“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Jn. 20:32

“He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive:”

Jn. 7:38-39

“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

Jn. 11:25

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Subsection

Only Initial Aspect of Regeneration is by the Lord Working Alone
Faith is a Condition for Justification
Spirit given through Christ the Head

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Order of Contents

Intro
Bible Verses  22+
Article  1
Quotes  38+
Latin  1

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Intro

It is affirmed that regeneration by the Holy Spirit as logically preceding faith may be termed being ‘born again’ (Eze. 11:19; 36:26; 37:8-10; Jn. 3:8; Acts 16:14; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:5-9; Phil. 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:3).  However, it is also affirmed that being born again (in Scripture and theologically, along with much of Church history, including the reformed) may refer to that abundance of new life which comes from receiving Christ spritually by faith and in spiritual communion with Him, these things being subsequent to, and non-meritoriously conditioned on faith.  See also:

‘In What Way Union to Christ is Before & After Faith’ (RBO)

Hence the commonly heard claim by ‘Calvinists’ that regeneration (or being born again) does not follow faith, without further qualification, is erroneous, hurtful and unduly divisive, as the believer does receive new life in a very significant, new way upon receiving Christ by faith.  To understand and distinguish these things is to be able to take in and love the Word of Truth and God’s ways with us more, and to have a closer unity with our Christian brothers and sisters who hold the foundation of our Faith, Christ (1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20-21).

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Bible Verses

New Testament

Jn. 1:12  “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Jn. 3:15  “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jn. 3:36  “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”

Jn. 5:24  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Jn. 6:35  “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Jn. 6:47  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Jn. 6:57  “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.”

Jn. 7:38-39  “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive:”

Jn. 11:25  “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”

Jn. 14:21, 23

“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him…

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

Jn. 15:1-5  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Jn. 17:3  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Jn. 20:32  “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Acts 2:38  “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Acts 15:9  “…purifying their hearts by faith.”

1 Cor. 4:15  “For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”

2 Cor. 5:17  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Gal. 2:20  “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

Gal. 3:22  “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

Gal. 3:26  “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Gal. 6:15  “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”

Eph. 1:13  “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Eph. 3:17  “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love…”

Eph. 4:24  “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Col. 2:11-13  “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.  And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

Col. 3:9-10  “…seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:”

Phile. 1:10  “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:”

James 1:18  “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

1 Pet. 1:21, 23  “Who by him do believe in God…  that your faith and hope might be in God…  being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

1 Jn. 5:4  “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

1 Jn. 5:10-12  “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself…  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

1 Jn. 5:20  “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”

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Article

1500’s

Calvin, John – 3. ‘Regeneration by Faith…’  in Institutes of the Christian Religion  tr. Henry Beveridge  (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 2, bk. 3, pp. 149-82

“Although we have already in some measure shown how faith possesses Christ, and gives us the enjoyment of his benefits…  Now, since Christ confers upon us, and we obtain by faith, both free reconciliation and newness of life…” – p. 151

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Quotes

Order of

Tyndale
Luther
Colloquy of Regensburg
Erasmus
Melanchthon
Calvin
Bradford
Melanchthon
Becon
Bullinger
Beza & Faius
Perkins
Kimedoncius (& Augustine)
Rollock
Throckmorton
Draxe
Willet
Wilson
Attersoll
Smith
Ainsworth
Walaeus
Mayer
Pemble
G. Downame
Byfield
Ames
Trapp
Rutherford
Shepard
Bridge
Baxter (& T. Hooker)
Voet
Woodbridge
Hutcheson
Watson
S. Mather
Polhill
Manton
Witsius

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1500’s

William Tyndale

Doctrinal Treatises...  (d. 1536; Cambridge Univ. Press, 1848), “Parable of the Wicked Mammon”  That Tyndale believes coming to repent and believing is also by the Spirit, see p. 89.

p. 51

“Whosoever hears the Word and believes it, the same is thereby righteous; and thereby is given him the Spirit of God, which leads him unto all that is the will of God; and is loosed from the captivity and bondage of the Devil; and his heart is free to love God, and has lust [desire] to do the will of God.”

