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 A
Practical View of Regeneration Part I
Archibald Alexander:
(April 17, 1772 – October 22, 1851) American Presbyterian theologian and
professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Published in The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, volume 8 (1836).
That human nature has lost that moral purity and perfection with which it was
originally endued, is a truth which lies at the heart of the Christian religion.
Indeed, we see not how it can be denied by the deist, without casting a gross
reflection on the character of God. It is only from the Scriptures, however,
that we learn the origin of evil. Here we read, that God made man upright, but
he hath sought out many inventions. Man being in honor continued not. When God
created man he formed him in his own image and after his own likeness; and what
that image consisted in, the apostle Paul informs us, when he speaks of the new
creation. "And that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on
the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The
phrase "after God," means after the image of God. This is expressed in the
parallel passage, "Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and
have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him." By the fall this moral image was effaced. The mind which had
been illumined by divine truth became spiritually blind; the heart whose
exercises had been holy and harmonious, became corrupt, the hot-bed of every
vicious propensity, and the center of darkness and disorder. Instead of moral
beauty, there was now deformity. In the place of pure felicity, misery
succeeded. The soul was now turned with aversion from God and holiness, and the
affections attached themselves to the creature. Reason and conscience no longer
had control over the inferior passions and appetites; but these, seizing the
reins of government, urged man on to carnal indulgences inconsistent with purity
and peace. Being now alienated from God, man became his own center around which
he endeavored to make all things revolve, from which the most direful disorder
ensued; yet he persists in acting upon this principle of supreme selfishness.
Although this depravity was from its commencement total, inasmuch as all holy
exercise and all holy motives were banished from the mind; yet is human iniquity
capable of indefinite increase. Its natural progress is from bad to worse,
without a conceivable limit. All therefore are not equal in sin and guilt. The
same person is comparatively innocent when he commences his course, to what he
becomes at the end of a long life of transgression. And the enormity of his
guilt, as well as the obstinate perverseness of his evil nature, depends on the
clearness of the light resisted, and the multitude of the mercies abused.
Wickedness may attain its greatest visible height among the heathen, but in the
sight of God, self-righteous Pharisees are more guilty than Publicans; and
Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum will have a more intolerable doom than Tyre
and Sidon, or even than Sodom itself. The deepest guilt is contracted under the
clear sunshine of the gospel, and by those whose privileges, opportunities,
calls and professions, lay them under the strongest obligations to love and
serve their Creator.
The proof of the wickedness of man is found in every part of the Bible; and it
is a truth confirmed by all history and experience. That a reformation would be
desirable, and that all men need to be made better than they are, will not be
denied. But there is a deep-rooted opinion in the minds of men, that this
reformation and return to the service of God, will be easy whenever they shall
determine upon it. The need for supernatural power to regenerate the soul is not
commonly felt; and when men begin to be convinced of their impotence as it
relates to holy acts, they are prone to make their depravity, which is the only
cause of their inability, their excuse.
