Cap 15 - STUDIES
REGENERATION AND CONVERSION
SECTION II
THE NATURE OF REGENERATION
There is an universal need for the new birth, and its necessity is proclaimed
by no less than the Only Begotten of the Father Himself as recorded in John
3; none are exempt from this need. Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon on this
subject from John 3:7 has well said that:
Regeneration is the universal
necessity of the entire human family. This text would suit a congregation
of kings, and princes, peers of the realm and bishops, quite as well as a
congregation of castermongers, drunkards, harlots, and jail-birds. To all
of woman born this necessity comes without a single exception, "Ye must be
born again. —Treasury of the New Testament, Vol. II, p. 266. Zondervan
Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan,Most people feel no need for
regeneration, but this is a fatal error, yet it is equally fatal for a person
to feel the need of being born again, but have an erroneous concept of what
regeneration is, or how it is brought about. If I am sick and need desperately
a certain kind of medicine, I must get the exact medicine and dosage that
the doctor prescribes, or else I will perish; just any kind of medicine will
not avail. False prophets have always cried "Peace, peace, when there is no
peace," and so have deceived many into a false belief that they needed no
regeneration, or have persuaded them that they have been regenerated by some
human work or rite. Both of these errors proceed upon a misconception of the
nature of man, and the nature of regeneration. Having already touched upon
the fallen nature of man in an earlier study, it is not necessary to go into
this again; however, it now becomes needful for us to consider the nature
of the new birth itself, and we do so by first of all looking at the matter
from the negative standpoint.
I. REGENERATION IS NOT A PHYSICAL CHANGE.
By this is meant that the flesh—the physical nature of man—is not regenerated,
nor in any way changed or improved. The Apostle Paul, whose marvelous regeneration
has seldom if ever been surpassed by any, was compelled to say many years
after he had been regenerated that "I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me" (Rom.
7:18). The flesh is in no way changed in regeneration; there will be a change
wrought in the outward behavior of those who have been genuinely regenerated,
but this is to be accounted for by the fact that the natural sinfulness
of the flesh is restrained by the higher, spiritual nature of man which
is changed in the new birth. It is because the fleshly nature is unchanged
that there is the constant warfare between the two natures in the believer,
to which reference is made in Galatians 5:16-17: "This I say then, Walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these
are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would."
The child of God has only to consider his fleshly nature to know that no
change has been wrought in him since his regeneration, for the flesh daily
resists the spiritual nature of the saved person, and it shall continue
to do so until the fleshly robe is lain aside and the spirit flies away
to its God, or, should the desired coming of Christ intervene first, when
the adoption shall take place, "to wit, the redemption of the body" (Rom.
8:23). Only at the resurrection of sleeping saints, and the renovation of
the living saints will the body be thoroughly purged of its sinfulness,
and united to the regenerated spirit of God’s children. Until that time,
there can only be strife and warfare between the two natures in the child
of God. There is a typical foreview of this to be seen in Rebekah in her
pregnancy as recorded in Genesis 26:21-23. See Chapter Ten on the Two Natures
for the exposition of this.
But if regeneration has to do only with the spiritual nature of man, and
not at all with the flesh at this time, then an interesting question is
brought up; upon what principles does the majority of Christendom teach
that the "sacraments," which are outward ordinances only, have some sort
of saving efficacy upon the ones receiving them? Some might plead that its
efficacy lies in receiving them in the "proper attitude," but baptism, which
is the chief "sacrament" in salvation according to many, is usually performed
upon unconscious babies: so that there be no merit even in having the proper
attitude. Let Protestantism and Catholicism protest all they want to the
contrary, yet it is still true that baptismal regeneration is at
the roots of infant baptism. Almost all Protestant and Catholic denominational
standards teach the necessity of baptismal regeneration, but how can the
application of water to the body of a person have any effect upon the soul
to regenerate it? As a fellow pastor used to facetiously reason, since the
spiritual nature of man is inward, to be consistent, the advocates of baptismal
regeneration ought to at least make the candidates drink the baptismal
waters; this would at least get closer to the problem than the mere application
of water to the outward nature.
The depraved human nature is not changed by the mere application of water,
no matter how copious it may be; all sin has its root in a sinful nature,
while the sinful deeds are but the fruits that spring from this root, and
therefore, no mere outward washing will avail to remove the root of sin.
This fact should make it clear to any thinking person that to "wash away
thy sins" in baptism (Acts 22:16), must have reference only to a symbolic
washing away of sins, or else one must hold the view that sins are external
only.
Baptism symbolizes regeneration, but it does not produce it.
Baptism was the outward sign of an inward change which had already taken place
in the believer. It was repentance, faith, regeneration, conversion in symbol.
