Not a Current Topic?⤒🔗

Today this topic does not seem to be of much interest. There was a time in the church and in theology when it was a much more lively topic. Perhaps the name of Dr. A. Kuyper will bring to mind a doctrine that caused much discussion and strife. In the years surrounding the Liberation [by a portion of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in 1944] the discussion was constantly about the covenant, baptism, and regeneration.

In a book about regeneration, Dr. L. van Hartingsveld wrote that one should not think that something is not important if it is not the centre of attention. Is it not an ominous sign that so little thought is given to this doctrine? Van Hartingsveld expressed a strong opinion about this. He said: ‘People complain about the deterioration of the spiritual life of the church. Perhaps this is connected to the fact that a fundamental matter such as regeneration has faded completely into the background’.

When other questions are raised today, they may not have the result that we neglect the doctrine of regeneration. The Bible raises it expressly.

Regeneration is something different from reincarnation. This statement may seem superfluous, but an influential Dutch dictionary published in 1984 lists the word, reincarnation, as the first meaning of ‘regeneration’. That is followed by the meaning of regeneration in a spiritual sense according to Christian doctrine. In addition, the word has a figurative meaning that is reminiscent of a renaissance.

The concept of reincarnation attracts attention. In fact, it confronts us again with an old concept that is well-known in Hinduism. Regeneration in the sense of reincarnation might, more accurately, be referred to as the transmigration of the soul. It addresses something totally different than the regeneration of which the Word of God speaks. The Bible describes it as a total renewal of the person through the work of the Holy Spirit.

What Does Scripture Say?←⤒🔗

We do not come across the word ‘regeneration’ in the Old Testament. We do find it in the New Testament. The noun – palingensia in Greek – appears in Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5. But the New Testament contains a number of verb forms of the concept. We come across an example in John 3.

The Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus: ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’ (John 3:3). He also says that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit (v. 5).

When you read the Greek text of John 3:3, you have to ask yourself whether the adverb, ‘again’, that is added to the verb ‘born’ (literally translated: begotten or engendered) means ‘from above’. An argument in favour of this meaning is that that is how it must be understood as it is used in both other locations in this fourth gospel (John 3:31; 19:11). It can describe the name of God in this manner. In John 19:11 Jesus says to Pilate: ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above’. Looked at in this way, the phrase ‘born from above’ corresponds to ‘born of the Spirit’ (John 3:8) and ‘born of God’ (John 1:13). For the meaning of ‘again’ one can argue that that is how Nicodemus interpreted what Jesus said. For he asks: ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ (John 3:4). But Nicodemus’ interpretation is not determinative; only what Jesus meant by it is conclusive.

In my opinion the text is about a being born from above, being born of God. It is true that when someone is born from above, she is also born again. It is the beginning of a new life that has a new origin. This birth is a miracle of God.

It is likely that Nicodemus, just like many Jews of his day, wondered what he had to do to inherit the kingdom of God. The Jewish theology of the day declared that it depended on works. People were prepared to do a lot to achieve the desired goal. But Jesus tells him that a radical renewal of life is required instead, a renewal that human beings are not able to effect themselves, just as they are unable to cause themselves to be born.

If we rely on ourselves, we will not succeed, no matter how much we work at it. But God changes people. He renews our lives by his Spirit, who is sovereign in his work. That is the gospel of regeneration according to John 3.

This Scripture passage also teaches us that regeneration does not stand on its own, as if Jesus wanted to say only that God has to give people a new life or else the door to heaven’s kingdom remains closed to them! When the Saviour continues his instruction, he makes clear that the hallmark of the birth from above is faith in the only-begotten Son of God. Entrance into God’s kingdom is the same as having eternal life. For that you need to be reborn, that is, you need believe in Jesus Christ (cf. John 3:16).

Regeneration becomes known in faith. To put it another way: believing in Christ springs from being born of God (see John 1:12 and 13). 1 John 5:1 speaks the same way: ‘Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God’. However, faith is not the only hallmark of the new life that comes from God, but also doing works of righteousness and loving each other.

John 3:5 says: ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit’. Many exegetes think that this refers to the water of baptism. But the water of baptism cannot be regarded as the effective cause of regeneration. Only the Spirit is. Baptism does speak about forgiveness and renewal, by portraying for us the promise of God’s grace that is the cause of this benefit.

God has saved us, not because of righteous deeds we have done, but because of his mercy (Titus 3:5). The phrases ‘washing of rebirth’ and ‘renewal by the Holy Spirit’ that the apostle uses in this context can refer to baptism. That does not mean that this passage teaches a regeneration through baptism. In the Greek original the phrases ‘through the washing of rebirth’ and ‘by the Holy Spirit’ are not of the same order. The Holy Spirit effectuates all salvation. Terms such as rebirth or regeneration and renewal can characterize baptism and thereby the salvation of which baptism is sign and seal.

The word ‘regeneration’ also appears in Matt 19:28 (KJV), but here it does not refer to the inner change in people, but to the renewal of the cosmos, as is apparent from newer translation (ESV, NIV). God will in due course make all things new. And new people belong on his renewed earth.

