This interview with Nicodemus is Can he enter the second time into his particularly interesting, as being our mother's womb, and be born." To this Lord's first contact with the purest and rejoinder, two exrreme interpretations most intelligent Judaism onUs day. The have been given. He first altlibutes the vOiceofProphecyhadbeensHentthrough utmost obtuseness of intellect to four hundred years, but is now heard Nicodemus,astaldngChlist'swordinits again: and theJ~h ruler, convinced by exact literalness. The second, regarding the miracles of Christ that He was at least thisasincredible, amibutesto Nicodemus a teamer sent from God, hastens to the a perfect comprehension of our Lord's oracleforlight. ThenaLUreofhisinquiri.es parabolic style, whim he simply retorts

isnmphysical, but moral-tbat is tosay, not a change in the organic structure of the soul, nor an addition to the complement of its faculties--but a spiritual change wrought in its affections andtastesanddesiresbythepowerofthe Holy Ghost, and leading directly to acts of holy obedience. This is clearly the meaning of the phrase, "born of water." ThisistheeJementofcleansing, profusely

is easily gathered from the conversation between the two. The cry had rung out from the banks of the Jordan, "the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and this "master in Israel" would learn thenalUre of that Idngdom, howitstood affected to the ancient system of Moses, and what were Christ's personal relations to the same.

JesushoweveranticipateS hispupil,andanswersdirectly tohishiddenthought.·"Rabbi, we know that thou an a teamer come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with :" sum is the courteous introduction with whim the interview is opened. But our Lord cuts through all verbiage at once in his reply, "verHy, verHy I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." As though he had said, "you would ascertain what is thenature of this Idngdom of the Messiah: understand then that it can be known only by participating in its blessings." A German writer has quaintly, but truly said: "the ldngdom of God is nothing intowhimamancanthink,orinvesligate, or study, or read, or hear, or talk, or discuss himself-man can only experience his way into the Idngdom of God." The fundamental prerequisite, therefore, our Lord teaches to be "the newbinh."

Nicodemusstaggersatthemystery­"how Calla man be born when he is old?

used under the old economy as the symbol of purity, and incor­porated for the same reason in the New Testament Ordinance of Baptism. To be "born of water," then, according to the fixed impon of the symbol, is simply to be

. born again to holiness of : . hean and life.

,_This. doctrine of "the • new birth", though . myste!'i0us, is an ele­

:me1l(ary Christian truth, placed by the great Teacherin the front of all

in his dilemma. It might perhaps be His utterances. It is represented in paraphrasedthus:"yourequirealtogether Scripture under other forms of too much-it is morally as impossible expreSsion, equal in their emphasis. for the fully formed thought or cl.!aracter Sometimes it is called a creation: "for we toreverseitself,togobacktothebeginning are His workmanship, created in Christ andfashionitselfanew,asitisphysically Jesus unto good works." (Eph. 2: 11) It impossible for anadultto rerum into the is termed a 'resurrection: "lfuit like as womb and be born a second time." Christ was raised from the dead .by the Between these lies an intermediate glory of the Father, so we also should opinion: that Nicodemus, surplised by walk in newness of life." (Rom, 6:4,5). It the unexpected and startling assertion of is styled a quickening: "and you hath He Christ, answers confusedly and quickened, who were dead in trespasses foolishly-or else with craft, to draw and sins," (Eph.2:1) It is compared by from Him a fuller explanation of His theprophettotheconversionofflintinto meaning. Whatever may have been his flesh: "a new hean also will I give you, design in asldng the question, our Lord, and a new spiritwill I putwithin you; and inreafiinningthestatement,coupleswith I will take away the stony hean out of it a sufficient exposition of its impolt: your flesh, and I will give you a hean of "vetily, verHy I say unto thee, except a flesh." (Ezek. 36: 26) These co-ordinate man be born ofwaterandofthespilit, he expressions cenainly imply ·a change calUlOt enter into the Idngdom of God." which · is radical, pervading, trans­The explanatory words, here added, fomting-acl.!angeasgreatinthefucullies cJ.earlyindicate that the change required and movements of the soul, as that

8 ~, THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon ~ February, March 1993

experienced in the body when a infant is bom into the world; or when a corpse is raised from the tomb. This change our Lord declares to be indispensable to salvation in His kingdom.

