Life-Study of Johnpor Witness Lee
ISBN: 0-7363-0957-8
Copia impresa: Living Stream Ministry disponible en línea
ISBN: 0-7363-0957-8
Copia impresa: Living Stream Ministry disponible en línea
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Nicodemus thought that to be born anew was to go back to his mother’s womb and come out of it again. He did not realize that even if that could be done he would still be flesh. Regardless how many times a person could be born out of his mother’s womb, he would still be flesh because flesh begets flesh. So, the Lord told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (3:6). Flesh here denotes the natural man with the natural life. Regardless of how many times we could be born of our parents, we still would be a natural man with a natural life. It can never change our nature. To be born anew is not to be born again of our parents, but to be born of God the Spirit that we may have His divine life with His divine nature, a life with a nature absolutely different from our natural life with its nature.
To be born anew is to be born of the Spirit in our spirit. The divine Spirit regenerates our human spirit with God’s divine life. Regeneration, that is, receiving the divine life, is absolutely a matter that transpires in our spirit. Our spirit was made by God for this very purpose. We have such a special organ, our human spirit, deep within us. In His creation, God made us with a spirit for the purpose that one day we might exercise it to contact Him and to receive Him into our being. The function of the human spirit is to contact God. Regeneration is not a matter of our mind, emotion, or will; it is altogether a matter in our spirit. Verses 12 and 13 of John 1 say, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” In what part of our being are we born of God? In our spirit. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. God is a Spirit, and only a spirit can touch a Spirit. Only a spirit can be born of a Spirit. So, regeneration is absolutely a matter in our spirit. It does not matter whether you have a sober mind, a proper emotion, or a strong will. Such things are in another realm. Regeneration transpires in the realm of our spirit. Our spirit is the sphere in which regeneration transpires. In order to be regenerated, you do not exercise your mind, will, or emotion. Simply open yourself up, forgetting what you are, and from deep within your spirit, call on the name of the Lord Jesus, believing in Him. If you do this, immediately God the Spirit will touch your spirit. This will happen quickly, perhaps taking less than a second. If you open yourself from deep within your spirit, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, in that one second, God the Spirit will enter into your spirit and you will be regenerated. The delivery of a reborn child happens very fast. There is no need of a midwife, nurse, or doctor. When you say, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You,” you are reborn in your spirit.
In verse 6, the Lord said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Regeneration is not a birth of the flesh that brings forth flesh. Regeneration is a birth of the Spirit, God’s Spirit, that brings forth spirit, our regenerated spirit. Flesh is our natural man, our old man, our outward man, born of our parents who are flesh. But spirit, our regenerated spirit, is our spiritual man, our new man, our inward, or inner man (2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16), born of God who is the Spirit. When we were born of our parents, we were born flesh; when we were born again of God the Spirit, we were born spirit. The nature of the spirit is different from the nature of the flesh. The nature of the flesh is born human, but the nature of the spirit is born divine. Before we were regenerated, we lived by our flesh and had our being in our flesh; our spirit was dead. By regeneration, our dead spirit was not only quickened, made alive, but also imparted with the divine life of God by the Spirit. Now our spirit is a regenerated spirit and becomes our new being. Formerly our flesh was our being by which we lived; now our spirit is our being by which we should live. The first Spirit in verse 6 is the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and the second spirit is the human spirit, the regenerated spirit of man. Regeneration transpires in the human spirit, by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s uncreated, eternal life. To be regenerated is to have the divine eternal life as the new source and the new element of our new being.
Once our spirit has been born of the Spirit of God with the life of God, it has the Spirit of God with the life of God in it and mingled with it. So it becomes a mingled spirit—our human spirit mingled with God’s divine Spirit, as Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit...with our spirit.” It is in this mingled spirit that we are “one spirit” with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Because it is such a mingled spirit, in many places in the New Testament, such as Romans 8:4-6, 10; Galatians 5:16, 25; Ephesians 4:23, and 6:18, it is rather difficult to say whether the word “spirit” refers to God’s divine Spirit or to our human spirit. Now, the two spirits are mingled as one within us. This mingling comes from regeneration. Regeneration brings forth in us a newborn spirit (Ezek. 36:26), indwelt by and mingled with God’s divine Spirit. Now this spirit with God’s divine life in it is our new being by which we should live and walk. We should no longer walk according to the flesh (Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:4). It is in this spirit that we are regenerated persons.
It is also correct to say that we have been born again by the Word of God. However, we must realize that the Word in black and white letters cannot regenerate us. Only the Word that is the Spirit can do this (John 6:63). God, the Word, and the Spirit—all must be the Spirit that regenerates us. God Himself is the Spirit in regeneration, and the Word also must be the Spirit. Whatever we preach when we preach the gospel must be in the Spirit, for it is the Spirit that gives life to people in their spirit.
It is difficult to understand thoroughly what regeneration is because it is a matter accomplished by, with, and in the Holy Spirit. And it is difficult to define what is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here. Can you define Him? He is present, constant, instant, prevailing, and available. Nevertheless, if you are to be born of the Spirit, some conditions must be fulfilled. The first condition is that you must repent and confess that you are a sinner. Then you need to believe in the Lord Jesus and call on His name. You should not just call with your lips, tongue, or throat, but open up from the depths of your being and say from deep within your spirit, “O Lord Jesus, I believe in You.” When you do this, the divine Spirit will enter into you immediately. When He comes into you, it is Christ coming into you. It is also the Triune God coming into you. The Holy Spirit is nothing less than Christ Himself. In fact, the Holy Spirit is nothing less than the Triune God. The Father is in the Son, and the Son today is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). When the Spirit comes into you, both the Son and the Father also come into you. Thus, from the time that you are born again, the Father, the Son, and Spirit are in you. This Triune God is the divine life. The divine life is not separate from the Triune God. From the very moment you are regenerated, you have the Triune God within your spirit as your divine life. Now you have two lives: the human life in your flesh and the divine life in your spirit.
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