What is regeneration? It is something that God does for believers.
- Vernon McGee: “The minute you turn to Christ, you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit; you are indwelt and baptized by the Holy Spirit; you are put in the body of believers.”487
Regeneration is God’s gift whereby He chooses to impart His very life and nature into the spirit of every believing sinner. (John 1:12-13; Titus 3:5) While man’s first birth is natural, the second birth is spiritual and supernatural. Our first birth makes us a member of a fallen race; our second birth makes us a member of a redeemed race. Our first birth gives us a depraved nature (Ephesians 2:3); our second birth gives us a divine nature. (2nd Peter 1:4) The moment we are made born again, we receive a new life (John 6:47; 1st John 5:12), and a new position as a child of God. (John 1:12; 1st John 3:1-2) In short, we become a new creature in Christ. (2nd Corinthians 5:17) This is not in dispute. We can all affirm these truths. The controversy over regeneration with respect to Calvinism is in its timing. Does God do this wonderfully gracious thing for believers who accept Christ, as non-Calvinists contend, or does God do this for unbelieving “elect” people, as Calvinists contend, in terms of an “Irresistible Grace” to overcome “Total Depravity”?
Billy Graham: “When we have properly confessed and renounced our sins and by faith received Christ into our hearts, then we receive a new heart from God. Only then can we be called ‘pure in heart.’ Only then we can know the secret of happiness!”488
The Calvinist says this is nonsense! The Calvinist asks: So we first have to be pure enough to ask God to make us pure? In other words, the Calvinist says that due to the fallen human condition, man must first be changed (i.e. pre-faith regeneration), in order to then have any inclination to confess and renounce our sins and by faith receive Christ in our hearts so as to become “pure in heart.” But the premise is false. Why? Because the repentant sinner is not already pure in heart. Any drunk can admit that they are an alcoholic, but just admitting that fact is not the cure. If an adulterer admits to their adultery, does that make them automatically pure? No. They are still a cheater. Repentance is a trade. We are trading our old sinful life for God’s new redeemed life. So, no, we are not already pure to become pure. We are sinful to become sinless, which God freely gives to whoever comes to Him. So, Billy Graham was right.
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “Outside of the miracle of divine grace changing a God-hater into a God-lover, no man would ever be saved.”489
R.C. Sproul: “Reformed Theology does not teach that God brings the elect ‘kicking and screaming, against their wills,’ into his kingdom. It teaches that God so works in the hearts of the elect as to make them willing and pleased to come to Christ. They come to Christ because they want to. They want to because God has created in their hearts a desire for Christ.”490
Our reply:
So in Calvinism, God regenerates elect-unbelievers against their God-hating, totally depraved will and makes them willing, simply because they happen to be among Calvinism’s secret elect. Therefore, imagine God taking a leading atheist like Richard Dawkins—a genuine God-hater—and then regenerating him against his unregenerate wishes, so as to make him willing, and who then suddenly repudiates every negative thing he’s ever said about God. That would be rather scandalous, and it’s also pretty insulting—to God—to say that that’s the only way that He can get anyone to follow Him, that is, by manufacturing Yes-Men on the assembly line of Irresistible Grace. Nonetheless, that’s apparently how Calvinists envision the way in which the kingdom of God is constructed—total haters of God transformed against their unregenerate will, simply because they happen to be “elect.”
Besides being an absurd violation of a person’s will, what kind of glory would God really derive from such a thing? Contrast that with another type of thinking, in which God regenerates believers, that is, those who ask God to forgive them and who actually want His mercy. However, due to the fallen human condition of “Total Depravity,” Calvinists do not believe that the lost would ever independently want that. It is encouraging, though, to find at least one leading Calvinist teaching that lost people can and should ask God to make them Born Again:
- James Kennedy: “Would you be born anew? There has never been a person who sought for that who did not find it. Even the seeking is created by the Spirit of God. Would you know that new life? Are you tired of the emptiness and purposelessness of your life? Are you tired of the filthy rags of your own righteousness? Would you trust in someone else other than yourself? Then look to the cross of Christ. Place your trust in him. Ask him to come in and be born in you today. For Jesus came into the world from glory to give us second birth because we must—we MUST—be born again.”491
In that way, the kingdom of God would be comprised of those who chose to love and to be with God, despite the adverse circumstances of this present, fallen world, and God would derive glory from such meaningful relationships.
