logo

(3) Regeneration...A New Beginning...

"...you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive in Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up  with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..." (Eph. 2:1-5)

"Regeneration is the secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us"...

This is often referred to as 'being born again' (John 3:3-8), as with our natural birth, of which we had no part, so with our new spiritual birth, our being born again is solely an act of God. This sovereign work of God, in regeneration, was predicted in the prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel: 

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances....on that day I will cleans you from all you iniquities..." (Ezek. 36: 26, 27 & 33).

God the Father grants us the privilege of being born again, Jesus, God the Son, secures for us this great privilege through His death and resurrection, and God the Holy Spirit applies this privilege to us internally; giving us the promised new heart, and works together with the Father to place a new spirit within us.   

As the gospel comes to us, God speaks through it to summon us to Himself (effective calling), and to give us new spiritual life (regeneration) so that we are enabled to respond in faith. Effective calling is thus God the Father speaking powerfully to us, and Regeneration is God the Father and God the Holy Spirit working powerfully in us to make us alive.