God's Role in Regeneration

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ" (Colossians 2:13)

Regeneration is sometimes called “the divine initiative.” It is the activity that God undertakes to intervene in our lives and change us from a state of spiritual death to a state of spiritual life. The Old Testament tells us that because of sin we have a heart of stone that must become a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). Our hearts must go from being dead to God to being alive to Him.

Which brings us to the ideas of monergism and synergism. The theological term monergism comes from mono (one) and ergos (work). It means “one working.” A monergistic action is one where only one party does the work. It is in no way a cooperative effort. Synergism, by way of contrast, comes from syn (with). A synergistic action is one in which two or more persons are cooperating to perform the effort.

Rebirth or regeneration is monergistic, not synergistic. It is done by God and by God alone. A dead man cannot cooperate with his resurrection. Lazarus did not cooperate in his resurrection. 

Regeneration is a sovereign act of God in which man plays no role. After God brings us to life, of course, we certainly are involved in “cooperating” with Him. We are to believe, trust, obey, and work for Him. But unless God acts first, we will never be reborn in the first place.

We must also realize it is not as if dead people have faith, and because of their faith God agrees to regenerate them. Rather, it is because God has regenerated us and given us new life that we have faith.

Moreover, it is not simply a matter of persuasion. God can stand outside of us and seek to persuade us all day long, but if we are dead, we cannot and will not hear Him. God must invade our innermost persons and make us alive before we can hear His call.

Does it seem strange and frightening to you to hear that God intervened to make you alive before you trusted in Him? Does this cause you to be in awe of God? It should. The fear of God is the first step toward wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). God is great, and His dealings with us are awesome and sometimes frightening. Bow before Him today, and tell Him of your fear, your reverential respect, and your love.

Regeneration is a New Life

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

The new birth is the beginning of a new life. Perhaps like me you had a crisis conversion, and perceived your new birth as a great experience. Or perhaps you only gradually became aware of your new birth as a Christian. Maybe in fact you were brought up in the faith and cannot remember a time when you did not believe. Regardless, the fact is that you, as a Christian, are now living a new life. The beginning of that new life was the point at which God regenerated you, whether you were conscious of it as an event or not.

Paul tells us about the beginning of the Christian life in Ephesians 2. He first says that originally we were spiritually dead—dead to the things of the Holy Spirit. Though we were dead, we were still walking around. And how did we walk? We “followed the ways of this world” (Ephesians 2:2a). We wanted to be like other people, and that was our primary concern.

Also, we followed “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (v. 2b). That is, we walked under Satan’s influence, and this meant that our lives were characterized by fulfilling “the cravings of our sinful nature” (v. 3).

One of the greatest words in redemption comes next, the word but. Paul writes, “But because of His great love for us, God … made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (vv. 4–5). God did not leave us dead, but brought us out of death to life. A dead man cannot raise himself. It was God who did this. The only power over death is the power of God. He alone can bring something out of nothing, and life out of death. That first step, that brought you and me into a whole new life and made us new creatures, was accomplished by a creative act of almighty God.

The same almighty creative Power that gave us our new birth into the kingdom of God is what sustains us day by day. Reflect today on what it means for you to go from death to life. Are there things in your life that need to die and be regenerated? Ask God to reveal one area of need today. Seek His power to accomplish that change in your life.

A Definition of "Born Again"

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8)

Today I want to consider the mysterious character of the new birth. We can see this mysterious quality by looking at Nicodemus’ response to Jesus’ statement that to be saved, a person has to be born again. Nicodemus asked how this could be, and compared it to a person’s going back into his mother’s womb and being born over again (John 3:4).

Nicodemus had missed the point Jesus was making. Jesus was talking about a second birth that is a real birth, but not simply a repetition of the first birth. To answer Nicodemus, Jesus explains: “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). This is a simple point, and one that Nicodemus should have known from the Old Testament, as Jesus says a few verses later. One cannot get spirit from flesh. One can only get flesh from flesh. Spiritual birth is not the same thing as biological birth.

Jesus explains further by saying that the wind blows where it will. The comparison is to the Holy Spirit, who is identified as the Wind of God. Both the Hebrew and the Greek words for spirit also mean “breath” and “wind.” Even as we have no control over the wind, so we have no control over the sovereignty of the Spirit. He regenerates whomever He pleases, moving mysteriously and invisibly among men.

Regeneration is invisible. I cannot see what is in your own soul, and I may not be right about my own. I may claim to be reborn when I am not; and I may not be sure I have been reborn when in fact I have been. How can I know if I have been born again? Not by simply looking back to some experience, but by examining my own life for evidence of the fruit of the Spirit. The unregenerate person is at best indifferent to the things of God. But those who are born again love God and live lives that are increasingly pleasing to Him.

The Spirit is sovereign, blowing where He will. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to be His instruments, praying for the lost, presenting the Gospel message, and supporting the evangelistic work of the church. The Spirit is faithful in His role. How can you improve your faithfulness?

Must I Be Born Again?

"In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)

We will spend a few days considering regeneration as a result of God’s calling. Without regeneration we cannot be conformed to Christ. Once a man came to me and said, “I’d like to be a Christian, but I don’t want to be one of those born-again types.” What he meant by “born again” was a certain kind of Christian who wears his faith on his sleeve, which this man considered offensive. 

I hastened to assure him that no one can be a Christian without being born again. In our society, being “born again” has come to be associated with a certain kind of experience. In theology, however, the idea of rebirth is the same as the idea of regeneration. No particular kind of experience is needed. 

