Category Archives: Regeneration

John 3:5 – ‘Born of water and spirit’

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John 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

1. Some think that the expression refers to water baptism and spiritual regeneration by the Spirit

Such interpreters might represent baptism (either John’s baptism or Christian baptism) as a means of regeneration, and the Spirit as the primary cause of regeneration.  Note that John’s baptism with water and Jesus’ baptism with the Spirit are connected in Jn 1:33, and Christian baptism with water is connected with the reception of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38.…

Signs of life

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Regenerations, according to T.C. Hammond, is ‘a spiritual resurrection into a new sphere of life, in which he is alive to God and united to him in Christ.  God has implanted in the new-born soul a totally new principle of life.’ (In Understanding Be Men).

We look, accordingly, for signs of life in the new-born Christian.

J.I. Packer writes that ‘the signs whereby a regenerate person may be known correspond to the natural actions of the newborn child.’…

Signs of new life

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Like a newborn baby, the new Christian,

1. cries, Rom 8:15
2. hungers, 1 Pet 2:2; Heb 5:12ff; 1 Cor 3:2
3. moves, Tit 2:14
4. rests, Ps 131:2 127:2
5. grows, 2 Pet 3:18…