Ordo Salutis: Regeneration

From Death to Life, a Biblical look at the Doctrine of Regeneration

Under cover of darkness a Pharisee named Nicodemus made his way through the dark streets of Jerusalem. His single focus that night was to speak to Jesus. He desired to find out more about this man who was exhibiting such wonderful power.

As he approached Jesus, he greeted Him with great respect, acknowledging Him as a Rabbi and referred to Him as a teacher come from God (John 3:2). In response to this mans greeting, Jesus cut through all the small talk and got right to the point.

This man was a highly religious Pharisee steeped in Jewish Pharisaical tradition. A tradition that promoted salvation through rigorous devotion, religious education, and the right belief system.[1] Jesus knew this and responded to Nicodemus with these words, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3).  

With this one statement, Jesus completely dismantled everything Nicodemus had learned regarding how to be right with God. Jesus was essentially proclaiming that salvation is not works based in anyway. If one is to be right with God, they must be given a miraculous new life from God.[2]

This statement was mind blowing for Nicodemus, he could not understand how this could be. Though he was a religious leader in Jerusalem, he had no clue regarding regeneration. Thankfully, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the sufficiency of the inspired inerrant Word of God, we are able to gain a measure of understanding.

What is Regeneration?

Biblical regeneration is referring to that supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in which the spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1) elect sinner is brought to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:5).[3] In the process, the totally depraved sinner has their heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh, so that he is washed, born from above (Titus 3:5) and now able to repent and trust in Christ as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is important to understand that man is entirely passive in this act.[4]

Regeneration is Monergistic in Nature

This work that takes place in the sinner’s heart, is entirely an act of God. The monergistic nature of this event must be emphasized if we are to have a proper understanding of regeneration. One of the greatest passages to illustrate the monergistic nature of this event can be found in Ezekiel 36:25-27.  

In this passage, God promises a day when He would bring regeneration to His people, removing their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh.

In these three verses, God uses the phrase “I will” six times, insisting that this spiritual heart transplant is entirely His work. [5] Regeneration is a monergistic trinitarian even in that the Father is the ultimate agent, the Son is the means by which it was made possible, and the Spirit working through the living Word of God is the cause of regeneration (James 1:18; 1 Peter 2:23-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:14).

Regeneration is Necessary

In going back to the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, we see that Jesus told Nicodemus twice that he must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 7). He did not give him a couple different options to choose from. Jesus explains in verse six when He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). This is a truth that is for everybody not just for some. The need for regeneration is universal.

It is not just something that is necessary for some of humanity. We see in Romans 3:10 that there is none righteous no not one….and again in romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jeremiah reminds us in 17:9 that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. He then asks the question, who can know it?

This being the case, the best thing that God can do for man is to bring him to a knowledge of his sin so he will realize his need to be regenerated.[6] There may be millions of individuals in heaven who were not educated, wealthy, famous, or super religious, but there will be no one there who has not been regenerated. Unless a man be born again, he will not enter the kingdom of God.

Regeneration is First

Although in our experience of regeneration, we find it difficult to understand how regeneration comes before our faith. We tend to think that the reason we were regenerated was because we placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Biblically this is in error.

The Bible clearly tells us that we were unable to place our trust in Christ because we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1; 5, Colossians 2:13).  The only way we could come to Christ was to be regenerated first, to be brought back to life, then and only then could we respond in repentance and faith.

However, it must be understood that regeneration and faith are distinguished not in terms of time but in terms of logical causality. From a temporal perspective, regeneration and faith occur simultaneously.[7] One must be careful not to confuse logical order with chronological order. It is possible for two events to occur at the same time and yet to have one cause the other.

Regeneration Produces Results

After an individual is regenerated this new life does not lie stagnant. Regeneration naturally results in sanctification. There are at least four aspects of sanctification that take place as a result of regeneration. First of all, the regenerated individual necessarily make a practice of righteousness (1 John 2:29).

They will still sin, however, the dominating tenor of their lives will be one of progressive holiness. Second the regenerated life is marked by overcoming the evil influences of the zeitgeist (1 John 5:4). [8]

Third, the child of God willingly obeys and does so with delight and exuberance, not out of a sense of duty or with an attitude of bitterness. For the believer, God’s commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). Finally, the individual who has been regenerated loves his fellow believers and lives to sacrificially serve them (1 John 4:7).

[1] Joel R. Beeke & Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology, Spirit and Salvation, Vol. 3. (Wheaton ILL: Crossway Publishing, 2021), 400.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Matthew Barrett, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/regeneration/ referenced on 8/10/2022.

[4] John MacArthur, Essential Christian Doctrine, A Handbook on Biblical Truth. (Wheaton ILL: Crossway Publishing, 2021), 301.

[5] . John MacArthur, Essential Christian Doctrine, A Handbook on Biblical Truth. (Wheaton ILL: Crossway Publishing, 2021), 302.        

[6] Lehman Strauss, https://bible.org/article/regeneration-justification-and-sanctification. Accessed on 8/10/2022

[7] John MacArthur, Essential Christian Doctrine, A Handbook on Biblical Truth. (Wheaton ILL: Crossway Publishing, 2021), 306.

[8] John MacArthur, Essential Christian Doctrine, A Handbook on Biblical Truth. (Wheaton ILL: Crossway Publishing, 2021), 310.