The subject naturally divides into these two questions: What is the new binh? and Why is it so necessary to our salvation? The answers to both will exhaust this discourse.

I.What,thenisittobebomagain? A question of surprising difficulry, the moment we pass beyond a generaldescrlptionandat1empt a scientific definition. An illustration ortwo will perhaps sufficiently indicate the embarrassment. Herethenisa corpse before us, perfect in its structure, symmetrical in feature and form, complete in the ligaments which bind pans together, covered with a network of nerves and sinews through which it should be capable of sensation and of motion. What is lacking? Nothingbutlife-thelifewbich should vitalize the whole. But what is life? All, who shall answer? Itevadesresearch. Theanatomist has never taken it up on the point ofhis scalpel, as he does the tissue or the cell, with the joyful discovelY, 'see, here it is.' Hemaydescribetheconditionson which it depends; he may enumerate the signs of its presence; hemayrecounttheresults which it can accomplish. Butwhatitisin itselfthemostadvancedsdencehasnever been able to pronounce, and probably will never be competent to disclose.

Now it is just this mystery of life which we encounter, in discussing the question of "the new birth"-a mystery by so much the greater, as the spiritual life ismore hidden and delicate than the natural. Precisely the same difficulry meets us in the exposition of the oDe, as of the other. It is easy enough to say that spiritual life depends, as the condition, uponcommunionwithGodfromwhom

alone it is derived-and that Us certain fruit will be a holy obedience to the will

< , of God. But this description of the life is not the exhibition of it in Us primary essence. On this account, the tteatises which undenake the discussion of this topic are laid d.own wiw. the most profound disappointment. Theydescribe "the new binh" on its negative, rather thanitspositiveside. Theytellabundantly what it isnot; but fail to point out exactly whatitis. Thedefectisnoteasilysupplied.

Still, analogies have been suggested, which do appear to throw light upon the nature of the change in "the new birth."

For example, we speak of one man as constirutionally irascible or malignant, andofanotherasconstitutionallyamiable; intending this to inrimate a tendency in the two, to the class of actions which are defined by these temlS. The soul is the same in both as to its original structure, having the same faculties, and under the operation of the same general laws. But the prevailing disposition, which lies back of all these natural fuculties and qualifies their action, is different in the 'two men. Thisinnerprindple, whatever it be, which enthrones itself as a ruling power within the soul, controlling its affections and detennining its acts, may be as difficult to seize and define as the prindple which we call the life. Yet no

expositionofhumancharacterorconduct is satisfactory, which does not signalize it. In the abstract, as a thing to be metaphysically understood and expressed, the one is as difficult as the other; in the concrete, as a daily fuct thrusting itself upon the observation, bothareequallypracticaland tangible. It wouldbeaqueerdescriptionofmanthat should make no reference to the mysterious principle oflife residing, we know not where nor, how, within the

frame-infonning every pan, so that without its pervading influence every limb would lie passive and be incapable of fulfilling any function. Equally deferovewouldbe any analysis ofman'sspiritnalnature, which did not find seated in the midst of its faculties the hidden and prevailing disposition that controls every manliestarion and gives complexion and character to every act.

But let us abandon these abstractandmetaphysicalfomlS of expression for illustrations moreeasilyunderstood. When we speak of the nature of the

lion, or of the lamb, of the tiger, of the bear,orofthedog,40wemeananything more than the haflitual disposition of these animals which determines their character and conduct Knowing this, we can pronounce beforehand what their behavior will be under given circumstances. !nUke manner we speak of a holy nature in the saint, and of a wicked nature in the sinner; meaning by thisa holy or sinful prindpledominating in the one and in the other, determining their actions and giving them moral character in the eye of the law.