Holy Scripture also tells us how the Holy Spirit carries out regeneration. He does it by means of the Word. Believers are born again ‘through the living and enduring word of God’ (1 Pet 1:23). This can be compared to James 1:18, which says: ‘He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created’.

Finally, I draw your attention to two other texts from the New Testament. The first is: ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead’ (1 Pet 1:3). The new life that God gives to his people is the life that Christ brought about through his resurrection.

The second text is 2 Corinthians 5:17: ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ The renewal of life is so complete that Paul can speak about a new creation. That is an expression that the rabbis sometimes used for a new person. But Paul places all the emphasis on ‘new’ and ‘creation’. A person cannot develop herself into a new person, but she can be recreated into a new person. That miracle is a reality for all who are joined to Christ.

We began with the New Testament, but we cannot limit ourselves to it. For the Old Testament also speaks about a radical renewal of life through God’s grace, although it does not use the word ‘regeneration’ for that purpose. For example Ezekiel 11:19 and 20 contrasts a heart of stone and a heart of flesh. God will give his people a new spirit. Ezekiel 36:26 and 27 repeat this promise. Moreover, God says there that he will put his Spirit in his people and move them to follow his decrees and laws. Even more familiar is the prophecy of the new covenant the Lord will make with Israel in Jeremiah 31:31-34. The benefit of the new covenant consists of the renewal of the heart and the forgiveness of sins. The New Testament shows us how this prophecy is fulfilled.

Some Aspects of the Doctrine of Regeneration←⤒🔗

Having let Scripture speak, we have given the foundation for the doctrine. So long as things are right, the doctrine of the church follows Scripture completely and theology does so as well.

We have to posit first and foremost that regeneration is necessary for everyone. Things are so bad with us that mere correction will not suffice. We have to begin anew. But how? We lack both the ability and the desire to change. As the Heidelberg Catechism says, ‘we are so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil . . . unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God’ (Lord’s Day 3, Question and Answer 8). The classical form for baptism says the same: ‘we cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are born again’. In this we hear an echo of the instruction Jesus gave to Nicodemus in John 3.

Some churches teach that we are regenerated by means of baptism. But we do not find that in the Bible, also not in John 3:5, or Titus 3:5. Scripture makes it clear that the Lord uses the Word of God as the means of regeneration. That is why the Canons of Dort confess that God ordained the gospel as the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul (III/IV, 17).

Kuyper taught an immediate (without means) regeneration. In his doctrine, the Word is not the means by which the Spirit generates new life, but the means by which we become aware of it. Regeneration then actually precedes the call. It follows, according to this doctrine, that in the church in which the Word of God is proclaimed you may presume that little children are also regenerate. But you can’t be sure of it, for it can later become apparent that a child is not regenerate.

People rightly criticized this doctrine, because it created a false peace of mind. H. Bavinck’s assessment is to the point: This point of view robs the preaching of the gospel of its seriousness and its power. The most principial objection to the doctrine is that the doctrine of immediate regeneration conflicts with Scripture. Although Kuyper argued, surely God does not call people who are deaf or dead, we repeat with Scripture that God calls us to new life by his Spirit and Word.

Regeneration is necessary. But we must realize that some think that regeneration precedes faith, whereas others speak of regeneration by faith. This is because of a different terminology that Kuyper identified as the old and new terminology.

In a broader sense, regeneration denotes the entire renewal of our lives, which is an ongoing process. A chapter in Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion has the title, ‘Our Regeneration by Faith: Repentance’ (III, 3). The Belgic Confession says that faith regenerates a person and makes him into a new person (art. 24). That is regeneration by faith.

Although the new terminology was already being used in the time of the Reformation, it only became accepted in the period that followed the Reformation. Especially in the struggle against the Arminians (Remonstrants), Reformed theology emphasized that the new life finds its origin in a gift of God and is a work of his grace. We are simply incapable of achieving the new life by a proper application of our own gifts or of a light of nature (Canons of Dort III/IV, Rejection of Errors 5). Instead, we counteract, rather than cooperate in our regeneration.

Against the background of the conflict with the Arminians, it makes sense that the Synod of Dort described the recreating and renewing work of God in the strongest possible terms. It is ‘the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, the making alive, . . . which God works in us without us’ (Canons of Dort, III/IV, 12).

From a Biblical perspective, it is correct to call both the beginning, as well as the continuation of the radical renewal of our lives, regeneration. Scripture speaks not only of the birth of the new man, but also of a reformation through a renewal of the will.

The Bible does not treat regeneration as a stand-alone concept and systematic theology does not do so either. Otherwise the regenerate person with his characteristics would become the central focus, so that one could say: at his best he looks like this and at his worst like this. Then one can also debate which characteristics make up regeneration.

But in the Bible regeneration, no matter how important, is but one concept in a larger whole. The characteristic of those who are born of God is that they accept the Lord Jesus Christ in faith.

When you are in Christ, you are a new creature and even a new creation. Regenerate people are part of a much greater whole: God’s new world. The new life has become reality. And God makes all things new.