"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26).
As we have already alluded to, the theological term for being “born again” is regeneration. When we speak of regeneration, we are talking about that initial act of God in saving a soul. Regeneration, being the first step in our salvation, is the spring-board for every step that follows.
We call these various steps in redemption the order of salvation, which includes regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Each step has a distinct, appropriate function in our redemption, and we must not confuse one with another. For example, we must not confuse regeneration with conversion. Conversion, which involves acts of faith and repentance, must come after regeneration. Regeneration is prior to our confessing faith in Christ and renouncing our former way of life. While conversion involves action on our part, regeneration is entirely an act of God. In this divine act, God does not persuade men to put their faith in Christ; He enables them to do so. He changes our hearts, giving us the disposition to repent and put our faith in Christ.
A.H. Strong once wrote, “Regeneration is essentially a changing of the fundamental state of the soul. By state we mean the direction of man’s love, the bent of his affections, the trend of his will.” It is not simply an intellectual enlightenment. Our desires change from evil to good, and our wills are bent toward obedience and away from rebellion. Instead of loving sin, we now love Christ and live unto holiness.
Because our entire disposition has been changed from darkness to light, we have a whole new view of God. You can probably attest to the fact that things look very different in the morning light than they did the night before. When we wake up in the middle of the night and look around, everything is unclear, out of focus, distorted. But with the first rays of sunlight, we see that the bundle of fur on top of our dresser, which we thought was our cat, was only a pile of sweaters placed there the day before. It is like this with the new believer. What was once unclear about the world, about God, and about ourselves, is now much clearer. Like Jesus said, we know the truth because we have come into the light by an immediate act of God in the changing of our souls.
Read Ezekiel 36:26–27. What is the inevitable consequence of having a new heart? Read Matthew 7:17–20. What does Jesus say about the good tree? Read Galatians 5:16–26. What kind of fruit do you bear in your life? Fruit of the flesh or of the Spirit? Do you have evidence in your life that you have truly been born again?
