The Miracle of Regeneration

Regeneration[1]

Special act of God in which the recipient is passive.

Regeneration: Regeneration is a special act of God in which the recipient is passive. God awakens the person spiritually through the Holy Spirit. Matthew 19:28, Titus 3:5, 1 Cor 2:6-16 The process is according to the mercy of God. John 3:3-8 Nicodemus, 1 Peter 1:23 The person must go through a spiritual re-creation to have a relationship with God and to enter His Kingdom. Eph 2:4-5, 2 Cor 5:17, The process gives individuals the ability to commune with God. Ezekiel 36:26 God promises a new heart and spirit. Jeremiah 31:31-34 God will write a new covenant on the hearts of men. This is the first step to eternal life with God.

Matthew 19:28 NIV - Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 NIV - We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived"--the things God has prepared for those who love him-- these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, "Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Titus 3:5 NIV - he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

John 3:3-8 NIV - Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

1 Peter 1:23 NIV - For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV - But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Ezekiel 36:26 NIV - I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV - "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

[1] Scott Drumm, “Regeneration,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 1340.