Quickening and Regeneration
 

Ephesians 2:1 2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 
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 Ghost; 

Quickened: Greek zoopoieo.
Meanings:
1) to produce alive, begat or bear living young
2) to cause to live, make alive, give life
2a) by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate
2b) to restore to life
2c) to give increase of life: thus of physical life
2d) of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life
3) metaphorically, of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing

The word “Quicken, Quickened, Quickening or Quickeneth, is used 12 times in scripture.

John 5:21: "the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son"
John 5:21: "the Son quickeneth whom he will."
John 6:63: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth"
Romans 4:17: "him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth"
Romans 8:11: "from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by"
1 Corinthians 15:22: "in Christ shall all be made alive."
1 Corinthians 15:36: "thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:"
1 Corinthians 15:45: "last Adam was made a quickening spirit."
2 Corinthians 3:6: "killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Galatians 3:21: "if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness"
1 Timothy 6:13: "I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ"
1 Peter 3:18: "in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
 

Quickening is the work of God by the Holy Spirit on the hearts and minds of an individuals.
The opening of blind eyes, the unstopping of deaf ears, the softening of a stony hearts.

As scripture says, man is dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritually blind, deaf, dumb and totally inanimate.
 

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins

Man is totally unable to generate life in himself. He cannot of himself awaken from his spiritually dead state.
He is totally alienated from God, with no hope and without God, and under condemnation as a result of sin.
 

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 

In the beginning God said, Let there be light. It was the Word of God that created anew.

The Greek verb geniauo that is translated as “generate” means “to be,” “to become,” or “to happen.” Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is a change. It is a radical change into a new kind of being.

He spoke things into existence. The Logos in action.
The Word, Greek Logos.
The Word in action, Greek Rhema.

The Word (Jesus), became Flesh. Immanuel – God with us.

(Brackets mine).

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, (Logos) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God. 

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; (The Word) and without him was not anything made that was made. 
 

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word (Rhema) of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 
 

Rhema, is Logos in action.
Rhema  in Greek literally means an "utterance" or "thing said". It is a word that signifies the action of utterance.
 

It is a work of God by the Holy Spirit through the Word.

Quickening is a work of the Trinity, the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Son: John 5:21: "the Son quickeneth whom he will."
The Son, the last Adam: 1 Corinthians 15:45: "last Adam was made a quickening spirit."

The Holy Spirit: John 6:63: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth"
The Holy Spirit: 1 Peter 3:18: "in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"

God the Father:  Romans 4:17: "him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth"
God the Father: 1 Timothy 6:13: "I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ"

This quickening is not of mans blood, his own will or of his own flesh.
 

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

This is God’s choice not mans.

John 5:21: "the Son quickeneth whom he will."

Man in his dead state does not seek after God and cannot choose God.

Romans 3:11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
John 15: 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
 

We have determined that quickening is of God. It is a work of God. It is the time, the moment one is awakened from the dead state of sin.
However is this the time one is saved?

We know from scripture that no man can be saved without hearing the gospel and responding positively to it. By responding positively, I mean confess, repent and accept that Jesus is the Christ.

The Apostle Paul said: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

However, to hear the gospel, one must have ears to hear.
This is what quickening does. It raises from the dead, it opens blind eyes and ears and enables one to respond to the gospel message.

The quickening is what leads to salvation. It causes regeneration, a renewal, rejuvenation, a reanimation.

Quickening is the very first thing that happens and enables all of the other things that happen in the heart and soul of the sinner that is saved.
 

Believing on Christ is something that the sinner does, but with quickening, the sinner has no part in it. It is the sole work of God.

Quickening precedes faith. There is nowhere in scripture that tells us that faith produces quickening.

We are told that faith is produced by the hearing of the word.

Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

When one is quickened by the Spirit of God, one is in a position where he can seek God.
Before that he cannot seek God.

Rom 3:11 “There is none that seeketh after God” 
 

Yet the Bible says, Heb 11:6  “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.

So it is obvious that something happened to the man who was dead in sin and could not seek after God.

What was it that happened? It was the quickening by God. The regeneration of his spirit.

Quickening is a raising from the dead. It is a giving of life to the dead.
 

John 5:21“For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” 

In the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us that the seed is the Word of God.

Luke 8:11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Does this mean that it is the preached word that quickens?

This cannot be the case. There is a difference between God speaking His word and man preaching God’s word.

The preaching of the word by men produces faith and faith leads to salvation.
God speaking His word brings life to the dead.

An analogy used by Lucien LeSage.

A man is totally blind. He is in a cave that has no light. If you turn on a light he sees nothing.

If you cure his blindness and no light is turned on he still sees nothing, but he now has the potential to see.

So while light cannot give the potential to see or cure blindness yet it is absolutely necessary for every aspect of sight.

The Gospel is the ONLY true light but it is only light to those that the Holy Spirit gives sight to, via quickening.

So, quickening give the possibility to see or hear or understand but it is by the hearing of the gospel one is saved.

Regeneration. Greek Palingenesia.

Palin – Anew, again, back, once more, further, on the other hand.
Genesia - origin, birth.

A New Birth.
Renewal, Rebirth, Revive, Resucitate. New birth, 

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 Ghost;
 

“Jesus said: I say unto thee, except a man is born again; he cannot see the kingdom of God... Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter ...kingdom of God,” John 3:3-5.
 

We are washed in the blood of the Lamb and renewed by the Holy Spirit. We are baptised by one Spirit into one body. 

Ephesians 5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,”.

By the washing of water by the word, one is regenerated, made anew.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Become anew, Ginomai ena neo.

Related to Genesis. (Origin, source, beginning, nativity, generation, production, creation).

A New Creation, a New Genesis, a New Origin, a New Beginning, Born Anew, a New Birth.

Quickened, (zoopoieo) to a Regeneration, (Palingenasia).
Palin – Anew, Genesia – Genesis.
 

Conclusion:

We are quickened by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Once this is accomplished, The Holy Spirit converts through the word and our obedience to the truth. At which time our “sins are wash away,” Acts 22:16. And we receive the “gift of the Holy Ghost,” Acts 2:38.

This is the Holy Trinities work in our regeneration to Christ.

Quickened, Regenerated, Washed, Renewed of the Holy Ghost.
 

Fore known, Fore Ordained, Called, Justified, Glorified.

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