Thus when God in the first instance created man, He not only created the soul with all its faculties of memory, judgmem, conscience, hean and will, necessary to constitute him a responsible andirnmonalbeing; butHeplaced within that soul, in the bosom of all its powers,

February, March 1993 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ 9

" .'

a holy disposition which should preside overthewholeas theprincipleofspiritual life, manifesring itself'in holy exercises and acts of obedience, Thisptinctplesin has destroyed. The soul remains in its srructnrewhatitwasbeforetheFal1. The same fac:ultiesre!Illl!n to the sinner, which are necessary to him as man. He could not be divested of one of these, without being divested of respOnsibility, and without being thrown in a different category from that whichhewas created. TIle fundamental dispOsition, however has been changed. The

sinner into spiIituallife by restoring the lost plinciple of holiness. The man, who is "born again," finds that he is "born of the water and of the Spirit"; since under the new disposition which has been implanted, the whole character is toned to acts of purity and obedience.

let us take another illustration. Two meu look together upon the same landscape: the one, with the "dull,leaden eyeofanox"-theother, with the keenest appreciation ofits beauty. What precisely makes the difference the two? Bodl have

soul finds itself attracted; and in its contemplation there is conscious and ineffable delight. In this experience the sinner cannot share, simply from the insensibilitywhichmustalwaysattachto spiritual death.

Hence it appears that the change, which is wrought in regeneration, is not a physical change upon the substance of the soul, alteringitssrructure orenlarging the number of its faculties; but it is a moral change, in the implanting a new and holy disposition which, by the

principle of holiness has been supplanted by that of sin; which henceforth, as the regulative principle, moves the man in a direction forbidden

Illn the new birth, the HolySpirit restores this lost principle of

holinessj which, ;s, from the be-

constitution of our being, will direct and qualify all the future exercises of the man. Thus he will see with a new light in the understanding, will feel with a new direction in the affections, and will choose with a new powerinthewill. Holinesshas been restored to its original . supremacy in the soul; the usurpation oEsin has ceased;

by God's law.

In the new birth, the Holy Spirit restores this lost pririciple ' 6T holineSS; which is, from the beginning, the principle of spiritual life in

'. ginning, the principle of spiritual . life inman. Hence the propriety

of the technical phrases under which His work is described."

marr. Hencetheproprietyofthetechnica1 phrases under which His work is described.

He "quickens" those "dead in trespasses and sins"; because the restoration of holiness, as a ruling principle in the soul, is the restoration of its true and rea1life. Of course, its power is at once displayed in the holy acts which it prompts; and the change is visible in the character and life of the believer. It is jUst as though God should supernaturally change the original disposition of the tiger into that of the Lamb, manifesting itself in a corresponding change in the characteristic acts of the two. Or, itisjust like dle graft which infuses a new virtue into the tree, qualifying the fruit it shall hereafter produce, without altering the texture or displacing a single fiber in trunk or limb. So the etemal Spirit, movinguponandthroughallthepowers of the human soui without infringing their liberty of action, "quickens" the

the same physical and mental organ~ izarion - they have the same eyes, the same faculties of thought and will- the perceptions of sense are exacdy the same in both. What then is the difference? Simply this: one has sensibiliry and taste, the other has not. It may be an original or an acquired faculty; but it explains the fact that in the same drcumstances and with identically the same sensations, one has the feeling of beauty which tl).e other has not. The possession of this aesthetic principle by the one, orits absence in the other, qualifies the exercise of soul as to the appreciation of natural beauty. In like manner, there is SUdl a thing as moral beauty; in accordance with that exqUisite epithet of David's in several of hisPsalms,whenhespeaksof"thebeauty of holiness." cPs. 27:4, 50:2, 60:17, and 110:3) But this requires a holy taste for its discernment; which is possessed by the renewed in healt, because implanted by dle Holy Ghost in "the new birth." There is a ready appreciation of the loveliness that is in God, to which the

10 ~ THE COUNSEL of Olalcedon t- February, Mardi 1993

and the whole character puts on the livery of the power which it obeys.