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p. 52

“The promises, when they are believed, are they that justify; for they bring the Spirit, which looses the heart, gives lust [desire] to the law, and certifies us of the good-will of God unto usward.  If we submit ourselves unto God, and desire Him to heal us, He will do it…”

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p. 63

“The cause is: forasmuch as faith justifies and puts away sin in the sight of God; brings life, health, and the favor of God; makes us the heirs of God; pours the Spirit of God into our souls…”

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p. 65

“Now is the true believer heir of God by Christ’s deservings; yea, and in Christ was predestinate, and ordained unto eternal life, before the world began.  And when the gospel is preached unto us, we believe the mercy of God; and in believing we receive the Spirit of God, which is the earnest of eternal life, and we are in eternal life already, and feel already in our hearts the sweetness thereof, and are overcome with the kindness of God and Christ; and therefore love the will of God, and of love are ready to work freely…”

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Martin Luther

A Commentary…  upon…  Galatians…  (London: Vautroullier, 1575), on Gal. 3:26

“He says not: ‘ye are the children of God because ye are circumcised, because ye have heard the law and have done the works thereof’ (as the Jews do imagine, and the false apostles teach): but ‘by faith in Jesus Christ’ [Gal. 3:26].  The law then makes us not the children of God, and much less men’s traditions.  It cannot beget us into a new nature or a new birth: but it sets before us that old birth whereby we were born to the kingdom of the Devil: And so it prepares us to a new birth which is by faith in Jesus Christ and not by the law, as Paul plainly witnesses: ‘For ye are all the children of God by faith, etc.'”

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Colloquy of Regensburg  1541

Anthony Lane, Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue. An Evangelical Assessment, tr. Anthony Lane  (London: 2002), Appendix 1, pp. 233-34  This statement was affirmed by both the Reformed and Romanist sides.

“3…  Next, man’s mind is moved toward God by the
Holy Spirit through Christ and this movement is through
faith.  Through this [faith] man’s mind believes with
certainty all that God has transmitted [tradita], and also
with full certainty and without doubt assents to the
promises made to us by God who, as stated in the psalm
[144:13], is faithful in all his words.  From there he acquires
confidence [fiduciam] on account of God’s promise, by
which he has pledged that he will remit sins freely and that
he will adopt as children those who believe in Christ, those
I say who repent of their former life.  By this faith, he is
lifted up to God by the Holy Spirit and so he receives the
Holy Spirit, remission of sins, imputation of righteousness
and countless other gifts.”

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Urbanus Rhegius

The Sermon which Christ made on the way to Emaus...  (d. 1541; London: Daye, 1578), ‘Of the death, descending into Hell, and the glorious resurrection of Christ…’, p. 181  Rhegius (1489–1541) was a protestant reformer in Germany.

“It [Scripture] does not commend and set forth unto us Abraham only born of flesh and blood: but Abraham believing in Christ Jesus, regenerated by faith, and born anew, and made a new man, as Paul plainly teaches, saying: ‘They which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.’ (Gal. 3:7)”

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Desiderius Erasmus

The First Tome or Volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the New Testament  (London: Whitchurche, 1548), on John 1, verse 13, p. 13

“For finally God takes for his children not such as be born the children of Abraham by man’s seed, or actual lust in generation, but those that be born of God by faith.”

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Philip Melanchthon

The Justification of Man by Faith Only…  (London: Powell, 1548), ‘Faith’, p. 46

“Wherfore here after it shall be declared to you what is to be understood and meant by this words ‘to be delivered from the Law,’ purposing now in few words to show that they which be regenerated and new born by faith as I have said, do receive the Holy Ghost, that there may be begun in them a new obedience or better manner of living, a new light and life-eternal, which is a beginning and an entrance into the law of God.”

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John Calvin

A Harmony upon the the Three Evangelists…  (London: Bishop, 1584), on Jn. 1, verse 12, pp. 17-18

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John Bradford

The Writings of John Bradford…  Parker Society  (d. 1555; Cambridge Univ. Press, 1848-1853), “Election & Free-Will”, vol. 1, p. 217  Bradford (1510–1555).

“This will I briefly show, when that I have spoken of justification, the which precedes regeneration, from whom we may discern it, but not divide it, no more than heat from the fire.

Justification in Scripture is taken for the forgiveness of our sins, and consists in the forgiveness of our sins.  This is only God’s work, and we nothing else but patients and not agents.  After this work, in respect of us and our sense, comes regeneration, which altogether is God’s work also: for, as to our first birth we bring nothing (bring, quoth I? yes, we bring to let [prevent] it many things, but to further it nothing at all)…”

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in John Fox, Acts & Monuments…  (London: Daye, 1583), History of Bradford, Letters of Bradford, p. 1658

“For like as all they that be born of Adam, do taste of his malediction, though they tasted not his apple: so all they that be born of Christ (which is by faith) take part of the obedience of Christ, although they never did that obedience themselves, which was in Him, Rom. 5.”

