Q. 13 -"What is the meaning of the following:-(1) New Birth, (2) Regeneration, (3) Quickening. Is this the impartation of divine and eternal life ? (4) What is the difference between 'the old man' and ' the flesh,' or the old or evil nature, as we commonly call it ? (5) Is Rotherham's translation of Tit. 3:5 a correct one, viz., 'a bath of a new birth'? (6) The meaning of 'the new man.' " J. A. D.

Ans.-(1) New Birth is the impartation of divine and eternal life by the Spirit through the Word. (Jno. 3:5.) We are born children of God (Jno. 1:12, 13), and so members of His family. It does not touch the question of position, but of life and relationship, and hence is the common blessing of all God's children in all dispensations.

(2) Regeneration is ordinarily used by people to mean New Birth. In Matt. 19:28, however, the word so translated refers to the time when our Lord shall sit upon His throne, and His apostles be associated in His rule, during the millennium. Its use in Tit. 3:5 will be noted later.

(3) Quickening is out of. death; New Birth, an additional life independent of the old. In new birth, man is not looked at as dead; in quickening, he is; though the two come close together in their meaning, Forgiveness goes with quickening (Col. 2:13; Eph. 2. 5), and it is used in connection with Christ. Hence, while it is an impartation of life, we are reminded of Christ's resurrection , and incidentally of His death for our sins. So quickening seems to differ from new birth in this, that it is linked with Christ, new birth with the Spirit. Beyond doubt, it is the same life in either case, only different aspects of it.

(4) The "flesh" is the fallen, evil nature. The " old man" is the person who had that nature,-the responsible man who came to an end, in God's sight, by the cross (Rom. 6:6), in order that the body of sin-sin as a controlling power-might be annulled. This old man is "put off" when one believes,-that is, he no longer stands in that relationship to God, in which he could only produce evil and be condemned. (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9.) Note that this is not something to be done constantly as to the old man, as it was done once for all by the cross.

(5) " Washing of regeneration " seems to be the proper rendering of Tit. 3:5, referring to that washing in the brazen laver which figured new birth; the application of the Word to the whole man corresponding very closely to Jno. 3:5, as it is also the work of the Holy Spirit.

(6) The "new man" is the opposite of the "old." It is the man as he is in Christ, a new creation, after God, in knowledge and holiness of truth. It is not the new nature, but the person who has the nature, as he stands before God.