Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are “born again,” for there are many who fancy they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there be something more added to it—the being “born again,” is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe it. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt: known by works of holiness, and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself: a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the one, God alone can do the other. If you have then, been “born again,” your acknowledgment will be, “O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, thou art my spiritual Parent; unless thy Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I had been to this day ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly derived from thee, to thee I ascribe it. ‘My life is hid with Christ in God.’ It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me.” - Charles Spurgeon There is perhaps no greater area of modern day theology that is so misunderstood, so divisive within the Body of Christ than the area of soteriology. It should come as no surprise to the observant student of scripture that this is the case in that soteriological issues are the very foundation for who is and who is not included in the Church. Scripture’s warnings of aberrant teaching are not couched in terms of secondary issues but rather alert the children of God to be mindful of the primary doctrines that lead to the eternal well being of the human soul. Unsurprisingly, an enemy that is a wise manager of limited resources but very effective in his attacks does not see the necessity of introducing error into non-salvific matters but strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. As a result, the enemy of Christ has turned the very doctrines that are given to bring great hope in the salvation of God into a point of bickering and infighting among God’s beloved people. However, for all the intense scrutiny that so often fuels passions on both sides of the soteriological fray, the core issues necessary to a proper understanding of salvation are too often unformulated, cloudy and misunderstood.
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