Word of Grace > Regeneration Chapter 3
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Regeneration:
The New Birth, Changed Lives, and Sin In the Church

Chapter Three
The Character of Regeneration: Radical Renewal

What happens in the new birth? That is, to what degree does the new birth change the human heart? I will try to show that the Bible teaches that regeneration radically and pervasively changes a person’s essential nature. The Bible does not teach that the Christian possesses an "old nature" and a "new nature" as is commonly taught. He possesses a single nature, radically transformed, but with sin remaining as a vestige and remnant of the old man. Before regeneration sin was the dominant inclination of the heart This is the description given of the miracle of the new birth. First it was revealed as a covenant promise in the Old Testament and then it was proclaimed and affirmed in the New Testament1. Anything less is not full biblical regeneration. Anything less gives a diminished representation of God’s work in the heart that leads to lowered expectations of holy living from professing Christian’s. Worse still, it leads to a false assurance to professing Christians who remain in sin.

This is not a matter of quibbling over theological definitions and meanings. Our understanding of the nature of the new birth has direct, practical effects in the life and ministry of the church.

The Distinguishing Mark of the Christian
The new birth is the distinguishing mark of the Christian. A person becomes a Christian through the new birth. The words of the apostle John state this clearly: "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God (i.e., born of God) nor the one who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:10). There is no ambiguity in regeneration. It does not make a person potentially new. It does not merely give him a new capacity. It makes him a new creation and new conduct always follows. In John’s words it makes them "obvious". John even warns us about being deceived. He says, "Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous (through the new birth) just as He is righteous: The one who practices sin is of the devil (unregenerate)" (1 John 3:7). John recognizes that Christians can and do sin (1 John 1:8-10). However, he also asserts that the basic life direction of the regenerate person is now away from self and sin and toward Christ and holiness (1 John 3:4-10). If this is not true John's words are not understandable and the "new creation" is not new in any real sense.

The Fundamental Change of Nature
Regeneration is a supernatural quickening, a giving of life (Ephesians 2:4; John 5:25). God by His own power directly imparts divine life into the spiritually dead sinner. The person once dead to God is now alive and in living union with God and Christ.

The fact that regeneration quickens and makes alive is only part of the picture2. The central issue and point of controversy is the nature of the transformation that this quickening brings about.

The Bible describes regeneration as a fundamental change in a person’s nature. It is described as a washing (1 Corinthians 6:11), a purification (1 Peter 1:23) and a renewal (Titus 3:5). Speaking of regeneration, Peter says, "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable that is through the living and abiding word of God." Peter refers to the new birth as something by which you "purified your souls." Paul conveys the same idea when he says, "and such were some of you but you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Paul, when he says, "you have been washed," is speaking of something that has occurred to all the Christians, to all who were justified. In the context the washing is a practical and personal change. It is the reason they are now former thieves, drunkards, etc. This washing is a reference to the renewing cleansing work of regeneration. He says it plainly in Titus 3:5: "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal by the Holy Spirit." These references clearly say that the new birth brings a deep and pervasive change to the whole person. The inner man is purified, washed and renewed. Paul emphasizes this when he states, "Put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth (Ephesians 2:24). "Created" is in the past tense. It states a fact, a present reality.

The moral nature of the Christian has undergone a broad based transformation. What was before unrighteous and unholy is now fundamentally righteous and holy. Regeneration, of course, does not eliminate the reality of the remaining presence of indwelling sin and the ongoing struggle that this involves (Galatians 5:17). The Biblical teaching of regeneration does not eliminate the need or reality of the ongoing transformation into Christ-likeness in spiritual growth. This is the basis of Paul’s appeal to put on the new man. It does bring, however, a fundamental reconstruction of the hearts disposition3. To speak, as is commonly done, of a new nature being added beside the old nature or of a new capacity is to greatly diminish God’s mighty renewing work. It is to speak of a regeneration that does not really regenerate, but only counterbalances an old nature. This would be a new creation that is only potentially new. The Christian is not someone with a new nature and an old nature. The amazing reality of regeneration is that by God’s own creative power there has been a transformation of the core nature itself. Indwelling sin does remain, but only as a deposed and inferior power4. In Hebrews 8:10 God says, "I will put my law into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts." Notice the heart itself, the core nature of the person, will be re-formed. The Christian is now so constituted that he is someone who has a heart which the Bible says will "cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances" (Ezekiel 36:27).

The Promise Proclaimed by Christ
Jesus spoke of this cleansing renewal of the new birth in his encounter with Nicodemus when He spoke of being "born of the water and of the Spirit" (John 3:5). In addressing the issue most pertinent to Nicodemus’ need, Jesus was most likely making reference to the Old Testament promise of the future work of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Ezekiel said, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:25, 26). Ezekiel foretold of a work of God that would miraculously change the human heart. He used the analogy of the sprinkling of water to convey the idea of the cleansing of man’s inner moral pollution. As a product of God's recreating power there would be a fundamental remaking of a person’s nature from moral filth to moral uprightness5.

Nicodemus as the teacher of Israel would have known this and realized his need of it. In fact it was for this reason that Jesus admonished him for his ignorance (John 3:12). Nicodemus had no consciousness of his need. He was completely blinded to his inborn moral corruption. Jesus, therefore, flatly told him that his nature needed to be washed by the new birth. He must, as the prophet foretold, be sprinkled with water, the water of the Spirit’s cleansing in regeneration.

This transforming character of regeneration is a prominent theme of Scripture. The Old Testament promised and anticipated it. Christ proclaimed and demanded it and the Apostles Paul and Peter affirmed and elaborated on it. It was, in fact, that which clearly defined and characterized Paul’s ministry. Paul stated this when he said, "For neither is circumcision or uncircumcision anything, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15). In Paul’s thinking the new creation, people radically and pervasively changed by God’s power, is the distinguishing feature of the saving power of the gospel. Anything else is a sham, a so-called new birth, a new creation in name only.

The Practical Impact on Ministry
The failure to understand the true nature of regeneration has led to grave consequences in many churches. Often there is no clear line of demarcation between the Christian and non-Christian. This has resulted in the common assumption that everyone who makes a profession of faith in Christ is a Christian. There is a wide-spread assumption in the church today that a recipient of God’s resurrection power in the new creation can remain unchanged; at times throughout an entire lifetime (Ephesians 1:17-19). This has resulted in an amazing accommodation to the so-called "non-committed Christian." A great deal of ministry is now directed toward professing Christians whose heart attitude toward Christ bears all the marks of those still in their sins. There are preaching and evangelistic methods consciously designed for people whose hearts detest Christ’s rightful claims and refuse to give Him allegiance. There are counseling philosophies and methods for professing Christians struggling in sin which often accommodate the sin and rebellion of an unregenerate heart. Some church growth principles unwittingly cater to fleshly desires for the security of religion and a pacified conscience apart from submission to the rightful rule of Christ.

The Bible knows nothing of regenerate people who do not change. God’s saving work truly breaks the hold of sin and renews the inner man. God so restructures man’s governing disposition that sin is now a deposed guerrilla futility waging war against the new monarch. Sin may gain control for a while. There will be struggles and conflict, but its hold is temporary and futile. Paul says it this way: "Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Notice, Paul does not say sin should not have dominion. He says emphatically, sin shall not have dominion6. The operation of God’s grace, which includes regeneration, breaks the hold of sin. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "If the Son shall make you free (from sin) you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). What else could he mean except that the controlling power of sin is broken in the work of regeneration and salvation? To teach anything less is to legitimize empty professions and encourage tickling ears instead of true gospel ministry (1 Timothy 4:1-4). This, I believe, is happening in many evangelical churches today.

There is widespread acknowledgment of the miraculous nature of regeneration in evangelical churches today. But, too often, practice contradicts what is taught. There are professing Christians who manifest no love for Christ’s commands, sin regularly, even scandalously, without true remorse. And yet in the minds of many this does not arouse even the slightest suspicion that they may be unregenerate. We must not compromise the Bible’s clear teaching on the new birth in the midst of an epidemic of empty profession in the church. When God’s mighty creative power operates in a life it is changed forever. The words of the apostle John must speak with full force as God’s standard in the church: "and by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him" (1 John 2:3, 4).

* By "nature" I mean a prevailing tendency, a dominant inclination and direction of life. By "renewal" I mean a radical, pervasive renewal of a person’s nature that brings a dominant, prevailing tendency toward righteousness. This renewal is not a complete or total renewal because sin remains extensively but not dominantly. A born-again believer can sin but he cannot live out his life in sin (1 John 3:9).