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Philip Melanchthon

Apology of the Augsburg Confession  Trans. F. Bente & W. H. T. Dau  (1531; Project Gutenberg, 2004)

pt. 6, Article 3, Of Love and the Fulfilling of the Law

“These things cannot occur until we have been justified by faith, and, regenerated, we receive the Holy Ghost: first, because the Law cannot be kept without [the knowledge of] Christ; and likewise the Law cannot be kept without the Holy Ghost.  But the Holy Ghost is received by faith, according to the declaration of Paul, Gal. 3:14, ‘That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.’
…

Wherefore, when Paul says, Rom. 3:31, ‘We establish the Law through faith,’ by this we ought to understand, not only that those regenerated by faith receive the Holy Ghost, and have movements agreeing with God’s Law, but it is by far of the greatest importance that we add also this, that we ought to perceive that we are far distant from the perfection of the Law.”

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pt. 8

“Thirdly, James has spoken shortly before concerning regeneration, namely, that it occurs through the Gospel.  For thus he says 1:18, ‘Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.’  When he says that we have been born again by the Gospel, he teaches that we have been born again and justified by faith.  For the promise concerning Christ is apprehended only by faith, when we set it against the terrors of sin and of death.  James does not, therefore, think that we are born again by our works.
…

but on account of His promise He forgives those who apprehend His promise.  Neither do any apprehend His promise, except those who truly believe, and by faith overcome sin and death.  These, being regenerated, ought to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, just as John says, Mt. 3:8.”

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pt. 9

“…in which the Father has promised that He wishes to forgive, that for Christ’s sake He wishes to be reconciled.  This promise, however, is received by faith alone, as Paul testifies, Rom. 4:13.  This faith alone receives remission of sins, justifies and regenerates.  Then love and other good fruits follow.”

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pt. 10

“But regeneration occurs, by faith, in repentance.”

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pt. 15

“To this faith we ascribe justification and regeneration, inasmuch as it frees from terrors, and brings forth in the heart not only peace and joy, but also a new life.”

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Thomas Becon

The Demands of Holy Scripture…  (London: Day, 1577), n.p.

“What is the new man?  It is the man that is renewed and
born again by faith and the Word, through the Spirit of God.”

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Henry Bullinger

The Decades  (Cambridge: Parker Society, 1849), vol. 1, 1st Decade, Sermon 6, p. 112

“Dearly beloved, note this.  The eternal and unchangeable will of God is that He will give eternal life unto the world.  But He will give the life through Christ, who is naturally life itself, and can give life.  The very same God also will that we obtain and have life in us, and that we have it no other ways than by faith.

For the apostle Paul taught that Christ does dwell in our hearts by faith. (Eph. 3:17)  Moreover, the Lord Himself also witnesses, and says, ‘He that eateth me shall live by Me.’ (Jn. 6:57)  But ye know, dearly beloved, that to eat Christ is to believe in Him.  And therefore we knit up this place with these words of St Peter:

“To this Christ do all the prophets bear witness, that whosoever believeth in Him shall receive forgiveness of sins through his name. (Acts 10:43)”

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Theodore Beza

‘Theses Written Out in Full with the Unanimous Consent of the Pastors of the Swiss Churches by the Authority of the Very Distinguished Senate of Bern in the General Synod on AD April 23, 1588’  in Justification by Faith Alone: Selected Writings from Theodore Beza (1519-1605), Amandus Polanus (1561-1610), Francis Turretin (1623-1687), trans. Casey Carmichael  in Classic Reformed Theology  (RHB, 2023), pp. 113-14

“Thesis 10…  But one also speaks of a wider meaning of the term ‘righteousness’, as about that most perfect, which is subjectively in Christ alone according to the flesh and which alone, imputed to us by faith, pacifies our consciences before the tribunal of God.  This concerning holiness within us, is applied and inchoate in another gift of God.

Thus, if ‘justification’ is taken as the free application of the latter rather than the former benefit, Christ having been seized by faith, we do not deny that the term ‘justification’ is comprehended as much as that benefit of that imputed and most perfect righteousness as the benefit of sanctification inchoate in us is.  Yet we say that careful and painstaking care must be applied in order that one may not be confounded with the other and that we may know that the part first in order pleases and is accepted by God on account of Christ and in Christ alone is seized by faith, and that second gift of regeneration follows later.”

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Theodore Beza & Anthony Faius

Propositions & Principles of Divinity Propounded & Disputed in the University of Geneva by Certain Students of Divinity there, under Mr. Theodore Beza & Mr. Anthony Faius…  (Edinburgh: Waldegrave, 1591), 25. ‘Of the Justification of Sinful Man in the Sight of God’, p. 58

“13. That new quality then, called inherent righteousness, and regeneration testified by good works, is a necessary effect of true faith…”

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William Perkins

An Exposition of the Symbol or Creed of the Apostles…  (Cambridge: Legatt, 1595)

p. 153

“…we must labor to become bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh: which we shall be, when we are mistically united unto Him by faith, and born anew by his Spirit.”

