By Phil Newton
...[He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...(Eph. 2:5).
When we consider the nature of regeneration we must realize that it is something that is actually wrought in the sinner by the power of the Holy Spirit, enabling him to come to faith in Christ. This is why the Apostle slips in the parenthetical statement, "by grace you have been saved," in the place where he describes regeneration. He drives home the point that our salvation is all of grace and none of self-effort. Let's see what actual work the Holy Spirit brings about in regeneration.
(1) Regeneration is a real work. By this we insist that what the Holy Spirit does is not a supposed or wishful work, but a work that is real and experiential. Plenty of people wish for a better life, but are never changed in their nature. Many suppose that they will improve their lot in life, but are never born again. Regeneration does not belong in the realm of theory but tangible experience. It is the Spirit of God actually working upon our corrupt natures to bring us into new life in Christ.
(2) Regeneration is a supernatural work. When you speak of being born again, many unfortunately have the idea that this refers to something the sinner himself does. He goes through some steps and consequently, he becomes born again. The Apostle's emphasis in these verses points to "But God" (cf. 2:4) as the only hope of the sinner. A dead man cannot birth himself into God's Kingdom. This requires the supernatural work of God actually applied to his life. Perhaps J.I. Packer's comments on the new birth will be helpful [God's Words, p.151].
What, according to John, is this new birth? It is not an alteration of, or addition to, the substance or faculties of the soul; but a drastic change wrought upon fallen human nature which brings a man under the effective dominion of the Holy Spirit and makes him responsive to God, which previously he was not. It is not a change which man does anything to bring about, any more than infants do anything to induce, or contribute to, their own procreation and birth; it is a free act of God, not prompted by any human merit or exertion (cf. Jn. 1:12-13; Tit. 3:3-7), but wholly a gift of divine grace.
(3) Regeneration is a distinct work. Notice that Paul declares that the person dead in his transgressions suddenly is made alive. That word is a synonym for the verb "to raise" so that you see the implication. Though we are dead, the Holy Spirit raises us, makes us alive, and distinctly works in our natures to renew them. He gives sight to our blinded eyes that we might understand the glorious gospel of Christ. He renews our stubborn will that naturally inclines away from God and His gospel, to gladly obey the gospel of Christ. He changes our minds that have been at enmity with God to now love Him supremely. He transforms our affections that persist in following the world, to humbly trust in and cling to the merits of Jesus Christ as our only hope of becoming right with God. He takes away the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.
C.R. Vaughan capsules this distinct work clearly: "Regeneration is simply the change of quality in this ruling moral nature of the soul; it is the renewal of the will; it is the change of the heart; it is the new creation of the nature of a sinning creature" (The Gift of the Holy Spirit, 161).
(4) Regeneration is an essential work. We cannot strike the need for regeneration from our minds because we decide we want things our own way. Jesus told Nicodemus and tells us, "You must be born again!" It is not a sweet suggestion from the Savior. It is a divine imperative! If we are to be a part of the kingdom of God, we must experience the new birth.
Our stubborn wills persist in refusing repentance and faith in Christ until God regenerates us by His Spirit. It is not that we cannot repent and believe; it is that we will not due to the stubbornness and hardness of our hearts. Regeneration gives us a heart of flesh in place of the heart of stone. It provides the change in our wills necessary for us to repent and believe the Gospel. Asahel Nettleton, in the 19th century, clearly explained this truth (Sermons from the Second Great Awakening, p. 63).
When God takes away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh--that is regeneration. When God takes away the heart of stone and gives an heart of flesh--Then God grants repentance. A new heart is a penitent heart. Regeneration is necessary because sinners have hard, impenitent hearts. And this is the glorious effect of the power of God in the act of regeneration. It reduces the rebel into submission. It melts the stubborn heart into repentance. When God regenerates and grants repentance, he does it by one decisive act.
(5) Regeneration is a fruitful work. The fruit displayed is conversion. This is the believer's response to the call of the gospel due to regeneration enlivening his mind and will to repent and believe the gospel. Paul doesn't get to faith (cf. 2:8-9) until he sets forth the necessity of regeneration in this text. But he does not neglect the act of conversion or turning to God through Christ.
In the words of James Petigru Boyce, Conversion "is the result of regeneration. The new heart is prepared to turn to God and does actually so turn. Without regeneration, the sinfulness of man keeps him away from God, causes him to set his affections upon self and his own pleasure, and to find gratification in things which are opposed to God and holiness. The regenerated heart has new affections and desires and is, therefore, fitted to seek after God and holiness" [Abstract of Systematic Theology, 379].
Conversion is the actual turning of the mind and heart to Christ; it is the genuine affection for Christ alone. The regenerated person gladly commits his all to Christ, desiring to live for him and obey him. In the secret place of the heart, the Holy Spirit graciously works to bring dead men to life through faith in Christ.
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