
without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ_”; _Rom.
8:11_—“_shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his
Spirit that dwelleth in you_”; _1 Cor. 15:49_—“_as we have borne
the image of the earthy_ [man], _we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly_ [man]”; _Phil. 3:20, 21_—“_For our citizenship is in
heaven; from whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that
it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the
working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto
himself._”

Is there a physical miracle wrought for the drunkard in his
regeneration? Mr. Moody says, Yes; Mr. Gough says, No. We prefer
to say that the change is a spiritual one; but that the “expulsive
power of a new affection” indirectly affects the body, so that old
appetites sometimes disappear in a moment; and that often, in the
course of years, great changes take place even in the believer’s
body. Tennyson, Idylls: “Have ye looked at Edyrn? Have ye seen how
nobly changed? This work of his is great and wonderful; His very
face with change of heart is changed.” “Christ in the soul
fashions the germinal man into his own likeness,—this is the
embryology of the new life. The cardinal error in religious life
is the attempt to live without proper environment” (see Drummond,
Natural Law in Spiritual World, 253‐284). Human life from Adam
does not stand the test,—only divine‐human life in Christ can
secure us from falling. This is the work of Christ, now that he
has ascended and taken to himself his power, namely, to give his
life more and more fully to the church, until it shall grow up in
all things into him, the Head, and shall fitly express his glory
to the world.

As the accomplished organist discloses unsuspected capabilities of
his instrument, so Christ brings into activity all the latent
powers of the human soul. “I was five years in the ministry,” said
an American preacher, “before I realized that my Savior is alive.”
Dr. R. W. Dale has left on record the almost unutterable feelings
that stirred his soul when he first realized this truth; see
Walker, The Spirit and the Incarnation, preface, v. Many have
struggled in vain against sin until they have admitted Christ to
their hearts,—then they could say: “_this is the victory that hath
overcome the world, even our faith_” (_1 John 5:4_). “Go out, God
will go in; Die thou, and let him live; Be not, and he will be;
Wait, and he’ll all things give.” The best way to get air out of a
vessel is to pour water in. Only in Christ can we find our pardon,
peace, purity, and power. He is “_made unto us wisdom from God,
and justification and sanctification, and redemption_” (_1 Cor.
1:30_). A medical man says: “The only radical remedy for
dipsomania is religiomania” (quoted in William James, Varieties of
Religious Experience, 268). It is easy to break into an empty
house; the spirit cast out returns, finds the house empty, brings
seven others, and “_the last state of that man becometh worse than
the first_” (_Mat. 12:45_). There is no safety in simply expelling
sin; we need also to bring in Christ; in fact only he can enable
us to expel not only actual sin but the love of it.

Alexander McLaren: “If we are ‘_in Christ_,’ we are like a diver
in his crystal bell, and have a solid though invisible wall around
us, which keeps all sea‐monsters off us, and communicates with the
upper air, whence we draw the breath of calm life and can work in
security though in the ocean depths.” John Caird, Fund. Ideas,
2:98—“How do we know that the life of God has not departed from
nature? Because every spring we witness the annual miracle of
nature’s revival, every summer and autumn the waving corn. How do
we know that Christ has not departed from the world? Because he
imparts to the soul that trusts him a power, a purity, a peace,
which are beyond all that nature can give.”

(_e_) Union with Christ brings about a fellowship of Christ with the believer,—Christ takes part in all the labors, temptations, and sufferings of his people; a fellowship of the believer with Christ,—so that Christ’s whole experience on earth is in some measure reproduced in him; a fellowship of all believers with one another,—furnishing a basis for the spiritual unity of Christ’s people on earth, and for the eternal communion of heaven. The doctrine of Union with Christ is therefore the indispensable preparation for _Ecclesiology_, and for _Eschatology_.

Fellowship of Christ with the believer: _Phil. 4:13_—“_I can do
all things in him that strengtheneth me_”; _Heb. 4:15_—“_For we
have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities_”; _cf._ _Is. 63:9_—“_In all their affliction he
was afflicted._” _Heb. 2:18_—“_in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted_” = are
being tempted, are under temptation. Bp. Wordsworth: “By his
_passion_ he acquired _compassion_.” _2 Cor. 2:14_—“_thanks be
unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ_” = Christ
leads us in triumph, but his triumph is ours, even if it be a
triumph over us. One with him, we participate in his joy and in
his sovereignty. _Rev. 3:21_—“_He that overcometh, I will give to
him to sit down with me in my throne._” W. F. Taylor on _Rom.
8:9_—“_The Spirit of God dwelleth in you.... if any man hath not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his_”—“Christ dwells in us,
says the apostle. But do we accept him as a resident, or as a
ruler? England was first represented at King Thebau’s court by her
resident. This official could rebuke, and even threaten, but no
more,—Thebau was sovereign. Burma knew no peace, till England
ruled. So Christ does not consent to be represented by a mere
resident. He must himself dwell within the soul, and he must
reign.” Christina Rossetti, Thee Only: “Lord, we are rivers
running to thy sea, Our waves and ripples all derived from thee; A
nothing we should have, a nothing be, Except for thee. Sweet are
the waters of thy shoreless sea; Make sweet our waters that make
haste to thee; Pour in thy sweetness, that ourselves may be
Sweetness to thee!”

Of the believer with Christ: _Phil. 3:10_—“_that I may know him,
and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death_”; _Col.
1:24_—“_fill up on my part that which is lacking of the
afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is
the church_”; _1 Pet. 4:13_—“_partakers of Christ’s sufferings._”
The Christian reproduces Christ’s life in miniature, and, in a
true sense, lives it over again. Only upon the principle of union
with Christ can we explain how the Christian instinctively applies
to himself the prophecies and promises which originally and
primarily were uttered with reference to Christ: “_thou wilt not
leave my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to
see corruption_” (_Ps. 16:10, 11_). This fellowship is the ground
of the promises made to believing prayer: _John
14:13_—“_whatsoever ye shall ask is my name, that will I do_”;
Westcott, Bib. Com., _in loco_: “The meaning of the phrase [‘_in
my name_’] is ‘as being one with me even as I am revealed to you.’
Its two correlatives are ‘_in me_’ and the Pauline ‘_in Christ_’.”
“_All things are yours_” (_1 Cor. 3:21_), because Christ is
universal King, and all believers are exalted to fellowship with
him. After the battle of Sedan, King William asked a wounded
Prussian officer whether it were well with him. “All is well where
your majesty leads!” was the reply. _Phil. 1:21_—“_For to me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain._” Paul indeed uses the words
“Christ” and “church” as interchangeable terms: _1 Cor.
12:12_—“_as the body is one, and hath many members, ... so also is
Christ._” Denney, Studies in Theology, 171—“There is not in the N.
T. from beginning to end, in the record of the original and
genuine Christian life, a single word of despondency or gloom. It
is the most buoyant, exhilarating and joyful book in the world.”
This is due to the fact that the writers believe in a living and
exalted Christ, and know themselves to be one with him. They
descend crowned into the arena. In the Soudan, every morning for
half an hour before General Gordon’s tent there lay a white
handkerchief. The most pressing message, even on matters of life
and death, waited till that handkerchief was withdrawn. It was the
signal that Christ and Gordon were in communion with each other.

Of all believers with one another: _John 17:21_—“_that they may
all be one_”; _1 Cor. 10:17_—“_we, who are many, are one bread,
one body: for we all partake of the one bread_”; _Eph.
2:15_—“_create in himself of the two one new man, so making
peace_”; _1 John 1:3_—“_that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ_”—here the word κοινωνία is used. Fellowship with each
other is the effect and result of the fellowship of each with God
in Christ. Compare _John 10:16_—“_they shall become one flock, one
shepherd_”; Westcott, Bib. Com., _in loco_: “The bond of
fellowship is shown to lie in the common relation to one Lord....
Nothing is said of one ‘fold’ under the new dispensation.” Here is
a unity, not of external organization, but of common life. Of this
the visible church is the consequence and expression. But this
communion is not limited to earth,—it is perpetuated beyond death:
_1 Thess. 4:17_—“_so shall we ever be with the Lord_”; _Heb.
12:23_—“_to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who
are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect_”; _Rev. 21_ and _22_—the city of
God, the new Jerusalem, is the image of perfect society, as well
as of intensity and fulness of life in Christ. The ordinances
express the essence of Ecclesiology—union with Christ—for Baptism
symbolizes the incorporation of the believer in Christ, while the
Lord’s Supper symbolizes the incorporation of Christ in the
believer. Christianity is a social matter, and the true Christian
feels the need of being with and among his brethren. The Romans
could not understand why “this new sect” must be holding meetings
all the time—even daily meetings. Why could they not go singly, or
in families, to the temples, and make offerings to their God, and
then come away, as the pagans did? It was this meeting together
which exposed them to persecution and martyrdom. It was the
natural and inevitable expression of their union with Christ and
so of their union with one another.

The consciousness of union with Christ gives assurance of
salvation. It is a great stimulus to believing prayer and to
patient labor. It is a duty to “_know what is the hope of his
calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us‐ward
who believe_” (_Eph. 1:18, 19_). Christ’s command, “_Abide in me,
and I in you_” (_John 15:4_), implies that we are both to realize
and to confirm this union, by active exertion of our own wills. We
are to abide in him by an entire consecration, and to let him
abide in us by an appropriating faith. We are to give ourselves to
Christ, and to take in return the Christ who gives himself to
us,—in other words, we are to believe Christ’s promises and to act
upon them. All sin consists in the sundering of man’s life from
God, and most systems of falsehood in religion are attempts to
save man without merging his life in God’s once more. The only
religion that can save mankind is the religion that fills the
whole heart and the whole life with God, and that aims to
interpenetrate universal humanity with that same living Christ who
has already made himself one with the believer. This consciousness
of union with Christ gives “_boldness_” (παρρησία—_Acts 4:13_; _1
John 5:14_) toward men and toward God. The word belongs to the
Greek democracies. Freemen are bold. Demosthenes boasts of his
frankness. Christ frees us from the hidebound, introspective,
self‐conscious spirit. In him we become free, demonstrative,
outspoken. So we find, in John’s epistles, that boldness in prayer
is spoken of as a virtue, and the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews urges us to “_draw near with boldness unto the throne of
grace_” (_Heb. 4:16_). An engagement of marriage is not the same
as marriage. The parties may be still distant from each other.
Many Christians get just near enough to Christ to be engaged to
him. This seems to be the experience of Christian in the Pilgrim’s
Progress. But our privilege is to have a present Christ, and to do
our work not only _for_ him, but _in_ him. “Since Christ and we
are one, Why should we doubt or fear?” “We two are so joined,
He’ll not be in heaven, And leave me behind.”

We append a few statements with regard to this union and its
consequences, from noted names in theology and the church. Luther:
“By faith thou art so glued to Christ that of thee and him there
becomes as it were one person, so that with confidence thou canst
say: ‘I am Christ,—that is, Christ’s righteousness, victory,
_etc._, are mine’; and Christ in turn can say: ‘I am that
sinner,—that is, his sins, his death, _etc._, are mine, because he
clings to me and I to him, for we have been joined through faith
into one flesh and bone.’ ” Calvin: “I attribute the highest
importance to the connection between the head and the members; to
the inhabitation of Christ in our hearts; in a word, to the
mystical union by which we enjoy him, so that, being made ours, he
makes us partakers of the blessings with which he is furnished.”
John Bunyan: “The Lord led me into the knowledge of the mystery of
union with Christ, that I was joined to him, that I was bone of
his bone and flesh of his flesh. By this also my faith in him as
my righteousness was the more confirmed; for if he and I were one,
then his righteousness was mine, his merits mine, his victory also
mine. Now could I see myself in heaven and on earth at once—in
heaven by my Christ, my risen head, my righteousness and life,
though on earth by my body or person.” Edwards: “Faith is the
soul’s active uniting with Christ. God sees fit that, in order to
a union’s being established between two intelligent active beings,
there should be the mutual act of both, that each should receive
the other, as entirely joining themselves to one another.” Andrew
Fuller: “I have no doubt that the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness presupposes a union with him; since there is no
perceivable fitness in bestowing benefits on one for another’s
sake, where there is no union or relation between.”

See Luther, quoted, with other references, in Thomasius, Christi
Person und Werk, 3:325. See also Calvin, Institutes, 1:660;
Edwards, Works, 4:66, 69, 70; Andrew Fuller, Works, 2:685; Pascal,
Thoughts, Eng. trans., 429; Hooker, Eccl. Polity, book 5, ch. 56;
Tillotson, Sermons, 3:307; Trench, Studies in Gospels, 284, and
Christ the True Vine, in Hulsean Lectures; Schöberlein, in Studien
und Kritiken, 1847:7‐69; Caird, on Union with God, in Scotch
Sermons, sermon 2; Godet, on the Ultimate Design of Man, in
Princeton Rev., Nov. 1880—the design is “God in man, and man in
God”; Baird, Elohim Revealed, 590‐617; Upham, Divine Union,
Interior Life, Life of Madame Guyon and Fénelon; A. J. Gordon, In
Christ; McDuff, In Christo; J. Denham Smith, Life‐truths, 25‐98;
A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 220‐225; Bishop Hall’s
Treatise on The Church Mystical; Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ;
Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 145, 174, 179; F. B.
Meyer, Christian Living—essay on Appropriation of Christ, _vs._
mere imitation of Christ; Sanday, Epistle to the Romans,
supplementary essay on the Mystic Union; H. B. Smith, System of
Theology, 531; J. M. Campbell, The Indwelling Christ.

II. Regeneration.

Regeneration is that act of God by which the governing disposition of the soul is made holy, and by which, through the truth as a means, the first holy exercise of this disposition is secured.

Regeneration, or the new birth, is the divine side of that change of heart which, viewed from the human side, we call conversion. It is God’s turning the soul to himself,—conversion being the soul’s turning itself to God, of which God’s turning it is both the accompaniment and cause. It will be observed from the above definition, that there are two aspects of regeneration, in the first of which the soul is passive, in the second of which the soul is active. God changes the governing disposition,—in this change the soul is simply acted upon. God secures the initial exercise of this disposition in view of the truth,—in this change the soul itself acts. Yet these two parts of God’s operation are simultaneous. At the same moment that he makes the soul sensitive, he pours in the light of his truth and induces the exercise of the holy disposition he has imparted.

This distinction between the passive and the active aspects of
regeneration is necessitated, as we shall see, by the twofold
method of representing the change in Scripture. In many passages
the change is ascribed wholly to the power of God; the change is a
change in the fundamental disposition of the soul; there is no use
of means. In other passages we find truth referred to as an agency
employed by the Holy Spirit, and the mind acts in view of this
truth. The distinction between these two aspects of regeneration
seems to be intimated in _Eph. 2:5, 6_—“_made us alive together
with Christ,_” and “_raised us up with him_.” Lazarus must first
be made alive, and in this he could _not_ coöperate; but he must
also come forth from the tomb, and in this he _could_ be active.
In the old photography, the plate was first made sensitive, and in
this the plate was passive; then it was exposed to the object, and
now the plate actively seized upon the rays of light which the
object emitted.

Availing ourselves of the illustration from photography, we may
compare God’s initial work in the soul to the sensitizing of the
plate, his next work to the pouring in of the light and the
production of the picture. The soul is first made receptive to the
truth; then it is enabled actually to receive the truth. But the
illustration fails in one respect,—it represents the two aspects
of regeneration as successive. In regeneration there is no
chronological succession. At the same instant that God makes the
soul sensitive, he also draws out its new sensibility in view of
the truth. Let us notice also that, as in photography the picture
however perfect needs to be developed, and this development takes
time, so regeneration is only the beginning of God’s work; not all
the dispositions, but only the governing disposition, is made
holy; there is still need that sanctification should follow
regeneration; and sanctification is a work of God which lasts for
a whole lifetime. We may add that “heredity affects regeneration
as the quality of the film affects photography, and environment
affects regeneration as the focus affects photography” (W. T.
Thayer).

Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that
many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite
convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore
never asked: “Are you a Christian?” but always: “Have you ever
been born again?” E. G. Robinson: “The doctrine of regeneration,
aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the
Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God
instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.” We get the
doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get
the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul.
Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul’s great words are,
justification, and righteousness; John’s are, birth from God, and
life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life‐union with
Christ.”

Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature
is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the
life; it has been thrust from the centre to the circumference; it
has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in
potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not
unmediated. God’s action on the soul may be through the sense, yet
still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each
other.” Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made
his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of
spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs
spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in
regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in
nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human
life.” Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell on _Rev. 21:5_—“_Behold, I
make all things new_”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a
new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new
name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.”

1. Scripture Representations.

(_a_) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner.

_John 3:7_—“_Ye must be born anew_”; _Gal. 6:15_—“_neither is
circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature_”
(marg.—“_creation_”); _cf._ _Heb. 12:14_—“_the sanctification
without which no man shall see the Lord_”—regeneration, therefore,
is yet more necessary to salvation; _Eph. 2:3_—“_by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest_”; _Rom. 3:11_—“_There is none
that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God_”; _John
6:44, 65_—“_No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me
draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him
of the Father_”; _Jer. 13:23_—“_Can the Ethiopian change his skin,
or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed to do evil._”

(_b_) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.

_John 3:3_—“_Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of
God_”; _5:21_—“_as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them
life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will_”; _Rom.
6:13_—“_present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead_”;
_Eph. 2:1_—“_And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through
your trespasses and sins_”; _5:14_—“_Awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee._” In
_John 3:3_—“_born anew_” = not, “altered,” “influenced,”
“reinvigorated,” “reformed”; but a new beginning, a new stamp or
character, a new family likeness to God and to his children. “_So
is every one that is born of the Spirit_” (_John 3:8_) = 1.
secrecy of process; 2. independence of the will of man; 3.
evidence given in results of conduct and life. It is a good thing
to remove the means of gratifying an evil appetite; but how much
better it is to remove the appetite itself! It is a good thing to
save men from frequenting dangerous resorts by furnishing safe
places of recreation and entertainment; but far better is it to
implant within the man such a love for all that is pure and good,
that he will instinctively shun the impure and evil. Christianity
aims to purify the springs of action.

(_c_) It is a change in the heart, or governing disposition.

_Mat. 12:33, 35_—“_Either make the tree good, and its fruit good;
or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is
known by its fruit.... The good man out of his good treasure
bringeth forth good things: and the evil man out of his evil
treasure bringeth forth evil things_”; _15:19_—“_For out of the
heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, railings_”; _Acts 16:14_—“_And a certain
woman named Lydia ... heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to
give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul_”; _Rom.
6:17_—“_But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of
sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching
whereunto ye were delivered_”; _10:10_—“_with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness_”; _cf._ _Ps. 51:10_—“_Create in me a
clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me_”; _Jer.
31:33_—“_I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their
hearts will I write it_”; _Ez. 11:19_—“_And I will give them one
heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the
stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of
flesh._”

Horace Mann: “One former is worth a hundred reformers.” It is
often said that the redemption of society is as important as the
regeneration of the individual. Yes, we reply; but the
regeneration of society can never be accomplished except through
the regeneration of the individual. Reformers try in vain to
construct a stable and happy community from persons who are
selfish, weak, and miserable. The first cry of such reformers is:
“Get your circumstances changed!” Christ’s first call is: “Get
yourselves changed, and then the things around you will be
changed.” Many college settlements, and temperance societies, and
self‐reformations begin at the wrong end. They are like kindling a
coal‐fire by lighting kindlings at the top. The fire soon goes
out. We need God’s work at the very basis of character and not on
the outer edge, at the very beginning, and not simply at the end.
_Mat. 6:33_—“_seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you._”

(_d_) It is a change in the moral relations of the soul.

_Eph. 2:5_—“_when we were dead through our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ_”; _4:23, 24_—“_that ye be renewed in
the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, that after God
hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth_”; _Col.
1:13_—“_who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and
translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love._” William
James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 508, finds the features
belonging to all religions: 1. an uneasiness; and 2. its solution.
1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that
there is _something wrong about us_, as we naturally stand. 2. The
solution is a sense that we are saved _from the wrongness_ by
making proper connection with the higher powers.

(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth as a means.

_James 1:18_—“_Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of
truth_”—here in connection with the special agency of God (not of
mere natural law) the truth is spoken of as a means; _1 Pet.
1:23_—“_having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and
abideth_”; _2 Pet. 1:4_—“_his precious and exceeding great
promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine
nature_”; _cf._ _Jer. 23:29_—“_Is not my word like fire? saith
Jehovah; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?_”
_John 15:3_—“_Already ye are clean because of the word which I
have spoken unto you_”; _Eph. 6:17_—“_the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God_”; _Heb. 4:12_—“_For the word of God is
living, and active, and sharper than any two‐edged sword, and
piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints
and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the
heart_”; _1 Pet. 2:9_—“_called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light._” An advertising sign reads: “For spaces and
ideas, apply to Johnson and Smith.” In regeneration, we need both
the open mind and the truth to instruct it, and we may apply to
God for both.

(_f_) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known only in its results.

_John 5:24_—“_He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent
me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath
passed out of death into life_”; _cf._ _Mat. 6:24_—“_No man can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other._” _John
3:8_—“_The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice
thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit_”; _cf._ _Phil. 2:12,
13_—“_work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it
is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good
pleasure_”; _2 Pet. 1:10_—“_Wherefore, brethren, give the more
diligence to make your calling and election sure._”

(_g_) It is a change wrought by God.

_John 1:13_—“_who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God_”; _3:5_—“_Except one be
born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God_”; _3:8_, marg.—“_The Spirit breatheth where it will_”; _Eph.
1:19, 20_—“_the exceeding greatness of his power to us‐ward who
believe, according to that working of the strength of his might
which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places_”;
_2:10_—“_For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in
them_”; _1 Pet. 1:3_—“_Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto
a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead_”;
_cf._ _1 Cor. 3:6, 7_—“_I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave
the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase._”

We have seen that we are “_begotten again ... through the word_”
(_1 Pet. 1:23_). In the revealed truth with regard to the person
and work of Christ there is a divine adaptation to the work of
renewing our hearts. But truth in itself is powerless to
regenerate and sanctify, unless the Holy Spirit uses it—“_the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God_” (_Eph. 6:17_).
Hence regeneration is ascribed preëminently to the Holy Spirit,
and men are said to be “_born of the Spirit_” (_John 3:8_). When
Robert Morrison started for China, an incredulous American said to
him: “Mr. Morrison, do you think you can make any impression on
the Chinese?” “No,” was the reply; “but I think the Lord can.”

(_h_) It is a change accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ.

_Rom. 8:2_—“_For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
made me free from the law of sin and death_”; _2 Cor. 5:17_—“_if
any man is in Christ, he is a new creature_” (marg.—“_there is a
new creation_”); _Gal. 1:15, 16_—“_it was the good pleasure of God
... to reveal his Son in me_”; _Eph. 2:10_—“_For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works._” On the
Scriptural representations, see E. D. Griffin, Divine Efficiency,
117‐164; H. B. Smith, System of Theology, 553‐569—“Regeneration
involves union with Christ, and not a change of heart without
relation to him.”

_Eph. 3:14, 15_—“_the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven
and on earth is named._” But even here God works through Christ,
and Christ himself is called “_Everlasting Father_” (_Is. 9:6_).
The real basis of our sonship and unity is in Christ, our Creator,
and Upholder. Sin is repudiation of this filial relationship.
Regeneration by the Spirit restores our sonship by joining us once
more, ethically and spiritually, to Christ the Son, and so
adopting us again into God’s family. Hence the Holy Spirit does
not reveal himself, but Christ. The Spirit is light, and light
does not reveal itself, but all other things. I may know that the
Holy Spirit is working within me whenever I more clearly perceive
Christ. Sonship in Christ makes us not only individually children
of God, but also members of a commonwealth. _Ps. 87:4_—“_Yea, of
Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her_” =
“the most glorious thing to be said about them is not something
pertaining to their separate history, but that they have become
members, by adoption, of the city of God” (Perowne). The Psalm
speaks of the adoption of nations, but it is equally true of
individuals.