It was none of these in fact. To confuse fact with symbol or symbol with fact
is to change radically the nature of the gospel. —E.Y. Mullins, The Christian
Religion In Its Doctrinal Expression, p. 384. Judson Press, Philadelphia,
1932.The view that one was regenerated in baptism was one of the earliest
heresies to invade the Christian ranks, having come in the second and third
centuries, and it is still held by the vast majority of professing Christendom.
I. T. Hinton observes of this:
The first doctrinal error which very
early infected the Fathers of the Christian church, was that of identifying
the outward ordinance with the impartation of regenerating grace, instead
of permitting it to preserve its Scriptural position, of being a sign of
grace already possessed. The doctrine of the fathers of infant baptism
was, that the soul was regenerated in the act of baptism. When it came to
be believed that regeneration could, except in very particular cases, (of
which infancy was not deemed one), be had only in baptism, it became clearly
an act alike of duty and benevolence to baptize babes, and in cases of danger,
at the earliest possible opportunity. —History of Baptism, p. 306.
American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1840.The equating
of baptism to regeneration is a symptom of man’s fallen condition, which is
everywhere evidenced by his preference for forms and rituals
which he can
perform, to the spiritual realities
which he cannot perform, but
which must be performed for him by God. Baptismal regeneration and every other
thing which is substituted for the Divine regeneration of man, is a denial
of the total depravity of man, and is man’s declaration that he has the spiritual
ability to remedy his own sinful condition.
When it is declared that "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John
3:6), there is the immediate refutation of the idea that regeneration is
any sort of a physical change, for let the flesh be changed all that you
will, and it is still flesh, and as such, it cannot inherit the kingdom
of God (1 Cor. 15:50).
Nor is regeneration a change of the intellect of man except in a secondary
sense, for the intellect of man is still a part of his physical make-up,
which we have been considering. J. M. Pendleton remarks on both of these
that:
The change which the term implies does not pertain primarily
to the physical nor to the intellectual faculties. The regenerated man has
the same bodily conformation after this change as before, and his mental peculiarities
remain. The intellect, like the body, is affected only so far as the moral
powers exert an influence over it. This leads me to say that regeneration
is a spiritual change. —Christian Doctrines, p. 258. American Baptist
Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1878.It is folly of the worst kind
therefore for man to substitute some sort of physical or intellectual change
in man for the spiritual change that is predicated of regeneration in the
New Testament. It may cater to the pride of the natural man to think that
he can regenerate himself or contribute something toward his regeneration,
but this attempt to be his own savior will bring him eventually into the place
of everlasting torment.
II. REGENERATION IS A SPIRITUAL CHANGE.
In John 3:3 Jesus declared the necessity of man being born again,
by which is intimated that regeneration is something that is in addition
to the first or natural birth. Scholars tell us that the Greek word here
translated "again" (an?then) may also be rendered "from above," and
doubtless this thought is included in this. However, from Nicodemus’ reference
to entering "the second time into his mother’s womb" to be born (v.
4), it is obvious that he understood Jesus’ statement to mean a second birth,
and Jesus did not correct this impression, making it evident that this was
His meaning. This is made certain in verse 6 when Jesus speaks of a birth
of flesh, and a birth of the spirit; the latter, then, is the new birth:
regeneration, without which no one can enter the kingdom of God.
Birth
is always the condition of life, whether in the physical or spiritual realm.
There is no life without birth. It is just as true in the spiritual realm
as in the physical. Birth is the root idea of regeneration, and hence it is
that the word regeneration means an act and not a process, an act of God not
of man, an act of God through the Holy Spirit by which the divine nature of
the living God is implanted in man. —E.H. Bancroft, Elemental Theology,
p, 195. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1948.Regeneration
is therefore a second birth chronologically and generically speaking; that
is to say, it is second in time as well as in kind, for regeneration not only
follows the first birth by several years, but it also works upon the spiritual
nature of man as opposed to the first birth having to do with the physical
nature of man. This second birth is called a birth "of the Spirit" so that
the implication is clear that it is by the Spirit of God as well as being
upon the human spirit. W. D. Nowlin well explains this when he says:
The change which takes place in regeneration is a spiritual change, first,
because wrought by the Spirit of God, and, in the second place, because it
takes place in the spirit of the subject, and, in the third place, because
the fruits of the change are spiritual. Regeneration does not change the physical
or mental make-up of a man, further than the influence that the regenerated
heart exerts over the thought and conduct of the man. —Fundamentals of
the Faith, pp. 214-215. Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
Nashville, Tenn., 1926.The fact that this change is wrought by the Spirit
of God is emphasized in John 3 where three times reference is made to being
"born of the Spirit" (vv. 5,6,8), and this fact is expanded in the numerous
other statements that this regeneration is also the work of God. At least
eight times in the writings of John is the statement "born of God" or its
equivalent found, thus making regeneration to be, not only a spiritual change,
but one which is wrought by the Lord Himself. The first of these eight statements
is found in John 1:12-13: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." Thus regeneration is emphatically denied to have any element
of human will or instrumentality in it, but to be wholly of God, so that all
praise and glory is due to Him alone.