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p. 169

“…and thus conceiving Him by faith, He remaining without change, we shall be changed into Him and made bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.”

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pp. 295-96

“Every Christian man and woman are by faith mystically united unto Christ and made all members of one body, whereof Christ is the head.  Now therefore as Christ by the power of his Godhead, when He was dead and buried, did overcome the grave and the power of death in his own Person, so by the very same power by means of this spiritual conjunction does He work in all his members a spiritual death and burial of sin and natural corruption…

So let a man that is dead in sin be cast into the grave of Christ, that is, let him by faith but touch Christ dead and buried, it will come to pass by the virtue of Christ’s death and burial, that he shall be raised from the death and bondage of sin to become a new man.”

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Jacobus Kimedoncius (& Augustine)

Of the Redemption of Mankind…  (d. 1596; London: Kingston, 1598), bk. 2, ch. 17, p. 175

“Augustine says well in the forecited place:

‘The medicine of all the wounds of the soul, and the only propitiation for the sins of men, is to believe in Christ, and by faith we are born of God and made the sons of God, as it is written: ‘to them that believe in his name, He has given power to become the sons of God.’ [Jn. 1:12-13] (Of the Word of the Lord according to John, sermon 60)”

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Robert Rollock

Select Works of Robert Rollock  ed. Gunn  (d. 1599; Edinburgh: Wodrow Society, 1849), vol. 1, A Treatise of God’s Effectual Calling

ch. 33, ‘Of Charity or Love’, p. 237

“For which cause principally, I thought good to speak of it [love] briefly in this treatise, after faith and hope, for that faith, wherein we say consists the second part of our effectual calling, has these for inseparable companions, faith, hope, and repentance; after which follows our justification by order, not of time, but of nature.  But in another respect love follows justification, and appertains to the grace of regeneration; but of this we shall speak in fit place.”

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ch. 34, ‘Of Repentance’, p. 245

“Repentance goes before justification, even as faith and hope; for of the Baptist it is said, that he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, Mk. 1:4; Lk. 3:3.  But regeneration follows justification; for, being justified, we receive the Spirit of sanctification, whereby we are renewed, and, as it were, find a new creature begun even in this life.  Repentance is the cause, regeneration is the effect; for therefore God does renew us in Christ, and make us new men, because we repent us of our old life, and begin to be wise after sin committed.

Notwithstanding in the middle place, betwixt repentance and regeneration, comes in justification, when as God does of his mere mercy account and repute us as just.  The name of repentance implies sorrow, but the name of regeneration gladness.

To conclude, the points of repentance, as whence it proceeds and whereunto it tends, they are deeds, the evil or sin committed, and the good which ought to be practised; but the bounds of regeneration are qualities — inherent corruption, and sanctity or holiness, which is wrought in us; the old man and new man renewed in Christ.

…For every change of the mind is not to be deemed forthwith regeneration, but there are certain changes of man’s mind which go before regeneration, and which prepare the mind, and so the whole man, unto regeneration, and to that new creation; in which kind repentance is a special grace.  These things are to be distinguished not in time but in nature; for at that very same instant, we believe, and be effectually called, and do repent, and be justified, and be regenerate.”

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‘Treatise on Justification’  tr. Aaron Denlinger & Noah Phillips  MAJT 27 (2016), 1.5. ‘The Execution of God’s Judicial Sentence’, p. 108  Rollock (c. 1555-1599) was a Scottish minister.

“God’s sentence of life to those of us who are the objects of justification is executed when he regenerates us through his Holy Spirit—that is, when he creates within us that new life that he has assigned to us already by means of that earlier sentence of justification.”

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1600’s

Job Throckmorton

Of Faith, as given in Richard Baxter, Richard Baxter’s Confession of his Faith…  (d. 1601; London: 1655), ch. 10, sect. 3, p. 396  Throckmorton (1545-1601) was an English puritan.

p. 6

“All this good comes to us by believing Christ Jesus the Son of God, whom God has sent from heaven to us to redeem and save us, that great prophet whom God has raised up to us of our brethren, like to us; and by receiving Him for our King, Priest, and Prophet by faith, such a one as God has sent and given Him to us.”

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pp. 30-31

“Question: By what means do we receive or draw these virtues from Christ, or enjoy them in Him?

Answer: This is only by faith of Him, that is, by faith receiving or going to Christ’s person, pitching on Him alone as revealed and offered in the Gospel.

Doctrine: Faith in Christ’s person, name, is the only means of receiving all saving virtues from Christ, when we believe the Gospel and glad tidings offering us Christ’s person with all his benefits and virtues, and behold Him to be such a one towards us as the Gospel reveals and offers Him to us, that is, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, our King, Priest, and Prophet, then is He indeed become such a one towards us, and we are made such in Him.”

