What’s New?
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Among the new things that Theology 101 has considered in previous weeks are a New Covenant, a new commandment, a new creation and a new name for believers. The One who sits on the throne and declares, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5) also makes possible a new birth for repentant sinners. We commonly refer to the doctrine of regeneration as truth about a new, spiritual birth that God works in believers by His Holy Spirit.
The well-known passage in John 3 is basic to this truth. In that passage Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about the necessity of being “born again” in order to “see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). In His explanation to Nicodemus, Jesus distinguished between physical birth and spiritual birth with the reminder that physical birth results in physical life, while the spiritual birth results in new spiritual life (v. 6).
In elaborating on this new birth, Jesus spoke of it as being “born of the Spirit,” which He compared to the invisible and humanly uncontrolled action of wind blowing where the wind wishes (v. 8). Thus, we might think of the new birth as a gracious and sovereign action of the Holy Spirit in which the inner being of a person is reborn within a new relationship with God the Father through faith in God the Son.
It is helpful to think of regeneration or new birth alongside of justification. Justification speaks of a change in the repentant sinner’s relationship to God in which condemnation due to our sin is replaced with acquittal by God (Rom. 8:1). New birth, on the other hand, speaks of a change in the sinner’s heart or inner nature.
Justification is the gospel’s answer to the reality of guilt, while regeneration is the gospel’s answer to the depravity caused by sin.
It also is helpful to distinguish between regeneration and sanctification. The regeneration of new birth points to the beginning point of new life in Christ, whereas sanctification addresses the lifelong process by which a sinner’s inner nature is being transformed progressively into Christlikeness.
It is also helpful to think of new birth as occurring through the personal agency of the Holy Spirit using the means or instrumentality of God’s word. Thus, the Bible speaks both of being born of the Spirit (John 3:6, 8) and being begotten or brought forth by the word of truth (James 1:18).
Considering the importance and necessity of the new birth, we understand the old adage that holds being born is an eternal calamity unless a person also is born again.
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