The Holmon Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines regeneration as a “special act of God in which the recipient is passive. God alone awakens the person spiritually through the power of His Holy Spirit. Both the OT and NT also speak of the renewing of the individual. In a technical sense the act of regeneration takes place at the moment of conversion as the individual is spiritually awakened.”
The
definition above is a good description of the new birth in Christ that all
believers experience. The term “regeneration” comes from the Greek word
palingenesia and is used only twice in the Bible. Firstly, in Matthew 19:28 and
secondly in Titus 3:5. Regeneration means, “born again”, or “new creation”
(“palin” = again; “genesia” = birth). The term “new birth” does not appear in
the Bible. However, the teaching of the new birth does. 2 Corinthians 5:17
says, “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have
passed away; behold all things have become new.”
What
is Regeneration?
Regeneration
is a one-time experience of receiving new life through faith in Christ. A
change sets in the heart, mind, and soul of a sinner at the point of
regeneration. When a soul has been regenerated the work of sanctification
begins. Sanctification is the work of God’s grace in the life of the Christian
to make him/her more like Christ. The life of the Christian is one of
sanctification as we live to bring glory to God by living according to his
design and purpose. When we become a Christian our desires, affections, and
interests change. We once lived according to our own desires, affections, and
interests. However, now as a regenerate person in Christ we seek to live
according to the will of God and his desires, affections, and interests. The
old nature remains within the believer, and this is why believers are
encouraged to walk in the spirit of God and to seek Him daily.
Regeneration
and Reformed Theology
Reformed
Theology (Calvinism) teaches that regeneration precedes faith. Since the
natural man is dead and unable to respond to the gospel, he must first be
regenerated so that he can receive the gift of faith. This work of regeneration
according to Reformed theology will only happen in the soul of the elect of
God. This takes place as God calls the sinner by irresistible grace.
American
Reformed theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. R. C. Sproul
(1939-2017) said this regarding regeneration.
“In regeneration, God changes our hearts. He gives us a new disposition,
a new inclination. He plants a desire for Christ in our hearts. We can never
trust Christ for our salvation unless we first desire Him. This is why we said
earlier that regeneration precedes faith” (R. C. Sproul, Chosen by God, Tyndale
Publishers, p. 118).
Jay
E. Adams (1929 – 2020) a leading American Reformed author wrote in his book, Competent
To Counsel, “Only God can bring life to dead souls to enable them to
believe. He does this when and where and how He pleases by His Spirit, who
regenerates, or gives life leading to faith...As a reformed Christian, the
writer believes that counselors must not tell any unsaved counselee that Christ
died for him, for they cannot say that. No man knows except Christ Himself who
are His elect for whom He died” (Jay E. Adams, Competent To Counsel, p. 70).
Contrary
to what the Reformed position teaches the Bible on the other hand teaches that
new birth happens after an unregenerate sinner expresses and embraces faith in
Christ. Upon our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit
enters our soul and regenerates us. This is taught in 2 Corinthians 5:17. The
Bible encourages sinners to place their trust in Christ. In Acts 16:31 the
Bible calls on sinners to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. If people are
unable to believe without God first regenerating them, the biblical calls to
believe are pointless.
The
unregenerate sinner is called by the preaching of the gospel. The Bible says,
“faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It is
the gospel that draws all men unto the Saviour. It is the gospel that convicts
hearts to believe. It is the gospel that encourages faith in Christ. Although
the unregenerate man is dead in his sins and trespasses against God this does
not mean to say he is unable to express faith in the Saviour. The Bible places
a lot of emphasis on the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of
God poured out on sinners. We are only able to accept the gift of salvation if
we exercise faith and receive that gift.
Calvin,
Regeneration and Salvation
Reformed
theology teaches that an unborn infant can be regenerated, even though they
have no understanding of Christ or the gospel. Upon birth, infant baptism is to
be performed as a sign that the child is regenerate. If Reformed believers are
faithful to the teachings of John Calvin, then they would believe that all the
children born to believing parents are regenerated in the womb. Calvin believed
that God grants faith to infants in the womb.
John
Calvin wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, “But how, they
ask, are infants regenerated, when not possessing a knowledge of either good or
evil? We answer, that the work of God, though beyond the reach of our capacity,
is not therefore null. Infants who are to be saved (and that some are saved at
this age is certain) must, without question, be regenerated by the Lord.”