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p. 33

“Believing the word of the Gospel offering us Christ, and embracing the same gladly, we receive Christ’s person and all that is his.”

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Thomas Draxe

The Christian Armory…  (London: Hall, 1611), ch. 7, p. 64  Draxe (d. 1618) was an Anglican minister who translated the works of William Perkins into Latin.

“Fourthly, our baptism and new birth by faith and repentance makes us truly noble and honorable before God, as it did the prophets and apostles and others…”

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Andrew Willet

Hexapla, that is, a Sixfold Commentary upon the most divine Epistle of the holy apostle St. Paul to the Romans…  (Cambridge: Legge, 1611), on Rom. 2, 5. Places of Controversy, 4th Controversy, ‘Which are to be counted good works’, p. 135

“2. There can come no good work from man…  unless then a man be regenerate and born anew, which is by faith in Christ, he can do no acceptable work.  Both these are evident out of Scripture…  2. and that by faith we are regenerate and made the sons of God, Jn. 1:12, ‘As many as receiued Him, to them He gave power to be the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name.'”

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Thomas Wilson

A Christian Dictionary…  (London: Iaggard, 1612), ‘Child of Promise’, p. 52

“[Note] that all elect which be born anew by faith, in the promise of grace, they are the children of the promise.”

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William Attersoll

A Commentary upon the epistle of Saint Paul to Philemon…  (London: Iaggard, 1612), on v. 10, p. 184

“But because we are born anew by faith, and faith comes by hearing [Rom. 10]…”

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Samuel Smith

David’s Repentance, or a Plain & Familiar Exposition of the 51 Psalm...  (London: Okes, 1614), on verse 10, p. 327

“…so as he that is not sanctified, is not justified; and he that is not regenerate and born anew by faith in Jesus Christ, and the work of the Spirit, cannot have the pardon of his sins.”

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Henry Ainsworth

Annotations upon the Five Books of Moses…  (d. 1622; London: Bellamie, 1627), on Numbers, ch. 4, v. 14. p. 22

“So here (if it may be lawful to conjecture the like) the laver is left uncovered and always open to the eyes of the people, that it might be a lively representation of God’s grace in Christ, continuing and opened as an ever-springing fountain: that by the washing of the new birth, by repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, we may in all our travels, at all times, cleanse our hands and feet (our works and ways) as the sacrificers did from the laver, Ex. 30:19-20.”

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Anthony Walaeus

Synopsis of Pure Theology  tr. Reimer Faber, ed. Henk van den Belt  (Brill, 2016), Disputation 32, ‘On Repentance’, section 2, p. 277

“It is customary to consider this repentance in two ways: either as a spiritual disposition poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, or as an action from us that proceeds from that disposition.

In the first way, it is properly speaking and in its strict sense called regeneration; in the second way, it is called repentance, taken in a more restricted sense, or penitence.  And when the two are taken together it is called the circumcision of the heart, the conversion to God, the renewal of the Spirit, the sanctification of man, the new creation, and the first resurrection.”

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John Mayer

Ecclesiastica interpretatio: or the Expositions upon the difficult and doubtful passages of the seven Epistles called catholic and the Revelation...  (London: Haviland, 1627), on Rev. 5, question 6, p. 308

“The Root of David He is called, according to Isa. 53:2, whereas He is said to be a branch out of the root, Isa. 11:1, because although He be but a branch according to the flesh for so much as he came of David, yet He is a root according to his divinity (Rupertus; Pannonius), whereupon David and all the godly are born by faith partaking of his grace, as of sap coming from Him, and consequently of salvation by Him.”

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William Pemble

Vindiciæ gratiæ. = A Plea for Grace, More especially the Grace of Faith…  (London: 1627), pp. 15-16

“We must carefully distinguish between a twofold union and communion we have with Christ:

1. By the Spirit on his part: for Christ as by his death, he is the meritorious cause of life and grace unto the elect, so by his Spirit He is the only efficient of life and grace in the regenerate.  To whom, whilst they are yet dead in sin and destitute of all grace, so as they neither do nor possibly can believe, Christ sends his Spirit which breathes life into them, changes and purifies their nature by working all holy and rectified abilities in every part.

Now this first work of the Spirit, creating of grace in the soul, does most apparantly precede not only the act of believing, but the habit also: for the habit itself is infused by this work.  And therefore it is also manifest that before all faith we have and must have some participation with Christ, even to this end that we may have faith.  But this union with Him is wrought merely by the Holy Spirit, which is that band whereby Christ knits Himself to us, communicating all gracious and quickening virtue from Himself to us, and thereby making us living members of his body.

