A Biblical Look at Regeneration
In past articles, I’ve touched upon the doctrines of Grace, and particularly the idea of “monergism”. I’ve also more recently touched upon and critiqued the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. The present study may be considered an additional consideration of that subject, since we are concerned with defining and accurately understanding regeneration, or being “born again”, from a Biblical perspective.
Much confusion exists today regarding what exactly it means to be “born again”. The popular evangelical world typically sets forth regeneration as encompassing a mystical religious experience, or they might associate it with the idea of “turning over a new leaf” and “walking on the straight and narrow”, as it were. Such is the tendency of man-made works-religion. They are quick to attribute a man’s being born again to something done by that man. Biblically speaking, regeneration has nothing to do with what man does or experiences, but everything to do with what God does. Regeneration is a miraculous work of God performed in the elect sinner, whereby he removes his heart of stone, raises him from spiritual death to spiritual life, and causes him to embrace Jesus Christ by faith. A man does not choose to be born, nor does a man choose to be born again.
Implied within this definition is the fact that regeneration precedes faith. This is one of the many controversial distinctives of the doctrine of sovereign grace, but biblically speaking we see that it is clearly taught. In the first place, this doctrine logically and inescapeably follows from the Bible’s clear teaching of man’s spiritual deadness and inability to come to God savinginly on his own:
Romans 3:10–12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
There is nobody who stirs himself up to call upon God or take hold of him. To “stir up” literally means “quicken” or “awaken”:
Isaiah 64:7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
This is why no man is able to come to Christ unless drawn by the Father:
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Several passages can be adduced in support of this point. It is an obvious fact of Scripture that the natural, unregenerate person does not desire truly spiritual things which are pleasing to God (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:7). Those things include repentance and faith.
Another important point which follows from this first point is that regeneration is immediate. That is to say, regeneration occurs by the direct power of God the Holy Ghost upon the sinner, without any means or instrumentality from a third party. Mediate generation teaches that the new birth occurs through some means, such as baptism, or even the preaching of the Gospel. The Bible however makes it clear that the Spirit is the one who brings about this miraculous work all by Himself.
John’s Gospel is perhaps one of the best places to go for a thorough understanding of this topic, as his gospel in particular mentions the concept in several instances. The first reference to regeneration is found in John 1:12–13:
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: (13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
This text is, at first glance, perhaps not the clearest. Many readers look at verse 12 and conclude that faith is what brings about regeneration. The words “received” and “gave” in verse 12 are both past-tense, and hence not sufficient, when viewed alone, for indicating which came first — the receiving, or the giving. However, verses 12 & 13 are one complete sentence, and the latter section helps us to clarify the former. Those who had been given power to become sons of God, did not receive this power by their own will. They were not born by any act of their own, but by the will and power of God, as the text plainly states. This is further clarified when we understand the parallelism that is present in the two verses.
As many as received him (v. 12a) = “even [namely] them that believe on his name” (v. 12c)
“power to become the sons of God” (v. 12b) = “which were born…of God” (v. 13)
This shows us that those who were born of God in verse 12 were begotten prior to believing on his name. Those who presently believe on his name were born of God. They believed because they were regenerated.
This concept is picked up again and elaborated upon by our Lord in John chapter 3:
John 3:3–5 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
This text is perhaps one of the most explicit on the subject of regeneration. Our Lord plainly intimates that this rebirth is an immediate work of the Sovereign God upon fallen men. Because mankind is spiritually darkened, and loves darkness rather than light (John 1:4–5; John 3:19), he must be regenerated before he can even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter into it.
Proponents of baptismal regeneration will object, that our Lord says a man must be born of water in verse 5. This, however, is based upon a simple (yet very serious) misreading of the text. The word “and” here must be understood as meaning “even”, or “namely”, as it is elsewhere in scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ is teaching that a man must be born of water, even of the Spirit, or he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This once again highlights man’s utter depravity and deadness in sin.
Jesus emphasizes the necessity of regeneration even further in verse 6:
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Man cannot see the Kingdom because he is born of fallen flesh, and is therefore fleshly (cf. Romans 8:7). He is born alienated from God’s kingdom, and cannot do anything of his own strength to spiritually renew himself. For anything that he produces will be nothing more than a work of the flesh.
Moreover, we find in verse 8 another statement which solidifies the fact that Jesus is teaching immediate regeneration:
John 3:8 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.
Jesus here compares the Holy Spirit to the wind. The Spirit breathes life into whomever He wills; when a man is regenerated, and finds himself being inclined toward spiritual things, truly spiritual things, such as reading the Bible, prayer, attending church, etc. he feels the Spirit leading and drawing him, but he does not know why, or where this came from. As Calvin put it, “Such is the power and efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the renewed man”. This hearkens directly back to John 1:13. We are born again by the will of God, not by our own will. We are sovereignly regenerated by the ineffable, mysterious, yet mighty power of God the Holy Spirit. This is an undoubted description of immediate, sovereign regeneration. This text also completely disproves mediate regeneration. If everyone who is baptized is regenerated in the baptism font, then I know where and when and how regeneration is occurring. I can also see when and from where the gospel preacher is coming. I cannot say the same for the sovereign, effectual power of the Holy Ghost.
Two chapters later, in John chapter 5, we again see the blessed Mediator expounding upon this precious doctrine:
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
This text, when carefully examined, clearly teaches that regeneration precedes faith. Our Lord says that the one who hears His word and believes has everlasting life. If I said “Everyone who owns a car, and is legally driving, has a driver’s license”, I am not saying that one obtains a driver’s licence as the result of owning and driving a car. Likewise, he goes on to say that he who is believing on the one who sent Him “is passed from death unto life”. The phrase “is passed” is translated in the present perfect tense. It is in the perfect present indicative form in Greek. A perfect-tense verb indicates a past-completed action which is still ongoing.
Once again, a simple examination of the verb tense used shows that the one who believes has already passed from death unto life. Compare a similar sentence with the exact same construction, “The student practicing Geometry is passed from middle school to high school” — this does not mean that the student first began Geometry in order to get to highschool. Rather, the “passing” is an already-completed event by the time the student comes to learn Geometry. So it is with regeneration. The Gospel does not regenerate, but rather, the Gospel illuminates an already spiritually quickened sinner to the knowledge of his or her salvation in Christ, and faith is the natural fruit of that spiritual life.
We find another clear testimony to sovereign, immediate regeneration in 1 John 5:1:
1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
Here we have the perfect-past-participle “is born”. John says that everyone who believes Jesus is the Christ “is born” or “has been born” of God. If we were to say “The man who works for his boss, is/has been hired by him”, it is evident to any compitent reader that the man did not first work for his boss in order to get hired by him. Likewise, John is saying that those who believe Jesus is the Christ have already been born of God. They believe as a result of having been begotten of God. Moreover, we have two other examples in John’s first epistle where he uses the exact same construction, thus confirming this reading of 1 John 5:1.
1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
No pious Christian would ever affirm that men must perform works of righteousness and love in order to be born of God. Such a sentiment explicitly contradicts the testimony of Scripture. John is saying in both of these texts that doing righteousness and loving our brother is the evidence of us having been born of God. We do righteousness because we are born of God, we love one another because we are born of God, and we believe that Jesus is the Christ, because we are born of God!
Several other texts can be looked at in this discussion, however we have touched on some of the main ones. Regeneration is not mediate, nor is it synergistic. It is monergistic, immediate, and according to the sovereign will of God.
