“He [God the Father] chose us in Him [God the Son] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence.

Ephesians 1:4

“We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”.

2 Corinthians 3:18

INTRODUCTION: Restoring the Meaning of the Word ‘Renewal’

A great many descriptive words such as ‘charismatic’, ‘catholic’, ‘ecumenism’ — even the word ‘Christian’ itself — have been hijacked into service for a tendentious or sectarian cause in the Christian scene. Why has this come about? Primarily because we tend to behold our concerns from a very limited and egocentric perspective, instead of developing a more ‘holistic’ outlook based on a biblical worldview.

In this manner, the same fate has tragically befallen the word ‘renewal’, which has either been restricted to the work of the Holy Spirit in personal sanctification, or the ‘sensational growth’ of the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement. They are always bandying about the word “renewal” insofar as it relates to their own movement, imagining that it can only be applied to them. But when we come to examine the Bible objectively we find that the term ‘renewal’ cannot be limited to either of these two things. As we shall see, it has a truly cosmic character and throws a great deal of light on the nature of the universe, past, present, and future.

The Greek word which can be translated as ‘renewal’ is anakainosis, from the verb anakainoo, to renew. It occurs only twice in the New Testament, although the verb form also occurs in 2 Corinthians 4:16 and Colossians 3:10. On each occasion, it is referring to the total transformation of mind and heart which God carries out in the person who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, it is used in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”; and again in Titus 3:5, “[God] saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration [new birth] and renewal by the Holy Spirit”.

Many commentators believe that there are two entirely separate elements in this last phrase: first, the washing of regeneration, second the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is presumably why the King James Version translators felt moved to insert a comma between the two phrases which is not in the original. But as both the regeneration and renewal of the Christian are the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 3:3-8), I can see no reason why this phrase should not be taken in one, so that “the washing of regeneration and renewal” are the twin-elements of the purifying work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the primary thrust of this study is that all the work of the Holy Spirit can be embraced in the term ‘renewal’, so that even regeneration itself — the new birth, being ‘born from above’ — is a part of the renewing process.

Let us now focus on some of the important aspects of this Holy Spirit inspired renewal in both its objective and subjective, immediate and ongoing senses.

I. RENEWAL BEGINS WITH A NEW BIRTH

In Titus 3:5, we see that part of the washing which the Holy Spirit is said to do atually involves ‘regeneration’, which is a translation of the Greek palingenesia, from palin, ‘again’, and genesis, ‘birth’ — born again. This agrees with John 3:6, where we see that the redeemed are described as those who are “born [again] of the Spirit”. This spiritual rebirth is the believer’s first experience of renewal, and it renders him or her “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). In a profound metaphor which enables us to understand more deeply what is involved in this new birth, the Apostle Paul says: “For it is God, having said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness’, who shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). This is a reference to the original creation of the universe in the Book of Genesis, where we read that God began His creative work by saying, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). And in the verse immediately before those in which this creative activity begins, we read: “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). What we learn from this is that just as the Holy Spirit was the operative energy in the original creation of the material universe, so He is also the dynamic force of illumination (the real enlightenment) in the re-creation of those who are saved. Both the generation of the universe and the making of the Christian involve a creation out of nothing — light shining out of darkness.

But that is not all. Although the Holy Spirit is clearly the dynamic force behind the creation, the Scripture also speaks of the whole cosmos as having been created through Jesus Christ:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him”.

Colossians 1:15-16; cf. Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2

So when Christ speaks to us as the Wisdom of God in the Book of Proverbs about His work with the Father in the original creation, He discloses, “Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side, and His delight day by day, rejoicing always in His presence” (Proverbs 8:30). A further shaft of light is thrown on this process when Paul says, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6). “Through whom all things came and through whom we exist”. In other words, not only is it through Jesus Christ — the Eternal Word — that the whole Universe is created, but it is also through Him that His people are re-created.

