Signs of Life in the Christian

I posted a quote a few days ago in which Jonathan Edwards, drawing from 2 Corinthians 5, reminds us that we are a "new creation" in Christ. A more modern commentator on the Gospel of Matthew suggests the opening words of The Sermon on the Mount, known as the Beatitudes, are to be "signs of life" in us new creatures. A way of life that, while not yet globally present, should already be found amongst Kingdom people.

"These statements [the Beatitudes], clearly, are not describing 'the way things are.' They are not suggesting that the mourners are already being comforted, despite appearances. They are not trying to teach hidden, timeless truths about a reality which is normally hidden behind a bleak facade. They are announcing a new state of affairs, a new reality which is in the process of bursting into the world. They are declaring that something that wasn't previously the case is now going to be; that the life of heaven, which had seemed so distant and unreal, is in the process of coming true on earth...These qualities - purity of heart, mercy, and so on - are not, so to speak, 'things you have to do' to earn a 'reward,' a 'payment.' Nor are they merely the 'rules of conduct' laid down for the converts to follow - rules that some today might perceive as somewhat arbitrary. They are, in themselves, the signs of life, the language of life, the life of new creation, the life of new covenant, the life which Jesus came to bring."

The Discipline of the Gospel

In his (very helpful) Romans commentary C.E.B. Cranfield reminds us that when you increase in your knowledge of the gospel you necessarily increase in your awareness of indwelling sin.


“The verses which follow [Romans 7:7-25] depict vividly the inner conflict characteristic of the true Christian, a conflict such as is possible only in the man, in whom the Holy Spirit is active and whose mind is being renewed under the discipline of the gospel. In the man who understands the law not legalistically but in the light of Christ and so recognizes the real seriousness of its requirement, and who truly and sincerely wills to obey it, to do what is good and to avoid the evil, the man in whom the power of sin is really being seriously and resolutely challenged, in him the power of sin is clearly seen. The more he is renewed by God’s Spirit, the more sensitive he becomes to the continuing power of sin over his life and the fact that even his very best activities are marred by the egotism still entrenched within him”

New Birth

After reading 2 Corinthians 5 this morning I was reminded of a great quote (I think I got from Brian) on the new birth. It has been on my mind today and caused me to examine my "internal tempers and disposition" in light of Paul saying my "old [self] has passed away" and I am a "new creation" in Christ. It's my prayer that the Spirit continues changing all of our innermost principles from the very foundation...

"The believer has such a sight and such a knowledge of things that, ever since, he is quite another man than he was before. It has exceedingly altered his internal tempers and disposition. The knowledge that he has is so substantial, so inward, and so affecting, that it has quite transformed the soul and put a new nature into the man, has quite changed his very innermost principles, and has made things otherwise, even from the very foundation, so that all things have become new to them. Yes, he is a new creature, he is just as if he was not the same, but born again, created over a second time." -Jonathan Edwards

All Things New

This past Wednesday both us in the youth house and those in the adult Bible study talked about the new heavens and the new earth. I came across this quote today and thought it went along with the subject we are thinking through together.

"The world into which we shall enter in the Parousia of Jesus Christ is therefore not another world; it is this world, this heaven, this earth; both, however, passed away and renewed. It is these forests, these fields, these cities, these streets, these people, that will be the scene of redemption. At present they are battlefields, full of the strife and sorrow of the not-yet-accomplished consummation; then they will be fields of victory, fields of harvest, where out of seed that was sown with tears the everlasting sheaves will be reaped and brought home" -Edward Thurneysen (Zwischen den Zeiten, 1931, p. 209).

The Evidences of Regeneration (the New Birth)

Jesus told the Pharisee named Nicodemus, that unless one is born again he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:1-8). To be born again is to be "regenerated" (Titus 3:5). We must be made new in order for us to abide in the presence of a holy God. This is more than a mere "decision," "asking Jesus into your heart," or "praying the sinner's prayer." The new birth is radical in its orientation, affecting every aspect of our being.

To demonstrate the comprehensiveness of regeneration (or the new birth), John Piper helpfully gleans from 1 John to demonstrate how radical in nature regeneration really is.

Regeneration’s Evidences from 1 John— :

1st, Those who are born of God keep His commandments: By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; (1 John 2:3-4 NAU) The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:24 NAU)

2nd, Those who are born of God walk as Christ walked. but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:5-6 NAU)

3rd, Those who are born of God don't hate other believers, but love them. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. (1 John 2:9 NAU) We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. (1 John 3:14 NAU) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8 ESV)

4th, Those who are born of God don't love the world. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15 NAU)

5th, Those who are born of God confess the Son and receive (have) Him. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:23 NAU) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (1 John 4:15 NAU) He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (1 John 5:12 NAU).