The Baptist Faith and Message of 2000, regarding IV. Salvation states regarding Regeneration:
“Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.”492
Notice that “Regeneration” is explicitly referenced with regard to “believers.” That is correct. Non-Calvinists have no problem saying that a believer’s Regeneration is a change of heart (again, for the believer) wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds (daily) in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (in a believer’s walk with Christ). Part of the problem is that Calvinists envision Regeneration exclusively a mechanism for an unbeliever’s conversion, rather than seeing it as a work of the Holy Spirit for the believer, necessary to live the Christian life.
Jerry Vines: “The lost man or woman has no desire for the things of God. Unregenerate souls have no interest in finding out what God wants them to be and to do. But the new-birth experience puts into our heart a desire really and actually to do what God wants.”493
Jerry Vines: “When we are born of God, his seed, a new nature, remains in us. The new life we receive from God at the moment of salvation is the seed, the new dynamic.”494
Jerry Vines: “But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ through the new-birth experience will give you a new nature, the nature of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ can meet the battles for you and conquer them, giving you victory.”495
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please.”496
James White: “Dave Hunt is actually defending the idea that a man with a heart of stone can choose to remove that heart and implant a heart of flesh in its place and that he possesses the capacity to perform this operation on himself.”497
James White: “Can dead rebel sinners exercise saving faith to cause their own spiritual birth?”498
Our reply:
Non-Calvinists do not believe that they regenerate themselves, any more than they give themselves eternal life for believing in Christ. God gives regeneration to whomever He wishes, and non-Calvinists argue that God gives it only to believers, for the purpose of the believer being able to walk with Christ while here on earth.
For Calvinists to say that non-Calvinists must think that they have “regenerated themselves” by virtue of choosing Christ is like saying that a person who enrolls in a college course has effectively educated themselves. For Calvinists to say that non-Calvinists must think they already possess Christ’s righteousness simply by virtue of being able to accept the gospel is like saying that an alcoholic is already cured of their addiction simply by virtue of admitting themselves into treatment.
Dave Hunt: “Who imagines that receiving by faith the gift of eternal life causes eternal life? And who would suggest that ‘a man with a heart of stone can…implant a heart of flesh in its place’? We believe. God does the rest: ‘Through faith…we are his workmanship…unto good works.’ (Ephesians 2:8, 10).”499
It would also be just as absurd to think that the “prodigal son” restored himself back into his family, simply by returning home. In actuality, the father had every right to have him stoned to death. So, it was completely the father’s own choice to be gracious and restore him. In the same way, it is God’s own choice to grant forgiveness to those who ask it of Him, even though we actually deserve judgment.
What do Calvinists believe?
Fallen man is spiritually dead. Regeneration must precede faith in order for there to be faith. John Piper, a Calvinistic pastor, puts it this way:
John Piper: “We can say, first, that regeneration is the cause of faith… Having been born of God results in our believing. Our believing is the immediate evidence of God’s begetting.”500
R.C. Sproul: “The Reformed view of predestination teaches that before a person can choose Christ his heart must be changed. He must be born again.”501
R.C. Sproul: “A cardinal point of Reformed theology is the maxim: ‘Regeneration precedes faith.’ Our nature is so corrupt, the power of sin so great, that unless God does a supernatural work in our souls we will never choose Christ.”502
Our reply:
Some Calvinists will argue that the order of regeneration and faith is a logical order, not necessarily a temporal one, meaning that the two can occur simultaneously within time. They teach that at the moment a person is born again, he will come to faith. The moment he is regenerated, he also places his trust in Christ. It happens all in an instant of time. Yet, logically as we think about this transaction, we must put a causal order to it. Does the Bible indicate that a person must be regenerated so that he can believe or does the Bible teach that a person must believe in order to be regenerated? Do we need life in order to believe or do we need to believe in order to have life? That logical order is what is in dispute.
