Skip to main content

Salvation - The Death of Christ (Part 2)


Regeneration

In the New Testament, the word “regeneration” appears only twice. In Matthew 19:28 it is used eschatologically, “at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne,” and in Titus 3:5, where it is speaking of the rebirth of the redeemed person, “…He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
Norman Geisler defines regeneration as “the impartation of spiritual life by God, to the souls of those who were ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph. 2:1 KJV) and who were ‘saved’ made alive by God ‘through faith’ in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8 NKJV).”[1]
Wayne Grudem, as “…a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us. This is sometimes called ‘being born again’ (using the language from John 3:3-8).[2]
Millard Erickson states, Conversion refers to the response of the human being to God’s offer of salvation and approach to man. Regeneration is the other side of conversion. It is God’s doing. It is God’s transformation of individual believers, his giving a new spiritual vitality and direction to their lives when they accept Christ.”[3]

In the New Testament, John 3:3 and Titus 3:5 are the two passages that talk about the impartation of new life to those who have trusted Christ as Lord and Savior. John 3:3 does not use the word regeneration, but regeneration is referred to as the new birth. Unlike our first birth, our physical birth, when we believe, the Holy Spirit regenerates us; He causes us to be “born from above.” This second birth is a spiritual one and John 3:5 teaches us that this new birth is not something done by us but rather it is something done upon us by God.

Scripture is clear in teaching that we are regenerated or born again by the Holy Spirit and by the Word of God (John 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:22). At regeneration we become the children of God (2 Cor. 6:18; Gal. 3:26) and literally become a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). We become heirs of God (Gal. 4:7) and co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). God regenerates us so that we may be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures (James 1:18), that we may become heirs of an inheritance (1 Pet. 3, 4), and so that we may be doers of good works (Eph. 2:10).
Paul Enns states, “The result of regeneration is the impartation of a ‘divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4). The believer has received a ‘new self’ (Eph. 4:24), a capacity for righteous living. He is a ‘new creature’ (2 Cor. 5:17)…The believer has received a new mind (1 Cor. 2:16) that he may know God; a new heart (Rom. 5:5) that he may love God (1 John 4:9); and a new will (Rom. 6:13) that we may obey God.”[4]



[1] Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Bloomington: Bethany House, 2004), p. 225.
[2] Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine, Jeff Purswell, ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), p. 300.
[3] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985), p. 942.
[4] Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago: Moody, 1989), p. 340.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant Word

  All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).   Our primary and final safeguard against false teaching is the Word of God. Verses 16 and 17 of 2 Timothy 3 are among the most important and significant in all the New Testament. They clearly declare the Source of Scripture and thus the Scripture’s authority. Second Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:21 for the basis for our conviction that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. Paul points out three important truths here: First, all Scripture is God-breathed. When Paul writes in that all Scripture is inspired , he is saying that the entire Bible and every word in it originates with God. Tom Constable correctly states that the Bible “does not merely contain the Word of God or become the Word of God under certain conditions. It is God’s Wor
Post a Comment
Read more

Crucified with Christ

  I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).   Galatians 2:20 provides a succinct statement of the very heart of the Christian’s new condition. The believer has died so far as the law is concerned because he has been crucified with Christ . Crucified with is used figuratively, describing the identification of the believer with Christ in the theological aspects of His crucifixion. The tense of the verb is perfect, which looks at an action that occurred in the past, but which produced effects that continue. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, God identified every believer with Him, therefore believers were crucified with Him; they died to the law when Christ died on the cross. The penalty demanded by God’s broken law was satisfied by the crucifixion and its effects have never changed. Because the believer was and s
Post a Comment
Read more

Loving Christ

  The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him (John 14:21).     But believing is not simply a matter of mental assent. Being related to Jesus Christ implies obedience, If you love me, you will keep my commands (John 14:15). The two articular participles here, has and keeps , imply far more than having a list of Jesus’ commandments so that one can recite them. They mean that the believer fully grasps His commands with the mind. I fully agree with Gerard Borchet when he says, “I would suggest that the two verbs taken together mean that the commands or the expectations of Jesus for his disciples are fully integrated into the way those disciples live. It is not a matter of following a few rules. It is a way of life. That is the reason the reference to “commands” here is tied so closely to loving Jesus.” 1 The person identified as the one w
Post a Comment
Read more