THE
by John Wesley
IF any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity
may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two—the doctrine
of Justification, and that of the New Birth: the former relating to that great
work which God does for us, in forgiving our sins; the latter, to the great
work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature. In order of time,
neither of these is before the other; in the moment we are justified by the
grace of God, through the redemption that is in Jesus, we are also “born of the
Spirit “. But in order of thinking, as it is termed, Justification precedes the
New Birth. We first conceive His wrath to be turned away, and then His Spirit
to work in our hearts.
Of how great importance then must it be, to every
child of man, thoroughly to understand these fundamental doctrines! From a full
conviction of this, many excellent men have written very largely concerning
Justification, explaining every point relating thereto, and opening the Scriptures
which treat upon it. Many likewise have written on the New Birth, and some of
them largely enough: but yet not so clearly as might have been desired, nor so
deeply and accurately; having either given a dark, abstruse account of it, or a
slight and superficial one. Therefore a full and at the same time a clear
account of the New Birth seems to be wanting still, such as may enable us to
give a satisfactory answer to these three questions:
First,
Why must we be born again? What is the foundation of this doctrine of the New
Birth?
Secondly,
How must we be born again? What is the nature of the New Birth?
Thirdly,
Wherefore must we be born again? To what end is it necessary?
These questions, by the assistance of God, I shall
briefly and plainly answer, and then subjoin a few inferences which will
naturally follow.
WHY must we
be born again?
AND first, why must we be born again? What is the foundation of this doctrine? The
foundation of it lies near as deep as the creation of the world; in the
scriptural account whereof we read, “And God,” the Three
But, although man was made in the image of God, yet he
was not made immutable. This would have been inconsistent with that state of
trial in which God was pleased to place him. He was therefore created able to
stand, and yet liable to fall. And this God Himself appraised him of, and gave
him a solemn warning against it. Nevertheless, man did not abide in honour: he fell from his high estate. He “ate of the tree
whereof the Lord had commanded him, Thou shalt not
eat thereof”. By this wilful act of disobedience to
his Creator, this flat rebellion against his Sovereign, he openly declared that
he would no longer have God to rule over him; that he would be governed by his
own will, and not the will of Him that created him; and that he would not seek
his happiness in God, but in the world, in the works of his hands.
Now God had told him before, “In the day that thou eatest (of that fruit) thou shalt
surely die”. And the Word of the Lord cannot be broken. Accordingly, in that
day he did die: he died to God, the most dreadful of all deaths. He lost the
life of God: he was separated from Him in union with whom his spiritual life
consisted. The body dies when it is separated from the soul: the soul, when it
is separated from God. But this separation from God, Adam sustained in the day,
the hour, he ate of the forbidden fruit. And of this he gave immediate proof,
presently showing by his behaviour that the love of
God was extinguished in his soul, which was now “alienated from the life of
God”. Instead of this he was now under the power of servile fear, so that he
fled from the presence of the Lord. Yea, so little did he retain even of the
knowledge of Him who filleth heaven and earth, that
he endeavoured to “hide himself from the Lord God,
among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3. 8), so had he lost both the
knowledge and the love of God, without which the image of God could not
subsist. Of this therefore he was deprived at the same time, and became unholy
as well as unhappy. In place of this, he had sunk into pride and self
And in Adam all died, all human kind, all the children
of men who were then in Adam’s loins. The natural consequence of this is that
everyone descended from him comes into the world spiritually dead, dead to God,
dead in sin; void of the life of God; void of the image of God, of all that
righteousness and holiness wherein Adam was created. Instead of this, every man
born into the world now bears the image of the devil, in pride and self
HOW must we
be born again?
BUT how must we be born again? What is the nature of the
New Birth? This is the second question. And it is a question of the highest
moment that can be conceived.
