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The Fundamentals Peter. We need not be at all concerned as to whether the truth of God, embodied by Him in His word, has been corrupted, for it is incorruptible. And by that Word they who believe are begotten again through the operation of the Holy Spirit. To them “the Spirit is life” (Rom. 8:10). The same truth is declared in James 1:18, in the words, “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth.” Such is the spiritual conception of the “sons of God.” These are born, or begotten. In no other way is a “son” brought into existence save by being begotten of a father. The sons of God must be*begotten of God. The Apostle John tells us that they are begotten, “not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man” (John 1 :13). The Apostle James tells us that “of His own will” they are begotten. Therefore, though the process be inscrutably mysterious, there can be no doubt as to the fact. When the Word of God is truly “heard” and thereby received into a prepared heart, that word becomes truly a seed, spiritual and incorruptible in nature, which, when quickened by the Spirit of God, becomes the life-germ of a new creature—a son of God. The same truth is very clearly taught in our Lord’s ex- planation of His parable of the sower, to which reference has already been made. Inasmuch as we have His own interpreta- tion of this parable, we need be in no uncertainty as to its meaning. He says, “Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the Devil and taketh away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). And again: “But that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.” The method of spiritual conception set forth in these Scrip- tures, which is effected in a manner quite analogous to natural conception, furnishes the explanation of the connection be- tween “believing” and “life” referred to in many passages of Scripture. One of the most familiar of these is John 5 :24
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