he same in John iii. 3-5, "Jesus answered and said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when
he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and _of the Spirit_, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God."

What is regeneration? _Regeneration is the impartation of life, spiritual
life, to those who are dead, spiritually dead, through their trespasses
and sins_ (Eph. ii. 1, R. V.). It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this
life. It is true that the written Word is the instrument which the Holy
Spirit uses in regeneration. We read in 1 Pet. i. 23, "Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, _by the Word of God_, which
liveth and abideth forever." We read in James i. 18, "Of His own will
begat He us with _the Word of truth_, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of His creatures." These passages make it plain that the Word is
the instrument used in regeneration, but it is only as the Holy Spirit
uses the instrument that the new birth results. "It is the Spirit that
giveth life" (John vi. 63, A. R. V.). In 2 Cor. iii. 6, we are told that
"the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."(1) This is sometimes
interpreted to mean that the literal interpretation of Scripture, the
interpretation that takes it in its strict grammatical sense and makes it
mean what it says, kills; but that some spiritual interpretation, an
interpretation that "gives the spirit of the passage," by making it mean
something it does not say, gives life; and those who insist upon Scripture
meaning exactly what it says are called "deadly literalists." This is a
favourite perversion of Scripture with those who do not like to take the
Bible as meaning just what it says and who find themselves driven into a
corner and are looking about for some convenient way of escape. If one
will read the words in their context, he will see that this thought was
utterly foreign to the mind of Paul. Indeed, one who will carefully study
the epistles of Paul will find that he himself was a literalist of the
literalists. If literalism is deadly, then the teachings of Paul are among
the most deadly ever written. Paul will build an argument upon the turn of
a word, upon a number or a tense. What does the passage mean? The way to
find out w