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Regeneration:
The New Birth, Changed Lives, and Sin In the Church
Chapter Five
The Order Of Regeneration: Conviction, Regeneration and Saving Faith
Perhaps in no other area is the new birth more misunderstood than in the matter of its relationship to saving faith and personal salvation. The relationship of the new birth to saving faith has direct bearing on our concept of evangelism, discipleship, follow-up and other important matters in the ministry of the church.
In this chapter the order in which God brings sinners, dead in their sins, to personal salvation and life in Christ will be considered. In the Bible the entire process is referred to under the general term of "calling." Paul says, "For whom He predestined, these He also called, and whom he called these He also justified, and whom He justified these he also glorified" (Rom.. 8:29). Notice that Paul moves from predestined to called to justified. The entire divine work of personal salvation is described under the comprehensive idea of being "called." God not only invites to salvation (the general external call heard by many through preaching the gospel) He also effectively brings specific people to saving relationship with Himself. This call is the internal or effectual call. It is an inward work accomplished by God himself, through the agency of the Holy Spirit and the instrumentality of the Word, that actually results in salvation. The following describes the process that God works out in calling a person to salvation and the central place of the new birth in that process.
Proclamation
The initial step is the external call through the preaching and sharing of the gospel (1 Pet. 1:25). In the parable of the marriage feast (Matt. 22:1-13) the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of many who were called and invited by the king to a wedding feast but who refused to come (22:3). Jesus when concluding the parable explained the refusal by saying "for many are called but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:4). The external call is an invitation to receive salvation that may or may not be accepted. The external call to salvation occurs when a person is brought under the hearing of the gospel. This is where the process begins.
Conviction
Next is the conviction process. Being brought under the hearing of the word of God the person is then also exposed to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus referred to this work of the Spirit when he said "and he when He comes will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). Conviction is a term with various shades of meaning but the basic idea is to "find fault, to call to account or to expose." Conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit where He engages the mind and consciousness of a person to consider their sinfulness, the person and work of Christ, and God's judgment. He causes them to listen to, and muse upon, the spiritual truths of their personal sin, unbelief toward Christ and eternal judgment. The person becomes aware, and even concerned, of their need to turn to Christ and of their guiltiness before God. Conviction however is not efficacious. That is it does not bring a person to saving faith1. It may eventually lead to saving faith, but in and of itself it is not enough to bring a person to Christ. Apart from the further work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration a sinner will not turn to Christ. The Greek term for conviction in John 16:8 is the same word translated reprove in Matthew 18:15 where Christ says, "and if your brother sins go and reprove him in private, if he listens to you, have won your brother. But is he does not listen to you take one or two more with you." Christ refers to a situation where a person is reproved and convicted, yet does not listen. The point is that the term in and of itself does not necessarily convey that the convicting or reproving is effective. It is much like the drunkard, who knows drinking will eventually destroy him, who knows what he ought to do, and who even believes he deserves what he will bring upon himself, but nonetheless will not and cannot give it up. People under conviction know the gospel is true, know that Christ is the sin bearer, and often are acutely aware they deserve judgment, but because of a hardened heart they will not turn to Christ2.
Regeneration
There are two Scriptures which speak to this issue and shed light on why the Holy Spirit's work in bringing a person to Christ must also include regeneration. In Ephesians 4:18 Paul says that the unsaved are "darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart." Paul states that man's problem goes beyond the darkened mind to a hardened heart. In other words the mind will not receive and act upon what the inner disposition of heart detests. For a person to become willing to renounce sin and receive Christ, the heart's disposition must be changed. As was said previously a woman's view of spiders will not be changed by bringing the spider closer or giving more information about them. Likewise, God will not be more inviting and appealing to a sinner simply because he knows more about Him. If you are going to truly and fully change the mind so that it welcomes Christ then you must also change the heart and this is not conviction, this is regeneration. The problem is not simply that man needs enlightenment, although that is true. The greater problem is a heart that won't receive and welcome the truth. Conviction is preparatory and preliminary. It brings the sinner to a certain point at which he will not turn and receive Christ. God must do a further work in regeneration or there will be no embracing of Christ in saving faith. Jesus says, "and this is the judgment that the light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:18-19). Jesus says men won't come to the light because they love darkness. That is, their heart’s basic disposition and its love of evil is the barrier to coming to the light. More light is not the answer. The need is for a new heart, a heart that wants the light. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit is preparatory. It engages the mind and causes people to listen, to think, and to become conscious of their guilt and of Christ's love. However, because of their hard heart and its love of darkness they will not come. Regeneration must occur. The heart must be renewed before the will and the mind will receive Christ and exercise saving faith.
Saving Faith
Faith is exercised as the immediate and inseparable result of the new birth. While faith is the by-product of regeneration it is not separated in time from it. It occurs instantly and inseparably. The new birth is the direct creative act of God. The word of God is the instrument (1 Pet 1:21), and the Holy Spirit is the agent, but the new birth itself is totally the work of God acting directly upon and in the person. Man is a passive recipient of God's sovereign creative renewing of the heart. James says, "In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth" (James 1:18). John says we were "born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God" (John 1:13). It is God who is the initiator. He is the source and giver of our faith through the new birth. Paul says that God "is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). Instantly at the point of the new birth and inseparable from it the sinner, before convicted but unwilling to come, exercises saving faith and gladly welcomes Christ. While under conviction the person formerly uninterested in spiritual things, is now conscious of his sin and is aware of Christ's love and his own worthiness of judgment. However, he is unable and unwilling to commit himself to Christ. Therefore, God sovereignly interposes and by His creative power directly renews and recreates their heart. Instantly and inseparably the sinner now renounces sin and exercises trusting reliant faith, as he gladly embraces Christ.
There are a number of Scriptures which show this relationship of the new birth and saving faith. Christ said, "unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… unless one is born of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:3,5). Clearly Christ says no one can enter the kingdom, which must be entered through faith, unless he is born again. Regeneration must precede faith which is itself a pre-condition of entering the kingdom. John, after saying "as many as receive Him to them He gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in His name" goes on to explain the source of their faith when he says, "who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God." In other words, the faith exercised in receiving Christ is the result of the fact they were born not of the will of man but the will of God. In his first letter John says, "Whoever believes that Jesus if the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). John attributes belief in Christ to the fact of the past occurrence (the perfect tense) of the new birth.
Conclusion
Salvation is the work of God on behalf of man not the work of man on behalf of God. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated and affirmed than in the relationship of faith to the new birth. The sovereignty of God in salvation is clearly demonstrated. Moreover the love and mercy of God is greatly extolled. It is His love and mercy that is the reason why, as Paul says, "even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." Paul declares that our salvation can be attributed to God's sovereign act of regeneration. His words are "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 renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). Notice, we were saved by regeneration. The reason we exercised saving faith, the reason we have come to salvation is God, Himself, in His love, interposed, and regenerated and renewed our hearts. It is to Him that all the glory goes! Truly all boasting has been removed. Truly it is His doing. Truly we can say, "salvation is of the Lord!"
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