What is necessary is a transition into God’s kingdom. One way or another, every branch of the Christian church has a doctrine of being “born again.”

As we begin our consideration of rebirth, let us look at Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus, recorded in John 3. We find in verse 1 that Nicodemus was “a man of the Pharisees” and also “a member of the Jewish ruling council.” As a Pharisee, he was highly educated in theology, and as a member of the Council, he ranked with a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.

Unlike so many other Pharisees, Nicodemus accepted Jesus as a “teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with Him” (v. 2). Nicodemus seems to have been genuinely inquiring about Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus answered Nicodemus’s gracious words by stating that unless a person is born again, he or she cannot see the kingdom of God. By saying this, Jesus cut down all of Nicodemus’ human accomplishments. His theological knowledge and his political good works would count for nothing unless he was born again. Jesus made rebirth an absolute necessity for entrance into His kingdom.

Nearness to the kingdom doesn’t count. Nicodemus was as close as any man, but was still far away. Either you are born again or you are not. How certain are you today of being born again into God’s kingdom?

Growing in the Christian Life

"He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly." (Mark 8:23–25)

I've been focusing on Romans 6 over the past week where Paul set before us the prospect of a new life in Christ, complete with goals and priorities God has established. “Pleasing God” is the theme of the next six days that will focus on the struggles in this new life.

We have to be very careful in drawing “spiritual applications” from the narratives of Scripture. The story of Jesus’ healing the blind man in Mark 8:22–26 is not a parable but a real historical event. All the same, I believe that this event shows us some principles that at least illustrate some of the basic aspects of the Christian life.

Every Christian begins his spiritual pilgrimage because of the immediate work of God. We all start by spiritual birth, which is not something that happens gradually. When the Spirit regenerates your heart, you are taken from blindness to sight, from death to life. So all of us begin our Christian life instantly by a work of God that He accomplishes without human means.

But that’s only the beginning. The Christian life thereafter is a process. Our sanctification is something that takes place gradually. It is a process that continues throughout our entire lives.

When we are regenerated and the light breaks into us, it is as if we see things that we never saw before. Our whole outlook on life changes because of the touch of the Lord. But it is as if we see men as trees walking. We see, but we see imperfectly. From there we need another touch of Christ, and another, and another, so that our vision of the loveliness of Christ and of the presence of the kingdom of God becomes sharper and sharper.

Walking with Jesus day by day means staying in contact with Him. We not only need the first touch, but the daily touch of the Master. That’s what you are doing now, isn’t it? As a result you are getting a sharper focus on the kingdom, and a clearer understanding of your duties in it. Don’t let these daily devotions become routine, but stir yourself up to make real personal contact in prayer and study with Jesus Himself.

The Necessity of Regeneration, or Being Born Again

The necessity of being born again flows from five biblical truths: the inability of human beings, the holiness of God, the grace of the gospel, the power of God’s Spirit, and the creation of a people. 

1. Our inability. Jesus makes a radical distinction between flesh and Spirit, that is, between us and God: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6). No matter how good the flesh is, it cannot produce the spiritual life that’s needed if we would be right with God (see also Rom. 8: 5– 8). It’s not that we tried hard, but fell short. Or meant well, but got sidetracked. It’s that our sinful nature desires to please the flesh rather than God. Even when we do the right thing morally, we do it for the wrong reasons— to justify ourselves and bring ourselves glory. This is one reason the Bible describes us as dead and not just sick (Eph. 2: 1– 3). Like a dead person, we are incapable of loving God for God’s sake. 

2. God’s holiness. What’s more, God is not like us. The Bible is unrelenting in its presentation of God’s holiness. God’s holiness means that he’s in a different category from us altogether. He’s utterly set apart from sin and consecrated to his own glory. He’s uncompromising in his goodness. He refuses to tolerate evil. He’s not impressed with how good we are— with our nice— because we pursue niceness for our own glory rather than God’s (see Isa. 64:6). So we stand under God’s judgment, another reason the Bible refers to us as dead. And it’s a judgment we deserve. 

3. God’s grace. Yet there’s good news: God is gracious! God himself took the initiative toward us. While we were still his enemies, God sent his Son to take on our flesh and to live the life we were originally created to live. He lived not a nice life, not a good life, but a perfect and sinless life, a life wholly devoted to God’s glory. Then Jesus offered his life on the cross as a sacrifice, taking God’s wrath on himself as a substitute for anyone who would turn from his sins and put his faith in him. To prove God accepted his sacrifice, three days later Jesus rose from the dead. 

4. God’s Spirit. But that’s just the beginning of God’s initiative toward us. Jesus speaks about the Spirit’s work in John 3, which he compares to the wind over which we have no control. When God regenerates us, the Holy Spirit of God instantaneously unites us to Christ. In that union the Spirit takes all the benefit of what the Son has done— his resurrection life, his righteousness, his grace— and applies it all to us. This changes our nature, gives us the new birth, makes us new creatures. We then turn to Christ in repentance and faith, are justified by his grace, and are adopted into his family to follow him in a relationship of love and trust. 

5. Creation of a people. Hundreds of years before Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus, God promised his grace and Spirit through the prophet Ezekiel. He also promised that he would make us a people. 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules . .  . and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. (Ezek. 36:26– 29) 

God has kept this promise through the work of Christ. He makes us new creatures. He grants us his Spirit. He makes us a people. And he forgives our  sin. Soli Deo Gloria.