REGENERATION

REGENERATION only found in Matthew 19=>28 and Titus 3=>5. This word literally means a “new birth.” The Greek word so rendered (palingenesia) is used by classical writers with reference to the changes produced by the return of spring. In Matthew 19=>28 the word is equivalent to the “restitution of all things” (Acts 3=>21). In Titus 3=>5 it denotes that change of heart elsewhere spoken of as a passing from death to life (1 John 3=>14); becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5=>17); being bom again (John 3=>5); a renewal of the mind (Romans 12=>2); a resurrection from the dead (Ephesians 2=>6); a being quickened (2=> 1, 5). This change is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. It originates not with man but with God (John 1=>12, 13; 1 John 2=>29; 5=>1, 4). As to the nature of the change, it consists in the implanting of a new principle or disposition in the soul; the impartation of spiritual life to those who are by nature “dead in trespasses and sins.” The necessity of such a change is emphatically affirmed in Scripture (John 3=>3; Romans 7=>18; 8=>7-9; 1 Corinthians 2=>14; Ephesians 2=>1; 4=>21-24).