* Eegeneration ' characteristic of the NT.
A, Old Tc-iit. AdumbratiODS.
L In (a) national, (&) pereonal rellgioD. ii. In the case of Proselytes.
B. New TesU Presentation.
i. In the Synoptics, ii. In SL Janies.
Hi. In St. Peter (relation to Baptism), iv. In Epistle to Hebrew*. V. In St. Paul. Ti. In Kt. John. C Connected Summary. Literature.
The idea of Regeneration belongs to the NT rather than the OT. Indeed, some would confine it, in any proper personal sense, to the former exclusively. Rut this would be to confuse the implicit and explicit forms of the doctrine and experience, and to break the ji;eiiuine continuity of biblical religion. This continuity, along witli progressive development of form, it must Tie our care to trace between OT and NT, as well as between the several types of presentation in the NT itself.
A. Old Te.st. Adumbrations.— i. OT religion being originally a matter of the nation rather than the individual, all the forms under which
it was conceived were highly objective. Thingi to be done or avoided are jirominent ; and all as tending to avoid rupture of the normal relation or covenant between the people and J". At first little stress is laid on the state of the inner life, on ethical as contrasted with ritual purity. But when, under the iiitluence of the prophets of the 8th cent, and later, the ethical element in religion came fully to light, tlie old idea of relip^ion, as a dutiful relation between man and God, became charged with new spiritual meaning, and allbided the deepest and most adequate notion of piety imaginable. For it went below the level of mere deeds, to the attitude of soul of which they were as the fruit.
(rt) The stages in the process may be traced as follows. As the older notion of salvation or well- being had been largely that of external national prosperity, taken as the expression of the favour of J " ; so the chief means of its purification and deepening was national adversitj-. This turned attention, first to the moral conditions of the favour of the Holy One of Israel, and then to the intrinsic blessedness of righteousness itself, apart even from its normal external concomitants of peace and prosperity. At the same time, the break-up of national welfare caused the individual to attain to a new consciousness of his personal relations to J", and so to a more spiritual piety. These chanjjes, as they afl'ectcd both Israel and the individual Israelite, reached their crisis in the experiences of the Exile. During and after it the spiritual harvest, the first-fruits of which are to be .seen even in the pre-exilic prophets, was gathered in by the sifted Church-nation. Chief among the new ideas acquired were (1) the thought of sin as a besetting power, ever apt to mar the normal relations between J" and His people ; (2) the idea that a profound change of temper or attitude in Israel as a whole was needful ; (3) the conviction that an evil so inherent as the stitt- neckedness and uucircunicision of heart discovered in Israel could be met only by Divine and super- natural agency, working upon the very springs of conduct (cf. Dt 10'« 30'"). In fact, the vision of a renovation of feeling and will as needful to Israel, of national regeneration as the pre-requisiie and the essential blessing of the longed-for Messi- anic age, began to possess the better minds follow- ing in the wake of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Yet even in those great prophets the bestowal of the regenerate heart is thought of largely as a special intervention to meet an exceptional need, as it were at a stroke ; and its primary reference is collective rather than personal. Ephraim is over- heard aclcnowledging tne ellcct of the Divine dis- cipline as salutary, and adding, 'Turn thou me, and I will turn' (.Jer3I"'): and then the prophet looks forward to the bright day of national restora- tion, when the covenant shall become 'a new covenant,' as being divinely in.scribed on the heart or inner life of tne people (31'"'-)- Then 'they shall be my people, and I will be their God : and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear nie for ever' (32™'- 24'). Similarly Ezekiel: 'And 1 will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all your fillhi- ness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will take away the stony heart out of your llesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes' (36""-' II'"). Here we get, as never before, the idea of a new responsiveness of heart divinely produced — the essence of regeneration. But the regeneration is still viewed as national rather than individual (cf. the prophecy of the Valley of Drj
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Bones, Ezk 37'""), though the effects on the in- dividuals composing the nation are often clearly present to mind (Jer 31", Is 541^ 60-'). And, above all, it is felt to be still future (contrast Ezk 18^'), a blessing of the Messianic age.
(6) But while this is true of OT religion as a whole, even after the E.xile, there are traces of individual piety going far beyond it, and virtually anticipating tlie NT experience of regeneration. Transferring the idea of religion, as a dutiful relation between Israel ami its God, from the nation to the individual conscience, this deeper piety gave the holiness loved of J" a most vital meaning. It saw in ' wajking humbly with one's God,' the inmost secret of 'doing justly and loving mercy.' All sprang from the 'contrite and humble spirit' indwelt of the Holy One of Israel (Is 57" 66^). ' The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,' a spirit broken by the sense that it was ' truth in the inward parts' that could alone satisfj' the Holy One (Ps 51"-"). And along with this begins to appear the sense of a nature radically prone to Bin, and so in need of more radical aid from the Searcher of hearts before covenant obedience could become possible (Ps 51', Job 14^ ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Not one '). There arises a cry for the ' mercy ' and ' loving- kindness' of God, to draw the heart to Himself, and so create the very state of spirit with which He could commune. 'A clean heart,' 'a right' (steadfast) or 'free (willing) spirit' — on which turned ' the joy of thy salvation ' — are all traced to the presence of God's 'holy Spirit' at work on the soul (Ps 51''"''''^). Here we have the high- water mark of piety on OT lines, or rather piety under OT forms, but already outgrowing its limits. For with the emergence of the ideas of religion as primarily a state of the heart, of the radical tendency to sin native to frail human nature, and of the grace of God, in renewing and quickening power, as alone adequate to man's need, — with this the old national religion is transcended, and a new covenant becomes indispensable. Here, then, the experience, not to say the doctrine, of regenera- tion is already virtually present : it lacks only the objective basis furnished by the revelation in Christ, to give it that steady and assured quality which is the prerogative of NT 'faith.'