The following is a digest of the section on “Regeneration” in Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray:
A.”An effectual call, however, must carry along with it the appropriate response on the part of the person called. It is God who calls but it is not God who answers the call” (pg. 95).
B.It is a morally and spiritually impossible for those who are depraved to respond to God’s calling (Rom. 8:8; John 6:44,65)
C.Since God’s call is effectual, it contains the grace necessary to answer it. This grace is the “grace of regeneration.” God effects a change in “the called” by regeneration (Ezek. 36:26). This change is a new creation, a rebirth. In John 3:8 we see that the mode of this regeneration is mysterious, the work is invisible. Jesus says that the kingdom cannot be seen apart from being born again. And in verse 5, Jesus states that it is by water and the Spirit that this rebirth takes place. Jesus does not say baptism, he says water. There is no reason to think that he was referring to water baptism. He was involved in a religious discussion with Nicodemus and would have used the word in a way that Nicodemus would have understood in the context of their discussion. For Nicodemus water would mean purification (this is how a Jew, with an understanding of the Old Testament law and sacrificial system would have understood Jesus’ use of term “water”). He would have understood the need for purification to enter into the kingdom of God. “It was characteristic of Jesus’ teaching to lay his finger directly upon the characteristic sin and need of those with whom he was dealing. The characteristic sin of the pharisees was self-complacency and self-righteousness. What they needed was to be convinced of their own pollution and the need of radical purification…Entrance into the kingdom of God could only be secured by purification from the defilement of sin…Regeneration…must cleanse from sin as well as recreate in righteousness” (pg. 98).
D.”Born of the Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit (John 3:8; 1:13; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). The birth is “of divine and supernatural character.” “Born of” could be either be referring to “begetting or bearing.” What is in view is either the action of the father in begetting the child or the mother in bearing the child. Either way we are dependent on the action of the Holy Spirit. Just as we we are dependent on the action of our mother and father, we did not decide to be born. This is supported in verse 8, the wind blows as it wills.
E.We see these two aspects of being born again, the purging of sin and the recreation of life, in Ezekiel 36:25-26.
F.John makes clear elsewhere that regeneration is by God alone (John 1:13). John refers to regeneration in his epistle (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). There is a connection in these passages between a “divine begetting” and righteousness. The believer does not sin because “God’s seed abides in him” (3:9). “Now, this abiding seed alludes clearly to the divine impartation which took place in the divine begetting. It is this divine begetting with its abiding consequence that is the cause of not doing sin. Hence regeneration is logically and causally prior to the not doing sin…the reason why a person cannot sin is that the person is regenerated” (pg. 101). (1 John 3:9; 5:4, 18)
G.”The regenerate person cannot live in sin and be unconverted” (pg. 104). (2 Cor. 5:17)
Tags: Christianity, Theology, Reformed, Bible Study, Calvinism, Regeneration