TIlls transformation is effected by the Holy Spirit, in a direct exercise of supernatural and gracious power. Yet it is accomplished in a way perfectly congruous with man's rational nature­by illumination ofthemind, purification of the affections,. and dire cd on of the will. The great perplexity is in reconciling the essential activity of man's spirit with that degree of passiveness necessary to the receptionofanewprindplefrom without. Undoubtedlythesoulisactive;wecannot conceive it to be otherwise. Neither in this world, nor in that to come, is this necessary activity ever remitted. Yet, from the nature of the case,maniswholly passive in regeneration- not so much the agent as the patient-not the subject who acts, but the object which is acted upon. How shall we reconcile the amazing paradox? How shall we trace the activity so essential to spirit, in the very moment when it is . the passive redpient of an inIluence by which its

wholecharacteristransfonned? Perhaps every act, and which is brought at once TIle other is a change in our actual an analogy drawn from one of Mr. under!pecontl1)~gpowerofholiness. character, whereby we are sanctified for Coleridge's acute distinctions, so Second, the Holy Spirit is the author of God's.service and presence. TIle two are characteristic of his subtle genius, rnay this change; who yet aa:omplishes it in distinguishable in thought, though help to clear up the apparent perfect hamlony wim the fundamental inseparablyconnectedinexperience. By contradiction. "Inattention,"hesays, the laws of our spiritual economy, never the logic of grace, the fonner draws the mind is passive- receiving impressions interfering with that spontaneity which latter after it by necessary consequence; from wimout: "in thought, it is active- is essential to responsibility. It is rather forwhen God takes the sinner into favor, producing from itself." And yet is there His office to enlighten the mind, topurge if this he not wholly delnsive, He must not intense activity in the eagemess with the affections, and to maguetize the will; render himalso capable ofitsenjoyment. which these external ,.-___________________ ---, All God's judgments are impressions are taken up aa:ordingto tmth; and He by the mind? Must not "Salvation involves two elements-- candecrarenornanblessed powerbe exerted to ahigh deliverance from the guilt. and then whoisnotapartakerofHis degree, in simply holding from the power of sin . ... The one is a grace. If the sinner is the mind in that receptive chan.ge in our legal state •. whereby we released from condem-condition which is the . . . nation, it is bemuse a real peculiarmarkofattention? pass from the condemnation of the righteousness has been All me anguisb of mental law and are justified before God. The reckoned to him as his discipline lies just in tllis, other is a change in our actual char- own; and if, being to gain that mastery over aaer.. whereby we tlF<. e sanctilied For righteous, he is to lie upon our'ownfacultieSwhichis ,.' I' the Divine bosom, then necessary to the acquisition God's service and presence. The two must his impurity, as well

. or to me reproduction of are distinguishable in thought. though as his guilt, be removed-lmowledge. This illus- inseparably connected in experience." lest God be deffied. Hence tration will serve to show the two are presented in that activity may not be '-------------------'-------' their close conjunction, intemlitted, but may be called to its sothat,wimthepowerofanewlife,man throughout the SCriptures: "there is

highest exertion, whilst yet we are the shall himself cling to God as the sum of therifore now no condemnation to Nlem passive reCipients of a new power alllmowledge, of all holiness, of all , which are in Qllistjesus, WhoWa1kllotafter communicated to us from witllout. Just blessedness and love. Third, that while fill flesh, butafter the Spirit." (Romans 8: l­as this mighty river, which girdles our tlrrough every change in his experience 5) "For if we have bfel! planted together in city, rnay be instantly arrested in its flow the sintllr is perfectly conscious of his the likeness of His aduh, we shall be also ill and turned back in its course- and essential activity, yet in "me new birfu" the likeness of His resurrection; knowing there will be only a metaphysical point of he is that passive recipient of a new life, this, that our old man is crucified with Him, timeatwhichitswatersarenotinmotion: justasincreationorasintheresurrection tlmt the body of sin mightbe destroyed, that so the whole current of the sinner's of the dead from the tomb. hencejortJtwesl1OU1dlwtservesin." (Romans thought and feeling may suddenly be II. But I pass from this abstmse and 6:5,6) turned from the world to God- and difficult dleme, to the asseltion in the whilst he is entirely passive in the text of the absolute necessity of the new supernatural change, mere will not be an binh: "velily, velily r say unto thee, except instant in which he is not conscious of a man be bom again he caJUlot see illl the fulness of his activity and Kingdom of God." responsibility before God. 1. The dominion of sin can only thus

