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Regeneration:
The New Birth, Changed Lives, and Sin In the Church
Chapter Six
The Implications Of Regeneration: Evangelism, Discipleship and Counseling
The new birth is a central feature of God's saving work in the Christian. Faith, sanctification and growth in Christ likeness flow out of and take on their character from it. To misunderstand the nature of the new birth is to misunderstand salvation itself, in all its facets, including sanctification. The following are areas where a faulty view of regeneration has adversely affected ministry in the church.
Evangelism and Witnessing
Manipulation and Pressure Tactics in Evangelism
Perhaps the most common abuse is that people are pressured to pray a prayer or go forward at a meeting: short-circuiting the work of the Holy Spirit and substituting a man produced conversion in its place. In salvation the Holy Spirit works upon and renews the heart, therefore, a person will be willing to come to Christ. If a person must be pressured in any way to come to Christ then God's Spirit has not finished His calling. Such conversions usually prove to be faulty and non-saving. The person either immediately, or at some point later, will refuse to follow Christ and he will turn back to the old life (Luke 8:13).
External Signs and Tokens of Salvation
Another problem is that a person's salvation is too quickly judged by external things such as going forward at a meeting, raising the hand, or saying a prayer. The fact is, that since the Holy Spirit works a willingness in the heart, the inward act of faith and complete trust in Christ can only be outwardly indicated by an immediate willingness to follow Christ! A person should never be told they are saved simply because of an external act!1 It must be clearly indicated to them that their faith is real only if they have a heart that is now willing to follow and obey Christ. Telling people they are saved without clarifying, in this way, leads to a false assurance. It blinds those who are not actually saved to their need, and calluses them in the future to the gospel2. Remember, a person unwilling to turn from sin and follow Christ is a person not yet brought to see their need and the desperateness of their state before God. They are a person not yet called by the Spirit.
Follow-Up and Sanctification
A wrong concept of regeneration has caused great confusion in the area of follow-up as well. When new professing Christians don't show a willingness to seek out Christian fellowship and pursue growth the problem is often attributed to inadequate follow-up. Much planning and energy is expended trying in vain to get professing Christians to follow Christ. The fact must be faced that, while follow-up is important, the problem more often than not is faulty, man-induced conversions. People are assumed to be saved because they prayed a prayer or went forward, when their unwilling heart reveals otherwise. Once again, it must be reiterated that the Holy Spirit works a new heart and a renewed will. In the New Testament they gladly received the apostles teaching, and willingly sought out fellowship. The demoniac of Gadara was sent home by Jesus (Luke 8:39) and the Ethiopian Eunuch was left to go on without Philip (Acts 8:39). Apparently it was taken for granted that truly saved people will have initiative and willingness to go on with Christ. While follow-up is important, it did not include pleading and begging people to do what they have no heart to do in the first place.
Sanctification and Growth
Misunderstanding about the nature of regeneration has also wrecked havoc in the area of sanctification. Because the new birth has been diluted of it’s full meaning, the concept of a carnal Christian has arisen which separates sanctification from regeneration. Obedience has been made the response of the minority, the select few who are surrendered to Christ. The rest are viewed as carnal Christians. However, the fact is that conversion is itself a surrender! Why call it a conversion if they are not converted. What are they converted to if their heart is not changed and their will is not redirected? It must be remembered that in salvation the Holy Spirit creates a new disposition. The will is renewed and is now directed to God and holiness. There are no Christians who are under the dominion of sin as a totally life dominating power (Romans 6:14). Therefore, while Christians act carnally, no Christian can be classified as "carnal" in a permanent or characteristic sense3. Sanctification and spiritual growth, therefore, cannot be separated from regeneration and salvation. The reigning power of sin has been broken in the new birth (Romans 6:14, 18-20). The flesh is indeed incessant in it’s desires and often overcomes the Christian. However, it’s dominating strength has been broken. Sin is an aberration and temporary lapse in the overall growth of the Christian. The sanctification of the believer in an ultimate and final sense is not contingent on man’s will (although the believer must continually be active in submitting to God). The pervasive nature of regeneration as well as God’s active work in their life assures that sanctification will flow out of salvation. It is often assumed a person can be saved without manifesting it with growth in holiness. The fact is, if there is no growth in holiness then there has been no new birth (Hebrews 12:14).
Counseling and Demonism
One final area needs to be mentioned where faulty theology has led to faulty practice. Many counselors and pastors in attempts to deal with professing Christians who remain in bondage to sin, have concluded that the answer to this dilemma must be found in demon possession or in the need for some insight from psychology. However, ongoing bondage to sin is more biblically assessed as an indication of an unregenerate state. In counseling such people it should not be concluded that a true believer can be demon possessed. A correct, and even clearly enunciated, mental understanding of the gospel does not mean the person is saved. Satan can mimic biblical theology! Unhesitatingly accepting a person’s word that they are saved (even when they seem so sure and convinced) while they have a continual inability to obey Christ, may only foster deception. What is the alternative? Are we to conclude that salvation, the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit and prayer are not sufficient to deliver from bondage? Many have indeed concluded this and looked for something more. A direct confrontation with demons or some technique from psychology is often said to be the answer. Instead of concluding that the "professing Christian" needs something more than the Word and the Spirit the other alternative should be considered. Perhaps that person's profession of faith is false. The reigning power of sin and Satan is broken at salvation (Colossians 1:13; Acts 26:18-20). Doesn't Christ promise to set free (John 8:32-34)? Doesn't Paul say that the believer is no longer a slave of sin (Romans 6:14-18)? In scriptural terms, it seems to me that many cases of demon possession in professing believers are actually demon activity or possession in unregenerate people who are deluded about their spiritual state because of faulty theology.
It is my belief that many hours of counseling are expended with people looking for relief without repentance. For the truly born again Christian, it is only repentance that releases the power of the Holy Spirit, who alone is sufficient to overcome any sin. The emphasis on demon possession or the techniques of much "Christian psychology" often unwittingly promotes sin in unrepentant hearts that have yet to give unqualified allegiance to Jesus.
Conclusion
It can be seen that a faulty view of the radical nature of the new birth has led to many abuses and excesses. False conversions and assurance have inundated the church. Professing Christians are confronted as if they could be demon possessed and psychological techniques are borrowed from the world and practiced under the name of "Christian Psychology." All of this is to deal with the phenomena of legions of professing believers, who know nothing of the Holy Spirit's delivering power, people who give lip service to Jesus but are unwilling and unable to give Him allegiance.4 More often than not, these are people who in another era, and other parts of the world, in our day, would be seen as what they are: Professors, but not possessors. People who follow Jesus from a distance. People to whom Jesus will Himself one day say, "depart from me you who practice lawlessness, I never knew you."
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