The Reality of Regeneration
- UnstoppableRevKev
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
📖Scripture:
“And since this is the Word that was preached to you, rid yourselves therefore of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.” — 1 Peter 1:25–2:1
🔎Examination:
Regeneration is no abstraction. It is not mystical sentiment but observable transformation. The Word that gives life also purges corruption. The command “rid yourselves” (apotithēmi, to cast off like filthy garments) reveals that the new birth inevitably manifests in and as holy conduct (not hypocrisy).
Peter lists five categories of sins: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envies, and slander. These are the antithesis of love. They are the lingering stench of spiritual death. To cling to them is to deny regeneration’s reality. As Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away” (2 Cor. 5:17).
The Pharisees cleaned the exterior while festering within (Matt 23:25–28). Likewise, modern religious nominalism thrives in performance without transformation — church attendance divorced from repentance, volunteerism without holiness, “Christian” branding without cruciform living. True regeneration demolishes hypocrisy because Christ lives within (Gal. 2:20).
Historic heresies reappear in modern garb: Gnosticism resurfaces as self-spirituality; antinomianism thrives in “grace without obedience”; Modalism echoes in “relationship over doctrine.” Each denies that regeneration produces tangible holiness. Yet Scripture insists: “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16).
In choosing to live in denial, substituting self-righteousness for Christ's perfect righteousness, doing church things rather than being devoted members of His Body & Bride... then we're dogs returning to our vomit, people suppressing the truth in wickedness, and returning to the folly of Eden - leaning on our own understanding to determine what is good and evil. To which the LORD responds as He did in Isaiah 29:15-16:
Woe to those who dig deep
to hide their plans from the LORD.
In darkness they do their works and say,
“Who sees us, and who will know?”
You have turned things upside down...
When the Holy Spirit indwells, He produces the fruit of holiness (Gal. 5:22–23). Where sin persists unrepented, regeneration is absent. To excuse sin as identity (“That’s just who I am”) is to blaspheme the transforming power of God. The regenerate saint no longer practices sin (1 John 3:9).
🤺Action:
Confess specific areas where hypocrisy, deceit, or envy contradict your profession of faith.
Seek reconciliation where slander has poisoned fellowship, unity, and edification within the Body of Christ.
Replace passive “religiosity” with active obedience — gathering, growing, giving, and going — as evidence of new life.
🧠Reflection:
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal whether your faith is theoretical or transformational, hypocritical or holy. Pray for the courage to cast off every defiling habit and to walk as one who has truly been born again from above! Let your prayer not be for comfort but for a divine cleansing through the washing of the WORD.
Click the following link for a short video version of today's post:
Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
Comments