Basic HTML Version
460
prima, by which the new life is begotten, and the regeneratio secunda or renovatio, by which
the new life is led in a God-ward direction. While children receive the regeneratio prima by
means of baptism, adults, who receive the first regeneration by means of the Word, become
partakers of the regeneratio secunda through baptism. According to the Lutherans
regeneration is amissible. But through the grace of God it can be restored in the heart of the
penitent sinner, and that without re-baptism. Baptism is a pledge of God’s continued readiness
to renew the baptized and to pardon his sins. Moreover, regeneration is not always
accomplished at once, but is often a gradual process in the life of adults.
3. THE ARMINIAN VIEW.
According to the Arminians regeneration is not exclusively a work of
God, nor exclusively a work of man. It is the fruit of man’s choice to co-operate with the divine
influences exerted by means of the truth. Strictly speaking, the work of man is prior to that of
God. They do not assume that there is a preceding work of God by which the will is inclined to
the good. Naturally, they also believe that the grace of regeneration can be lost. The Wesleyan
Arminians altered this view in so far that they stress the fact that regeneration is the work of
the Holy Spirit, be it in co-operation with the human will. They do assume a prior operation of
the Holy Spirit to enlighten, awaken, and draw man. However, they also believe that man can
resist this work of the Holy Spirit, and that, as long as he does this, he remains in his
unregenerate condition.
4. THE VIEW OF THE MEDIATING THEOLOGIANS.
This is cast in a pantheistic mold. After the
incarnation there are no two separate natures in Christ, but only a divine-human nature, a
fusion of divine and human life. In regeneration a part of that divine-human life passes over
into the sinner. This does not require a separate operation of the Holy Spirit whenever a sinner
is regenerated. The new life has been communicated to the Church once for all, is now the
permanent possession of the Church, and passes from the Church into the individual.
Communion with the Church also insures participation of the new life. This view ignores the
legal aspect of the work of Christ entirely. Moreover, it makes it impossible to hold that any one
could be regenerated before the divine-human life of Christ came into existence. The Old
Testament saints cannot have been regenerated. Schleiermacher is the father of this view.
5. THE TRICHOTOMIC VIEW.
Some theologians constructed a peculiar theory of regeneration
on the basis of the trichotomic view of human nature. This view proceeds on the assumption
that man consists of three parts, — body, soul, and spirit. It is generally assumed, though there
are variations on this point, that sin has its seat only in the soul, and not in the spirit (pneuma).
If it had penetrated to the spirit, man would have been irretrievably lost, just as the devils, who
are pure spiritual beings. The spirit is the higher, divine life in man, destined to control the
lower life. By the entrance of sin into the world the influence of the spirit on the lower life is