Do you see the marvellous correspondence here between the processes of creation and redemption? We have the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters, as God creates the Cosmos through His Word, Jesus Christ: “Let there be light!” The Trinity working as one in the act of creation. And all three Persons can be seen with great clarity in the classic text on renewal:

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His benevolence appeared, He saved us… through the washing of regeneration [new birth] and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior”.

Titus 3:4-6

Such Trinitarian involvement is similarly revealed in this saying of the Lord Jesus:

“The Holy Spirit will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you”.

John 16:14-15

What does this mean? It means that Christ’s work through His life and death provides the basic materials of salvation, while the Spirit’s work applies that provision to the souls of men and women, and thereby renders it effective in their experience. The Holy Spirit takes of what is Christ’s and declares it to us. The Holy Spirit ‘rebirths’ and ‘renews’ us. Therefore, the apostle can say: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So the first work of salvation involves a person being made into a new creation by the dynamic rebirthing of the Holy Spirit, applying the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, although this renewal of human beings by the Holy Spirit begins with a new birth — the moment that one becomes a new creation — this is only phase one of a lifelong process. Let us now crack that open…

II. THE NEW BIRTH IS ONLY THE FIRST PHASE IN THE RENEWAL OF THE CHRISTIAN

Although the biblical teaching on renewal embraces regeneration, it does not only embrace regeneration. For there are two aspects to the process of Christian renewal which comes from the Holy Spirit. First, there is regeneration itself, the new birth. This is instantaneous. This is the first phase of renewal. But that is by no means the end of the story. There is a second phase in the renewal of the Christian which is not instantaneous, but which goes on throughout his or her remaining life of service on earth. This second phase is progressive in its outworking. In between our regeneration and our finally coming into glory, there is a whole span of activity which is also a vital part of the renewing redemptive work of the Holy Spirit. We must begin to see salvation — having once been initiated into the new birth — as a continuing process which embraces an evolving relationship between the Lord and His people in space and time, rather than solely as focusing on a one-off cosmic event on the Cross at Calvary.

Done, Therefore Go and Do!

It is often said — when comparing the difference between the Roman Catholic and Protestant approaches to salvation — that the Roman Catholic says “Do!” (a reference to their understanding of salvation through works), while the Protestant says “Done!” (a reference to the fact that our salvation has its roots in the finished work of Christ). Now, which one is right? You may say that the Bible witnesses to the fact that the latter is right, and the former is wrong. But I believe that they are both mistaken, although in different ways. To illustrate the way to salvation merely as “Do!” is patently wrong, as the Scriptures clearly show (e.g. Ephesians 2:8). But to sum up salvation simply as “Done!” is somewhat incomplete. The biblical approach to the process of salvation can really be summed up in the words, “Done, therefore you now must go and do”. It is no coincidence that the proof text for justification by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) actually goes on immediately to say, “For we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). There we see that it is saying: “Done, therefore go and do!” That is the necessary effect of renewal. We are not just robots who have only been predestined to be regenerated — period, end of. We have also been elected and predestined to be holy: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world for us to be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:4). As J.C. Ryle succinctly put it: “We are not justified by our works; but the justified person works!”

The Partnership of Pardon and Renewal

An over-emphasis on the “Done!” aspect of salvation will lead to a disjunction or even a dichotomy between justification (pardon by God) and sanctification (renewal by the Holy Spirit). This can be one of the most potent and subtle harbingers of Antinomianism (which imagines that Christians do not have to keep the moral law of God), and it makes a mockery of the entire purpose behind salvation. For (if you will forgive my outspokenness here), without an ongoing, lifelong process of renewal, subsequent to the new birth, that new birth would be nothing more than an anachronistic abortion!

