Regeneration is making alive. It is also referred to as being quickened. When we are regenerated (Jeremiah 31), we are given “the measure of faith” by God as a declaration of our justification before God, we are made to be able to be aware of spiritual things, we are able to please God, we are made to “know Him” in a spiritual sense, and (very importantly in regard to the utility of the Gospel) we are made to know, understand, and feel sin as the Law of God is written in our hearts. The Apostle Paul in Romans 7 is a good example. Before he was born again (to me this is synonymous with regeneration), Paul saw himself as righteous under the law of God. Then he says, “When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” This commandment was the command to live, or regeneration. When Paul was regenerated, the Law of God was written in his heart and he saw himself to be a sinner, and justly condemned before God. In other words, he “found it to be unto death,” even though in reality he was made alive. We are born again – regenerated only by the Spirit of God. He speaks life into us. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it will not return unto me void, but will accomplish that which I please, and prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.” (Forgive my not quoting that passage from Isaiah perfectly.) This is the same power that said “Let there be Light, and there was light.” It is this same power that said “Lazarus, come forth!”, and Lazarus was made alive. God breathes (or speaks) life into us, just as He gave natural life to Adam in the Creation. We are completely passive in this operation of regeneration. Man has absolutely nothing to do in the new birth. It is the effectual working of a Sovereign God.
Now, in regard to the Gospel…..
The Gospel is the Good News of the finished work of Jesus Christ. It has absolutely no value or effect on a man until AFTER he is born again. Christ said in John 3 that “except a man be born again, he cannot see thekingdom of God.” The Scriptures say that “the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.” Also there is a very, very definitive statement in II Tim 1:10, where it says that God “hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” Here is a wonderful statement of the utility of the Gospel. The Gospel NEVER brings life to a person, but it brings that life to light. There is a profound difference between bringing to life versus making that life known to an individual.A man that is spiritually dead has no ability to receive the Gospel in any fashion. God must first make him alive before he can even have a heart to be touched by it. While there have doubtless been occasions where someone has been regenerated while under the sound of the Gospel, the fact that the Gospel was being preached had absolutely no effect upon their regeneration. Until after they were born again, it was simply foolishness to them.Now, after a person is born again, the Gospel is very important to them, for only in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ can he who has been regenerated and had the law of God written in his heart find any rest, and find any realization of his justification before God. The Gospel doesn’t make the believer justified before God, it tells the believer that he is justified before God, and therefore provides him justification in the court of his conscience by proclaiming to his lionic accuser that he is clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
By: Adam Green
