§ 1. Usage of the Word,
The subjective change wrought in the soul by the grace of God, is variously designated in Scripture. It is called a new birth, a resurrection, a new life, a new creature, a renewing of the mind, a dying to sin and living to righteousness, a translation from darkness to light, etc. In theological language, it is called regeneration, renovation, conversion. These terms are often used interchangeably. They are also used sometimes for the whole process of spiritual renovation or restoration of the image of God, and sometimes for a particular stage of that process. Thus Cal- vin gives the term its widest scope : " Uno verbo poenitentiam interpreter regenerationem, cujus non alius est scopus nisi ut im- ago Dei, quae per Adae transgressionem fcedata et tantum non
obliterata fuerat, in nobis reformetur Atque haBC quidem
instauratio non uno momento, vel die, vel anno impletur, sed per continuos, imo etiam lentos interdum profectus abolet Deus in electis suis carnis corruptelas." 1
With the theologians of the seventeenth century conversion and regeneration were synonymous terms. In the acts of the Synod of Dort, we find such expressions as " Status conversionis aut re- generationis,,' and "effecta ad conversionem sive regenerationem praevia." John Owen, in his work on the Holy Spirit, follows the same usage. The fifth chapter of the third book of that work is entitled " The nature of regeneration," and one of the heads under this is, " Conversion not wrought by moral suasion only/' " If the Holy Spirit," he says, " acts no otherwise on men in regeneration or conversion," then so and so follows. Turrettin, as we have seen, distinguishes between what he calls " conversio
i Tnstitutio. lib. in. cap. iii. 9, edit. Berlin, 1834, voL i. p. 389.
4 PART III. Ch. XV. — REGENERATION.
habitualis " and " conversio actualis." " Conversio habitualia seu passiva, fit per habituum supernaturalium infusionem a Spiritu Sancto. Actualis vero seu activa per bonorum istorum
exercitium Per illam homo renovatur et convertitur a Deo.
Per istam homo a Deo renovatus et convertus convertit se ad Deum, et actus agit. Ilia melius regeneratio dicitur, quia se habet ad modum novas nativitatis, qua homo reformatur ad imag- inem Creatoris sui. Ista vero conversio, quia includit hominis ipsius operationem." * This is clear and accurate. As these two things are distinct they should be designated by different terms. Great confusion arises from this ambiguity of terms. The ques- tions whether man is active or passive in regeneration and whether regeneration is effected by the mediate or immediate influence of the Spirit must be answered in one way if regeneration includes conversion, and in another if it be taken in its restricted sense. In the Bible, the distinction is generally preserved ; fxerdvou^ repentance, change of mind, turning to God, i. e., conversion, is what man is called upon to do ; avayewrjo-is, regeneration, is the act of God. God regenerates ; the soul is regenerated. In the Romish Church justification is making subjectively just, t. e., free from sin and inwardly holy. So is regeneration. So is sanctifi- cation. These terms, therefore, in the theology of that church are constantly interchanged.
Even by the Lutherans, in the " Apology for the Augsburg Confession," regeneration is made to include justification. That is, it is made to include the whole process by which the sinner is transferred from a state of sin and condemnation into a state of salvation. In the " Form of Concord " it is said, " Vocabulum regenerationis interdum in eo sensu accipitur, ut simul et remis- sionem peccatorum (quas duntaxat propter Christum contingit) et subsequentem renovationem complectatur, quam Spiritus Sanc- tus in illis, qui per fidem justificati sunt, operatur, quandoque etiam solam remissionem peccatorum, et adoptionem in filios Dei significat. Et in hoc posteriore usu saepe multumque id vocabu- lum in Apologia Conf essionis ponitur. Verbi gratia, cum dicitur : Justificatio est regeneratio Quin etiam vivificationis vo- cabulum interdum ita accipitur, ut remissionem peccatorum notet. Cum enim homo per fidem (quam quidem solus Spiritus Sanctus operatur) justificatur, id ipsum revera est quaedam regeneratio, quia ex filio irae fit filius Dei, et hoc modo e morte in vitam trans- fertur Deinde etiam regeneratio saape pro sanctificatione
1 Locus xv. quaes, iv. 13, edit. Edinburgh, 1847, vol. ii. p. 460.