We do not wish, by any means, to undervalue the importance of the work of grace in our hearts here; nor do we think that the position that the birth of the Spirit is our change from mortality to immortality, necessarily implies this. True, our agency is not concerned in our final change, or in the resurrection of the just; but our agency is concerned, essentially and continually, in our preparation for that event; and in the very declaration therefore, Ye must be born again, is contained the necessity of our doing all those duties through which we are to be accounted worthy of the resurrection of the just,—a birth to that life over which the second death has no power.
We admit that such expressions as 1 John v, 1, refer to this present state; as it is not only possible, but necessary for us to believe before we can attain unto the resurrection; hence we question the propriety of the rendering, "born of God," as applied to believers now; since the state brought to view by this expression, is the one into which we are introduced by the resurrection. We find various translators agreeing upon rendering the term begotten, instead of born, which frees the text from all difficulty.
If it be true as the writer says, whom Dr. Clarke quotes, that the expression, born of God, should nowhere be used, it takes those passages in the writings of John which contain this expression, (and he is the only writer who uses them,) completely out of the hands of those who have relied on them to prove that the birth of the Spirit takes place at conversion. Nevertheless the term gennao is rendered "born" in numerous instances, as in Matt. ii, 1; and we think the connection in 1 John iii, 9, and v, 18, will justify such a rendering in those places.
The term in Rev. i, 10, and in Col. i, 18, above referred to, and which is in one place rendered first-born, and in the other, first-begotten, is not gennao, but prototokos, and should invariably be rendered first-born. It occurs nine times in the New Testament, and is in every instance thus rendered, except in Col. i, 18, and Heb. i, 6. Now if Christ is the "first-born from the dead," the first-born among many brethren, [Rom. viii, 29,] the first-fruits of them that slept [1 Cor. xv, 20, 23,] when the remaining sleepers are also awakened, who are his, is it not to them a birth also? A first implies a last; and if because Christ rose from the dead, it is said that he is born from the dead, and because he rose first, he is called the first-born, when God brings them who sleep in Jesus, from the dead with him, or in the same way that he brought him, [1 Thess. iv, 14,] will they not be the last-born? Here is positive proof that the resurrection is regarded in Scripture as a birth. That this (the first resurrection) is a birth of the Spirit, we learn from Rom. viii, 11. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 1 Cor. xv, 44.
We now turn to John iii, 6. That which is born of the Spirit is SPIRIT! The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God! The soul that sinneth it shall die! These are all declarations of Scripture, all equally plain and positive; and while we do not regard with any degree of doubt the last two, how can we the first?
Christ is the first-born among many brethren. Who are these brethren? Those of course who "are his," who have in this life cherished his Spirit. Rom. viii, 9. No one can claim that the wicked are included among the "brethren," of whom Christ is the first-born. We conclude therefore that the Scriptures have no allusion to the wicked in their teachings on this subject. But if it be urged that they must be included because they have a resurrection, we reply that the same argument would also prove them Christ's brethren.
That the wicked will be raised, is a fact plainly revealed; [Jno. v, 28, 29; Acts xxiv, 15,] but this does not identify them with the people of God. Theirs is a second resurrection, a resurrection to a temporal life, and only a necessity on account of their transgressions of God's holy law. They are reserved to the day of destruction, and will be brought forth to the day of wrath. 2 Pet. ii, 9; Job xxi, 30.
The first resurrection, that of the righteous, out from among the dead, is the only one set forth as an object of hope and desire by prophets and apostles. He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit (by a birth of the Spirit) reap life everlasting; but he that soweth to his flesh shall of his flesh reap corruption. Gal. vi, 8. To attain unto this we are to serve God instantly day and night. Acts xxvi, 7. And whether we make the work of grace in our hearts the new birth29itself, or a preparation necessary to that birth, it matters not as far as its importance is concerned; for while, if it was the birth itself, it would be essentially important, we make it no less so by considering it an essential preparation for that event.