To Be Born Again, We Must Do Our Part

By Pastor Bruce Oyen

E-mail: bk_oyen@hotmail.com

The Reason For This Posting

    To be born again, we must do our part! Perhaps many readers of this statement are thinking, "Well, duh! What's new about that fact. Doesn't everyone believe we must do our part to be born again?" The answer to the question is, "No, not everyone believes we must do our part to be born again." In fact, a lot of Christians think the new birth is in no way dependent upon us. These Christians say that God alone causes the new birth, which results in someone believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. That is quite different from saying we are born again when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

    As proof of the statement that many Christians believe the new birth comes before faith in Jesus Christ, click on the link to this website: http://www.monergism.com/. This website is dedicated to the belief that the new birth precedes faith in Jesus. The website use the word "monergism" because the word means, in this context, that God causes the new birth without our doing anything, even believing in Jesus Christ, to receive the new birth.  On this website, you will learn that many Christians of the past and many from the present (including R. C. Sproul and John Piper) held/hold this view. For proof of their view, click on these links to  previous postings of mine: http://biblicalfoodforthought.blogspot.com/2011/10/are-we-passive-or-active-in-new-birth.html
 http://biblicalfoodforthought.blogspot.com/2011/11/when-are-we-born-again.html

 Support For The Belief That Faith Results In The New Birth

      While it is true that many  Christians think regeneration (the new birth) results in faith in Jesus, it is also true that  many other Christians hold the opposite opinion, which is that faith in Jesus results in the new birth. I will give quotes from different sources  in support of this latter view. The quotes are in red to easily distinguish them from my own words.

• John Calvin. This man is, well, the father of Calvinism, and the author of many commentaries on Biblical books. Here is part of his commentary on 1 John 5:1, a favorite text of those who tell us "regeneration precedes faith." Calvin wrote: "He confirms by another reason, that faith and brotherly love are united; for since God regenerates us by faith he must necessarily be loved by us as a Father; and this love embraces all his children. Then faith cannot be separated from love." Let me  re-quote part of that quote from Calvin himself: "God regenerates us by faith." Here is part of what he wrote in his commentary on John 1:13: "It may be thought that the Evangelist reverses the natural order by making regeneration to precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, it is an effect of faith, and therefore ought to be placed later. I reply, that both statements perfectly agree; because by faith we receive the incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) by which we are born again to a new and divine life." Read that again carefully. Calvin wrote: "by faith we receive the incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) by which we are born again to a new and divine life."
• F. F. Bruce. This man is a renowned Bible scholar who has written many commentaries and other books on Biblical subjects. Here is part of what his commentary on John 1:12, 13 says on the new birth: "Physical birth, membership of  a family in the natural sense, is a matter of bllod relationship. It is the product of bodily desire........; it results from the will of a man........ But spiritual birth, entry into the family whose Father is God, depends on quite different factors -- the receiving by faith of him whom God has sent." (The  dots......indicate I have left out some complex statements.)
• J. Dwight Pentecost. This man is well-known for his numerous books on Biblical subjects. He was for many years a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. The following quotes are taken from the chapter on regeneration in his book, "Things Which Become Sound Doctrine." He wrote: "The Word Of God tells us that a man who does no more than believe that Jesus Christ is his personal Savior passes from death to life." He later wrote: "When we turn to Galatians 3:26, we discover yet another fact. We were begotten by faith: 'For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.' We become a child of God by only one way -- by a new birth. And the Apostle  points out, in verse 26, that that which accomplishes the new birth is faith in Christ Jesus. Here we have the instrument by which the new birth is accomplished -- faith in Christ Jesus. This same truth was stated by the apostle John: 'But as many as received him [received Christ], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name' (1:12). Twice he states the instrument by which we became the sons of God: '...as many as received him' : '...them that believe on his name.' This is the act of faith that simply stretches out the hand to receive that gift which God has to place in it. Belief, or receiving, is the response to the facts of the gospel presented in the Word of God. Paul said he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it was the power of God unto salvation. When the power of God is revealed in the Word of God, and the fact is received and believed, then the miracle of the new birth takes place." Again, he later wrote: "The apostle John, in John 1:12, and Paul, in Galatians 3:26, say that this miracle of the new birth is not possible apart from faith -- faith in a Person as He is revealed in the Word, so that the Author may send the agent, the Holy Spirit, to accomplish the new birth." Again, even later, he wrote: "Faith is the instrument by which the new birth is wrought." And even later he wrote: "Our Lord said to Nicodemus, 'Ye must be born again.' There is no greater message that the world needs. There is no solution but the solution which the Lord gave to Nicodemus: 'Ye must be born of the Spirit.' Have you been born again? Have you been regenerated? Have you become a child of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because the Word has revealed your need, and has shown how Christ shed His blood, that your need might be met? You may become a son of God, in a moment of time, by faith in Him. Today can become your birthday, the day when you are born into God's family -- if you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior."
• The ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version). Here is this study Bible's notes on John 1:12 and 13: "Receive him implies not merely intellectual agreement with some facts about Jesus but also welcoming and submitting to him in a personal relationship. 'Believe in' (Gk. pisteuo eis) implies personal trust. His name refers to all that is true about him, and therefore the totality of his person. Born not of blood...,but of God makes clear that neither physical birth nor ethnic descent nor human effort can make people children of God, but only God's supernatural work (8:41 - 47; cf. 3:16) This extends the possibility of becoming God's children to Gentiles and not just Jews (11:51 - 52; cf. 10:16). See also 3:3 - 8. To all... who believed...he gave the right indicates that saving faith precedes becoming members of God's family through adoption as his children."

• The NKJV Study Bible (New King James Version).  Here is some of this study Bible's notes on John 1:12 and 13: "By believing, undeserving sinners can become full members of God's family. born... of God: This new spiritual birth is not of blood, that is, by  physical generation or by parents. Nor is the new birth of the will of the flesh, that is, by personal effort. Neither is the birth of the will of man, that is,  something done by another individual. Each person must individually trust Jesus Christ for eternal life. It is a gift to be received (4:10, 14), not a reward achieved through any human effort."
• The Zondervan KJV Study Bible (King James Version). Here are this study Bible's notes on John 1:12: "gave he power. Membership in God's family is by grace alone -- the gift of God (see Eph. 2:8 - 9). It is never a human achievement, as vs. 13 emphasizes; yet the imparting of the gift is dependent on man's reception of it, as the words 'received' and 'believe' make clear."
• F. L. Godet. This man is a renowned Biblcal scholar who wrote several commentaries on the Bible. Here is part of what he wrote on John 1:13: "It seems at first glance -- because of the past verb: who were born -- that the apostle places regeneration before faith, which is, of course, impossible."  Later he wrote: "Thee are two humanities, one which propogates itself in the way of natural filiation; the other, in which the higher life is communicated immediately by God Himself to every believer."  And then later he wrote: "By its very conciseness it expresses the beauty of that spiritual birth, which is altogether free from material elements, from natural attraction, from human will, and in which the only cooperating forces are God acting through His Spirit on the one side, and man's faith on the other."

Some Final Thoughts

• First, it is important to understand that we are born again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because if regeneration comes before faith in him, then we have born again unbelievers. In his book, "Basic Theology," Charles C. Ryrie wrote something that I think applies here: "In the Reformed statement of the ordo salutis, regeneration precedes faith, for, it is argued, a sinner must be given new life in order to be able to believe. Although this is admittedly stated only as a logical order, it is not wise to insist even on that; for it may well be argued that if a sinner has new life through regeneration, why does he need to believe?"
• It is also important to understand this because the Bible plainly teaches we are born again by faith in Jesus. See John 1:12, 13; and Galatians 3:26. The last verse says: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Are not all born again persons children of God? If the answer is "yes," then it proves one is born again by faith. If the answer is "no," then one must  believe one can be born again, but not a child of God until faith is put in Jesus.
• A third reason it is important to understand this matter is because if someone is led to believe that they have nothing to do to be born again, it will easily lead them to be complacent about their need of the new birth. It will be the same as being led to believe they have nothing to do to be saved. This fact compels me to re-quote J. Dwight Pentecost, who wrote: Have you become a child of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because the Word has revealed your need, and has shown how Christ shed His blood, that your need might be met? You may become a son of God, in a moment of time, by faith in Him. Today can become your birthday, the day when you are born into God's family -- if you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior."