1: Newly Born of the Holy Spirit: Part 1(EN)
Today I am sharing a translation and summary from the Power City International Church's "Soteria: Salvation" series.
“1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
📖Ephesians 2:1 KJV
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We were all "dead" in the past. In Genesis 2:17, God warned Adam in advance, "Do not eat from that tree, for if you do, you will surely die." Adam did not believe God's word, and as a result, he actually experienced "death," that is the separation from God. Sin "separated" man from God, then "guilt" arose, "condemnation" was pronounced, and man's condition was changed to that of a mortal, physically dead being. Man was helpless and hopeless.
“4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”
📖Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV
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The man was helpless with any their own hands and efforts, was “dead", but because of God’s mercy and compassion, salvation came from God.
Including “1: Salvation”, Bible uses several words to describe what God has done for us. For example, "2: reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)," in which God sent Jesus to bridge the "distance" between God and us. And “3: propitiation (1 John 2:1-2)”, righteous God poured all his righteous judgment for the sins of the whole world on Jesus, and Jesus became the satisfaction of judgment. And “4: redemption (payment)”, as it is said like “ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19)”, Jesus did not pay for ours, but He Himself became the payment for us. And also, "5: Substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21),(also “ransom” or “atonement") in which Jesus accomplished salvation by becoming our substitute sacrificial sacrifice.
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And the sixth word we will focus on today is the word "regeneration”.
“5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
📖Titus 3:5 KJV
The term "washing of regeneration" is used here only once in the Bible. And this washing, as a work of salvation, is one time only, and it does not refer to washing with water = water baptism, but to the work of the Holy Spirit.
With looking back Genesis 2:17, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
So, if what man experiences through sin is "death," then what his "salvation" gives him is "life”. When Adam begat a son in the image and likeness of Adam in Genesis 5:3, man's condition was changed. Even though we say in Ephesians 2:1 that he was dead, he was still walking or talking after he died. So "death" does not refer to the extinction, but to the separation from God.
So when man left God, they were dead, and then in "salvation", the Holy Spirit gave "life" to those who were dead. That is called "regeneration”.
“3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
📖John 3:3-5 KJV
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Jesus' words "born of water and the Spirit" here refer to the "washing of regeneration”, symbolically expressing the washing away of sins by the Holy Spirit. It is not water baptism. The Greek expression that expressed in English version as “and” in verse 5 "water 'and' the Spirit" actually is, "water, that is, the Spirit," so it means “washing of sins” that is "being born of the Holy Spirit”.
“6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not thatt I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
📖John 3:6-7 KJV
Sins were washed away = born of the Holy Spirit = born again = regeneration, these are the same meaning. So who quickened us from the dead to life with Christ? The Holy Spirit. It is a mistake to think that we are somehow qualified to be saved. Salvation comes from God, and we were saved by grace without any conditions.
“17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
📖James 1:17-18 KJV
God has given us life in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. The meaning of the word "begat(v18)" is to be your Father, to give you life. You and the Father have the same genes. So anything what cannot defeat God cannot defeat you.
“23 being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
📖1 Peter 1:23 KJV
The Greek word for "seed" is sperma (sperm or seed). When you are born again in Christ, God's seed gives you life, and everything that makes you up comes from God. You are born of God and you are His joy by nature. And that life was given by the Word of God = the Word of God which lives and abides forever(1 Peter 1:23) = the Word of truth (James 1:18). “Born of the Spirit (John 3:5)" means that God's DNA are working in you.
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The Greek word for "rebirth(in Japanese version meanings)" (regeneration in English) in Titus 3:5 is "palingenesia," which means to begin again, a new beginning, or a new birth. In your regeneration, you were born of the Holy Spirit.
“15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
📖Romans 8:15 KJV
“17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
📖2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
“5 to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
📖Galatians 4:5-6 KJV
The Holy Spirit carries God's DNA(genes) into you, and you are born anew, completely. In this "regeneration", God's life enters you and you are made of His composition from birth. We do not "make" ourselves. We have already been "made". When Christ came into us, we were already made new.
“11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
📖Romans 8:11 KJV
You were born not from a "corruptible seed" but from the "incorruptible seed = Word of God". When you are dancing with ignorance, you are influenced and swayed by your circumstances. But when you deal with the knowledge of "who you are in Christ," that knowledge stays with you and your circumstances lose their influence.
You cannot know "who you are" until you know what God is like. Because believers are "in Christ", because we are living the life in Christ. Before you can strive for anything, you must know what you were given, who you are by birth, and what the being you are by nature.
Your "spirit" is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. You do not "have the Holy Spirit" exactly, but "you and God are in one spirit" = you are living together in a common spirit! (Continue to Part 2)
(From the tract distributed on Nov 12th, 2022)
