The New Birth

 

John Gill described that new man created in the believer in regeneration as “something that is holy, both in its principle and in its actings; and is superior to anything that can come from man, or be performed by him of himself. It is something entirely new; a new creature, a new man, a new heart, and a new spirit; and the conformity of a man to another image, even to the image of the second Adam, the Son of God.” Gill also wrote, “What is produced in regeneration is called the new creature, and the new man in distinction from the old man. It is something anew implanted in the heart, which never was before in human nature. It is not a working upon the old principles of nature, nor a working them up to an higher pitch. It is not an improvement of them, nor a repairing of the broken, ruined image of God in man. But it is altogether a new work. It is called a creature, being a work of almighty power; and a new creature, and a new man.”

Several years ago, my friend, Pastor Gary Shepard wrote, “Regeneration or being ‘born again,’ as Christ called it, is the work of the Holy Spirit in which he takes spiritually dead sinners and quickens them to life and faith in Christ. We are made ‘partakers of the divine nature’ through this birth from above. Being ‘born of God,’ we receive Christ and the privilege of being sons of God. This work of the sovereign Spirit is a part of the ‘new creation.’”

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

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