Justification, Regeneration, and the Witness of the Spirit

Biblical *Justification is a pardon granted by God upon the soul of man who trusts in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. After repentance and trusting in the death of Christ alone, God’s justice declares a sinner innocent from all sins committed in the past. Justification by Grace removes the guilt of sin from the human conscience. In a judicial sense a believer is declared righteous by the Justification of God through faith alone in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. God’s Justification deals with the acts of sin and not the inherited sinful nature.

· Acts 13:38-39…Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
· Rom 3:24-25…being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past

*Regeneration is the Spirit’s restoration of the human soul that saves a believer from eternal death and separation from the mercy of God. A justified man right in the presence of God is passed to life through regeneration. Life in the New Testament is two fold: First, a present life consisting of holiness of heart and obedience to God: Second, to an inherited eternal life which follows death to the physical body beyond the grave. Washing of regeneration, an inward work of the Holy Ghost is granted to a believer by the Mercy and Grace of God through Justification.

· Titus 3:5…Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
· Titus 3:6-7…Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

When a penitent sinner is cleansed from all sin the moral make-up is also restored in Christ. The Holy Spirit re-creates the inner being of a believer through the new birth. This re-creation includes a Divine nature. The mind, conduct, and desires of one born of God are conscious to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. This person knows God from the heart because of communion in the Spirit. Unlike the sinner, a regenerate man has strength to stop sinning and quit doing wrong as consciousness to the presence of the Holy Spirit takes away sinful desire. The divine nature produces a new desire to live holy and without sin as a child of God should.

· 1 John 3:9…Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.
· 1 John 4:4… because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Through God’s regenerative work the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of man. This union confirms in the heart of a believer that he’s a child of God and his sins are forgiven.
The *witness of the Holy Spirit testifies Christ inwardly to a believer and brings to knowledge a life of holiness and obedience to God. Every believer has this witness in himself.

· Rom 8:16…The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
· 1 John 5:10…He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:

***The intent of this teaching Blog is to first bring clarity to the Biblical terms Justification, Regeneration, and Witness of the Spirit unused in everyday language; and second, to confirm an actual Christian experience and its relation to the scriptural reference given…