The Necessity of Regeneration

Rev. F. Costerus (1635-1703)

Here is spoken about the birth of man but not about his first or natural birth, for that is pictured as being insufficient and unprofitable to be saved but of a rebirth, of another new birth, for the first birth must be repeated. Concerning the matter itself, the rebirth is a gracious work of God whereby He directly changes the depraved man and places him in a state of grace and spiritual life to henceforth live for God. It is, we say, a direct or immediate change in man.

This new frame which is brought into man has been called among other things the seed of God (1 John 3:9). In man as he is born in a natural way is the seed of all sin, of unbelief, unthankfulness, anger, and much more. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). But through regeneration that seed is stripped of its earlier power, and another suitability is placed in man which is the seed of all the virtues so that the new life which the man receives in regeneration does not consist only of a few passing deeds but in an indwelling grace and inward suitableness of the mind, the will, and of the entire man, from which then flow forth the living operations and changes as they appear in their true origin. That is what is called in God’s Word: the image of God (Colossians 3:10); the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4); a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17); the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24); the inward man (Romans 7:22); and the Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

He who works this in the heart is God. “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. Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures” (James L17&18). Therefore, it is also said of those who are regenerated that they are born of God (John 1:13). It is attributed to the Father: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). It is also appropriated unto Christ, the Son of God, when it is said of Him “that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26). This is also true of the Holy Spirit, as we read in John 3:5&6, “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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’.’

Yes, God alone is the One who works in the heart. In the initial moment wherein he is regenerated, the sinner does not work along, for as a dead person can do nothing to make himself alive, so also the dead sinner cannot make himself alive; it is the Lord who brings forth the life in him (Ephesians 2:4&5; Ezekiel 36:26&27). In the continuance, in the immediate operation, in the exercises of repentance and conversion, which flow upon and out of and follow upon regeneration, man also works—God as the primary and most important, and man as the second and subordinate cause; yea, one could also say as the subsequent cause. For it is not God who has sorrow, who mourns over sin, who tries to improve His life, who lives chastely, righteous, and godly, but it is man who being regenerated does this by the working upon him by God’s Spirit. Herein can be seen the manner of speaking that the regenerated purify and sanctify themselves. “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

From this it can be seen already that the rebirth is a more complete and all encompassing birth than the first. The first is in the man who before did not exist, but this one takes place in the man who now is but is corrupt. Through the first birth man receives the image of Adam, that of sin and death. “And begat a son in his own likeness, after his image” (Genesis 5:3b). “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). But through regeneration he receives the image of Christ: “My little children, of whom 1 travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The attributes and perfections which are in Christ Jesus place their stamp and image upon the soul. The first birth brings forth not only a sinful but also a dying life; the rebirth brings forth a spiritual and eternal life. That is why Peter writes in the quoted text that we are born again to a living hope. It is upon this rebirth that the Lord Jesus places the emphasis and shows that it is necessary, yea, so necessary that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

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