But what does the Scripture actually say about the logical order of new life and man’s responsibility in attaining it? Which comes first, new life or faith? Let’s observe:
The following material is from Leighton Flowers of Soteriology101.
Ezekiel 18:30-32: “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
- “Repent, Turn away…Rid yourselves…”
- “…get a new heart and a new spirit.”
Verse 32 makes it even more simple:
- “Repent and…”
- “…live!”
Life comes from repentance, not the other way around.
Acts 11:18: “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.’”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
- “Repentance unto…”
- “…life”
The Gentiles were not granted life unto repentance, but just the opposite according to the text. And the gospel is the means God grants mankind the ability to believe. He sent the gospel first to the Jews and then the Gentiles which enabled their faith response. (Rom. 1:16, 10:14-17)
John 5:40: “…yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
2 “Come to me…” (through faith)
3 “…to have life.”
John 6:53: “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “Unless you eat…drink” (by faith)
2 “…you have not life in you.”
John 6:57: “so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “the one who feeds on me…” (by faith)
2 “…will live”
John 20:31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “these are written…” (scriptures)
2 “…that you may believe…”
3 “…by believing you may have life…”
Life clearly is a fruit of faith and repentance, not the other way around.
Acts 15:9: “He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “He purified their hearts…”
2 “…by faith.”
It does not say He purified their hearts by regeneration so as to make them have faith. Clearly, a purified heart is a fruit of faith, not the other way around.
John 1:12-13: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The right to be born of God is given only to those who believe.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…all who did receive him…who believed…”
2 “…he gave the right to become children of God…”
You are not even given the right to become a child of God, much less be born again as his child, until you “receive him” and “believe in his name.” And while placing our trust in Christ is man’s responsibility, the work of regeneration is all of God’s doing. It does not come by way of inheritance, marriage, works or striving. (Rom. 9:30-32)
Galatians 3:26: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “You are all sons of God…”
2 “…through faith in Christ…”
Obviously, becoming a son (born of God) is a fruit of faith, not the other way around.
John 12:36: “Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “Believe in the light…”
2 “…so that you may become children…”
Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Consider the following Syllogism:
1 If every “spiritual blessing” is in Christ,
2 And if regeneration is a “spiritual blessing,”
3 Then regeneration must exclusively be in Christ.
So, how can Calvinists say, “regeneration precedes faith”?
Ephesians 1:13: “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “when you heard the message of truth…when you believed…”
2 “you were included in Christ…you were marked in him…”
Ephesians 2:5: “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
We are not made alive without Christ, but only with Christ:
1 “…dead in our transgressions…made us alive…”
2 “…with Christ…”
Galatians 3:2, 5: “I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?… So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…received the Spirit…”
2 “…by believing what you heard…”
2nd Corinthians 3:14-16: “But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…anyone turns to the Lord…” (by faith)
2 “…the veil is taken away.”
1st Timothy 1:16: “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…those who would believe in him…”
2 “…may receive eternal life.”
Colossians 2:12: “…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…baptism, in which you were also raised…”
2 “…through your faith…”
James 1:18: “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
The order clearly laid out is as follows:
1 “…give us birth…”
2 “…through the word of truth…”
Calvinists teach the word of truth will certainly be rejected by the unregenerate, thus how can the apostle say that the word may be the means of new birth? Birth must precede the word of truth if Calvinism is true, and that is not what the text clearly indicates.
The Philippian jailer inquired, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30) If Paul was Calvinistic he should have replied, “You can do nothing to be saved. You were born corpse-like dead in your sin and a dead man can do nothing. If God makes you alive then you will be convinced to believe our gospel.” But Paul does not hesitate to simply say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) Believe so as to have new life. Repent so as to live! That is the gospel appeal sent for all to hear it and respond.
