What Is Regeneration?

Titus 3:3-7

Have you ever wondered what happened in your innermost precincts at the very instant of salvation? Perhaps you can recall attempting to explain what transpired in those precious moments when God spiritually rescued you. Did you have the words or verses to express yourself completely? The sense of release from guilt, the realization of thorough spiritual cleansing, and the newness-freshness of a new creation in Christ are all a part of the regeneration experience! That is correct; the Spirit regenerates trusting sinners. This transcendent phenomenon involves deep cleansing, an entirely new beginning, and receiving holy divine life. The good news is we can understand more about those mysterious moments, and treasure more entirely God’s work in our souls! Further, such knowledge should provoke us to love God devotedly because we have a richer…deeper grasp. Beyond this we can envision ourselves sharing our story with others more effectively leading to the wondrous regeneration of others. Yes, comprehending what transpired in the dawn of our salvation is the first step.

Again God’s glorious work in the heart of a repentant sinner is referred to as regeneration. A rather technical definition of regeneration is the Spirit deeply cleansing the trusting soul while supernaturally giving them a new beginning. The Holy Spirit instantly imparts divine life to the spiritually dead resulting in eternal life, becoming a son of God, and transformation.  Every aspect of this biblical teaching rests soundly on the initiatives and activities of God deep within. While diligent and good service to God cannot impart eternal life, the Spirit in mercy can instantly regenerate a believing sinner! In doing so He provides deep cleansing from sin, affords a new beginning, and imparts divine life. Consider how the Apostle Paul taught this in Titus three.

       I.            Regeneration is Based on God’s Mercy (Titus 3:3-5).  “according to His mercy” (v.5). It is not rooted in family pedigree, being a good person, being religious, or our honorable intentions (John 1:12:13; Matt. 7:21-23).

A.     Consider Our Sinfulness (v. 3). 

1.      Our Misconduct. Verse 3 describes our lives before salvation; "we were quarreling neighbors, warring fellow employees, cut-throat business competitors, and feuding families" (MacDonald)! But this dismal picture of our depravity is interrupted by one of the great buts of Scripture (Tit. 3:4).

                                                                                 i.            How thankful we can be for these nick-of-time conjunctions that signal God’s marvelous intervention to save man from destroying himself!

                                                                               ii.            Someone has called them God’s roadblocks on man’s way to hell.

                                                                              iii.            Regeneration is not a reformation!

2.      God’s Motivations. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared ...

                                                                                 i.            This occurred when the Lord Jesus appeared to the world over nineteen hundred years ago. In another sense, God’s goodness and loving kindness appeared to us when we were saved. It was to manifest these attributes that He sent His beloved Son to die for a world of rebellious sinners (MacDonald).

                                                                               ii.            God in His grace saves us who believe, not because of any righteousness in us (see Rom. 3:21-24; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:9), but purely because of His mercy.

a.       The three words, “kindness,” “love,” and “mercy” (Titus 3:4-5) all represent aspects of God’s gracious motives.

b.      The word used for love ... toward man (3:4) is the Greek word from which philanthropy comes; it combines the thoughts of love, graciousness, and compassion.

c.       The title God our Savior refers to God the Father—our Savior in the sense that He sent His Son into the world as our Sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus is also called God our Savior (2:13) because He paid the necessary penalty in order that we might be pardoned and forgiven (MacDonald).

B.     Consider Our Salvation (v. 5).  “Saved” means to keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger and destruction. He saved us (Tit. 3:5) from "the guilt and penalty of all our sins—past, present, and future. They were all future when the Savior died; His death covered them all" (MacDonald).

1.      But one of the simplest, clearest truths of the gospel is the most difficult to receive.

                                                                                 i.            It is that salvation is not based on good works; one does not become a Christian by a faultless lifestyle. It is not good people who go to heaven.

                                                                               ii.            The consistent testimony of Scripture is that man cannot earn or merit salvation (Eph. 2:9; Rom. 3:20; 4:4, 5; 9:16; 11:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:11).

                                                                              iii.            Again regeneration is NOT reformation. Regeneration is not a natural forward step in man’s development; it is a supernatural act of God. This is the danger in psychology; the tendency to make regeneration a natural incident, an advanced step in the development of a human life, instead of regarding it as a desperate predicament from which God must rescue us. Such a psychological perception denies man’s sin, our need for Christ, the necessity of Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit .

2.      We cannot save ourselves by good works; all our righteous deeds are like polluted rags in the sight of God (Isa. 64:6). God saves sinners by His grace!

3.      Good works do not earn salvation; they are the result of salvation. Wherever there is true salvation there will also be good works. So we read that God did not save us because of works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy.

4.      Salvation is a work of mercy—not justice. Justice demands that the deserved punishment be administered; mercy provides a righteous way by which the punishment is averted (MacDonald).

    II.            Regeneration is a Deep Spiritual Cleansing (Tit. 3:5).  It is a thorough and profound cleansing that removes our blood-guiltiness before an offended and holy God.

A.     Regeneration: God saved us by the washing of regeneration. Conversion is really a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and here that new creation is presented under the figure of a bath (MacDonald).

1.      This is Not a Reference to Baptism. In New Testament times, people were baptized after they were saved, and not in order to be saved (see Acts 10:43–48). The washing of regeneration is not a bodily cleansing by water, but a moral cleansing by the Spirit and Word (John 15:3). Baptism depicts burial with Christ into death (Rom. 6:4).

2.       This is a Reference to a Bath. “Washing” means, “to bathe all over, or to perform a complete cleansing” (Wiersbe).  It characterizes regeneration as purification from the guilt of our filthy sinfulness. Clearly, the essence of regenerative activity is cleansing and purifying (see Ezek. 36:25–27). When a sinner trusts Christ, he is cleansed from all his sins, and he is made “a new person” through the purging work of the Holy Spirit. The guilt of the old life is washed away and new life is introduced into the believing sinner.

3.       This is a Reference to the First Bath. Our Lord uses the word in John 13:10 in this identical signification, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” The first “washed” refers to the cleansing of the sinner in the glorious Fountain filled with Blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins. We are purged of blood-guilt for sin! The second “wash” refers to the need for the daily cleansing of the saint in his walk. The Lord Jesus taught the disciples that there is only one bath of regeneration but many necessary cleansings from daily defilement (John 13:10).

B.     Renewing: Our new life in Christ is spoken of as a renewing of the Holy Ghost.

1.      The Spirit of God sanctifies and brings about a marvelous transformation (Ezek. 11:19-20; 36:26-29).  Renewing supernaturally follows regeneration!

2.      This is not putting new clothes on the old man, but putting a new man in the clothes! 

C.     Regenerator: The Holy Ghost is the Regenerator.

1.      The Father Gives. God shed [poured out] the Holy Spirit on us abundantly (Tit. 3:6). Every believer is indwelt by the Spirit from the moment he is born again.

2.      The Son Conveys. The Spirit is given through Jesus Christ our Savior. Just as the abundance of Pharaoh’s court was mediated to Jacob’s sons through Joseph, so the blessings of God, including the inexpressible blessing of His Spirit, are mediated to us through the Lord Jesus. Jesus is our “Joseph.” (MacDonald)

3.      The Spirit Regenerates! The Spirit (v. 5) is sufficient to bring about our regeneration and the glorious renewal—a life restored to God’s original intent.

 III.            Regeneration is a New Beginning (Tit. 3:5; Jn. 3:3-7).  It is a new beginning for the fallen, the failure, and the life burdened with regrets, scares, haunting memories, and shame.

A.     The Bible Teaches Regeneration is a New Beginning. The word “regeneration” is used only twice in the Bible:

1.      Matt. 19:28, where it refers to Israel and the millennial kingdom of Christ.

                                                                                 i.            This “regeneration” is “a recovery, a restoration, a revival.” The Lord Jesus promised there would be a “rebirth” or renewal of all things including Israel. The new birth of Israel and the world is to be fulfilled when Jesus sits on his throne of glory in His millennial kingdom. The world will literally blossom with new life!

                                                                               ii.            Though Israel has rejected Christ’s offer of the kingdom, the kingdom will still come, with its extensive remaking of all things whether spiritual (Isa. 2:3; 4:2-4; 11:9b), political (Isa. 2:4; 11:1-5, 10-11; 32:16-18), and geographical and physical (Isa. 2:2; 4:5-6; 11:6-9; 35:1-2). Christ will then sit on His glorious throne in the restoration of the earth (Dan. 7:13, 14; Matt. 25:31; Rev. 22:1). (Walvoord)

2.      Titus 3:5, where “regeneration” refers to the concept of spiritual rebirth—indicating a new impartation of divine life wrought by the Holy Spirit (see John 3:6; Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6). 