Not that we are to expect any minute, philosophical
account of the manner how this is done. Our Lord sufficiently guards us against
any such expectation by the words immediately following the text. Here He
reminds Nicodemus of as indisputable a fact as any in the whole compass of
nature, which, notwithstanding, the wisest man under the sun is not able fully
to explain. “The wind bloweth where it listeth” —not by thy power or wisdom; “and thou hearest the sound thereof” —thou art absolutely assured,
beyond all doubt, that it doth blow; “but thou canst not tell whence it cometh,
nor whither it goeth” —the precise manner how it
begins and ends, rises and falls, no man can tell. “So is every one that is
born of the Spirit”: thou mayest be as absolutely
assured of the fact, as of the blowing of the wind; but the precise manner how
it is done, how the Holy Spirit works this in the soul, neither thou nor the
wisest of the children of men is able to explain.
However, it suffices for every rational and Christian
purpose that, without descending into curious, critical inquiries, we can give
a plain scriptural account of the nature of the New Birth. This will satisfy
every reasonable man who desires only the salvation of his soul. The
expression, being “born again”, was not first used by our Lord in His
conversation with Nicodemus. It was well known before that time, and was in
common use among the Jews when our Saviour appeared
among them. When an adult heathen was convinced that the Jewish religion was of
God, and desired to join therein, it was the custom to baptise
him first, before he was admitted to circumcision. And when he was baptised, he was said to be born again; by which they meant
that he who was before a child of the devil, was now adopted into the family of
God, and accounted one of His children. This expression, therefore, which
Nicodemus, being a teacher in
Before a child is born into the world, he has eyes,
but sees not; he has ears, but does not hear. He has a very imperfect use of
every other sense. He has no knowledge of any of the things of the world, or
any natural understanding. To that manner of existence which he then has we do
not even give the name of life. It is only when a man is born that we say he
begins to live. For as soon as he is born, he begins to see the light, and the
various objects with which he is encompassed. His ears are then opened, and he
hears the sounds which successively strike upon them. At the same time, all the
other organs of sense begin to be exercised upon their proper objects. He
likewise breathes, and lives in a manner wholly different from what he did
before.
How exactly doth the parallel hold in all these
instances? While a man is in a mere natural state, before he is born of God, he
has, in a spiritual sense, eyes and sees not; a thick impenetrable veil lies
upon them. He has ears, but hears not; he is utterly deaf to what he is most of
all concerned to hear. His other spiritual senses are all locked up: he is in
the same condition as if he had them not. Hence he has no knowledge of God, no
intercourse with Him; he is not at all acquainted with Him. He has no true
knowledge of the things of God, either of spiritual or eternal things;
therefore, though he is a living man, he is a dead Christian. But as soon as he
is born of God, there is a total change in all these particulars. The “eyes of
his understanding are opened” (such is the language of the great Apostle); and
He who of old “commanded light to shine out of darkness having now shined into
his heart, he sees the light of the glory of God, His glorious love, in the
face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4.6). His ears being opened, he is now capable
of hearing the inward voice of God, saying, “Be of good cheer; thy sins are
forgiven thee”; “go and sin no more”. This is the purport of what God speaks to
his heart, although perhaps not in these very words. He is now ready to hear
whatsoever “He that teacheth man knowledge” is
pleased from time to time to reveal to him. He feels in his heart the mighty
working of the Spirit of God. He feels, is inwardly sensible of, the graces
which the Spirit of God works in his heart. He feels, he is conscious of, a
“peace which passeth all understanding”. He many
times feels such a joy in God as is” unspeakable, and full of glory He feels
“the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
him”; and all his spiritual senses are then exercised to discern spiritual good
and evil.
By the use of these he is daily increasing in the
knowledge of God, of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, and of all the things
pertaining to His inward kingdom. And now he may be properly said to live: God
having quickened him by His Spirit, he is alive to God through Jesus Christ. He
lives a life which the world knoweth not of, a “life
which is hid with Christ in God “. God is continually breathing, as it were,
upon the soul, and his soul is breathing unto God. Grace is descending into his
heart, and prayer and praise ascending to heaven; and by this intercourse
between God and man, this fellowship with the Father and the Son, as by a kind
of spiritual respiration, the life of God in the soul is sustained; and the child
of God grows up, till he comes to the “full measure of the stature of Christ”.