The necessity of regeneration arises from the fact, that man by the fall has
become dead in sin. Spiritual life is extinct, and, therefore, if any are saved,
they must be regenerated. Life cannot spring from death. Life is a gift of God
in all cases. He breathed into man, when his body was formed out of the clay,
the breath of life. It would be as reasonable to believe that the organized body
could inspire itself with life, as that the dead soul can perform acts of
spiritual life. All men having fallen into the same spiritual death, all need
regeneration. Some men are amiable in their natural temper, and regular in their
external behavior; but these also are naturally blind and depraved. They have no
right apprehensions of God, no holy affections towards him, no cheerful and
habitual purpose to serve him. They need therefore to be converted, however
highly they may be esteemed among men. Though such, like the young ruler who
came to Christ, may have many amiable qualities which entitle them to the love
of their friends, yet, like him, they may lack one thing. Their hearts may be
fixed, like his, on worldly objects. Let all such, therefore, be assured that,
as well as others, they must be born again. Man looketh on the outward
appearance, but God searcheth the heart; and often that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Under a fair exterior there
often lies concealed a heart full of unbelief, pride, and ingratitude. By the
restraints of education, an enlightened conscience, and a regard to reputation,
sin may be kept from breaking out into enormous and shameful actions; but the
seeds of all iniquity are concealed in every heart. Men are satisfied commonly
if they can so regulate their lives as to escape the censure of men, and the
disgrace which follows wicked actions, but they pay little attention to their
hearts which are as a cage of unclean birds. Most men are not in the habit of
judging of their thoughts, imaginations and feelings, by the holy law of God,
which condemns every wandering of desire, every unhallowed temper, and every
want of supreme and perfect love. If we look upon our own hearts we must be
convinced that all is not right within. If our hearts are naturally good, why do
they turn away with strong secret aversion from the spiritual service of God? If
our hearts are not dead to God, why are we not daily delighted with the
contemplation of his glorious attributes? Why is prayer a burden? Why are we so
entirely engrossed with sensible and worldly pursuits and pleasures? And if the
moral and amiable need regeneration, what shall we say of the multitudes who are
living in open rebellion against God? The profane, the unjust, the intemperate,
the licentious, the scoffer, the false-swearer, the defrauder of the widow and
the orphan, the sabbath-breaker, the liar, the neglecters of God's worship, the
slanderer, and a multitude of others who live habitually in known sin, surely
need to be reformed, and they will never be thoroughly reformed until they are
regenerated. Such must put off the old man with his corrupt deeds, and put on
the new man. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and
to our God who will abundantly pardon." There is an urgent necessity that every
sinner should repent, for true repentance is unto life. And what our Lord
declared to the Jews is true of all, and was intended for all. "Except ye repent
ye shall all likewise perish," and Paul preached to the Athenians that "God now
commandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained, of which he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised
him from the dead." Evangelical repentance, conversion and regeneration, are
substantially the same. They all signify a thorough change of views, affections,
purposes and conduct; and this change is every where declared to be essential to
salvation. And this is not a merely arbitrary constitution. No one is capable of
the enjoyment of heavenly felicity who has never been born again. Without
spiritual life, what would the sinner do in heaven? If men have no love to God,
nor relish for his service, heaven is no place for them. Heaven is a holy place,
and all the exercises and employments are holy, therefore, "Without holiness no
man shall see the Lord." And to be holy, ye must be born again.
Having considered the necessity of regeneration, we come now to speak of the
power by which it is effected — of the instrument in accomplishing it — and of
its nature and effects.
Regeneration must be the peculiar work of God, because it is "a new creation,"
and no power but that of God is adequate to such a work. It is a resurrection
from the worst kind of death, and none can inspire the dead with life but the
Almighty. It is giving sight to the blind, and opening the eyes which never saw
the light of day, to behold the beauty of holiness, and the glory of God; but
the same power which in the beginning caused light to shine out of darkness,
must shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. "Except a man be born of water and the spirit
he cannot see the kingdom of God." "The wind bloweth where it listeth, etc., so
is every one that is born of the spirit." "That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Those who are the sons
of God are not "born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God." Paul calls this change "the washing of regeneration," and "the
renewing of the Holy Ghost." And David prays, "Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me." But why multiply proofs of a truth so
evident from reason as well as Scripture? If there be any such internal change
of the heart, God must be its author; for how else could it be produced? "Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." If a tree be evil, who can
make it good, but he who created it? If the heart be deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked, will it purify itself? If all the thoughts and
imaginations of man's heart are evil and only evil and that continually, whence
will spring a holy nature? For a sinner to regenerate himself would be as absurd
an idea, as for a man to create or beget himself. It is God that begins this
good work within his people, and he will carry it on.