Gathering up these thoughts into be broken. Salvation involves two distinct propositions, we reach tlrree elements- dehverance from me guilt, conclnsions: First, that in "the new and then from the power of sin. TIle one birtll" a supernatural change is wrought isa relative change-the other, an actual. upon the whole nature of the sirmer, in The one is a change in our legal state, the transformation of that inner wherebywepassfromthecondemnation disposition which givescolorand tone to of me law and are justified before God.

Such is the constant testimony of Scripture, that where the guilt of sin has been cancelled through that mighty solvent, the atoning blood of Christ­there the power of sin must also be broken, and its dominion must be ovenhrowninthe human heart This, of course, is accomplisbed in our sanctification, which must have its beginning in the ''new bilth". Just as in mathematics you conoeive of the point before you conceive of the line, and yet the point loses itself immediately in the

February, March 1993 t THE COUNSEL or CbaIcedon t 11

" , I

I ! [

linewhichitgenerares-sotheprinciple of spiritual life implanted in the new binh, moves forward from that pOint; and in its grand progression marks out the broad, blessed line of a holy life, through which we grow in meetness for the presence and glOlY of our Father above. The power of sin is first broken, when weare bomanewintothekingdom of God. Holiness is then planted in the genn; which will, in the completeness of its growth, finally expel sin and destroy it in its being no less than in its dominion and power.

2. "The new birth" is indispensable to obedience and good works. Hereliesthe precise distinction between morality and religion-two things which men so CUllOUSly and obstinately confound. The moralist does a thousand right thingS, compelling thereby the approbation of the good. But he does them from natural considerationsofprbpriety or prudente,·· and makes his own judgment the Standard or law. Plainly there is no obedience, until it is rendered in conformity with the will of another-in deference to his authority and honor, and under the impulse of a constraining personal affectiort Our Saviour, you remember, resolves all the obedience which God approves into the single prindp\e oflove; "thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and wid1 all d1Y soul, and with all thy mind; this is Ole first andgreat commwu:lmi:nt And the secondis like unto j~ thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commal1dments hang all the law andtheprophets." (Matt. 22:37-39) "Love," declares the Apostle Paul in his comprehensive style, "love is the fulfilling oj the law: (Romans 123: 10) Evidently there can be no love, except it be directed to a person; who, ifhe should stand in the relation of a ruler, must present his authority as the object of our regard. Obedience, therefore, is more than outward confonnity, in life and conduct, to the letter of the law; it is the homage which our whole inner nature renders to the will and glory of God.

Before the sinneris competent to this, he should have onesolitarymembercJinging mustbecalledfromdeathtolife. Spiritual to Him, who is "dead in trespasses and life is the necessary antecedent of true sins"? No; He who covers us with His obedience, just as natutallife is the lighteousnessbecauseofourunionwith amecedent ofbreatll and motion. Him in law, will also quicken us with His

Look at Lazarus "bound hand and life that we may be one with Him in fact. foot with grave_clothes." Can the dead Intlleconjunctionofthetwo, llremystical stir? Can that motionless breast heave Christ becomes an object most beautiful withmightyresolves? Canhecomeforth to the lllOught; in their severance, an whilst the great stone, rolled against the objectso hideous that we shut it out from mouth of the tomb seals him up to ,the mind as blasphemy. darlmess and despair? Only let Him Consider too that the Holy Spirit is speak who is "the Resurrection and the the bond of this union. But what a life" -let Hint, whoholdsinHishands contradiction, iliat He who is ilie the keys of death and hell, utter the word Quickener-whose name indicates His "Lazarus,come{orth"-andbehindthe function as the giver of life- should banier of rock the Almighty Quickener dwell in a healt lllat is dead! It is only breathes once more into those decaying necessary to put ilie terms of ilie nostrils the breath of life. So when the proposition together, to see that they are same immortal I<ing . .shall, from His mutually destructive. The great promise throne of power, utter the same "corne of our ascending Lor dwasthatHe would forth" to thesinner dead in transgressiOn ' send "the ComJorter, tl1at He may abide and ·guilt;<the Holy.GbQst ,willbreathe , <with you Jorever. ~(John 14: 16) And the into him thespirituallifewhic!t will burst instant He enters the soul however dead thecruel.fetters,and"c,reatehimanewin insin,itbecomesinstinctwithlifewhich ChristJesus unto good works." thispresence breathes. Whetherthen we

