Regeneration

Regeneration is the sovereign, supernatural work of God by which a spiritually dead sinner is made alive in Christ. It is not a human achievement, a moral improvement, or the result of religious upbringing. It is the new birth, the inward renewal of the heart and mind by the Holy Spirit, without which no one can see or enter the kingdom of God. The doctrine matters because it humbles human pride, exalts divine grace, and explains why conversion is always a miracle rather than a mere decision. Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, and Matthew Henry all treat regeneration as the foundation of genuine Christian experience and the necessary beginning of all true holiness.

Regeneration is a work of divine power alone

Spurgeon is emphatic that no amount of human eloquence, wisdom, or zeal can bring spiritually dead sinners to life (Romans 5:21). He writes from his own experience of moving from misery under the law to joy and cleansing through the gospel (Romans 5:20). The reason is simple: the sinner is not weak but dead. A dead person cannot cooperate with the one who raises him. Spurgeon therefore insists that only divine grace can raise the spiritually dead to life (Romans 5:21).

But hearken, the Divine Voice exclaims with trumpet voice, "Almighty Grace, arise and quicken these dead souls," and behold, Grace stands before you, in angel form—no, better, in the form of Man, or rather Incarnate God—and I hear Him say, "Thus says the Lord, You dry bones live Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace”

This same conviction appears in his treatment of Romans 4:19–21. Saving souls and turning the human will toward holiness is a work of divine power, not human ability. Christ can give life to those who are spiritually dead, just as He raised the dead without finding any spark of life in them. Spurgeon presses the point: regeneration is a work that creates life where there was death and gives a new heart to those whose hearts were stone (Romans 5:6). The sinner contributes nothing. Grace alone makes the difference.

To regenerate the already pure and innocent were ridiculous; regeneration is a work which creates life where there was formerly death, gives a heart of flesh to those whose hearts were originally stone, and implants the love of holiness where sin once had sole dominion Charles Spurgeon, sermon “For Whom Did Christ Die?”

Matthew Henry agrees. Reflecting on Romans 4:17, he notes that the God who quickens the dead can also bring spiritually dead Gentiles to divine and spiritual life. The power that gave Isaac to Abraham's dead body is the same power that gives spiritual life to sinners. Henry sees regeneration as a spiritual resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, patterned after Christ's resurrection (Romans 6:4–5). The new life is not a repair of the old nature but a new creation.

The new birth is inward and supernatural

Henry stresses that true religion is inward before it is outward. True circumcision is inward, of the heart and in the spirit, and it is this inward work that makes a person acceptable to God (Romans 2:29). This inward circumcision is not made with hands but consists in casting away the body of sin, and it is worked in our spirit by God's Spirit. The same principle applies to Christianity: true Christianity and true baptism are inward realities of the heart and spirit, not merely outward profession or external washing (Romans 2:28–29).

This is the circumcision that is not made with hands, Col. ii. 11, 12. Casting away the body of sin. So it is in the spirit, in our spirit as the subject, and wrought by God's Spirit as the author of it Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Spurgeon makes the same point in a different way. Children of godly parents are not saved by their birth or ancestry but must be born again like everyone else (Romans 3:22). Even those distressed by their hard heart and lack of tender feeling should remember that even tender-hearted believers were made tender by God's divine work, not by any natural difference in themselves. Changing the human heart is impossible for any person and requires the supernatural work of the Spirit of God in every case (Romans 3:23).

To change the heart of the most amiable maiden requires the work of the Spirit of God as truly as to change the heart of the most debauched wretch that lives! It is no more possible for the honest man than for the practiced thief to make his heart right in the sight of God—it is equally impossible to either of them Charles Spurgeon, sermon “There Is No Difference”

Henry adds that the mind is the core of a person's identity, so the direction of one's thoughts, pleasures, and wisdom reveals whether one is worldly or spiritual (Romans 8:5). The carnal mind cannot be subject to God's law because its unholiness is irreconcilable with the law's holiness; it must be broken and expelled by divine grace (Romans 8:7). Regeneration is therefore not a matter of education, environment, or self-discipline. It is a direct act of God upon the inward man.

Regeneration precedes and enables faith

Jonathan Edwards gives the most careful theological treatment of the relationship between regeneration and faith. He argues that a spiritual man cannot be the cause of his own vital union with Christ, because he cannot be spiritual without a prior spiritual influence, and such influence already implies union. The older orthodox distinction of a vital union on Christ's part and a union on the believer's part is scriptural, and the former must precede the latter. By Christ's uniting act, which is effectual calling, the enmity of sin is destroyed in the soul and the Spirit of Christ is imparted.