From hence it manifestly appears what is the nature of
the New Birth. it is that great change which God works in the soul, when He
brings it into life; when He raises it from the death of sin to the life of
righteousness. It is the change wrought in the soul by the Almighty Spirit of
God, when it is “created anew in Christ Jesus “, when it is “renewed after the
image of God, in righteousness and true holiness “; when the love of the world
is changed into the love of God; pride into humility; passion into meekness;
hatred, envy, malice, into a sincere, tender, disinterested love for all
mankind. In a word, it is that change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish
mind is turned into the “mind which was in Christ Jesus “. This is the nature
of the New Birth. “So is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
WHEREFORE
must we be born again?
IT is not difficult for any who have considered these
things to see the necessity of the New Birth, and to answer the third question.
To what end is it necessary that we should be born again? It is very easily
discerned that this is necessary, first, in order to holiness. For what is
holiness according to the Oracles of God? Not a bare external religion, a round
of outward duties, how many soever they be, and how
exactly soever performed. No: gospel holiness is no
less than the image of God stamped upon the heart; it is no other than the
whole mind which was in Christ Jesus; it consists of all heavenly affections
and tempers mingled together in one. It implies such a continual, thankful love
to Him who hath not withheld from us His Son, His only Son, as makes it
natural, and in a manner necessary to us, to love every child of man. It is
such a love of God as teaches us to be blameless in all manner of conversation;
as enables us to present our souls and bodies, all we are and all we have, all
our thoughts, words and actions, a continual sacrifice to God, acceptable
through Christ Jesus. Now this holiness can have no existence till we are
renewed in the image of our mind. It cannot commence in the soul till that
change be wrought; till by the power of the Highest overshadowing us, we are
‘brought from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God”; that is,
till we are born again; which therefore is absolutely necessary in order to
holiness.
But “without holiness no man shall see the Lord”,
shall see the face of God in glory. In consequence the New Birth is absolutely
necessary in order to eternal salvation. Men may indeed flatter themselves (so
desperately wicked, and so deceitful is the heart of man!) that they may live
in their sins till they come to the last gasp, and yet afterwards live with
God; and thousands do really believe that they have found a broad way which leadeth not to destruction. “What danger,” say they, “can a
woman be in that is so harmless and so virtuous? What fear is there that so
honest a man, one of so strict morality, should miss of heaven? Especially, if
over and above all this, they constantly attend on Church and Sacrament!” One
of these will ask with all assurance, “What shall not I do as well as my neighbours?” Yes, as well as your unholy neighbours; as well as your neighbours
that die in their sins For you will all drop into the pit together, into the
nethermost hell You will all lie together in the lake of fire, ‘ lake of fire
burning with brimstone “. Then, at length, you will see (but God grant you may
see it before) the necessity of holiness in order to glory; and consequently of
the New Birth, since none can he holy, except he be born again.
For the same reason, except he be born again, none can
be happy, even in this world. For it is not possible, in the nature of things,
that a man should be happy who is not holy. Even the poor ungodly poet could
tell us, Nemo malus felix: “no wicked man is happy”. The reason is plain: all
unholy tempers are uneasy tempers: not only malice, hatred, envy, jealousy,
revenge, create a present hell in the breast, but even the softer passions, if
not kept within due bounds, give a thousand times more pain than pleasure.
Every desire which is not according to the will of God is liable to “pierce
(us) through with many Sorrows”; and all those general sources of sin, pride,
self
Some
inferences which follow
I propose in the last place to subjoin a few inferences
which naturally follow from the preceding observations.
And, first, it follows that baptism is not the New
Birth: they are not one and the same thing. Many indeed seem to imagine that
they are just the same; at least, they speak as if they thought so; but I do
not know that this opinion is publicly avowed by any denomination of Christians
whatever. Certainly it is not by any within these kingdoms, whether of the
Established Church, or dissenting from it. The judgment of the latter is
clearly declared, in their large Catechism: “Baptism is a Sacrament, wherein
Christ hath ordained the washing with water, to be a sign and seal of
regeneration by His Spirit.” Here it is manifest that baptism, the sign, is
spoken of as distinct from regeneration, the thing signified.
In the Church Catechism the judgment of our Church is
declared with the utmost clearness: “What meanest thou by this word, Sacrament?