3. "Thenewbirth" is necessary to an look at union with Christ, on the one livingunion with Christ. Thisis the exact hand-or the indwelling of the Spirit, on pivot upon which our salvation turns. the other, wough which the union is However complete the redemption accomplished- we see the necessity of wrought by our adorable substitute, it is the new birth. "Except a man be bom altogether foreign to us until it becomes agam, he cmmot see the kingdom of ours by identification with its author. God. " But this union is two-fold, in law and in 4. "The new birth" isindispensable to fact. It is legal when, in ourjustification, fellOWShip willl God. Need I say that this the law reckons to us the work of] esus is the original instinct, and the high Christ; on which ground alone we are prerogative of every rational creature? absolved from condemnation and are Just for this, my hearers, you and I were accepted before God. It is vital when we born, to hold fellowship with God! And are made partakers of ilie life whim is thereareobscureyeamingsforthisinthe "hid with Christ in God." (Col 3:3) hidden depths of every human heart. If "Because 1 live, " says Christ, ye shaIllive the ears were only open to hear them, also. (John 14:19) "As the living Father there are solemn voices of the soul had1 sent me, and I live by dle Fail1er; so he continually crying out for God. Every tl1at eateth nle, even he shall live by 111£." earthly love, by which life is sweetened, (John 6:57) is witness to the truth that the heart

It is necessary that we should live, if which loves the finite can find its united with Christ. Can anything more satisfaction onlyin me love of theinfinite. monstrous be conceived than that the Everythoughtis a sparkascendingto the living Lord, who has purchased life for Great Mind, of which all otherminds are His people through His own sufferings, bom Every movement of discontem is

12 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon f- February, March 1993

the soul'sscorn of thatwhich is "seen and temporal." Every aspiration ofambition is the flutter of the wing which would mount into the !ace of the sun.

Itisthegreat discoveryofgracewhich makes one wise forever, to learn tbat God only is the all-sufficient good. "There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord, liftthou up the lijltoJ thycoWltenance upon us.· (Ps 4:6) But we must be like God, to hold communion with Him: "Can two wall< together, except filey be agreed?" (Amos 3:3) To ti1is end, the Saviour's utterance holds true: "except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom oj God."

5. "The new birth" is absolutely necessarY to the enjoyment ofheaven. This completes the idea of salvation, as being deliverance from the guilt, the stain, and the being of sin; beginning in justi­fication, carried forward in sanctification, and ending inourtranslationtoheaven. Could we but look into God's lexicon, we should see not the difference, but the identity, between the grace and the glory- the twowordswhichliesonear together in the dictionary of the gospel. Grace is gloryin its beginning-itis glory in theseed and in the genn. Glory is grace in its ripe fruitage; it is the light shining through aU the graces of the believer, bursting at length into the full splendor ofJehovah's blessedness and joy upon the Mount of God, which is to be the Mount of the soul's transfiguration forever.