2. By our faith on our parts: when being quickened by infused grace we actually apply ourselves to embrace the promise and to rely upon Christ only.  And here we knit ourselves to Christ, resting upon Him alone for all comfort.  By which uniting of ourselves to Christ we receive a greater increase and larger measure of grace from Him.  In the first union we were insensible of it, and grace is given to us non petentibus, that asked not after it: in this second union we are most sensible of its comfort and benefit; and here an augmentation of grace is bestowed on us petentes, earnestly suing for it, and by faith expecting the receiving of it.

Wherefore I conclude, all grace and virtue whatsoever in us is given us from the fulness of Christ, the fountain of all supernatural life; but yet all is not wrought by Christ embraced by our faith, but by Christ conveying his grace unto us by his Spirit.  This first quickens us: we then with Lazarus after life put into us, can awake, stand up, come forth, and by faith look on Him that raised us, fall down, worship and believe in Him as our Lord and God.”

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George Downame

The Covenant of Grace, or an Exposition upon Luke 1:73-75  (Dublin: Stationers, 1631), A Treatise on the Certainty of Perseverance, ch. 9, p. 346

“For we are not born branches and members of Christ, but engrafted into Him; and those that are truly engrafted into Him by faith are also renewed and born again, by his Spirit, by which Spirit we are all baptized into one body.”

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Nicholas Byfield

A Commentary upon the Three First Chapters of the First Epistle General of St. Peter...  (London: Flesher, 1637), on 1 Peter 1:23, pp. 184-85

“‘Born again’.  Being turned unto God by true faith and repentance: A metaphorical term.  We are born again four ways:

1. Sacramentally, by Baptism.
2. Spiritually, by the Word.
3. Corporally, in the Resurrection.
4. Eternally, in our Glorification.

Question: But why is our repentance likened to a new birth?

Answer: [1] To distinguish true repentance, from that which is false and fained: for it imports five differences.

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2. That in true repentance there is a total change in the whole nature of man: He has grace in every part; a new mind and a new heart, a new memory, and a new conscience, a new language, and a new carriage both to God and man: for birth is the producing of all essential parts of man.

3. That in true repentance there is the pain of contrition, a broken spirit, the throws and pains of travail, there is true godly sorrow and grief in the birth of grace.

4. That there is in true repentance a daily hunger and thirst after the sincere milk of the Word, 1 Pet. 2:2.

5. That in the things of God’s Kingdom there is new life, and sense, and feeling, and motion.

Secondly, to show the privilege of the penitent: for it signifies he gets more by his new birth than any child in nature can do by pleading his birth∣right: For if in repentance we be born unto God, then it shows:

1. That we have received power to be the sons of God, Jn. 1:2.

2. That with our adoption we enjoy the privileges of sons.

1. The favor of God, as a father.
2. The care of God to maintain us, Mt. 6:33.
3. The pardon of God in saving us from condemnation, Rom. 8:1.
4. The portion of God, even the inheritance which God gives as a Fa∣ther, which is spoken of Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7.

The use should be twofold: 1. That wee try ourselves carefully in the businesse of our repentance by the former signes:* 1.2 and secondly, that we comfort ourselves in the privileges of our new birth, rejoicing in our portion, and the favor of our heavenly Father.  And thus of the reason of the phrase.

Concerning the new birth, here we have occasion to consider of two things:

1. That it is needful often to be remembered of the doctrine of regeneration: the apostle having spoken of it before, falls upon it here again.”

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William Ames

An Analytical Exposition of both the Epistles of the Apostle Peter…  (London: Rothwell, 1641), on 2 Pet. 1:10-11, p. 169

“Others there are that enter into the kingdom of God by faith and repentance, Jn. 3:3, ‘He that is born again sees the kingdom of God,’ that is, he enters into it, as it is, verse 5.”

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Richard Sibbes

An Exposition of the Third Chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians...  (London: Cotes, 1639), on verse 9, ‘But that which is through the faith of Christ…’, p. 110

“Secondly, I say Christ is a second Adam, and a public person, and became ours, we then being in his loins, so the righteousness of Christ is made ours, we being born in Christ by faith, and found in Him: He being our head, we have a spiritual life descending upon us; He being our husband, all his goods are ours also.  This point is the soul of the Church and the golden key which opens Heaven for us…”

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John Trapp

A Commentary or Exposition upon the Four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles...  (London: A.M., 1647), on Mt. 4:3, p. 59

“Rather let us settle and secure this, that we are indeed the sons of God and heirs of heaven, by passing through the narrow womb of repentance, that we may be born again and by getting an effectual faith;”

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Samuel Rutherford

A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist…  (London: 1648), pt. 2, ch. 18, ‘That we are not justified until we believe’, pp. 19-20

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Thomas Shepard

The Parable of the Ten Virgins…  (London: Hayes, 1660), ch. 8, sect. 3, p. 61

“3. Make this your last end, to live unto Christ, and to do his work: Hence Paul did not account his life dear; this is your last end, for the end of being born by faith, nay of being redeemed by blood, ’tis to live unto Christ, Tit. 2:11.”