                                                                                 i.            The term regeneration literally means “being born again” and a new beginning by conveying God’s life to believing sinners.

                                                                               ii.            Regeneration reminds us of Genesis 1:26. It is not the old nature altered, reformed, or re—invigorated, but a new birth from above. This is the teaching of the Bible (John 3:3–7;5:21; Eph.2:1, 10; 2Cor.5:17).

B.     The Lord Jesus Taught Regeneration is a New Beginning. He spoke of the necessity of being born again in John 3:3–7.

1.      The word “again” (Jn. 3:3, 7) is anōthen, “the repetition of an act, the repeated act having the same source as the first act.”

                                                                                 i.            The Source of the repeated act of regeneration is the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3:5, 6, 8). Note the term “born of the Spirit.”

                                                                               ii.            The repeated act is the impartation of divine life to the believing sinner.

a.       The source of the first act is the Holy Spirit, and the act was that of giving divine life to Adam in his creation (Gen. 2:7).

b.      The first Adam lost that life for the human race in the Fall, and the Last Adam recovered it for believers through His atoning Cross.

2.      “Again” requires the repetition of the act by the same person.  It is not me painting my rendition of the Mona Lisa, but Leonardo Di Vinci painting it again (Lucado).  Likewise, with the new birth it requires the activity of God who gave natural life initially to give spiritual life subsequently.  Regeneration is not natural human generation by any means.  It is the Spirit, the Source of all life, dispensing divine life supernaturally to the repentant sinner who embraces Christ by faith.

C.     The Spirit Uses the Word to Initiate a New Beginning. The Word of God, closely associated with regeneration, is the Spirit’s instrument.

1.      Though no mention is made here of the role of faith in the process because Paul’s entire focus was on what God has done, not on human response.

2.      The Gospel provides the necessary revelation to give proper content to a man’s faith (Rom. 1:16; 1 Pe 1:23; Ja 1:18; Heb 4:12).

3.      We are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:5–6, where “water” refers to physical birth, which Nicodemus had mentioned earlier, John 3:4) and of the Word (1 Peter 1:23–25). “Which” in Titus 3:6 refers to the Holy Spirit who is given to us at conversion (Acts 2:38; Rom. 5:5; 8:9). (Weirsbe)

  IV.            Regeneration is Receiving Eternal Life Instantly (Jn. 3:15-16, 36).  It is “life” and a new nature imparted to people who are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) immediately upon their belief—no longer separated from God, but belonging to Him!

A.     Regeneration is Not a Process, but Instantaneous!

1.      The Source. God, through the Holy Spirit imparts eternal life to the believer in Christ.

2.      The Channel. Faith is the human responsibility and the channel through which God’s grace is received.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

3.      The Essence. Regeneration is receiving cleansing and eternal life at the very instant we believe on Christ (Jn. 3:15-16, 36).

4.      The Results. Upon belief, we are instantly birthed into the Family of God—new sons of God!  The new birth is not a process! It is instantaneous.

B.     Spiritual Growth is a Process, and Not Instantaneous!

1.      Although the pre-conversion experience of conviction and consequences of regeneration—spiritual growth—involve processes in time.

2.      The act of regeneration itself is instantaneous. One is either unborn or born, and that great change happens in a moment of time. An individual may not know precisely the moment of his salvation, but in God’s sight he is either dead in sins or born into the family of God.

Conclusion:

Regeneration is the Holy Spirit causing us to be spiritually born again the moment we place our faith in Christ and His finished redemptive work.  In our salvation, the Spirit regenerates by deeply cleansing, and supernaturally imparting divine life to the trusting soul resulting in eternal life, sonship, and transformation.  Salvation is NOT a human production, but a divine work of grace when a sinner repents and believes in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:8-17). No matter how sincere or how hard a person tries to serve, engage in religious activities, or embraces Christian beliefs, ideals, or values, the result will NEVER be salvation. We cannot rescue ourselves from the eternal consequences of our sins; we need a Savior! The Lord Jesus Christ is that one and only Savior! When we place our faith in Him and His Gospel we are instantly born into the Family of God!

So now you know what happened to you at the very moment of salvation.  You can now explain what transpired in those precious moments of spiritual rescue in your own words and from these verses. Now treasure that experience more, and love God more completely because you understand it better. Go out and share your story with others more effectively because of this insight. Understanding what transpired in the dawn of your salvation is the first step. Now take the next step and tell someone else.