A. I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Q. What
is the outward part, or form, in baptism? A. Water, wherein the person is baptised, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Q. What is the inward part, or thing signified? A. A death unto sin, and a new
birth unto righteousness.” Nothing therefore is plainer than that, according to
the Church of England, baptism is not the New Birth.
But indeed the reason of the thing is so clear and
evident as not to need any other authority. For what can be more plain than
that the one is an external, the other an internal work; that the one is a
visible, the other an invisible thing, and that the two are therefore wholly
different from each other? The one is an act of man, purifying the body; the
other a change wrought by God in the soul: so that the former is just as
distinguishable from the latter as the soul from the body, or water from the
Holy Ghost.
From the preceding reflections we may, secondly,
observe that as the New Birth is not the same thing as baptism, so it does not
always accompany baptism: they do not constantly go together. A man may
possibly be “born of water “, and yet not be “born of the Spirit”. There may
sometimes be the outward sign where there is not the inward grace. “The tree is
known by its fruits “; and hereby it appears too plain to be denied that divers
of those who were children of the devil before they were baptised,
continue the same after baptism; “for the works of their father they do “. They
continue servants of sin, without any pretence either to inward or outward
holiness.
What must one who loves the souls of men, and is
grieved that any of them should perish, say to one whom he sees living in sabbath
But perhaps the sinner himself, to whom in real
charity we say, “You must be born again,’ has been taught to say, “I defy your
new doctrine; I need not be born again: I was born again when I was baptised. What! Would you have me deny my baptism? I
answer, first, There is nothing under heaven which can excuse a lie; otherwise
I should say to an open sinner, If you have
been baptised, do not own it. For how highly does
this aggravate your guilt! How will it increase your damnation! Were you
devoted to God at eight days old, and have you been all these years devoting
yourself to the devil? Were you, even before you had the use of reason,
consecrated to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? And have you, ever
since you had the use of it, been flying in the face of God, and consecrating
yourself to Satan? And do you glory in this, that you once belonged to God? Oh,
be ashamed! Blush! Hide yourself in the earth! Never boast more of what ought
to fill you with confusion, to make you ashamed before God and man!
I answer, secondly, You have already denied your
baptism; and that in the most effectual manner. You have denied it a thousand
and a thousand times; and you do so still, day by day. For in your baptism you
renounced the devil and all his works. Whenever therefore you give place to him
again, whenever you do any of the works of the devil, then you deny your
baptism. Therefore you deny it by every wilful sin;
by every act of uncleanness, drunkenness, or revenge; by every obscene or
profane word; by every oath that comes out of your mouth.
I answer, thirdly, Be you baptised
or unbaptised, “You must be born again”; otherwise it
is not possible you should be inwardly holy; and without inward as well as
outward holiness, you cannot be happy, even in this world, much less in the
world to come. Do you say, “Nay, but l do no harm to any man; I am honest and
just in all my dealings; I do not curse, or take the Lord’s name in vain; I do
not profane the Lord’s day; I am no drunkard; I do not slander my neighbour, nor live in any wilful
sin”? If this be so, it were much to be wished that all men went as far as you
do. But you must go farther yet, or you cannot be saved. Still, “You must be
born again.” Do you add, “I do go farther yet; for I not only do no harm, but
do all the good I can”? I doubt that fact; I fear you have had a thousand
opportunities of doing good, which you have suffered to pass by unimproved, and
for which therefore you are accountable to God. But if you had improved them
all, if you really had done all the good you possibly could to all men, yet
this does not at all alter the case; still, “You must be born again.” Without
this, nothing will do any good to your poor, sinful, polluted soul. “Nay, but I
constantly attend all the Ordinances of God: I keep to my Church and
Sacrament.” It is well you do: but all this will not keep you from hell, except
you be born again. Go to church twice a day; go to the Lord’s Table every week;
say ever so many prayers in private; hear ever so many good sermons; read ever
so many good books; still, “You must be born again” None of these things will
stand in the place of the New Birth; no, nor any thing under heaven.
Let this therefore, if you have not already
experienced this inward work of God, be your continual prayer: “Lord, add this
to all Thy blessings
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