Regeneration

March 27

Regeneration

paliggenesia

Like charis (grace, see February 13), paliggenesia (G3824) is one of those ancient Greek words transformed by NT usage into something far deeper than it was before. 

It is a compound comprised of palin (G3825), "again," and genesis (G1078), "birth, origin." It, therefore, meant a restoration, return to former circumstances, or revivification.

The Stoics believed that the earth would periodically perish through some conflagration, so they used this word to refer to "when the earth awakened in the blossoming of springtime from its winter sleep and revived from its winter death."

Philo, the first-century Jewish philosopher, often used it to refer to the world emerging out of fire in a phoenix-like resurrection, a belief also held by the Stoics. Even of Noah and his family, Philo wrote, "They became leaders of a paliggenesia and chiefs of a second cycle."

It’s significant, then, that this word is used twice in the NT to refer to a real rebirth. It appears first in Mat_19:28 , where our Lord Himself says, "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

The context, of course, is our Lord’s teaching of future events, so He refers to the "regeneration," the "restoration," the "re-creation," of the world that will take place after His Second Coming.

Many creationists and Bible teachers believe that this will be a restoration of the primeval perfections of the earth before the Genesis Flood. In stark contrast to pagan belief, this will be a true rebirth of the original world by the one true God Who created it.

As Act_3:21  also declares, "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

The other occurrence of paliggenesia is in Tit_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 Spirit."

As God can restore a fallen world, He also restores those who were once spiritually alive and then dead in Adam (1Co_15:22 ; Rom_5:17 ) to a new life in Christ (Rom_6:4 ). We’ll ponder a related concept tomorrow.

Scriptures for Study: Read Jesus’ discourse on the "Bread of Life" in Joh_6:22-71 , noting each occurrence of the word life.

 
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