Somewhere back in middle school science class, we learned that for around 2000 years people believed in something called “spontaneous generation,” the belief that living things can suddenly come from non-living matter. If you left meat out on a table, for instance, flies would spontaneously come to life around the meat. That belief wasn’t completely ruled false until the 1800s, when Louis Pasteur said, “Life comes from life.” Imagine having all your scientists teaching something completely wrong for so long.
While spontaneous generation has been proven false, a similar idea is true: spontaneous regeneration.
Regeneration happens at the moment of salvation. It’s instant and spontaneous. The Holman Bible Dictionary defines it as “the radical spiritual change in which God brings an individual from a condition of spiritual defeat and death to a renewed condition of holiness and life.” This is the moment when God changes the person so he can understand the gospel and accept it. Without this work of the Holy Spirit, no one has any possibility of becoming a believer. Why?
Because we are all completely lost in our sins and dead spiritually.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Before salvation, we were dead in our sin. We were slaves to sin, meaning that we didn’t have the willpower not to sin, and we did sin (Romans 6:17-18) We’re spiritually dead, so we don’t have any ability to recognize our sin, be sorry for our sin, or turn to God for rescue from our sin. We can’t save ourselves or even want to save ourselves. We’re dead, and we can’t bring ourselves to life. That’s the situation of every person who is without Christ.
But…
There are several big “buts” in the Bible, and Ephesian 2:4 has one of them:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with 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. (Ephesians 2:4-6)
But God. In an instant, God changes those he calls. We’re no longer dead spiritually, but alive. Our old self is gone, dead. We’re suddenly something new.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Suddenly, we can see our sin. We can admit that we’re wrong, and we see the need for salvation. We can respond to God’s call to us. We’re no longer slaves to sin. We’re reborn as new people. We’re “born again.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8)
It’s regeneration that Jesus was talking in this famous passage. Being “born again” equals “regeneration.” We are spiritually dead. We must be born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and made into new people. Then, and only then, can we see and accept God’s salvation. The Holy Spirit resurrects us from spiritual death into life with Jesus.
We can’t make this transformation, or even see the need for this transformation. It’s all a work of God in our lives through his Holy Spirit.
It’s also at the moment of salvation, when we are born again, that we receive the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” as he comes to live within us. This baptism is a one-time, instantaneous thing. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just change us into new people, he comes to live within us. And he is with us for the rest of our lives.
When I ponder the truth of regeneration, I can’t help but remember the day at 10 years old when I gave my life to Christ. I think about the fact that I could never have made that decision without the Holy Spirit first working in me to allow me to respond to God’s call. I’m overwhelmed and consumed with gratitude for what he did. How often do I thank him for this? Not nearly enough.
Then there are times when I’m facing difficulty. Sometimes my problems look bigger than my God. Maybe you’ve been there. Those times are when the Holy Spirit reminds me just how strong he is, and that he’s inside me. The Holy Spirit is so powerful that he brought me from spiritual death to spiritual life. The same power that brought Jesus out of the tomb is at work in my life every moment of every day.
That’s true for you as well. How often do you thank God for the work of the Holy Spirit within you?