Chapter VI
the virtual cause of regeneration is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What influence it hath to raise us to a newness of life.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ivhich, according to
his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resur
rection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 PETER I. 3.
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The next thing to be
considered is the virtual cause of regeneration, namely, the resurrection of
Christ.
The words may, first, either refer to our hope, as being the cause of it :
for in that Christ is risen and ascended, lies our hope that we also shall, as
the apostle connects them, 1 Cor. xv. 17, 20, and it is the inference which
the apostle makes, Col. iii. 1, 3, 4 compared, that he, being risen, ver. 1, and being our life, ver. 4, therefore when he appears in glory, we shall
appear with him. And this it was that made the primitive Christians (as with good news) thus to salute one another, Christ is risen, Christ is risen. Because I live (says Christ),
* you shall live also, John xiv. 19 ; and
* our hope. Or else, 2, it refers to being begotten again. And this seems here to be
therefore, 1 Tim. i., Christ is called
the most probable reference. Only this is a rule I take in interpreting
scriptures, that when any passage relates to two things, I take them both. But here I shall only speak of the last reference, because the dependence between Christ s resurrection and the new birth is the most difficult to dis
cern. To shew the affinity of these two, and to explain this in general, I
shall say two things.
(1.) That Christ s own resurrection is called his being begotten; so, Acts xiii. 38, that place in the 2d Psalm is applied to his resurrection,
* This day have I begotten thee, &c. The reason whereof I take to be
this, because when the human nature first entered into that estate, which
primitively was ordained for him by his Father (for he should not have come into this world clothed with infirmities but for sin, Rom. viii. 3. But the world to come was ordained for him, as this world was for the
first Adam) ; his first entrance into that his world being at his resurrec
tion, it may truly be called his begetting, as being then first brought forth into
that his world. And so I understand the coherence of those two verses, Heb. i. 5, 6. That begetting spoken of, ver. 5, was his resurrection, which was that his first
* coming into the world mentioned, ver. 6, namely, that world which is called the world to come, chap. ii. 5. Now, as his
resurrection is called his begetting again, so our resurrection is called our
regeneration. So you have it in those words of Christ, Mat. xix. 28,
* Those that follow me, in the regeneration shall sit on twelve thrones, &c., which refer rather to the time of the resurrection, which is the restitution
of all things (as Peter calls it), than to the time of following Christ here,
although they may relate to both. And therefore we find, Luke xx. 36,
456 THE WOKE OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
the children of God are called by a new title, which ariseth from God s
raising them up, it being a begetting them anew as his children. The words are observable, for they are said to be the children of God, they being the children of the resurrection, or peculiarly for this, that they are raised up by God. And there is this particular reason in it : for in their
first begetting, as men, God was but the Father of their spirits, they hav
ing other bodily parents of their bodies and flesh, Heb. xii. 9 ; but now, in the resurrection, God becomes a father anew unto their bodies, and the whole man, raising them up, and joining both body and soul together; and so they become the children of God, being the children of the resurrec tion. And therefore also it is that the redemption at the resurrection of the body is called the adoption, Rom. viii. And to this purpose also is that phrase, Col. i. 18, where Christ is called the first-begotten of the dead ; the resurrection being a begetting both unto him and them, and because they are raised by virtue of his resurrection, therefore he is called
the first-begotten. Wherefore, that there should be some special affinity between Christ s resurrection and our new birth is not unlikely. But more expressly those two places, Col. ii. 12 and 1 Peter iii. 21, do ascribe the new birth of a believer unto the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration; and when the apostle says, Baptism saves, his meaning is, that the grace in bap.tism, which is regeneration (for that is the thing sealed up) wrought by Christ s
resurrection, doth save us. And the like to this is that in Col. ii. 12.
(2.) The second thing in general to be observed is, that though all the works of Chrkt for us have an influence into his works in us and upon us, yet so as some are more especially attributed to some work of Christ than to another, and some things in every work in us, more peculiarly to some
of his works for us than to others. That being true of Christ s work for
us, that is of the works of the trinity, that though all works are common to all the persons, yet some are more peculiarly attributed to the Father, as election ; some to the Son, as redemption, &c. ; and likewise in every work something more peculiarly attributed to one than to another : as in conversion, drawing us to Christ is attributed to the Father, John vi. 44, and sanctification to the Holy Ghost. And answerably is it in the thing in hand, the work of regeneration, wherein mortification, or destroying the body of sin, which is one part of it, is attributed to his death, Rom. vi. 4, and the begetting, or infusing a new principle of life into us, unto his re
surrection, ver. 5 of the same chapter. And thus likewise in justification ; the matter of our righteousness which is imputed is Christ s obedience unto death, but the imputation itself is ascribed to his resurrection, Rom. iv. 25. And so, Rom. v. 10, our reconciliation is attributed to his death, but our preservation in that estate unto his life and intercession.
And then, to shew why this new birth is thus peculiarly attributed to his resurrection.
1. It is not by way of merit only, for the merit or price laid down was
fully accomplished and paid at that instant when he arose out of the grave (which was the last part of his satisfaction, and when he arose out of de
basement), but his resurrection was the entrance and first step into his
glorified condition.
- Neither, 2, is it simply in respect of application ; that he arose again to live and send the Spirit to work regeneration in us (as Rom. v. 10, where we are said to be saved by his life ). For in this respect, his resurrection
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 457
hath but the same common influence which it hath into all other works, as upon justification, &c. And indeed, to speak properly, his death is the meritorious cause, his intercession the applicatory cause. But his resurrec tion is the virtual cause, as by virtue of which it is wrought. And, there
fore, Phil. iii. 10, it is called the virtue of his reconciliation. A dew comes from his resurrection, like the dew of herbs, as the prophet Isaiah
calls it in the 26th chapter of his prophecy, ver. 19, which (as there) causeth the conversion and calling of the Jews, and their resurrection unto
life, even as the dew from heaven causeth the herbs to grow out of the dead womb of the earth. Therefore Christ is called a quickening Spirit, as Adam
* a living soul, 1 Cor. xv. 45, Adam being able indeed to convey
life, but not to quicken dead hearts, as Christ doth. Now, this virtue con-
sisteth in, or ariseth from, two things, or rather shews itself in two things.
(1.) In that the very same power that wrought in Christ when he was raised up works in us to beget us again. So Eph. i. 19, 20, it is expressly said, that the same power that wrought in Christ when he was raised from the dead, works in them that believe. It is no less, yea, it is the same ; and this to work faith, Col. ii. 12. And so, Rom. viii. 11, the same Spirit that raised up Christ raiseth us up ; our souls here, and our bodies here
after. And it not only required the same power (as I have elsewhere
shewn), but the same power was engaged by his resurrection to work this new birth in us. For Christ rose not as a private man, but as a head, and as the first fruits of them that sleep, 1 Cor. xv. 20, and the first-begotten of the dead; and so, in a way of representing their persons therein, thereby engaging the same power to work in them the members, that wrought in him the head, because he rose with them considered as in him, and he hav
ing that power for their sakes, to shew that first in his natural body, which afterward he was to shew in his mystical.
(2.) Christ s resurrection is the exemplary cause of our regeneration, according to which, the Spirit, or that same power that wrought in him, works a work in us conformable to his resurrection, as the pattern of it. And so, although an exemplary cause hath of all ordinary causes the least
influence, yet this hath more than such ordinary causes use to have ; and that by virtue of a decree, or ordinance given out by God, that we should as well bear the image of the heavenly, as of the earthly Adam. This law was given to grace, as well as nature, and so gives force to Christ s
actions, to conform us and ours unto them ; as it did to Adam s actions, to transform our nature unto his (as his corruption doth, by the law of
nature). And thus our begetting again (which is by the infusion of a new
life) bears the image of Christ s resurrection, and so is attributed unto it ; the rule being, that that in Christ should have an influence more special to work in us that which was most like thereto. Thus, Rom. vi. 5, it is
expressly said, We shall be baptized into the likeness of his resurrection. Now baptism is the sacrament of regeneration, which resembles, in the dip ping under water and coming forth again, our burial with Christ in his
grave, and our rising again by faith and a new life : Col. ii. 12. Now then, I shall let you see in general the similitude between Christ s resurrection and our regeneration.
1. As the resurrection of Christ was the great declaration of him to be the Son of God, with power, Rom. i. 4 ; so is the regeneration of a believer the first declaration of his being a son of God, and the first discovery of
his election.
2. As Christ s resurrection was the first step unto his glory, and to that
458 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BooK IX.
exaltation that followed that his resurrection, so regeneration is the foun dation and first step unto all those privileges of a Christian that follow upon the state of grace, whereunto this is the door, or first entrance. I might shew this more particularly in the principal parts of regeneration ; as,
(1.) In the work of faith, in a rising from under the guilt of sin.
(2.) In the work of sanctification, in a rising from under the power of
sin. For we are dead in respect of both ; dead in respect of guilt, as a man condemned is said to be a dead man, bound over to death ; dead in
respect of the power of sin, as a man whose soul is gone is dead, he being unable to move or stir, because he wants a principle of life. It is faith which raiseth us to a life of justification, as, Kom. v. 18, it is called. And this it doth, as really from the state of condemnation, which change is called a passing from death to life, so also apprehensively ; that is, from the apprehension of being under the guilt and condemnation of sin ; which apprehension is wrought by humiliation, wherein the Spirit condemns a man, and binds him over to guilt and death (and therefore, Rom. viii. 15, he is called the Spirit of bondage ), and also gives a man up to the law, which shuts a man up with a guard or garrison, as one condemned, until faith comes, Gal. iii. 22. For therein God s dealing with the Jews was a type of his proceeding by a Spirit of bondage, wrought in those God means to convert. And so the Romans are said to have received the Spirit of
bondage. God also stayeth the sinner with that guilt: Rom. vii. 10, 11, Sin revived, and I died, says Paul, when he was humbled. And out of this death doth faith raise the soul up to a justification of life. There
fore, Col. ii. 12, it is said, You are risen with him through faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. For it is faith which makes a man live in God s sight, and enjoy his favour, which is the
life of the soul.
CHAP. I.] IN OUE SALVATION. 459