Calvin
also wrote in the Institutes of the Christian Religion on the same
topic. “Many He certainly has called and endued with true knowledge of Himself,
by internal means, by the illumination of the Spirit, without the intervention
of preaching.”
How
can the Calvinist know that one day his children will come to Christ? Is there
any way of knowing if children are elect? John Calvin suggested that all the
children of the elect will be saved. Calvin writes, “Our children, before they
are born, God declares that He adopts for His own when He promises He will be a
God to us, and to our seed after us. In this promise their salvation is
included.”
Again,
this is problematic for many leading Calvinists today. For example, take John
Piper’s son, Abraham Piper. At age 19, he was excommunicated from his father's
church after he rejected the faith. He was restored to membership four years
later, but later rejected the faith again.
The
view that the children of elect parents are also elect is mere speculation. If
it is true then we do not need to concern ourselves with the spiritual
condition of our children, as they are going to be saved at some point on the
bases that their parents are elect. A Calvinist may find hope and comfort in
this doctrine, but they must consider the possibility of their children never
coming to a saving knowledge of Christ, and what that means for them and their
children. If it is true that all children born to elect parents will come to
the Saviour, what does it mean if they never do? Does it mean that the parents
were never elect?
Scripture
teaches that salvation is a matter of personal faith and a personal
relationship with the living God. Salvation is not based on the family you are
born to. We are not saved because our parents are saved, but because we
ourselves possess faith in Christ. It is important that we teach our children
from a young age the truths of the Bible because, “the holy scriptures which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
What
Does Scripture Say
The
Reformed view on regeneration is not in keeping with the teaching of the Bible.
The Holy Scriptures say that the gift of salvation, the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit, eternal life, and regeneration never precede faith, but is the result,
the evidence of faith.
John
3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.” The
Bible says in this verse that belief comes before salvation.
Faith
in Christ is the condition of salvation. In Acts 16:31 the Bible says, “believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” Again, the order of salvation
is clear; believe comes first then salvation. Regeneration is not a condition
for salvation, faith is (Rom. 5:1 & Eph. 1:13).
Bible
teacher Samuel Ridout, wrote about the great importance of faith prior to new
life. He wrote, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible seed, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (I
Peter 1:23). New birth is by the word of God. That it is a sovereign act of
God, by His Spirit, none can question. But this verse forbids us from
separating, as has sometimes been done, new birth from faith in the gospel. It
has been taught that new birth precedes faith; here we are told that the Word
of God is the instrument in new birth. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by
the word of God”; “the word which by the gospel is preached.” Thus while we can
distinguish between faith and new birth, we cannot separate them. John 3:3 and
3:16 must ever go together. There is no such anomaly possible as a man born
again, but who has not yet believed the gospel” (Samuel Ridout, Numerical
Bible).
Dr.
John Walvoord, former president of Dallas Theological Seminary, also wrote on
the necessity of faith before eternal life or regeneration is received. He
said, “Eternal life is not possessed until faith in Christ is exercised.
Eternal life is not to be confused with efficacious grace, or that bestowal of
grace which is antecedent to faith. Eternal life is to be identified with
regeneration and is received in the new birth. It is resultant rather than
causative of salvation, but is related to conversion or the manifestation of
the new life in Christ” (Wycliffe Dictionary of Theology, p. 195).
Calvinist
will use Ezekiel 36:26 as a proof text for their view that regeneration
precedes faith. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “And I will give you a new heart, and I
will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” However, the Calvinist
viewpoint is not supported by this verse. This verse is not about believers and
their salvation, but rather about the prophetic “house of Israel” which is
found in verse 17. The context here is what God will do to restore Israel to
her land.
Earlier
in the Book of Ezekiel the Bible says, “Cast away from you all your
transgressions wherewith ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a
new spirit: why then will ye die, house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31). Here the
emphasis is placed on man’s responsibility for a new heart. The condition of
the new heart here is repentance.
C.