Progressive sanctification is a natural and vital outworking of our salvation process. This is precisely why Paul says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:13-14). Salvation is a process that certainly begins in eternity (Ephesians 1:3-6), and it will certainly end in eternity (John 6:37-40). But in-between there lies a whole span of activity from the time of the new birth until bodily death. This is why I so often say in my writings that “we have to do the work”. So many adopt what is really a mystico-pietistic stance and virtually seem to say, “I don’t need to do anything because the Holy Spirit will do it to me and for me”. This is only true insofar as He is the Paraclete who will come alongside us to assist us in our progressive santificational initiatives. Which is to say, if we take the initiative, He will always honour that and provide whatever support we need to achieve our spiritual growth goals. But we have to do the work! He loves us to do the work — and what an example that is to the angels, who love to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12)!

The Danger of Elevating the Forensic Aspects of Salvation Over the Resultant Renewal Process of Sanctification

The objective fact of regeneration is only the first phase in the renewal of the Lord’s people. There is a need for the subjective, renewing aspects of salvation to be stressed in balance of this. As Benjamin Warfield perceptively puts it in his excellent essay on renewal, demonstrating a typical inadequacy which can occur in the thinking of those who consider themselves to follow in the footsteps of the Reformation:

“The strong emphasis laid by the Reformers upon the objective side of salvation [i.e. pardon from guilt, A.M.], in the enthusiasm of their rediscovery of the fundamental doctrine of justification, left its subjective side [i.e. progressive renewal, A.M.]… in danger of falling temporarily somewhat out of sight. And from the comparative infrequency with which it was insisted on, occasion — if not given — was at least taken to represent that it was neglected, if not denied”.

B.B. Warfield, Biblical and Theological Studies (P. & R., 1968), p.373

There is a great danger that we can elevate the forensic, legal, aspect of salvation (redemption, pardon, forgiveness, etc.) at the expense of the ontological, renewing process which grows out of it. It is not enough merely to preach about ‘the fruits of the spirit’. They should be visibly ripening in our lives. In fact, the purpose of our regeneration is clearly stated in Scripture. It is that we may become more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more long-suffering of others, kinder, showing greater goodness and faithfulness, gentler and more self-controlled (see Galatians 5:22-23; cf. Ephesians 1:4; 2:8-10; Titus 2:13-14; Matthew 5:16; 2 Timothy 3:17; John 13:34-35). After all, “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10b). Tell me this… in how many churches do you really see all those qualities — alongside the necessary hyper-discernment and a refusal to be bamboozled by anything — shining through in the congregation? Because that is what it should be like! This journey-process is spelled out graphically in this Scripture:

“We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”.

2 Corinthians 3:18

Notice that it says “We…are being transformed”, not “have been transformed” period. Thus, regeneration, the new birth, is simply the very beginning of a whole ‘journey-process’ of renewal which goes right through our lives until death. It is therefore necessary to see renewal as a whole arc of lifelong transformation. It is not enough to say, “I’ve been saved!” in reference solely to the moment of the new birth. For your salvation is something which is being worked out by you, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, throughout your whole life (Philippians 2:12). This working out of your salvation is what Paul refers to as ‘pressing on towards the goal’:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus”.

Philippians 3:12-14

This “pressing on towards the goal” is the outworking of the journey-process of renewal in the life of the saved disciple of Christ.

The Real Testimony of the Christian

The neglect of the lifelong process of renewal is the reason why so many so-called “testimonies” are somewhat limited and even cultlike because they usually merely focus on an emotional experience at one particular point in space-time-history. In reality, the very best testimony which a disciple of Christ can give about their faith is in the unspoken everyday example of his or her behaviour and lifestyle and relationship to Christ — no bragging necessary. The question should be “How is your faith working now?” rather than merely “How did you come to Christ?” Because it is that which really demonstrates that you have been saved. As James put it: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” (James 2:14). You can proudly give your high-powered “testimony” about how you “came to Christ” in front of an admiring church audience; but I am far more interested in — after having had such an experience — how you live, think, operate, and love in your everyday life. That will tell me everything I need to know about your alleged salvation. For it is only “alleged” until you act on it. As James again put it: “Faith by itself, if it has not deeds, is dead” (James 2:17). The Greek there translated as “deeds” is ἔργα, erga, which means deeds, works, actions, ‘doings’ — the dynamics of how you carry out your day-to-day business. This is your real testimony of faith. And it is this which is highlighted in Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and Goats. The difference between those two is exemplified in their works. Read it and see, Matthew 25:31-46. Faith by itself, if it has not deeds, is dead.