But regeneration is a spiritual change also because it is effected upon
the spiritual nature of the individual; in other words, the human spirit,
which, in its natural condition is dead in sin, is, by the ministry of the
Holy Spirit of God, made alive in Christ Jesus. This truth was revealed
in Old Testament days, as is intimated by Jesus’ question to Nicodemus in
John 3:10, and the most clearly defined statement of this in the Old Testament
is found in Ezekiel 36:26-27: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do them."
It is to be observed from this passage that: (1) From beginning to end,
it is the work of the Lord. (2) It does not consist of improving the old
nature, but the giving of a new nature. (3) It includes the giving of the
indwelling Spirit. (4) It assures a corresponding walk in obedience and
righteousness, in harmony with 1 John 3:9-10.
According to this and many other passages, regeneration is therefore the
infusing of a new principle of life in the innermost being of fallen and
depraved man so that he becomes a new-born creature, spiritually speaking,
and is enlivened with the life of God. In the original creation, after God
had formed the physical body of Adam, He breathed into him the breath of
life, and Adam became a living soul; in regeneration, God does much the
same thing except in a loftier sense, so that those who experience the new
birth have the very life of God breathed into them, and they are possessed
with a life which can never cease so long as God Himself lives. In this
lies the secret of the saved persons’ inability to ever lose his eternal
life; his life is one with God, Who is eternal, and it is no more possible
for him to die spiritually than it is for God to die.
Regeneration is also called a "quickening," or giving of life, and this
is a work predicated of each separate Person of the Trinity of God. In Romans
4:17 therefore we read: "...God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those
things which be not as though they were." Here, no designation is made of
which person of the Godhead is meant, but in John 5:21, the Father is accounted
the source of regeneration: "The Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth
them..." Some might account this the physical quickening at the resurrection,
but be that as it may, there is no doubt that such passages as Ephesians
2:5; Colossians 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:13, all speak of the Father quickening
spiritually those who are dead in sin. Again, John 5:21 concludes by saying:
"...even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." This spiritual quickening
of the spiritually dead is declared in John 5:25-26: "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father
hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."
Note how this "quickening" is contrasted with the physical quickening
which shall take place at the resurrection in verses 28-29. Then, in John
6:63, regeneration by the Spirit is declared in these words: "It is the
Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." By comparing this
with Romans 8:11 we learn that the Spirit will also have ministry of physical
quickening at the resurrection .
The work of regeneration is apparently
ascribed indiscriminately to any one, or to all the persons of the Trinity;
but the reasons for this are sufficiently evident. The whole Godhead is engaged
in regeneration, so that, when the work is ascribed to God only, it is so
ascribed as an act springing from the one will of God the Father; and when
ascribed to Christ, it is to Him as the occupant of the mediatorial office,
without which there could neither be redemption nor regeneration; and when
ascribed to the Holy Spirit, it is to him as the immediate agent in the heart
of man by whom the creative act takes place. —E.G. Robinson, Christian
Theology, p. 323. Press of E. R. Andrews, Rochester, N. Y., 1894.Another
thing about regeneration is that if it has no concern with the flesh, and
if the spiritual nature of man is dead in sins until it is regenerated then
it is evident that in regeneration man is passive, and has nothing at all
to do with the accomplishment of it. And is this not what is implied when
Jesus said: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:
so
is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8)? The wind is sovereign
in its movements, and while man is blessed by it, he cannot control it or
direct it; so it is with the regeneration of the Holy Spirit; He breathes
spiritual life into whomsoever He wills, and none can influence Him as to
who will receive this new life. John Gill says:
Its very name, regeneration,
shews the nature of it; and clearly suggests, that it is out of the power
of man to effect it: as men contribute nothing to their first birth, so neither
to the second; as no man generates himself, so neither can he regenerate himself;
as an infant is passive in its natural generation, and has no concern in it;
so passive is a man in his spiritual generation, and is no more assisting
in it. —Body of Divinity, p. 532. Turner Lassetter, Atlanta, Georgia,
1950.Again, this spiritual change must be recognized as an instantaneous
change in man; it is not a matter of prolonged growth, as in the case of sanctification,
but is accomplished instantaneously and once for all. The tenses of the Greek
verbs dealing with regeneration in John 3 are aorists and perfects, the former
of which implies a single momentary action in past time, while the latter
imports a past action which has results extending to the present. As a physical
birth is a one time event in which life commences, so also is the new birth,
the regeneration of the Spirit; and it also evidences what is elsewhere declared,
that if a regenerated person could by some stretch of the imagination lose
his salvation, he could never regain it. The Scriptures know of but two births—generation
and regeneration—but of re-regeneration, they know nothing. The very thought
is an absurdity.
