Section 4
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 dif ferent 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.