John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” James 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
In John 1:13 it states that the new birth or regeneration is by the will of God. That must be an axiom in the doctrine of regeneration. John 3:3 teaches us the utter and absolute necessity of the new birth before one can see the kingdom of God. I would argue that the idea of “see the kingdom” would include the nature of true faith. But the language here sets out with absolute clarity that one must be born again. While today we tell people that they must believe or walk an aisle or say a prayer, Scripture tells us that we must be born again. That is to go from what is perceived as an act of man (faith or believe) to an act of God. The difference is enormous. The James 1:21 passage tells us that we should put aside all filthiness and wickedness and in humility to receive the word implanted. This last passage gets at the idea of what must happen in the soul, but also how an unconverted person may seek the Lord. We also see the utter need of humility. Later in James he also tells us that the humble receive grace while the proud are opposed by God.
A lot of stress should be put upon the necessity of the new birth. Again, in the modern day people put a stress upon believing some facts and a prayer, but in the days when God worked in power in His Church the stress was upon the new birth. By putting the stress on the new birth men were taught that God must do the work and not themselves. This is a very important point. Men must see that they must be born again and that they must be in utter dependence on God to do that, which implies that man cannot do that. So it was also taught to men that they were depraved and could not make themselves born a second time and that they had no ability to do so. This would leave men in the hands of a sovereign God to do as He pleased and not as men pleased and not when they pleased. Not only did it take grace to save them, it took grace to bring them to the point of salvation.
Genesis 3:5-6 points to us the virtual opposite of the new birth. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” These verses show us a lot about the nature of sin and why man must be born again. The tempter (Satan) in essence tempted Eve not to look to God in absolute dependence, but to look to herself. The essence of what she was told was that she could be her own god in determining what was good and evil for herself. She was turned from being God-centered to self-centeredness. She was turned from a love for God to self-love. She was turned from depending on God for all things to depending on self. Adam quickly followed.
Sin is not just an act that people do, but sin is intertwined around the heart (so to speak) and is of the very nature of a human soul. It is correct that people do not believe (have faith) and must believe (have faith), but it goes deeper than that. People must repent from an unbelieving (unfaithing) heart to a believing (faithing) heart. This is not just an act of the human will, this is an act of God in changing the very nature of the soul. A human being cannot change his or her own nature, but instead that is clearly the prerogative of God alone. He is under no obligation to do this work in anyone other than if He has covenanted with the Son to do so. There is nothing in the power and ability of man to manipulate God or move God to do this.
Because of the nature of man who is born in sin and has a sinful nature the new birth is an absolute necessity. There can be no entrance into the kingdom of God without this new birth. There can be no faith in the soul without this new birth. This new birth must happen to a human being, yet this can only happen if God does it. This new birth will only happen if the soul is leaving sin and is humbled. What can a human being do in this area? A human being can flee from the commission of outward sin knowing that sin hardens the soul while s/he must have a humbled and tender heart. The human being can use the means of grace (Scripture reading, meditation, prayer, hearing preaching) and pray that God will give a new heart. The soul must have this new birth or it will perish, yet it is in the hands of sovereign grace to bestow it. We must seek Lord in the ways He has set out.
God Loves... Himself 
October 16, 2013 at 6:57 pm |
Isn’t it appropriate to tell the sinner to meditate on his sins, ask God to convict him of his sins, humble him, and break down the pride of his heart?
October 16, 2013 at 7:28 pm |
Yes, it is not only appropriate but necessary. This is what I was thinking of in the last sentence when I mentioned seeking God. If we see that God regenerates by grace alone, but only the humble receive grace, the sinner should seek the Lord for this humbling. It is the “job” of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment to come. On the other hand, it is the “job” of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Scriptures. But the fact that the Holy Spirit alone can illuminate the Scriptures does not excuse us from reading and meditating on them. So the fact that the Holy Spirit is the One that convicts of sin does not excuse us from reading and meditating on the Scriptures praying for God to convict him of his sins. The fact that God alone can truly humble the soul does not excuse us from seeking the Lord for this humility, and the fact that we cannot break our own pride does not excuse us from seeking the Lord to break the pride of our hearts. The glorious doctrine of regeneration by grace alone stands aligned with the great truths that we are to seek the Lord by meditating on our sins, asking and pleading with God for a true convictions of our sins, and then seeking the Lord for true humility and broken hearts.
Thomas Hooker speaks to these points in his fantastic books on The Soul’s Humiliation, The Soul’s Preparation for Christ, and The Application of Redemption. The soul must be humbled (emptied of self and hope in self) in order for Christ to take His throne in the soul. The way that the Puritans and Edwards taught evangelism was to focus the soul on the necessity for the new birth, but that pointed to the need of the soul to be convicted of sin, humlbed, and broken before God. Today, people are just told to believe as if they could work faith up in their own power.