By his uniting act, which may be termed effectual calling, the enmity of sin is destroyed in the soul, and the Spirit of Christ is imparted, which as occasion offers, will manifest itself as the Spirit of faith, or love, &c Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

Edwards insists that regeneration, as the act of the Spirit of Christ, must precede believing, since a vital principle must exist before its acts. A person must first be vitally united to Christ by the Spirit to have a living faith; a spiritually dead person cannot produce living faith. Man cannot believe until Christ, through vital union, slays his enmity and enables him to believe; this enabling is the effect of gracious influence flowing from union to Christ.

We are obliged to believe on him as our justifying righteousness, under pain of God’s displeasure, but man will ever continue in unbelief until Christ slays his enmity, and enables him to believe. But to slay a sinner’s enmity, to change his nature, or to give him ability to believe, is the effect of a vital union; for as there is no such ability without gracious influence, so there is no gracious influence without union to the source of spiritual life Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

This does not mean an adult united to Christ rejects the divine testimony before believing. When the object of faith is presented, his vital union secures the exercise of faith. Not exercising faith is different from not possessing the principle of faith; a principle does not necessarily imply its exercise. Edwards also notes that justification and regeneration are simultaneous, both being immediate effects of union with Christ, the one relative and the other vital. But regeneration as the act of the Spirit must logically precede the act of believing.

Spurgeon agrees, though he often speaks more devotionally. Faith is a supernatural work of God, created and sustained by the same divine power that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 4:16). Saving faith believes that God can regenerate a spiritually dead sinner and make him a child of God, just as Abraham believed God could give life to his dead body and Sarah's womb (Romans 4:17–19). Faith is not the cause of regeneration but the evidence and exercise of it.

He knows that his faith is a perpetual miracle, for it is begotten, sustained and preserved by a power not less mighty than that which raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead Charles Spurgeon, sermon “How Is Salvation Received?”

Henry adds that faith must come before confession, and true faith is not mere intellectual assent but an inward, hearty, sincere consent of the will (Romans 10:10). The work of salvation is already accomplished in Christ's coming down from heaven and rising from the deep; what remains is a work within us, not external effort (Romans 10:6–8). That inward work is regeneration, and faith is its first living act.

Regeneration changes the whole person

Spurgeon describes the change in vivid terms. Grace transforms the spiritually dead into a living army for God (Romans 5:21). A spiritually awakened sinner feels the terrible bondage of sin and longs to escape it. Divine grace alone can command the powers of sin to leave and set the sinner free. Grace changes the sinner's nature so that he now hates sin and delights in holiness. Grace makes the sinner a new creature in Christ Jesus who runs with joy in the paths of holiness.

Grace has so entirely created new the man, that he is a new creature in Christ Jesus, and he runs with delight and joy in all the paths of holiness. Grace has done it. Grace reigns unto eternal life Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Reigning Grace”

The infinite love of God shown in forgiveness changes the heart and turns a person's whole nature from sin to righteousness (Romans 5:6). Trusting this truth saves a person not only from punishment but from the power of sin, giving a new heart and a new life. Trusting in God's mercy through Christ's death begins a new era of cleansing and transformation in a person's life.

Christ died for the ungodly’’if that be really known and trusted in, it will open in your soul new springs of living water which will cleanse the Augean stable of your nature, and make a temple of God of that which was before a den of thieves. Trust in the mercy of God through the death of Jesus Christ, and a new era in your life’s history will at once commence Charles Spurgeon, sermon “For Whom Did Christ Die?”

Henry describes the same transformation. Conversion is obeying the gospel from the heart, not merely professing it, but obeying it sincerely from the innermost part (Romans 6:17). To be a true Christian is to be transformed into the likeness of the gospel, with understanding, will, affections, aims, principles, and actions all conformed to it. Conversion is both freedom from sin's service and a resignation of ourselves to God as master and righteousness as our work (Romans 6:18, 22). We cannot serve God until we are freed from sin's dominion, because God and sin are directly opposite masters.

To be a Christian indeed is to be transformed into the likeness and similitude of the gospel, our souls answering to it, complying with it, conformed to it—understanding, will, affections, aims, principles, actions, all according to that form of doctrine Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Henry also notes that conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind, a change in the soul's qualities rather than its substance (Romans 12:2). The renewing of the mind renews the whole person because the mind is the ruling part from which life flows. Those transformed by the renewing of their mind are best able to discern God's will, because grace gives an unprejudiced judgment and spiritual relish for divine truth.

The marks of the regenerate

Henry is especially helpful in identifying what regeneration looks like in daily life. Those who are in Christ and freed from condemnation are known by their habitual walk according to the Spirit rather than the flesh (Romans 8:1). A person's spiritual state can be discerned by examining what their mind dwells on, whether the things of the flesh or the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5). All who are truly regenerate delight in the law of God in the inward man, loving both its precepts and prohibitions (Romans 7:22). The inward man is the renewed mind or new nature, the seat of sincere and secret gracious delights.