III. REGENERATION IS A NEW CREATION.
This is expressed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he says: "Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new." Those who have been regenerated are
viewed by God in an entirely different light than they were before, for
they are viewed as now being "in Christ," and therefore no longer under
the wrath of an offended God; they are possessed of the imputed righteousness
of Christ as if they had never been part of the sinful world which "lieth
in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19).
Paul also expresses the absolute necessity of regeneration which effects
this radical change, when he says: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature" (Gal. 6:15).
In the writings of Paul regeneration is viewed more from this aspect than
in John’s writings, where the figure of the new birth is more prominent.
But in both there is set forth the need for a radical change in man before
he is fitted for heaven and the company of God and the elect angels, and
in both this change is the work of God alone.
The old nature of man is so imbued with sin that it cannot be improved,
but there is required a completely new creation, as is implied in the question
of Jeremiah 13:23: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his
spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." It is
in the nature of the Negro to be dark, and it is in the nature of the leopard
to be spotted, and this nature cannot be changed, and these facts are used
to illustrate the fact that man’s nature is incapable of any spiritual improvement,
but must become a new creation through regeneration. This is man’s only
hope.
A great many things are involved in this new creation which is brought
about in regeneration. A, H. Strong mentions some of them as follows:
(a) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner...(b)
It is a change in the inmost principle of life...(c) It is a change in the
heart, or governing disposition...(d) It is a change in the moral relations
of the soul...(e) It is a change wrought in connection with the use of truth
as a means...(f) It is a change instantaneous, secretly wrought, and known
only in its results...(g) It is a change wrought by God...(h) It is a change
accomplished through the union of the soul with Christ. —Systematic Theology,
pp. 810-811. Fleming H. Revell Company. 1954.That all of these things
which are involved in regeneration are the work of God is brought out by Paul
in another place, when, after speaking of salvation being all of grace, and
none of the works of man, he adds: "For
we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). How this destroys the idea so common to
modern preaching that man has something to do with his regeneration, either
as to real or foreseen merit of some kind; yet this portion declares that
the workmanship of the new birth—the new creation—is of God. Or, as Paul expressed
it in Philippians 2:13: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure." Let us never forget the fact that if we do any
good deed, or if we have any spiritual inclination, it is because God has
first wrought that in us, and therefore all the praise is due to Him alone.
If regeneration is a matter of a new creation, then it cuts the life-cord
of the teaching of evolution; evolution is simply Satan’s denial of the
depravity and fallen estate of mankind, and the teaching that man can develop
into a spiritual man by his own ability, given enough time. The Bible view
of the spiritual man is that he is not a developed man, but rather that
he is the "new creature" and "new man" who is recreated in righteousness
and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). Such individuals alone are fitted for heaven
and the company of God and His holy angels.
Regeneration is also the implantation of grace in man, but not only an
implantation of grace, for regeneration is itself a work of grace, as are
all things that pertain to salvation, for Paul says: "Who hath saved us,
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:9-10). John Gill says of regeneration:
It is an implantation of that grace in the hearts of men, which
was not there before; faith is one part of it, said to be not of ourselves,
but the gift of God; and hope is another, which men are without, whilst in
a state of unregeneracy; and love is of such a nature, that if a man would
give all he has for it, it would utterly be contemned; it is a maxim that
will hold, nil dat quod non habet, nothing can give that which it has
not: a man destitute of grace cannot give grace, neither to himself nor to
another. This work lies in taking away the heart of stone, and giving
an heart of flesh; even a new heart and a new spirit:
and none can do this but He who sits upon the throne and says, Behold,
I make all things new. —Body of Divinity, p. 532. Turner Lassetter,
Atlanta, Georgia.But if this new birth is a work of grace, and the implantation
of grace, then it must be obvious to all that it cannot be a work of man,
and that man is born again "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13). This is a blessed truth, yet
an humbling and flesh crucifying one; but inasmuch as it does not put a man’s
regeneration on the basis of human ability or merits neither does it shut
out any man from the hopes of salvation simply because he possesses neither
ability nor merit. Since grace always deals with men as
unworthy individuals,
men should recognize that no amount of unworthiness disqualifies them from
being partakers of the grace of God; indeed, it is to the glory of God that
He delights to make monuments to His grace out of the most unworthy.
Regeneration being a work of grace, and an actual implantation of grace
in man, it ought to be made the occasion of the highest praise to the God
who gives it to unworthy man: "To the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6).
By Davis W. Huckabee, Pastor,
Heritage Baptist Church,
Salem, Ohio, 44460
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