There can be no question that in conversion the soul has to be regenerated. The explicit and clear words of Jesus are that a human soul must be born again (from above) before it can see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-8). His words in the same passage about the same event are that a person must be born of the Spirit. For some reason in the past century and a half or so the main message of evangelism has increasingly put the weight upon a human act or will rather than the act of God in salvation. Was this change driven by theology or for measurable results? The Gospel has been under attack since God’s promise of it as a curse on Satan in Genesis 3:15. The words of God have been under attack since the Serpent brought doubt to Eve in the Garden. The Gospel has been under attack and is still under attack. It is not always a frontal attack, but it is usually by subtle means as the father of these attacks was subtle in the Garden in his efforts to deceive Eve. The evil one does not have to deny that there is a Gospel in order to work a little poison in the mix and deceive large numbers of people.
We have been focusing on the activity of the Spirit in convicting souls in His work in converting the soul. But it is also the Spirit that renews and regenerates the soul. Titus 3 is one place that gives us this glorious teaching.
“When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
This text rings with clarity and beauty. It is by the kindness of God our Savior and His love that souls are saved. Souls are not saved on the basis of any deed or deeds which they have done. If some insist that a soul is saved because of an act of faith or an act of the human will, they cannot show that from Titus 3:4-7. The text explicitly says what the basis for salvation is not on the basis of deeds done in righteousness. If an act of faith is not done in righteousness, then it is an act of unrighteousness. If an act of faith is an unrighteous act, then how could it move God to save sinners? The text then gives us the true basis for salvation. God saves according to His mercy. The only basis for salvation in this text is mercy and love of God. Then the text tells us that mercy saves by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. How and why is the Holy Spirit given? He is poured out upon “us” through Jesus Christ. So we know how. Then the text gives us the why or the reason for it all: “so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Here is a glorious message of grace. The grace of God is what justifies sinners. Romans 3:24 says the same thing: “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” Justification is by grace alone. This grace of God takes the soul and actually changes it. God’s mercy takes the unbelieving soul and washes it in regeneration and renews it by the Holy Spirit. It is done that way so that a sinner can be justified by grace and when one is justified by grace then one is an heir according to the hope of eternal life. When the soul has been regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit and justified by grace, then the sinner has the hope of eternal life. But notice again, there is no language of any basis for salvation in the text other than what God does according to His mercy, love, and grace. The choice of man and the will of man are not objects of hope and do not give us a basis for salvation at all. The work of regeneration in the soul is our hope because that brings eternal life.
What follows are quotes from a great little work on Decisional Regeneration by Jay Adams published in 1972.
“Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God. It is not a work of man. It is not something that man does but something God does. The new birth is a change wrought in us, not an act performed by us…The history of the Christian Church has seen many errors concerning the new birth. These teachings depart from Scripture by attributing to man the ability to regenerate himself. When these false concepts of man and the new birth are adopted, churches soon become corrupted with false practices.
Few controversies were so heated as the one over Baptismal regeneration. C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), the most prolific preacher of that century, had printed in 1864 more copies of his sermon denouncing Baptismal Regeneration than of any other sermon. Baptismal Regeneration teaches that the new birth is conveyed by the waters of baptism. The sacrament is performed by man and is in his control.
But the twentieth century Church has, in “Decisional Regeneration,” a more subtle falsehood to combat. “Decisional Regeneration” differs from Baptismal Regeneration only in the fact that it attaches the certainty of the new birth to a different act. This doctrine, just as Baptismal Regeneration, sees the new birth as the result of a mechanical process than can be performed by man. What is here called “Decisional Regeneration” has in its deceptive way permeated much of the Christian Church…The practice of “Decisional Regeneration” needs exposed in order to save men from the damning delusion that because they have “decided” or “signed a card,” they are going to heaven and are no longer under the wrath of God….Regeneration has thereby been reduced to a procedure which man performs. How differently did Jesus Christ deal with sinners. He did not have any instant salvation process…Mr. Murray has pointed out the fact that on the basis of this counseling “a man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed. He was never told it was essential so he sees no reason to doubt whether he is a Christian.
Robert Dabney, one of the great theologians of the nineteenth century, made some very penetrating observations concerning the disillusionment of people that have been counseled for a decision. Some of these individuals, he said, “feel that a cruel trick has been played upon their inexperience by the ministers and friends of Christianity in thus thrusting them, in the hour of their confusion, into false positions, whose duties they do not and cannot perform, and into sacred professions which they have been compelled shamefully to repudiate….They may keep their hostility to themselves in the main; because Christianity now ‘walks in her silver slippers;’ but they are not the less steeled against all saving impressions of the truth.” “Decisional Regeneration” does not bring men to Christ any more than does Baptismal Regeneration. It is true that some are converted under such preaching, but this is in spite of the false methods used, not because of them. The Bible is clear in its declaration that only by the Spirit of God can men be born again. True repentance and faith are the acts of regenerated men, not of men dead in sins (Eph. 2:1, 5)…The apostles taught that God saves His elect through the foolishness of preaching. All new methods devised by man can only fall far short of this ordained means of converting the sinner. The Church must forsake its carnal inventions and once again be guided by the teaching of Scripture if it is to expect God to bless its efforts and multiply its harvest.
J.H. Merle d’Aubigne (1794-1872) in his history of the Reformation in England states that “to believe in the power of man in the work of regeneration is the great heresy of Rome, and from that error has come the ruin of the Church. Conversion proceeds from the grace of God alone, and the system which ascribes partly to man and partly to God is worse than Pelagianism.” One of the greatest American theologians, Charles Hodge (1797-1878), also points out the danger of this teaching. “No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please…As it is a truth both of Scripture and of experience that the unrenewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his salvation, it is essential that he should be brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convicted, and not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained.”…What a glorious doctrine is the new birth to the helpless sinner! May the Church return to the biblical doctrine so that it may evangelize again to the glory of God.”
Despite the religious rhetoric and orthodox language in our day, things are even worse today than they were in the days of the writers mentioned by Adams. We hardly hear a peep today against decisional regeneration today. It is in our churches cloaked in orthodox language, yet it is there. Men cannot truly repent and believe unless they are born again. Why don’t we explain that to people so they won’t believe that their choice for Christ will save them? Evangelism programs have inundated our churches based on the will of sinners and not of God giving them new hearts. Instead of that, we are told to talk to people and get them to the point of making a decision or praying a prayer. Even if a person professes to be Reformed, if that person evangelizes in a way where conversion is thought to be partly of man, then as d’Aubigne said, it “is worse than Pelagianism.” As Charles Hodge points out, this is a soul-destroying doctrine. As Dabney pointed out, this steels men against all saving impressions of the truth. As Mr. Murray said “a man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power.”
Do we really believe in a Gospel that is the power of God for salvation? Do we really believe the words of Jesus that men must be born again and that this happens as the Spirit wills? Do we really believe that men are justified by grace alone? Do we really believe that men are dead in their sins and have no ability to make a new heart for themselves? If they are not awakened to the fact that they are dead, can they really see their need for a new heart and a new nature? It could be that our very orthodoxy today has been mixed with what has come from Finney and so our hearts are chilled from understanding the Gospel of grace from eternity past to the way sinners are brought Christ by the Spirit. Regardless of the methods that have been invented and practiced by men, in some way sinners must know that they are dead in their sins and that they are utterly helpless under the wrath of God and that they need Him to give them life. He only gives life based on grace and nothing they can do. Are we in the death grip of a Pelagian captivity as R.C. Sproul once said? All the signs point to the fact that he was and is correct.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment