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Ephesians 2:4–5
“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.”
The Word of God contains rich presentations of doctrinal teaching, so we have much to consider if we want to understand any doctrine fully. This includes the doctrine of regeneration. Thus far, we have considered the need for regeneration, the mystery of regeneration, the timing of regeneration, the actors in regeneration, and God’s sovereignty over regeneration. Today we will explore the immediacy of regeneration.
When we talk about things as immediate in everyday speech, usually we refer to how things occur in time. So something that happens immediately does not occur in the course of a prolonged process but at once, without intervening moments. For example, if a father says that his child came immediately when called, he means that the child got up the moment the father gave the command. When it comes to regeneration, there is a sense that this meaning of immediacy is true. A person is either dead or alive; in a moment, the change from one state to another happens. Metaphorically, we can speak of coming to life as a process, but there is no real halfway point between life and death. Thus, at the moment of regeneration, there is no real passage of time between spiritual death and spiritual life (Eph. 2:4–5).
Nevertheless, the immediacy of regeneration has more to do with God’s being the only operative power in the new birth than with how regeneration occurs in time. God does not use an agent or tool to effect the change of heart. Certainly God uses preaching to save people, and there is a connection between baptism and regeneration (Rom. 10:14–17; 1 Peter 3:21), but these things in themselves do not cause the new birth. That is God’s work alone as He renews our hearts to receive the grace that comes through preaching and in baptism. The Lord gives us grace through Word and sacrament, but the operating work of God in renewing us is distinct from them and must not be collapsed into them.
Many theologians have taken the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary as an example of the immediacy of regeneration. When Mary visited Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaped in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:39–45). It is argued that John leaped because he recognized the Savior and knew that he was in the presence of Jesus. Only God could reach into the womb to make such a thing happen, so this text seems to demonstrate God’s immediate work of regeneration.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The operating power and work of God in regeneration is not in the preaching of the Word or in the sacraments themselves. In that sense, regeneration is an immediate work of the Lord. Still, God is pleased to normally exercise His operating work alongside preaching and baptism, though not necessarily at the moment that the Word is heard or the water applied. We take preaching and the sacraments seriously because of how God meets us in them.
For further study
- Nehemiah 8:1–8
- Jeremiah 1:4–5
- Acts 2:42–47
- Romans 6:13
The bible in a year
- Zechariah 4–6
- Revelation 18