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William Bridge

The Works of William Bridge…  (London: Cole, 1649), vol. 3, sermon 2, on Gal. 2:20, p. 31

“So our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, being our second Adam, He is a common person, stands in the room of all the elect…  When therefore a man is born into the world is regenerate by faith, then all that righteousness of Christ, the second Adam, is imputed to him.”

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Richard Baxter

Christian Concord, or the Agreement of the Associated Pastors & Churches of Worcestershire, with Richard Baxter’s Explication & Defence of it, & his Exhortation to Unity  (London: A.M., 1653), ‘A Brief Explication of some Passages in the Profession’, p. 24

“In mentioning the Spirit’s indwelling and working…  we make believers the subject: Because though faith itself be the gift of God, yet there is so much greater and more eminent grace given after faith, and on condition of believing, than the grace is which enables us to believe, that it is only the giving of that greater measure (and extraordinary gifts) which in the New Testament is usually called the ‘giving of the Spirit’:

For (as Mr. Thomas Hooker and others express it) the Spirit in working faith does but, as it were, make his way into the soul, and then dwells and works there afterwards; as (says he) some birds first make their way into a hard tree by stocking a hole in it, and afterward make their nests and lay their young there.”

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A Christian Directory...  (London: 1673), Question 42, ‘But the great question is, How the Holy Ghost is given to infants in baptism?…’, p. 819

“13. There is therefore some notable difference between that work of the Spirit by which we first repent and believe, and so have our title to the promise of the Spirit, and that gift of the Spirit which is promised to believers: which is not only the Spirit of miracles given in the first times, but some notable degree of love to our reconciled Father, suitable to the grace and Gospel of redemption and reconciliation, and is called the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:9, 16, •5.), which the apostles themselves seem not to have received till Christ’s ascension: And this seems to be not only different from the gifts of the Spirit common to hypocrites and unbelievers, but also from the special gift of the Spirit which makes men believers:

So that Mr. Thomas Hooker says truer than once I understood, that vocation is a special grace of the Spirit, distinct from common grace on one side, and from sanctification on the other side.  Whether it be the same degree of the Spirit which the faithful had before Christ’s incarnation, which causes men first to believe, distinct from the higher following degree, I leave to enquiry: But the certainest distinction is from the different effects.”

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A Call to the Unconverted to Turn & Live & Accept of Mercy…  (London: Simmons, 1658), Doctrine 2, p. 70

“…and whoever is born again, and by faith and repentance does become a new creature, shall certainly be saved:”

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Gisbert Voet

Disputation 30, ‘On Regeneration’, pt. 2  (1639)  tr. AI by Roman Prestarri  in Select Theological Disputations  (1655), vol. 2, pp. 447ff.  Latin  at Confessionally Reformed Theology

“Effects arisen and dependent from faith considered organically are:

I. Real and passive, or received, union with Christ, and ingrafting into the new covenant, and thus communion of all goods in Christ.

II. Passive reconciliation and justification (as they call it), or rather internal, in us—from which is distinguished external or active justification, which is concerning us.”

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Benjamin Woodbridge

The Method of Grace in the Justification of Sinners…  (London: T.R., 1656), ch. 6, sect. 1, pp. 132-33

“2. I deny that condemnation comes upon any man by virtue of the Law given to Adam, till himself be born a child of Adam.  Therefore, from the acknowledged pnrity of reason it must follow that no man is justified by the Covenant made with Christ, till himself be borne of Christ, that is, by faith, Gal. 3:26; Jn. 1:12-13 and 3:5…”

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George Hutcheson

An Exposition of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to John  (London: Smith, 1657), on 11:25-26, p. 219

“8. The only means to partake of this resurrection is by faith to lay hold on Christ, for “he that believes in Me shall live,” etc.  Christ being thus laid hold on, no bonds of spiritual death shall hinder his quickening virtue to raise them up, but He will make the very dead to live; for, “he that believes, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

This is not to be understood, as if any man that is dead by nature could in that estate lay hold on Christ by faith; for he must first be prevented by passive regeneration, and the infusion of grace.  But the meaning is that it is faith only that puts the sinner in a state of life, and is the saving exercise of infused grace, without which all antecedent exercises, as discovery and conviction of sin and misery, terror, etc., will not avail, as being common to saints and regenerate men with temporaries.”

