The Microscopic Revolution of New Birth
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…to regenerate the believing sinner…
“Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.â€
God saves us from Himself through the sacrifice of Christ. But He also saves us from OURSELVES through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s work is a lifelong process of change and renewal of the inner man. That work begins with “regenerationâ€, i.e. being born again (referenced in our church’s statement of faith above).
Baptistic evangelicals use “born again†as a sort of code word for the decision to believe in Christ. For them, accepting the message is “being born againâ€.
But being “born again†is something that takes place in the inner man. It is an experience of some sort. Paul calls it a washing, a renewal accomplished by the Spirit (Titus 3.5). Jesus said that one cannot see (i.e. gain entrance) to God’s kingdom without being born again (John 3.3,5-8).
The old Calvinists believed every human being was born “spiritually deadâ€, i.e. unable to function in any way with respect to God. You can relate to people but not to God in any way. Even if God’s message is preached, you can’t understand it because, according to these people, “spiritually dead†means your reasoning doesn’t function toward God. So for them, “born again†means God breathes life into your spiritual corpse. You come alive, understand God, and then you believe in Jesus.
Most evangelicals see it the other way around: a soul hears the gospel and believes and then the Holy Spirit gives the believer a new life.
These two sides have argued for over five centuries now. Are you born again and then you believe -- or do you believe and then you are born again? The argument has generated more heat than light. Does it matter?
The apostle Peter depicts the gospel message as the “seed†that creates life in the soul (1 Peter 1.23-24), so it seems to me best to take the entire process as more dynamic than static. It is an interaction between God (who is a person, not a philosophy) and a human soul. The human soul is “dead†in the sense that it doesn’t inherently know God, but it can still understand words and it can still follow reasoning. God as a person, through His Spirit and breathed-out Word interacts with the soul of a reasoning human being – and that interaction results SOMEHOW in new life, new birth – regeneration.
Jesus said that the Spirit’s work has an air of mystery about it (John 3.7-8), so I don’t feel a need to explain every aspect of His working. Jesus also said you can see the effects of the Spirit’s work in a soul, and that’s how you know the Spirit’s work. Do I need to know anything more?
When I first became a believer, I thought “regeneration†completely overhauled a soul in big ways all at once. Life experience has convinced me that being born again is more like the creation of a human life in the womb. It begins in an almost invisible and imperceptible way – seed miraculously joining egg to create Godward-oriented life.
The new birth can be a hidden and quiet and work, microscopic but revolutionary, turning the soul from darkness to light. That mustard seed-sized opening of the eyes of the heart to sin and forgiveness and repentance grows, altering thought and behavior as the Spirit continues saving that soul from itself and making it into who it is going to be – more like Christ.
“Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.â€
God saves us from Himself through the sacrifice of Christ. But He also saves us from OURSELVES through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s work is a lifelong process of change and renewal of the inner man. That work begins with “regenerationâ€, i.e. being born again (referenced in our church’s statement of faith above).
Baptistic evangelicals use “born again†as a sort of code word for the decision to believe in Christ. For them, accepting the message is “being born againâ€.
But being “born again†is something that takes place in the inner man. It is an experience of some sort. Paul calls it a washing, a renewal accomplished by the Spirit (Titus 3.5). Jesus said that one cannot see (i.e. gain entrance) to God’s kingdom without being born again (John 3.3,5-8).
The old Calvinists believed every human being was born “spiritually deadâ€, i.e. unable to function in any way with respect to God. You can relate to people but not to God in any way. Even if God’s message is preached, you can’t understand it because, according to these people, “spiritually dead†means your reasoning doesn’t function toward God. So for them, “born again†means God breathes life into your spiritual corpse. You come alive, understand God, and then you believe in Jesus.
Most evangelicals see it the other way around: a soul hears the gospel and believes and then the Holy Spirit gives the believer a new life.
These two sides have argued for over five centuries now. Are you born again and then you believe -- or do you believe and then you are born again? The argument has generated more heat than light. Does it matter?
The apostle Peter depicts the gospel message as the “seed†that creates life in the soul (1 Peter 1.23-24), so it seems to me best to take the entire process as more dynamic than static. It is an interaction between God (who is a person, not a philosophy) and a human soul. The human soul is “dead†in the sense that it doesn’t inherently know God, but it can still understand words and it can still follow reasoning. God as a person, through His Spirit and breathed-out Word interacts with the soul of a reasoning human being – and that interaction results SOMEHOW in new life, new birth – regeneration.
Jesus said that the Spirit’s work has an air of mystery about it (John 3.7-8), so I don’t feel a need to explain every aspect of His working. Jesus also said you can see the effects of the Spirit’s work in a soul, and that’s how you know the Spirit’s work. Do I need to know anything more?
When I first became a believer, I thought “regeneration†completely overhauled a soul in big ways all at once. Life experience has convinced me that being born again is more like the creation of a human life in the womb. It begins in an almost invisible and imperceptible way – seed miraculously joining egg to create Godward-oriented life.
The new birth can be a hidden and quiet and work, microscopic but revolutionary, turning the soul from darkness to light. That mustard seed-sized opening of the eyes of the heart to sin and forgiveness and repentance grows, altering thought and behavior as the Spirit continues saving that soul from itself and making it into who it is going to be – more like Christ.