In terms of a logical order of faith and regeneration, in relation to Calvinism’s claim that both are necessarily simultaneous, how does that affect what is observable as a progression toward incremental conversion? In other words, sometimes people do not convert to Christianity right away but instead, are said to be seeking God and headed in the right direction. As such, upon hearing the gospel, they gradually come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and start reading the Bible more and demonstrate a real interest in God by asking more theological questions and attending church more, until at last when they come to a point where they are ready to surrender their heart to Christ and publicly profess Him. So while regeneration is immediate, the steps that lead to regeneration are gradual. How would that work in Calvinism? In Calvinism, one is either an unregenerate, total hater of God or is a regenerated God-lover. There can be no middle ground for a transition within a Calvinistic, soteriological framework. Take, for instance, Lydia, described in Acts 16:13-15. Before she met Paul and heard his gospel message, she was already a “worshiper of God.” God opened her heart to understand his message, but prior to that, she was not a total hater of God. What about Cornelius? He, too, was a worshiper of God, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.” (Acts 10:2) As a “God-fearing man” (Acts 10:22), he asked to hear Peter’s gospel message, and soon after received the gift of the Holy Spirit and was baptized. Calvinists would be theologically pre-committed to insisting that both Lydia and Cornelius had already been regenerated the moment they ever showed even the very slightest interest in God. Or, perhaps Calvinists would wish to say that “Common Grace” precedes “Irresistible Grace.” The answer is not clear. Conversely, non-Calvinists are faced with no such quandary. The Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of their sin through the message of the gospel (John 16:8), and if they become believers, the Holy Spirit regenerates them as reborn, new creations.
What do Calvinists believe?
Calvinists pray to a God who actually has the power to regenerate hearts and bring people to saving faith.
Our reply:
It’s really not about power. Non-Calvinists believe that God can regenerate anyone He wants to, and He has made His sovereign choice to bestow regeneration only upon believers in Christ, particularly as a way to honor Christ, resulting that “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” is “in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
What do Calvinists believe?
Would an unregenerate, God-hater ever choose to love God?
Our reply:
Is every unregenerate person a “God-hater”? See Luke 8:13.
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “I just know that no man will do it unless and until the miracle of regeneration takes place first.”503
Our reply:
How do Calvinists address the fact that regeneration and salvation are treated as synonymous terms in the Bible? Can a person be regenerated with the Holy Spirit while yet unsaved?
Dave Hunt: “So Calvin’s newly regenerated elect are unsaved?”504
Dave Hunt: “Why the gospel, if the nonelect can’t believe it and the elect are regenerated without it?”505
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “First, he confuses terms, such as salvation and regeneration. In most theological works, regeneration is a subset of the larger and broader term, salvation, which often includes within it justification, forgiveness, redemption, and adoption. Sometimes it can be used in a narrower sense, but in historical discussions of these issues, regeneration has a specific meaning that Mr. Hunt normally confuses.”506
Our reply:
Does that really answer the question? It seems like James White is masking a non-answer behind personal insults.
Dave Hunt responds: “White says I confuse salvation and regeneration. But in the Bible these terms are synonymous. No one can be saved without being regenerated or regenerated without being saved. … A ‘subset of…salvation’ would be ‘part of’ salvation, which White now admits comes by faith, making regeneration by faith also.”507
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487 Thru the Bible: Proverbs through Malachi, Vol. III (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982), 508.
488 The Enduring Classics of Billy Graham: The Secret of Happiness (Nashville, Tennessee: W Publishing Group, 2002), 106, emphasis mine.
489 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 64.
490 What is Reformed Theology? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1997), 159, emphasis mine.
491 Why I Believe (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1980), 140.
492 http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp
493 Exploring 1-2-3 John (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers Inc., 1989), 49.
494 Ibid., 117.
495 Ibid., 184.
496 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 90.
497 Ibid., 297.
498 Ibid., 293-294.
499 Ibid., 303.
500 John Piper Sermon titled, “Regeneration, Faith, Love; In that order.” Web page: http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/regeneration-faith-love-in-that-order
501 Chosen By God (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1986), 72.
502 Ibid., 72-73.
503 Debating Calvinism (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004), 305.
504 Ibid., 301.
505 Ibid., 221.
506 Ibid., 305.
507 Ibid., 307.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