However, it needs saying that these lovely “doings” and the lived-out beauty of your faith do NOT mean that the Christian will be some kind of a ‘pushover’ or become a doormat for others. Neither does it mean that the believer will not powerfully stand up for what is true when confronted with falsehood. Nor does it mean that the believer will fail to make judgements or to judge others who are guilty of destroying the faith or bringing it into disrepute. Being peaceful, joyful, loving or gentle in Christian terms does not mean that the believer will never be in conflict. Renewal does not castrate apologetics; and apologetics will always bring the Christian into conflict of one kind or another.

The Golden Chain of Renewal

So, just as we have the ‘golden chain of redemption’ in Romans 8:30, ‘Predestination, Effectual Calling, Justification and Glorification’, so we also have a ‘golden chain of renewal’ in Titus 2:14, ‘Redemption, Purification, Good Works’. The objective aspects of salvation go hand-in-glove with the subjective. Pardon and renewal — justification and sanctification — are the ‘Siamese twins’ of the redemptive process.

Salvation by Christ Involves Ethical Demands

To illustrate this, consider the fact that the Fall of Man was not merely an objective incurring of guilt and divine condemnation, a purely forensic matter. There was also a subjective descent into sin and an actual corruption of the human heart. Real people were really affected by it in the outworking of their lives. Because of this, although an objective atonement is indeed needed to take away the guilt and divine condemnation of man, there must also be a subjective cleansing of the heart from its sin, which is both immediate and ongoing — objective and experiential. Redemption and renewal go hand in hand. As Edmund P. Clowney puts it in his excellent work, ‘Preaching and Biblical Theology’: “Whenever we are confronted with the saving work of God culminating in Christ, we are faced with ethical demands” (Edmund P. Clowney, Preaching and Biblical Theology, P & R Publishing, 1979, p.80). To put it another way: Ethics is gratitude for salvation naturally expressed! How are those ‘ethical demands’ fulfilled by us? Through the work of the indwelling God the Holy Spirit: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13-14). If we think that the work of the Spirit in the application of salvation to sinners consists solely in what is known as “effectual calling” or the Spirit-induced regeneration (born-againness) of men and women, then we are very blinkered in our spiritual perception. For the Holy Spirit continues His work of salvation throughout our entire lives. The “going and doing” which grows out of the “already done” takes place under the auspices of the Holy Spirit. That is what the doctrine of the ‘Perseverance of the Saints’ is all about: “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). In other words, the new birth is only the first phase in the renewal of the Lord’s people.

We should always remember that the work of the Spirit is monergistic in terms of actual regeneration, in that He works without human cooperation in the new birth. That aspect of renewal belongs to God alone. However, when it comes to the ongoing work of renewal in progressive sanctification, the work is synergistic, in that He now works with human cooperation. That is the beauty of progressive sanctification. The paraclete — the Comforter, the Helper — gets alongside us as well as within us, coaxing and leading us along the pathway of life in the wilderness of this world, working with us as we grow in knowledge, grace and spirituality.

A Fitting Analogy of the Journey-Process of Sanctification

To use a fitting analogy: When God created the heavens and the earth, although His actual work of creation (ex nihilo, out of nothing) ceased after six days, that was by no means the finale, but merely the beginning. The universe would have to go through a vast process which will one day result in the complete renewal of all things; and it is the Spirit of the Lord who lies behind this process of creating and upholding, sustaining, and renewing. The same principle applies regarding the work which God does in the hearts of His children. His Spirit creates the “New Self”: Regeneration. But that is just the beginning of a long road. We know what lies at the end of it; but in between there is much work to be done — which leads into our final section.