2. Necessity of Regeneration.

That all men without exception need to be changed in moral character, is manifest, not only from Scripture passages already cited, but from the following rational considerations:

(_a_) Holiness, or conformity to the fundamental moral attribute of God, is the indispensable condition of securing the divine favor, of attaining peace of conscience, and of preparing the soul for the associations and employments of the blest.

Phillips Brooks seems to have taught that regeneration is merely a
natural forward step in man’s development. See his Life,
2:353—“The entrance into this deeper consciousness of sonship to
God and into the motive power which it exercises is Regeneration,
the new birth, not merely with reference to time, but with
reference also to profoundness. Because man has something sinful
to cast away in order to enter this higher life, therefore
regeneration must begin with repentance. But that is an incident.
It is not essential to the idea. A man simply imperfect and not
sinful would still have to be born again. The presentation of sin
as guilt, of release as forgiveness, of consequence as punishment,
have their true meaning as the most personal expressions of man’s
moral condition as always measured by, and man’s moral changes as
always dependent upon, God.” Here imperfection seems to mean
depraved condition as distinguished from conscious transgression;
it is not regarded as sinful; it needs not to be repented of. Yet
it does require regeneration. In Phillips Brooks’s creed there is
no article devoted to sin. Baptism he calls “the declaration of
the universal fact of the sonship of man to God. The Lord’s Supper
is the declaration of the universal fact of man’s dependence upon
God for supply of life. It is associated with the death of Jesus,
because in that the truth of God giving himself to man found its
completest manifestation.”

Others seem to teach regeneration by education. Here too there is
no recognition of inborn sin or guilt. Man’s imperfection of
nature is innocent. He needs training in order to fit him for
association with higher intelligences and with God. In the
evolution of his powers there comes a natural crisis, like that of
graduation of the scholar, and this crisis may be called
conversion. This educational theory of regeneration is represented
by Starbuck, Psychology of Religion, and by Coe, The Spiritual
Life. What human nature needs however is not evolution, but
involution and revolution—involution, the communication of a new
life, and revolution, change of direction resulting from that
life. Human nature, as we have seen in our treatment of sin, is
not a green apple to be perfected by mere growth, but an apple
with a worm at the core, which left to itself will surely rot and
perish.

President G. Stanley Hall, in his essay on The Religious
Affirmations of Psychology, says that the total depravity of man
is an ascertained fact apart from the teachings of the Bible.
There had come into his hands for inspection several thousands of
letters written to a medical man who advertised that he would give
confidential advice and treatment to all, secretly. On the
strength of these letters Dr. Hall was prepared to say that John
Calvin had not told the half of what is true. He declared that the
necessity of regeneration in order to the development of character
was clearly established from psychological investigation.

A. H. Strong, Cleveland Sermon, 1904—“Here is the danger of some
modern theories of Christian education. They give us statistics,
to show that the age of puberty is the age of strongest religious
impressions; and the inference is drawn that conversion is nothing
but a natural phenomenon, a regular stage of development. The free
will, and the evil bent of that will, are forgotten, and the
absolute dependence of perverse human nature upon the regenerating
spirit of God. The age of puberty is the age of the strongest
religious impressions? Yes, but it is also the age of the
strongest artistic and social and sensuous impressions, and only a
new birth from above can lead the soul to seek first the kingdom
of God.”

(_b_) The condition of universal humanity as by nature depraved, and, when arrived at moral consciousness, as guilty of actual transgression, is precisely the opposite of that holiness without which the soul cannot exist in normal relation to God, to self, or to holy beings.

Plutarch has a parable of a man who tried to make a dead body
stand upright, but who finished his labors saying: “Deest aliquid
intus”—“There’s something lacking inside.” Ribot, Diseases of the
Will, 53—“In the vicious man the moral elements are lacking. If
the idea of amendment arises, it is involuntary.... But if a first
element is not given by nature, and with it a potential energy,
nothing results. The theological dogma of grace as a free gift
appears to us therefore founded upon a much more exact psychology
than the contrary opinion.” “Thou art chained to the wheel of the
foe By links which a world cannot sever: With thy tyrant through
storm and through calm thou shall go, And thy sentence is bondage
forever.”