As God the Holy Spirit is the Author of regeneration; so the instrument employed
is the Word of God. This is as clearly taught in Scripture as that God is the
author or efficient cause. God is able to work without means, but both in the
worlds of nature and grace it has pleased him to employ appropriate means for
the accomplishment of his own ends. But although we know the fact that there is
an established connection between means and ends; yet we are not competent to
explain, in any case, how the end is produced by the means employed. Our animal
frame is formed, and organized, and nourished, and kept alive, and recovered
from disease by means adapted to these ends, but no one can explain the secret
process of nature in these operations. Curious inquiries respecting the way in
which the word is instrumental in the production of this change are not for
edification. Sometimes regeneration is considered distinctly from the acts and
exercises of the mind which proceed from it, but in the Holy Scriptures the
cause and effect are included; and we shall therefore treat the subject in this
practical and popular form. The instrumentality of the word can never derogate
from the efficient agency of the Spirit in this work. The Spirit operates by and
through the word. The word derives all its power and penetrating energy from the
Spirit. Without the omnipotence of God the word would be as inefficient as clay
and spittle, to restore sight to the blind. Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy
over the dry bones in the valley of vision. Thus ministers are now sent to call
upon those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to awake and arise from the
dead, but none will obey their voice, unless a divine power accompanies their
words. Men, it is true, are rational and accountable agents, and are therefore
proper subjects of commands and exhortations; yet are they destitute of
spiritual life, and no power but that of God as we have seen can communicate
life. When the Spirit operates by the word, the soul before dead in sin is
rendered susceptible of impressions from divine truth. The entrance of the truth
under this divine influence gives light, and excites holy affections, which
prompt to good purposes, and as a matter of course, the external actions are in
obedience to the law of God. The man becomes a new creature. His wicked life is
reformed. Actions before materially good are now performed from love to God and
with a view to his glory. That the word of God is indeed the instrument or means
of producing this change is evident from many plain testimonies of Scripture;
such as the following, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."
"The testimonies of the Lord are sure making wise the simple." "So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." "Of his own will begat he us
with the word of truth." "Being born again not of corruptible seed but of
incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." Therefore
the word of God is called "the sword of the Spirit," and is said to be "quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner to the thoughts and intents of the heart." So in the exposition of the
parable of the sower, our Lord says, "The seed is the word of God." And this
seed, when sown on good ground bringeth forth fruit manifold. "For these are
they which hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit." The most
precious seed never vegetates nor brings forth fruit, until it receives a
vivifying influence from without; so the word of God, unaccompanied by the
influences of the Holy Spirit, remains unfruitful, however often it may be heard
or read; or however it may be treasured in the memory or theoretically
understood. To have fruit it is not only necessary to have good seed, but good
ground. Make the tree good and the fruit shall be good; for a corrupt tree
cannot bring forth good fruit. There is need of a quickening influence on the
dead soul of the sinner to render it capable of apprehending and appreciating
the truth. In the order of causation life must precede action, but in the order
of time the communication of life and the acts of the new creature are
simultaneous. Lazarus was called from the dead by the voice of Christ, but he
must have been inspired with life before he could hear that voice. But still it
is proper to say, that he was called into life by the omnipotent voice of our
Savior. So when the gospel is preached, the dead hear the voice of the Son of
God and live. Or we may illustrate the instrumentality of the word by the case
of the blind man whose eyes our Lord opened. This man, when he first looked up,
saw objects indistinctly, "men as trees walking;" but when he looked a second
time, he saw things clearly. Christ caused this man to see by the light of
heaven which shone around him; but the power causing him to see was exerted on
the eye, removing the obstacles to vision, or supplying what was defective in
the organ. As soon as this was done, the light was the medium of the perception
of surrounding objects. Thus the soul of every man is by nature blind. The light
may shine around him, but he comprehendeth it not. "The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him, neither can
he know them because they are spiritually discerned." By the energy of the Holy
Spirit this incapacity of spiritual vision is taken away; the eyes of the
understanding are enlightened. The blindness is removed, and spiritual objects
are perceived; but alas! with most, very indistinctly at first. "The light of
the just increaseth more and more unto the perfect day." Truth is just as
necessary to every spiritual act and exercise, as light is to vision. Where the
truth is not apprehended there can be no faith, for faith is a belief of the
truth; there can be no love, for it is by the truth that the excellencies of the
character of God and Christ are made known. Without the knowledge of the truth,
there can be no repentance, for this is the light which shows the holiness and
extent of the law and the evil of sin. Thus it is evident that without the truth
there can be no holy exercise and no true obedience. Therefore, we never find
the Holy Spirit operating on adults but as accompanying the word of truth. We
can conceive of a preparation of the heart to receive the truth before it is
known, as in fact the knowledge of the truth is acquired very gradually. Thus we
can conceive of a divine agency on the heart of a heathen, by which he would be
disposed to receive the truth as soon as it should be made known. Such a divine
influence does probably prepare the way for the success of the gospel; but where
the word is never sent, there we have no evidence that the Spirit exerts his
renovating influence on the minds of men. Thus also we can form some idea how
infants are regenerated. As they are capable of no moral exercises at present,
they do not need the truth; but the Spirit of God can so renovate their depraved
souls as to render them capable of apprehending and feeling the truth, as soon
as their faculties are sufficiently developed; whether in this world or in
another. And as we are all by nature the children of wrath — conceived in sin —
and dead, infants need regeneration as really as adults, and cannot enjoy the
holy happiness of heaven without such a renovation of their fallen nature.