If then we are to see the light of that "upper day" -if we are to lookuponthe !ace of God's throne, and to hathe our spirits in the glory of His presence-,- the beginning point is in the new biI1h, where we first experience "Ou grace oj God that bringeth salvation· The elecuic

circuit is not complete, except the two its slumber disturbed by any dream of poles be put in connection. We must such a mystery. Yet it is clear tilat, if a first Im6w that as grace, which in the end religion is to be devised for a sinner, tl1is we are to lmow as glory. It is in the new new spiritual birth is on of the great birth we first come to the knowledge of wants to be provided for. The absence, holiness of God, which is to be the light therefore, of such a docuine in any and joy of the soul forever. Well may the religious system, is suffident to couvictit tJuth return upon us in the double of inlposture; whilst the prominence emphasis of our Lord's testimony, "velily, assigned to it in the Sacred Scriptures, vmly I say unto thee, except a man be bom proves their divine origin; and thesystem again, he Call1Wt see the Kingdom oj God." of grace which they reveal, isshown to be

In the application of this subject, lam a safe foundation for a sinner's hope. constrained, first, to call your attention Were I then driven to the last defense of to the apologetic value of this doonne of Christianity, I would plant myself upon the new biI1h. Let it be observed that this declaration of the Saviourinthe text,

and stake the issue upon it. If the Gospel be the only system that provides for the regeneration ofman deadin sin, thenisittheonlyreligion that comes from God, and the only religion which is suited to our case.

In the second place, I reason that, as "the new bilth· COIlles from God, so every sinner is thrown in absolute dependence upon God. And again-because this "new biI1h"is from God, every sinner ntay hope to experilince it through the working of His grace and power. It is a two-edged doctrine cutting through

Christianity is dle only religion of which presumptionontheoneside,andthrough thisuuthconstitutesa part. Heathenism, despair on the other-like the sword of in all its fonus, knows nothing of it; nor the Cherubinl, turning every where as it yet any of the subtle and dreamy guarded the way of the tree of life. Hear theosophies of the East. Both ntay have the universal proclamation, "ye must be thetrceremoniesofablutionsymbolizing bomagain!" Ifanyofyou, like the proud the notion of puIiry, as their altars and builders upon the plain of Shinar, are sacrifices sbadow fonh the idea of layingresolveuponresolve, reform upon expfution. But in none of their liturgical reform, constructing a tower of refuge rites, nor in their dogmas of religious from the coming deluge of Jehovah's laidl, is the hint breathed thata soul dead wrath-learn how vain it is! Except a in sin can be born again in the image of man beBORN AGAlN, he cannot see the God. Deism has no place forsuchatruth kingdom of God. The Divine life must in its narrow creed. Rationalism, in its come from above: the creative power thousand Protean disguises, never had must be exetted again, as it was at the

February, March 1993 ~, TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~, l3

first; the voice that wakes the dead must call the sinner from his spirimal grave.

If, under a sense of tllis dependence, you fold your hands and say "what can we do," I will tell you this: you can hope abundantly in the power and goodness ofIiim who ha2 the life to give, because He is HimseU the life. Wonderfull my hearers, wonderful that our hope should come right up from the bottom of our despair! Wonderful, that our life should spring out of the body of our death! Dead insin, and therefore helplessly dependent upon God-who,just as soon as we feel this, turns His face and says to us, live.

Cry outto HIm, 0 sinner! Cry, as you never cried before! Cry, as the wild eagle cries when hungry for its prey! Cry, as the young lion wheu he makes the forest tremble with his roar! He, "whoprovidethfortheravenhisfood," may hear your wail of anguish, and open for you the prison doors and give youlifeoutofdeath. Oh, when did the orphan's cry ever fall upon the ear of the great Father above, without his drawing the wanderer to His hosom, and saying "this my SOli was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found!"n

*"You must be horn again. **

JiJ:::: 8CCC8 Southern California Center for Christian Studies Instructor: Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen Fora description of our Master of Arts program, and our

correspondence courses in the fields of theology, apologetics, philosophy, and .ethics, please write and request a copy of our

newcata18'fcC8 ~ 714/733-3609

P.o. Box 18021 Irvine; CA 92713

... CompuServe I:=!I #70754,1752

Also, ask to receive the &CCC& monthly newsletter Pen point.

C T: Mi" ~ CTM offers ovenant ape IDIstry ~ more than 1,000 • tapes and 100

pUblications for 24198 Ash Court your personal growth in Scripture Auburn CA 95602 and the Christian Worldview. Write

, or call us today and request a catalog ~ 916/268-3914 that conta!ns a complete listing of all ~ our matenals.

H ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ February, March 1993