Martensen, Christian Ethics: “When Kant treats of the radical evil
of human nature, he makes the remarkable statement that, if a good
will is to appear in us, this cannot happen through a partial
improvement, nor through any reform, but only through a
revolution, a total overturn within us, that is to be compared to
a new creation.” Those who hold that man may attain perfection by
mere natural growth deny this radical evil of human nature, and
assume that our nature is a good seed which needs only favorable
external influences of moisture and sunshine to bring forth good
fruit. But human nature is a damaged seed, and what comes of it
will be aborted and stunted like itself. The doctrine of mere
development denies God’s holiness, man’s sin, the need of Christ,
the necessity of atonement, the work of the Holy Spirit, the
justice of penalty. Kant’s doctrine of the radical evil of human
nature, like Aristotle’s doctrine that man is born on an inclined
plane and subject to a downward gravitation, is not matched by a
corresponding doctrine of regeneration. Only the apostle Paul can
tell us how we came to be in this dreadful predicament, and where
is the power that can deliver us; see Stearns, Evidence of
Christian Experience, 274.

Dean Swift’s worthy sought many years for a method of extracting
sunbeams from cucumbers. We cannot cure the barren tree by giving
it new bark or new branches,—it must have new sap. Healing
snakebites is not killing the snake. Poetry and music, the
uplifting power of culture, the inherent nobility of man, the
general mercy of God—no one of these will save the soul. Horace
Bushnell: “The soul of all improvement is the improvement of the
soul.” Frost cannot be removed from a window pane simply by
scratching it away,—you must raise the temperature of the room. It
is as impossible to get regeneration out of reformation as to get
a harvest out of a field by mere plowing. Reformation is plucking
bitter apples from a tree, and in their place tying good apples on
with a string (Dr. Pentecost). It is regeneration or
degradation—the beginning of an upward movement by a power not
man’s own, or the continuance and increase of a downward movement
that can end only in ruin.

Kidd, Social Evolution, shows that in humanity itself there
resides no power of progress. The ocean steamship that has burned
its last pound of coal may proceed on its course by virtue of its
momentum, but it is only a question of the clock how soon it will
cease to move, except as tossed about by the wind and the waves.
Not only is there power lacking for the good, but apart from God’s
grace the evil tendencies constantly became more aggravated. The
settled states of the affections and will practically dominate the
life. Charles H. Spurgeon: “If a thief should get into heaven
unchanged, he would begin by picking the angels’ pockets.” The
land is full of examples of the descent of man, not _from_ the
brute, but _to_ the brute. The tares are not degenerate wheat,
which by cultivation will become good wheat,—they are not only
useless but noxious, and they must be rooted out and burned.
“Society never will be better than the individuals who compose it.
A sound ship can never be made of rotten timber. Individual
reformation must precede social reconstruction.” Socialism will
always be a failure until it becomes Christian. We must be born
from above, as truly as we have been begotten by our fathers upon
earth, or we cannot see the kingdom of God.

(_c_) A radical internal change is therefore requisite in every human soul—a change in that which constitutes its character. Holiness cannot be attained, as the pantheist claims, by a merely natural growth or development, since man’s natural tendencies are wholly in the direction of selfishness. There must be a reversal of his inmost dispositions and principles of action, if he is to see the kingdom of God.

Men’s good deeds and reformation may be illustrated by eddies in a
stream whose general current is downward; by walking westward in a
railway‐car while the train is going east; by Capt. Parry’s
traveling north, while the ice‐floe on which he walked was moving
southward at a rate much more rapid than his walking. It is
possible to be “_ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth_” (_2 Tim. 3:7_). Better never have been
born, than not be born again. But the necessity of regeneration
implies its possibility: _John 3:7_—“_Ye must be born anew_” = ye
may be born anew,—the text is not merely a warning and a
command,—it is also a promise. Every sinner has the chance of
making a new start and of beginning a new life.