THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S the past four years are demonstrating to all honest-minded men, that they are also utterly contrary to the facts of modern life. Regeneration VI. The sixth essential doctrine is THE DOCTRINE OF THE REGENER ATION OF MEN WHO WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS BY THE POWER OF THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY, THE HOLY SPIRIT. We find Paul emphasizing this doctrine again and again. For example, in Eph. 2:1-5 he says, “And you did he quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein afore time ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of. the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom W E ALSO ALL ONCE LIVED in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature (or in nature) children of wrath, even as the rest:—But God, being rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead through our tres passes, quickened us together in Christ (by grace have ye been saved).“ In this passage as well as in many others, Paul represents man outside the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, as morally and spiritually dead, hope lessly in the power of indwelling sin; but he also represents God as trans forming men who believe in Jesus Christ. That the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity is the one through whom God does this transforming work, Paul does not emphasize here, but he does in many places, for example in Gal. 5:16-23, , “But I say, walk by the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, un cleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, en mities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divi sions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revell- ings, and such like; of the which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they which practice such things shall not inherit the King dom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance: Against such 'there is no law.“ The doctrine so common nowadays that man is essentially right, and all he needs is education and spiritual cul ture is another gospel from that which Paul preached. Paul’s doctrine was be yond a question, that man was by na ture in a state of moral and spiritual death, and that before there could be any spiritual culture there myst be
257 something to cultivate, and that he must be raised from the dead spiritually by the power of the Holy Ghost; that re generation, a complete; inward trans formation of thoughts, feeling and will must precede education. This doctrine of Paul’s is not the prevailing doctrine of our present day, but it is not only the doctrine of Paul and of Jesus Christ but it is also the only doctrine that is. in accordance with the facts about men as they really exist today, and as they have been especially illustrated in the great war and in the peace negotiations that have succeeded the war. Man is today, man at his very best, before he is regenerated by the power of the Holy Ghost, just exactly what Paul represents him to be. No man, no matter how good his ancestry, and how careful his training, is essentially divine until he is born again. He is essentially selfish, and therefore essentially devilish. But thank God, while man by nature is in this hopeless condition, by grace man may be made a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1 :4). He may be “ re newed after the image of Him that cre ated him.” Col. 3:10. He may be created anew, created “ after God in righteousness and true holiness” ; or as Paul puts it in Titus 3:5, “Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Eternal Punishment VII. The seventh essential doctrine of the Christian faith is that ALL WHO RECEIVE CHRIST BECOME CHIL DREN OF GOD AND HEIRS OF GOD AND JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST, AND ALL WHO REJECT CHRIST ARE ETERNALLY LOST AND WILL SUFFER ETERNALLY THE FEAR FUL CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR FOLLY AND WICKEDNESS IN RE JECTING CHRIST, NAMELY, ETER NAL CONSCIOUS PAIN AND AGONY. The first part of this doctrine we find for example in Gal. 3:26, “For ye are all sons of God THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.” And in 2 Cor. 5:17, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new crea tion: The old things are passed away; behold they are become new,” and in Rom. 8:16, 17, “The Spirit himself heareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if chil dren then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified with him.” And in 1 Cor. 15:51-57, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
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