I delight in the law of God after the inward man, v. 22. His conscience bore witness to a complacency in the law. He delighted not only in the promises of the word, but in the precepts and prohibitions of the word; synedomai expresses a becoming delight Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The Spirit visits the unregenerate with motions they resist, but in the sanctified he dwells, resides, and rules as master of the house (Romans 8:9). The soul of the believer is spiritually alive now and will enter eternal life at death (Romans 8:10). At conversion, the Spirit often first brings conviction of sin and wrath, producing a spirit of bondage, but this is not the permanent state of God's children (Romans 8:15).

Henry also points to the believer's relationship to the law. The law is of excellent use: it is a lamp and light that converts the soul, opens the eyes, and prepares a people for the Lord (Romans 7:9). The regenerate person does not hate the law but loves it, because the new nature delights in what God delights in.

Regeneration and the church

Henry sees regeneration as the way God grafts people into His church. God grafts people into the church in a way contrary to ordinary practice: he finds them wild and barren, and his grafting mends the branch rather than the tree (Romans 11:17). Conversion means being cut off from the old stock and brought into union with a new root, like grafting wild branches into the good olive tree.

Conversion is the grafting in of wild branches into the good olive. We must be cut off from the old stock, and be brought into union with a new root Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The conversion of the Jews will be as life from the dead, bringing great joy to the church (Romans 11:15). The conversion of the Jews is called the saving of all Israel, and true conversion may well be called salvation because it is salvation begun (Romans 11:26). Christ's purpose in coming was to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, both its guilt by pardoning mercy and its power by renewing grace.

Henry also notes that converting grace gives sinners a disposition to glorify God, whereas unconverted sinners do nothing to glorify him (Romans 15:9). The Old Testament foretold that the Gentiles would praise the Lord, and converting grace gives people both the matter for praise and a heart to praise God (Romans 15:11). The success of Paul's preaching was more remarkable because the transition from darkness to light is more striking than the later growth of that light (Romans 15:21).

Grace alone excludes boasting

Spurgeon is relentless on this point. Boasting cannot take a place in conversion, because a person's believing and repenting is not to their own credit, since grace alone makes the difference (Romans 3:27). Human free will cannot take credit for conversion, because Scripture teaches that God works in us to will and to do, and that the new birth is not by human will.

Does the Ethiopian change his skin and the leopard his spots? Is it not God that works in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure? Of His own will He begat us with the Word of Truth and it is not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of birth Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Grace Exalted—Boasting Excluded”

The reason is that even faith and repentance are gifts. Spurgeon rejoices that many have believed in Christ and received new life through him (Romans 3:3). Believers have been born again by the incorruptible word of God, which lives and abides forever. Even those buried in the lowest depths of sin can be raised up by God and have their dead hearts made alive (Romans 4:16).

These have entered into a new life and now bear a new character, "being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever Charles Spurgeon, sermon “God Justified, Though Man Believes Not”

Henry agrees that Isaac was conceived and born by the power of God's promise, making him a type of true believers who are born not of human will but of God through the word of promise (Romans 9:9). Regeneration is not a human achievement but a divine gift. The new birth is not by human will, human effort, or human merit. It is the sovereign work of God, and therefore all boasting is excluded.

He was a child promised (so were many others), and he was also conceived and born by force and virtue of the promise, and so a proper type and figure of those who are now counted for the seed, even true believers, who are born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God—of the incorruptible seed, even the word of promise, by virtue of the special promise of a new heart Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Edwards provides the theological foundation for this exclusion of boasting. Since regeneration precedes faith, and since faith itself is the exercise of a vital principle given by God, there is no point at which the sinner can claim credit. The enmity of sin is destroyed by Christ's uniting act, not by the sinner's decision. The Spirit of Christ is imparted before the sinner believes. Therefore the entire work of conversion, from the first quickening to the final exercise of faith, is of grace.

From the premises it follows, that the generally received theological maxim is perfectly just and plain, viz. that justification and regeneration are simultaneous.—Union is the immediate cause of both; and because the one is a relative and the other a vital effect, there is no interference as to the order of time Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

The doctrine of regeneration thus stands at the center of Reformed and Puritan teaching. It is the sovereign work of God alone, wrought inwardly by the Holy Spirit, preceding and enabling faith, changing the whole person, and producing a life marked by love for God and hatred of sin. It excludes all human boasting and gives all glory to God. As Spurgeon, Edwards, and Henry together testify, the new birth is not a human possibility but a divine miracle, and it is the only entrance into the kingdom of God.