What is Regeneration?

The New Principle of Regeneration

The first sub-point, regeneration is a new principle in the life. And we've been talking a little bit before the podcast about what does he mean exactly by principle, because I don't think he necessarily uses it in the way that we would typically use it today.

And it is principle, P-R-I-N-C-I-P-L-E, not P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L, the principle. And so as a kind of starting point, here is a dictionary definition of principle. It is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

So there's a fundamental principle in regeneration. Regeneration is a new principle. There's a new fundamental way of thinking that comes about by way of regeneration. But we're also saying that it's not just that we think differently.

We do that. But contained within that idea also is an energy. There's life that's brought to us in regeneration, a new birth. So a new way of thinking, but it's not just that we've caught hold of a new idea, but that idea is contained within this principle.

And this principle both causes this new life and it directs the new life and it helps us to set the pattern for what's to come.

The Seed, the New Nature, and the Fountainhead

Yeah, two biblical metaphors that help us with that. One is the issue of a seed, a spiritual seed has been planted in the soul. So we talked about even a plant has DNA and we had to double check this because we're not really very good scientists.

So plant DNA, within the seed there is a DNA. So not only does the seed contain within itself, in a sense, the seed of life, the energy, the cause of a new plant, but the type of seed determines the type of plant.

So a new seed produces a new plant and that is caused by the seed and guided by the code within that seed. Or think of a new nature. When we think of a spiritual nature, it's the same thing. God has placed within us a new nature by his spirit.

And this nature is the cause of all the changes that flow in the Christian life. And we'll be talking about that. So it's the cause of life, but it's also the guide. So it's not just the source of the stream.

In a sense, it also includes, you know, the course with it. God has done something within us to make us alive. And this is the principle, the source, the cause of a completely new life. And it is the guide of that new life.

Another way of looking at it, too, you mentioned a stream. What flows from this life is determined by this new principle, like in a stream. So if you go back to the fountainhead or to the source of the spring, if the spring is polluted there, the water that flows from it all the way down is polluted.

But if you can clean up that fountainhead, then what flows after that is also clean.

The Old Nature and the New Life of Holiness

So it is true on both sides. A sinful nature, the old principle of action, the old engine within us, fuel, and the guiding principle was self. And so everything that comes out of that, even things that look noble and sacrificial, ultimately are polluted at the source.

It's the same for the Christian. There is a new nature, and from this new nature flows new desires and activity. And when we look at the Christian's life, even when we're very imperfect, still the source of the actions is this new life, you know.

So there is something different. In other words, we can still go back and sin, sadly. But that doesn't mean we're the men we once were, because God has planted something that is growing and spreading.

And there is an order here. We talk about order a lot, but there's an order here. This new principle is a root from which the fruit of a new life and holiness comes. So we're not trying to produce holiness from the outside in and buckle things down and just force everything to be correct, thinking that's going to change the inside, but rather the new birth creates a new principle, a new nature.

And from that new nature, we've been made new creatures. All things are made new. All things have passed away. Yeah, totally new lifestyle.