Soteriology
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
In order to help us grasp His truth more easily, God often employs earthly realities as a way of communicating spiritual ones. A prime example is that of a birth. Physical birth is a universal experience. A physical birth lies at the beginning of each of our lives. The Bible uses the analogy of birth as one way of helping us grasp the meaning of salvation. If we begin reading the Gospel of John, we encounter phrases like “born … of God” (1:13), “born again” (3:3) and “born of the Spirit” (3:8). In speaking of this kind of birth to Nicodemus, Jesus made it clear that He meant something other than physical birth (John 3:4). The formal theological term used for this spiritual birth is “regeneration.”
A spiritual rebirth is the beginning point for the restoration in us of the image and likeness of God, an image that has been marred or distorted by sin.
Dual sense
Salvation involves a “spiritual” birth in a dual sense. It is spiritual in that the Holy Spirit is the divine agent who enables this new birth. Only the enabling of the divine Spirit can work a permanent renewal in a life, which by nature and choice is inclined toward sin.
The new birth also is spiritual in the sense that it has to do with the inner life of a person, as opposed to the outer physical being.
Internal transformation
Salvation is God’s work in transforming a person from the inside, not reforming a person from the outside. Although running the risk of over-simplification, we often think of human nature as composed of mind, emotion and will. We might think of regeneration or spiritual birth as illuminating the mind to our need and God’s supply.
Awakened to the need brought about by the reality of sin and disobedience, with the subsequent estrangement from God, spiritual rebirth awaits one’s grasp of the need for salvation. Just as the Holy Spirit is the quickening agent for spiritual birth, God’s Word is the instrument the Spirit uses to effect the birth. The Bible speaks both of being born of the Spirit and of being “begotten through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15) as well as “being born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23).
Love for God
This spiritual birth also causes a change in our affections or disposition. The love of the world and the desire to sin becomes displaced by a love for the Savior and the desire to please Him. Regeneration also brings about a redirecting of our wills, causing us to choose actions and attitudes that please God and conform to His perfect will. Spiritual birth results in a genuine engagement in praying like Jesus taught when He said we are to ask the Father for His will being done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).
Member of God’s family
Ideally and at its best, we think of a physical birth resulting in a new family member, one who is a son or daughter of their parents. Spiritual birth results in a new member of God’s family. People who have experienced spiritual birth are referred to in the Bible as children of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:2). Furthermore one who becomes a child of God also becomes a brother or sister to all others who belong to His family. In short, Christians are children of God by spiritual birth.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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