Tuesday | 01 July 2025
Christ’s message is the water of the word, and it begins to minister regeneration to a hearer. Regeneration is not the new birth; rather, it is the ministry of the Spirit, through the word, to the humanity of a believer. This regenerative work, associated with the Spirit of grace and supplication that accompanies the commands of Christ, makes a person who was formerly dead in trespasses and sins, alive. They are made alive so that they can hear and respond to the gospel. 1Co 2:9,14.
Explaining this initial regenerative effect of grace and supplication upon a hearer, the apostle Paul said, ‘And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.’ Eph 2:1-2.
When a person is made alive by regeneration, they are no longer dead in trespasses and sins as a son or daughter of Adam. Although they are still of ‘the dust of the earth’ as a natural person, they have become a son or daughter of Abraham. This is because they have received the same faith that Abraham received when he believed the word that contained the ‘exceedingly great and precious promises’ of God. 2Pe 1:4. Rom 4:16-17. He believed the word that was spoken to him by Christ. We recall that the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth’. Gen 13:16. Importantly, as we noted above, they are now able to hear and receive the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 1Co 2:9,14. They can see the kingdom of God. Joh 3:3.
Further Study:
Romans 4
References:
1Co 2:9
But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’
1Co 2:14
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Eph 2:1-2
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
2Pe 1:4
By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Rom 4:16-17
Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
Gen 13:16
And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.
Joh 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’