From the connection which God has established in ordinary cases between the word
and regeneration, we see the importance of sending the gospel to the heathen,
and of having the good seed of the word sown as much as possible in every soul.
The word should be preached in season and out of season, and the truth should be
inculcated on the minds of children from their earliest years. Here is work in
which all may engage and be useful. Hence also we learn how precious the book of
God is which contains his holy word, and how desirable it is to have it
faithfully translated into all languages, and circulated round the earth, until
every family shall be in possession of the oracles of God. For not only in the
preaching of the word of God, but also the reading of the Holy Scriptures, an
effectual means of salvation. Agreeably to that in the Westminster Shorter
Catechism, "The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching
of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of
building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto salvation." Paul
was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, "for it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth."
That usually a conviction of sin takes place previously to a change of heart, is
a fact of common experience: and there seems to be a solid reason for this, that
the sinful moral agent may be sensible of his miserable condition before he is
delivered from it. As man naturally seeks to justify himself by his own
righteousness, it is necessary that he should be cut off from this dependence on
a broken law, which is now 'weak through the flesh,' and cannot bring him to
life; and that he should see and feel that he is already justly condemned, and
must despair of relief from the law. God permits the awakened sinner to try what
he can do towards saving himself, until wearied with his own ineffectual
efforts, he is brought to feel that he is indeed a lost sinner, and that there
is no hope for him but in the sovereign mercy of God, on which he has no claim.
It is suitable that when so great a benefit as pardon and eternal life is
bestowed, it should be so conferred, as that the unworthy recipient should be
fully convinced that it is a free gift, and an undeserved favor which might be
most justly withheld. Otherwise the saved sinner would not feel a deep sense of
his obligations; and his gratitude for free grace through eternity would not be
so ardent. Some, however, are inclined to the opinion that conviction of sin,
which is of any real value, is subsequent to regeneration, and forms a part of
that evangelical repentance which all the chosen of God experience. They
suppose, that mere legal terrors, which are often felt by the reprobate here,
and by all the wicked in hell, can have no necessary connection with
regeneration; and that that deep sense of the turpitude and demerit of sin,
which commonly precedes a sense of reconciliation, and is by many thought to
precede regeneration, is really a consequence of that spiritual change, and a
sure evidence that it has taken place. As the question only relates to the order
of the exercises of the true penitent, it seems unnecessary to occupy time in
discussing it. On both sides it is agreed that mere legal convictions, however
the conscious may be awakened, and the soul agitated with terror, are no
evidences of a change of heart. And it is also agreed, that all regenerate
persons are brought to a deep sense of the intrinsic evil of sin, and this leads
them inevitably to the conclusion, that God would be just if he should inflict
upon them the condign punishment which he has threatened in his word. Indeed,
when the mind is spiritually enlightened to see something of the great evil of
sin, the penitent soul cannot help taking the part of God against itself, and
approving of its own condemnation.
A Practical View of
Regeneration Part II
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