III. THE RENEWAL OF THE CHRISTIAN IS ONLY THE FIRST PHASE IN THE CREATION OF A NEW UNIVERSE

There is yet another mighty fact in relation to the biblical teaching on renewal; and it takes us from the confines of the personal into the realm of the eternal. For, although we may be renewed according to the inner man — a new creation — we still inhabit a body and live in a universe which lie under the curses that God pronounced in the wake of the Fall (Genesis 3:15-19). This can lead to an almost unbearable tension in the life of the Christian, as he or she strives to come to terms with being a new creation in the midst of a fallen world (not to mention having to deal with any remnants of the old self which rear their ugly heads). This is the main reason why the believer must walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). However, the Lord has been most gracious: In order that we may have an absolute assurance of our future inheritance in eternal life, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as a deposit or guarantee of that fullness to come:

“Now He who has prepared for us this very thing [eternal life] is God, who has also given us the Spirit as a down-payment”.

2 Corinthians 5:5; cf. Ephesians 1:11-13; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

The Greek word translated there as down-payment is ἀρραβών, arrabón, which means a security deposit such as when making a purchase. The idea of a “down-payment” may seem somewhat crass to us but that is precisely what it is! It is like a ‘deposit’ made as a ‘guarantee’ on the full payment of something which will eventually be rendered. So another vital component in the renewal of the redeemed human being has been to give the people of God a pre-heavenly deposit — a foretaste and guarantee of the glory which is yet to come.

But do you want to know the mystery of all this? The work that the Holy Spirit does in sustaining and upholding the new creation that the Lord has done for us and in us, must be seen in a vastly wider context than mere human regeneration. For, although we are indeed a new creation, we are but the avant garde, the forerunners. While we are presently living in a universe which is still “groaning” under the curse of the Fall — we have been made a new creation in advance, as it were. For the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation is not merely confined to the redemption of human beings. The whole universe is also in the process of being saved — again by the power of the Holy Spirit (please read Romans 8:18-23). The establishment of the kingdom of God in this present age is but a prelude to the fullness of the kingdom in the age to come.

This is the Dawning of the Age of the Spirit

We see the firstfruits of this now. The Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). It is through the power of the Spirit that we proclaim the Gospel (1 Peter 1:12). It is by the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit that people are saved (John 1:12-13; 3:5-8). As a prelude to the glorious salvation of the universe into the fullness of its perfection, all those who are saved will be resurrected in the last day by the power of the same Holy Spirit. “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

It is in this context that the Holy Spirit is a down-payment. For through His work we enjoy a taste of heaven to come. As it has been well said: “The Church is the suburbs of heaven” (William Perkins). The kingdom has come in grace but not yet in glory. This is the dawning of the Age of the Spirit — not the Age of Aquarius, as the famous song goes! We are the firstfruits in the Spirit of the glorious Age to come. That is why James could say, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His created things” (James 1:18). Moreover, the Lord Jesus also spoke of this fullness of cosmic renewal when He said: “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on His throne of glory, you who have followed Me will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). The Greek word here translated as ‘regeneration’, palingenesia, is exactly the same word which is used in Titus 3:5, “the washing of regeneration and renewal”. This is the only other place in which it occurs in the New Testament. In the one text it refers to the renewal of all things, in the other it refers to the renewal of believers who are the firstfruits of that broader cosmic renewal. This is what Peter refers to as “the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21), and was long anticipated in the Old Testament as well as in the New (e.g., Isaiah 51:16; 65:17; 66:22).

The entire cosmos is being saved and renewed through the power of the Holy Spirit in a journey-process over time. It never was God’s intention that things should stop at the original present creation, which was not the pinnacle of the highest perfection (otherwise a Fall would have been impossible). This new creation of all things is what God has been working towards from the outset. Thus, we see that the “rivers of living water” which symbolize the personal renewal of the Lord’s people, as set forth in John 7:38 — “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him’” — are reiterated in the closing pages of Scripture in the context of the renewal of the whole creation: “Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1). Here it is clearly displayed that the fountain of the same water of the life which is given to all believers is the beginning of the new creation which issues in the new heavens and the new earth (cf. Isaiah 12:3; 44:3). We are the firstfruits of all that.

This is the real context in which we must come to see the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of human beings. For the journey-process of renewal takes place in both human and cosmic terms.

EPILOGUE: The Firstfruits of the Redemption of All Things

What, then, can we learn from a study of the biblical teaching on renewal? First, it tells us that salvation is truly of the Lord. If He was the one who built the original creation, He is also the one to effect the re-creation in His human children. What Man and Satan have together torn down, the Lord of Hosts can, will, and does renew. Second, it tells us that we should not be too egocentric and self-centred about the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. In the same way that we can become too “cosmic” in our outlook, leading to a detachment and coldness in our theology — or even to a form of mysticism or mere deism — so we can also be too selfish and navel-searching in our understanding of salvation. An important balance is always needed here.

We are but the firstfruits of a complete renewal process which will affect the entire cosmos. Is it really any wonder that angels should “desire to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12)? And if the angels have such a desire, surely we also should desire to search the Scriptures that we may begin to have a glimpse of what it is that God — through His Spirit — has prepared, and is preparing, for us and for the universe in which we live. Perhaps now we can understand the words of the Lord Jesus shortly before His crucifixion:

“Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will drag ALL [Greek, πάντας, pantas, all things] to Myself’.

John 12:31-32

The insertion by translators of the word “men” or “people” after “all” (or even the word “everyone”) in most versions actually limits the full extent of the renewal by holding to a merely human-centered salvation. Moreover, every single human being will not be saved, as the Bible plainly shows (Matthew 7:21-23; 2 Thessalonians 2:12). Additionally, Jesus said that “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14) and “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). So Christ’s crucifixion does not at all drag “all men” or “all people” or “everyone” to himself. The Lord Jesus would not contradict Himself. Thus, many Bible translations express a kind of unwarranted universalism there, which is just wishful thinking. It is pantas, all things, that are being restored: It is the renewal of the entire creation — of which elect human beings are just the first part.

“For in [Christ] all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together”.

Colossians 1:16-17

This is why He could say on the cross that He was drawing (literally, dragging) pantas, everything, all things, to Himself. In spite of the universal rebellion, everything — every atom of the creation — will be dragged to him for renewal and restoration in a new heaven and new earth, while those things which do not fit into the new creation will not be part of that (e.g. the “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction”, Romans 9:22).

Thus, courtesy of Christ’s “judgement of this world” and “the ruler of this world” (Satan) being “cast out”, evicted, from his usurped rulership of this cosmos through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross — Him being “lifted up” both on the cross and ultimately through His ascension to heaven, as per the quote above from John 12:31-32 — we find that at the end of the age, there will be a transformation of every constituent of this universe into a totally new universe, in which no place will be found for the Devil, his fallen angels, and the people who have helped them unrepentingly.

Just as Job could only begin to comprehend the mystery of affliction in the context of the cosmic work of God (Job 40–42), so we can only begin to grasp the mystery of salvation against the same backcloth (Ephesians 3:8-11). This is the true context of ‘renewal’: Redemption accomplished and applied in its full cosmic perspective, of which we are just the firstfruits: “Having willed it, He [God the Father] brought us forth by the word of truth, for us to be a kind of firstfruits of His created things” (James 1:18). That is what we are, my friends: The firstfruits, the forerunners, the pioneers of the redemption and renewal of all things, of the entire cosmos.

If all this could be grasped for just a moment, there would be silence on the earth for half an hour!

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2023
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]