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The Time and Nature of Regeneration
Regeneration, the supernatural act of God that imparts eternal life to ahuman being, is the beginning of spiritual life in each individualChristian. Just as a person is physically born into a human family, everybeliever in Christ is spiritually born into the family of God. Without thisspiritual birth, a person remains spiritually dead (John 3:3-7). Yet for such a basic and fundamental truth, regeneration is a doctrinethat has
not been clearly articulated
by theologians over thecenturies, often being confused with conversion or taken to include justification, sanctification, and even glorification (Walvoord 129). Itseems helpful then to begin our discussion by differentiating betweenthese theological truths in order to focus clearly on the doctrine of regeneration.
•
Conversion
is the human counterpart of regeneration, includingrepentance (Greek:
mataneo
, “change of mind”) and trusting inGod’s plan of salvation, made available to us through JesusChrist, for reconciliation with God, the process of exercisingsaving faith.
•
 Justification
is a legal concept, as when a person is declarednot guilty in a court of law, and refers to a person being declared,not simply “not guilty” but
righteous
before God, based ontrusting in the finished and accepted work of Jesus Christ aspayment in full for their sin (Romans 5:1, 8-10).
•
Sanctification
has two aspects: 1) in
 positional
sanctification aperson is found to be holy because they are in Christ (Hebrews10:10, 14) and 2)
 progressive
sanctification involves theoutworking of their new standing in Christ in daily life as theymature in faith (1
st
Peter 1:15, 16).
•
Glorification
is the sure end of justification (Plett 101); it is thepurpose of God for which He saves individuals, that His glorywould be revealed in them as it was in Christ (Romans 8:28-30).Regeneration, the quickening of spiritual life within the heart of aperson dead in their sin, remains
distinct
from each of theseconcepts, while being integral to and inseparable from salvation.
The Time And Nature Of Regeneration
Page 1Copyright © 2002 by Debbie PiperPermissions:debbie@debbiepiperconsulting.com
 
Regeneration is the instantaneous work of God within the believingheart to produce a new nature capable of communion with Him. Thisone-time experience is the
source of life
in Christ and the
basis forservice
to Him and others (Walvoord 132).
The Time And Nature Of Regeneration
Page 2Copyright © 2002 by Debbie PiperPermissions:debbie@debbiepiperconsulting.com
 
Scriptural Background
Palingenesias
is the Greek word meaning “
new birth, reproduction,renewal, recreation
.” As it is used in Titus 3:5 to express the work of the Holy Spirit in saving believers, it encompasses all that isrepresented by eternal life in a human being (Walvoord 128).Scriptures present the concept of regeneration using three figures: newbirth, spiritual resurrection, and new creation. Jesus uses the term
born again
or “born from above” to explain the necessity of regeneration to Nicodemus in John 3:3-6. Jesus stresses that this is aconcept that Nicodemus should be familiar with from the Old Testament scriptures. As men are born of human parentage, the childof God is born of God (John 1:12, 13).
Spiritual resurrection
as the basis for living lives that reveal thereality of having been raised to life with Christ is a common theme inPaul’s letters (Romans 6:13; Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 2:12). Thewords of Jesus recorded in John 5:24, 25 proclaim the reality of spirituallife out of death for those who hear His voice.Another concept used frequently by Paul is that of being a
newcreation
(2
nd
Corinthians 5:17), being created in Christ Jesus(Ephesians 2:10), and being “created to be like God in truerighteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). New birth, spiritualresurrection, new creation—all three suggest a
radical,transforming, fundamental change
from that which existedpreviously.
The Time of Regeneration
 The overarching teaching of scripture presents regeneration as anevent that happens
spontaneously and instantaneously
at themoment that saving faith exists within an individual (John 1:13, 3:6,5:24, 6:47; 2
nd
Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5. The faith aspect of salvationpresupposes knowledge of the gospel message revealed in thescriptures (Romans 10:9,10,17; 1
st
Corinthians 15:1-7; Hebrews 4:2; 1
st
Peter 1:23), thus precluding the possibility of infant regeneration sincean infant does not have the mental faculties to comprehend the gospelmessage, even at its most basic level.
The Time And Nature Of Regeneration
Page 3Copyright © 2002 by Debbie PiperPermissions:debbie@debbiepiperconsulting.com
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