‘Without regeneration,’ says Gross, ‘we would forever remain spiritually blind and dead.’ Back in the nineteenth century, Anglican Bishop J. C. Ryle wrote of ‘that change of heart and nature which a man goes through when he becomes a true Christian’. He calls regeneration the distinguishing mark of the true believer. Being a Christian is more than merely saying you are one. The phrase ‘born-again Christian’ is really tautology (saying the same thing in two different ways). To be a Christian, in the
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