6th, Those who are born of God practice righteousness. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29 ESV)

7th, Those who are born of God don't make a practice of sinning. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. (1 John 3:6 NAU) No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:9-10 ESV) We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1 John 5:18 ESV)

8th, Those who are born of God possess the Spirit of God. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:24 NAU) By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (1 John 4:13 NAU)

9th, Those who are born of God listen submissively to the apostolic word. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6 NAU)

10th, Those who are born of God believe that Jesus is the Christ. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5:1 ESV)

11th, Those who are born of God overcome the world. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. (1 John 5:4 ESV)(J Piper, Finally Alive, 125-128)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon on the "New Heart"

This morning I came across an old research paper I wrote in seminary on the 19th century Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon's view of "regeneration." I wanted to post this so that we could see an example of just how doctrinal our Baptist forefathers were with regard to our human plight and God's sovereignty and mercy to meet that plight.

For example, in 1858, Spurgeon preaching from Ezekiel 36 on “The New Heart” begins his message on the importance of the promise from God that he will give a new heart. He argues, God does not promise to us that he will improve our nature . . . Human nature is too far gone ever to be mended . . .

To drive this assertion home he argues, The nature that can feed on the garbage of sin, and devour the carrion of iniquity, is not the nature that ever can sing the praises of God and rejoice in his holy name. The raven yonder has been feeding on the most loathsome food, do you expect that she shall have all the kindliness of the dove . . . No; there must be a change.

With this idea in mind, Spurgeon expounds on humankind's fallen nature with candid imagery. He states, The very beasts are better than man, for man has all the worst attributes of the beasts and none of their best. He has the fierceness of the lion without its nobility; he has the stubbornness of an ass without is patience; he has all the devouring gluttony of the wolf, without the wisdom which bids it avoid the trap.

Spurgeon continues on this thought with his conviction that the worst aspect of man’s depravity is his pride. He asserts, It is a wild, strange thing to think that man should be proud, when he has nothing to be proud of. A living, animated lump of clay—defiled and filthy, a living hell, and yet proud.

In typical fashion, Spurgeon, having established the hopelessness of the human condition, expounds on the futility of man’s own ability to change. He states, A man trying to improve human nature is like trying to change the position of a weathercock, by turning it round to the east when the wind is blowing west; he has but to take his hand off and it will be back again to its place.

Therefore, man’s only hope is God who provides, not reformation, but renovation by giving a new heart. This regenerating work of God is his from first to last.

Furthermore, it is by God’s sovereign initiative because no unregenerate man cries for a new heart. Man revolts against his Maker and his Saviour; but where God determines to save, save he will. God will have the sinner, if he designs to have him. God never was thwarted yet in any one of his purposes.

When I think about Spurgeon's sermon, it reminds me a great deal of Ephesians 1:3-14, where 3 times Paul says that God saves us, "to the praise of his glorious grace" (Eph 1:6, 12, 14).

Regeneration's Effects

Yesterday I posted a thought from J.I. Packer on regeneration. Today, I'd like us to consider the radical effects stemming from the new birth.

Regeneration’s Effects:

• The sinner is re-created in and to newness of life (2 Cor 5:17; James 1:18)
• Has the defilement of one's heart cleansed or “washed” away (Ez 36:25-26; Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5).
• Is enabled to “see” and to “enter” the kingdom of God by faith (John 3:3,5)
• Is enabled to believe in Jesus (John 1:12-13)
• Is enabled to believe that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1).
• Is enabled to love others (1 John 4:7; 5:1)
• Is enabled to do righteousness and to shun the life of sin (1 John 3:9; 5:18)
• Restoration (palingenesia) of the entire creation to its final perfection – the ‘new creation’ theme (see Mt 19:28; cf. Rom 8:19ff; 2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1-4). In this last sense, we still await.

In understanding the radical nature of the new birth, we come to realize that salvation is more than a mere intellectual assent to a historical truth or more than the so called "asked Jesus in my heart" language that came out of the 19th century revivalist movement (but is not biblical language for one's conversion). The new birth (regeneration) is holistic in its scope, capturing one's mind, will, affections (and one day in the consummation of things, the body in resurrection).

That is we are renewed intellectually (to comprehend the things of God; 1 Cor 2:12, 14-16; 2 Cor 4:4, 6; Col 3:10), volitionally (liberates will from bondage, enabling them to affirm/pursue kingdom values; Rom 6:13; Phil 2:13; 2 Thess 3:5); emotionally (initiates the reintegration of disordered affections; Rom 8:15); morally/ethically (freed from depraved & enslaving passions, exchanging the works of the flesh [Gal 5:19-21] for the fruit of the Spirit [Gal 5:22-23]); & relationally (establishes fellowship with the triune God [1 Cor 1:9; Eph 2:22; 1 Jn 1:3] & other believers [Rom 12:5; Eph 2:14-15, 19-20]).

Remember, we are ‘new’ but ‘not yet’ completed in terms of the work.

A Thought on Regeneration (the New Birth)

Infants do not induce, or cooperate in, their own procreation and birth; no more can those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” prompt the quickening operation of God’s Spirit within them (see Eph 2:1-10). Spiritual vivification is a free, and to many mysterious, exercise of divine power (John 3:8), not explicable in terms of the combination or cultivation of existing human resources (John 3:6), not caused or induced by any human efforts (John 1:12-13) or merits (Tit 3:3-7), and not, therefore, to be equated with, or attributed to, any of the experiences, decisions, and acts to which it gives rise and by which it may be known to have taken place (J.I. Packer, “Regeneration,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 925).