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Thomas Watson

The Beatitudes…  (London: Smith, 1660)

ch. 5, sect. 5, p. 63

“Faith puts us into Christ, and our title to the crown comes in by Christ.  By faith we are born of God, and so we become children of the blood-royal.  By faith our hearts are purified, Acts 15:9, and so we are made fit for a Kingdom…”

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ch. 19, sect. 3, p. 298

“2. Faith makes us children, as it is the vital principle. Hab. 2:4, ‘The just shall live by faith.’  All God’s children are living, none of them are still-born; now by faith we live.  As the heart is the primum vivens, the fountain of life in the body, so faith is the fountain of life in the soul.

3. Faith makes us children, as it is the uniting grace; it knits us to Christ; the other graces cannot do this; by faith we are one with Christ, and so we are akin to God; being united to the Natural Son, we become adopted sons: The kindred comes in by faith: God is the Father of Christ; faith makes us Christ’s brethren (Heb. 2:11), and so God comes to be our Father.”

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Samuel Mather

The Figures or Types of the Old Testament by which Christ and the heavenly things of the Gospel were preached and shadowed to the people of God of old…  (d. 1671; Dublin: 1683), Gospel of the Brazen Altar, p. 481

“…if it may be lawful to conjecture the like, the laver is left uncovered and always open to the eyes of the people, that it might be a lively representation of God’s grace in Christ, continuing and opened as an ever springing fountain, that by the washing of the new birth, by repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, we may in all our travels at all times cleanse our hands and feet, our works and ways, as the sacrificers did from the laver, Ex. 30:19-20.”

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Edward Polhill

Precious Faith considered in its Nature, Working & Growth  (London: Cockerill, 1675), ch. 14, p. 444-45

“…do it obedientially, hearken to the commands, that thy peace may be as a river flowing in the joys of faith: If thus thou wilt hear and open to Christ, who stands and knocks at the door of thy heart, He will come in to thee, and sup with thee, and thou with Him, Rev. 3:20.  He will come in to thee in intimate communion, and sup with thee in the acceptance of thy graces, and thou shalt sup with him at a banquet of love:

Thou mayst experimentally say that the Gospel is come to thee in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as the apostle speaks, 1 Thess. 1:5.  In power in, the first work of conversion; in the Holy Ghost, in the gracious indwelling of it after faith; and in much assurance, in the sealings of truth and love upon the heart.”

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Thomas Manton

A Second Volume of Sermons…  (London: Astwood, 1684), Sermons on 2 Cor. 5, Sermon 30, on 2 Cor. 5:15, p. 190

“…so this [spiritual] life is begun by a union between us and Christ: He lives in us by his Spirit, and we live in Him by faith, Gal. 2:20.  The Spirit is the principle of life, and faith is the means to receive it; and therefore we are said, Rom. 6:5, to be planted into the likeness of Christ’s resurrection.  Planting notes a union, as a bud that is put into a stock; it becomes one with the stock, and bears fruit by virtue of the life of the stock.  We no sooner are planted into Christ, but we feel the power of his life, and virtue of his resurrection; He begins to live in us, and we in him, as the graft in the stock, and as the stock in the graft.”

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Herman Witsius

Conciliatory or Irenical Animadversions on the Controversies Agitated in Britain: under the Unhappy Names of Antinomians & Neonomians  (1696; Glasgow, 1807), ch. 6, p. 68

“III. By a true and a real union (but which is only passive on their part) they are united to Christ when his Spirit first takes possession of them and infuses into them a principle of new life: the beginning of which life can be from nothing else but from union with the Spirit of Christ, who is to the soul, but in a far more excellent manner, in respect of spiritual life, what the soul is to the body in respect of animal and human life.

As therefore the union of soul and body is in order of nature prior to the life of man, so also the union of the Spirit of Christ and the soul is prior to the life of a Christian.  Further, since faith is an act flowing from the principle of spiritual life, it is plain, that in a sound sense, it may be said, an elect person is truly and really united to Christ before actual faith.

IV. But the mutual union (which, on the part of an elect person, is likewise active and operative), whereby the soul draws near to Christ, joins itself to Him, applies, and in a becoming and proper manner closes with him without any distraction, is made by faith only.  And this is followed in order by the other benefits of the covenant of grace, justification, peace, adoption, sealing, perseverance, etc.  Which if they be arranged in that manner and order, I know not whether any controversy concerning this affair can remain among the brethren.”

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Latin Article

1700’s

Vitringa, Sr., Campegius – section 36  in The Doctrine of the Christian Religion, Summarily Described through Aphorisms  (d. 1722), vol. 3, ch. 14, ‘Of Faith & Repentance’, pp. 115-19

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“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Acts 2:38

“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

Gal. 3:22

“Who by him do believe in God…  that your faith and hope might be in God…  being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

1 Pet. 1:21, 23

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