" [64] "Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God."
[65] "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." It is
considered to be true again, as far as the new birth relates to the
creature born and to the name which it may bear, from these different
expressions: [66] "Of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be
formed in you." [68] "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me." [69] "But ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry
Abba, Father." [70] "But as many as received him, that is, the spirit or
word, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." [71] "For as many
as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." And as
parents and children resemble one another, so believers are made [72]
"conformable to the image of his son," "who is the image of the invisible
God."
[Footnote 63: 1 John 3. 9.]
[Footnote 64: 1 Peter 1. 23.]
[Footnote 65: James 1. 18.]
[Footnote 66: Gal. 4. 19.]
[Footnote 67: Gal. 2.20.]
[Footnote 68: Rom. 8.15.]
[Footnote 69: John 1. 12.]
[Footnote 70: Rom. 3. 14.]
[Footnote 71: Rom. 8. 29.]
[Footnote 72: Coloss. 1. 15.]
Having explained in what the new birth consists, or having shown,
according to Barclay, [73] "that the seed is a real spiritual
substance, which the soul of man is capable of feeling and apprehending,
from which that real spiritual inward birth arises, called the new
creature or the new man in the heart," it remains to show how believers,
or those in whose souls Christ is thus produced, may be said to grow up
to perfection; for by this real birth or geniture in them they come to
have those spiritual senses raised, by which they are made capable of
tasting, smelling, seeing, and handling, the things of God.
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