God and tlie Spirit of Christ. But in the next verse it is said, '• If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; " and then ill verse 11, " But if the Spirit of In'm that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in jou, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." It is thus plain that the indwelling of the Spirit is the indwelHng of Christ. And therefore those numerous passages in which the Spirit of God is said to dwell in his people, are so many proofs of tile mystical union between Christ and all true believers. They are one. One Avith Him and one with one another. For by one Spirit they are all baptized into one body. (1 Cor. xii. 13.)
These representations of Scripture concerning the union be- tween Christ and his people, are neither to be explained nor ex- ])lained away. Both attempts have often been made. Numerous theories have been adopted and urged as divine truth, which in fact are only philosophical speculations. Some say tliat it is "t!;e sul)stance of Christ's person " that dwells in the believer. Others sav that it is his divine nature, the Logos, who becomes incarnate in the Church ; others that it is the humanity of Christ, his soul and body ; others that it is the theanthropic nature ; others that it is generic humanity raised by its union with the divine nature to the power of divinity. Ail this is darkening counsel by words without wisdom. It is, however, far better than the opposite extreme, which explains everythino; away. The one metliod admits the vital fact, however unauthorized may be the explanations given of it. Tlie other denies the fact, and substitutes something easily intel- lio;ible for the great Scriptui'al mystery. It is enough for us to know that Christ and his people are really one. They are as truly one as the head and members of the same body, and for the same reason ; they are pervaded and animated by the same Spirit. It is not merely a union of sentiment, of feeling, and of interests. These are only the consequences of the vital union on which the Sci'iptares lay so much stress.
Now if the whole nature of religion, of the life of God in the sold, is, according to the Scriptures, thus something supernatural and divine ; something mysterious ; something whicii is not to be ex])lained by the ordinary laws of mental action or moral culture ; then assuredly regeneration, or the commencement of this divine life in the soul, is no simple process, the rationale of which can l)e made intelligible to a child. It is no unassisted act of the man himself yielding to the force of truth and motives ; nor is it an act to which he is determined by the persuasion of the Spirit, giving
7C0 PART m. ch. xtv.— vocation.
trutli its due influence on the mind. It is an event of a different kind. It is not thus natural but supernatural ; not ref'errible to any second cause, but to the mighty power of God. This does not involve any undervaluing of the truth, nor any oversight of the constant mediate influence of the Spirit on the minds of all men, and especially upon the minds of the people of God. We may admit the value and absolute necessity of light, while we deny that light can open the eyes of the blind, or preserve the restored organ in its normal vigour. The man who contends for the possi- bility and truth of miracles, does not make everything miraculous. He may admit both the potentia ordinata of God, and his constant providential control over second causes, while he holds that there are occasions in which He acts immediately by his power, without the intervention of any other agency. So Augustinians, while they hold to the supernatural character of the inward life of the believer, and to the fact that regeneration is due to the immediate exercise of the almighty power of God, nevertheless believe that the Holy Spirit constantly operates on the minds of men, accord- ing to the laws of mind, enlightening, convincing, persuading, and admonishing. They believe all that their opponents believe, but they believe more.
Argument from the Nature of Regeneration.
5. The Scriptures not only teach that regeneration is the work of the immediate omnipotent agency of the Spirit, but they give such an account of its nature as admits of no other explanation of its cause. It is a kind of work which nothing but almighty power can accomplish. It is a C<^o7roir](n<;, a making alive. Originating life is from its nature an act of God, for He alone can give life. It is also an act of immediate power. It precludes the intervention of second causes as much as creation does. Christ was raised from the dead by the power of God. So was Lazarus. So are the re- generated. Spiritual resurrection is just as really and as literally an act of making alive as calling a dead body to life. The one oc- curs in the sphere of the outward, the other in the sphere of the spiritual world. But the one is just as real a communication of life as the other. When the principle of life is communicated to a dead bod}', all the chemical properties which belong to it are con- trolled by the vital force, so as to make them work for its preser- vation and increase, instead of for its disintegration. And when the principle of spiritual life is imparted to the soul, it controls all its mental and moral energies, so that they work to its spiritual