H. Spurgeon’s View and Logic on Regeneration
The
Baptist Preacher C. H. Spurgeon is a well-known and respected figure throughout
Christianity. Mr. Spurgeon is known as the “prince of preachers”. He is also a
Calvinist. C. H. Spurgeon saw the difficulty with the Reformed view of
regeneration. Even though he held on to his Calvinist school of thought he also
spoke against the classic Reformed view on the subject of regeneration. In his
sermon, Warrant of Faith, preached in 1863 he said, “If I am to preach
faith in Christ to a man who is regenerated, then the man, being regenerated,
is saved already, and it is an unnecessary and ridiculous thing for me to
preach Christ to him, and bid him to believe in order to be saved when he is
saved already, being regenerate. Am! only to preach faith to those who have it?
Absurd, indeed! Is not this waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him
the medicine? This is preaching Christ to the righteous and not to sinners.”
Spurgeon
saw a few problems with the typical Reformed view. Firstly, regeneration prior
to faith will be a stumbling block to the preaching of the gospel. This is
because if someone is already regenerated then preaching the gospel of faith
and repentance would be pointless. Secondly, it eliminates the fact of the
spiritual battle in soul-winning for Christ. Spurgeon said, “...and bid him to
believe in order to be saved when he is saved already...Am I only to preach
faith to those who have it?” Spurgeon also said, “Is not this waiting till the
man is cured and then bringing him the medicine?”
Consequences
of the Reformed View of Regeneration
We
must state the fact that some great Reformed men have been used by God in the
proclamation of the gospel and the saving of souls. Men such as C.H. Spurgeon,
George Whitefield, William Carey, and others have been used by God to bring
many to Christ. This was despite the inconsistency between their theological
stance and the gospel message they preached.
To
the Calvinist, the preaching of the gospel is a pointless exercise if the
person you are witnessing to has not been regenerate. According to the Reformed
tradition the natural man must first be regenerate before he can receive the
gift of faith, which is sovereignly and irresistibly granted by God alone.
According to the Calvinist viewpoint there is nothing an unsaved person can do
to produce regeneration because he is spiritually dead and has no desire to
believe. The Calvinist doctrine of total depravity teaches the utter inability,
desire, and will of man to learn the truths of God revealed in Holy Scripture.
The Calvinist hold the view that faith is wholly of God and is one of the
effects of regeneration.
There
is not a single example or text in the New Testament that teaches the
unbeliever to pray for regeneration. The Bible teaches that Christ has paid the
penalty of sin and purchased salvation for all those who by faith receive the
gift of salvation.
Conclusion
Our
Lord and Saviour said in John 17:3, “And this is the eternal life, that they
should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” It
is a strange doctrine to believe that someone is “regenerated” by God, but does
not know Christ by faith. Lewis Sperry Chafer in his Systematic Theology
explains regeneration and the relationship to Christ. Chafer writes, “The
important fact, never to be forgotten in the doctrine of regeneration, is that
the believer in Christ has received eternal life. This fact must be kept free
from all confusion of thought arising from the concept of regeneration which
makes it merely an antecedent of salvation, or a preliminary quickening to
enable the soul to believe. It is rather the very heart of salvation” (L S.
Chafer, Systematic Theology, Vol. VI, (Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press,
1948), p. 117).
The
Word of God teaches that sinners receive eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ
as Lord and Saviour. Our Lord said that he is “the way, the truth, and the
life” in John 14:6. Since Christ is “the life” the Holy Spirit must bring us to
union with Him. He that has Christ has his life, and he that does not have
Christ does not have life (1 John 5:12).
The
work of regeneration is conditioned on faith. Faith must precede new birth. The
spiritual order of God’s work of regeneration is best summarized by theologian
and writer, Sir Robert Anderson, “It is by the Word that the sinner is born
again to God. As Scripture declares, ‘We are born again by the word of God”—
living and eternally abiding word of God.” And to bar all error, it is added:
“And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you “— preached, as
the Apostle has already said, “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” Not
the Spirit without the Word, nor the Word without the Spirit, but the Word
preached in the power of the Spirit. God is never arbitrary; but He is always
sovereign. Men preach; the Spirit breathes; and dry bones live. Thus sinners
are born again to God” (Sir Robert Anderson, Redemption Truths, (Kilmarnock,
GB: Ritchie, 1940), p. 152).
Credits:
Although I have written this paper the main bulk of the article is the work of
David Dunlap. It is taken from his work entitled Limiting Omnipotence--The
Consequences of Calvinism.
See
this link for more information.
https://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/reformed/ddregen.htm
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