Regeneration

Excerpt from Grace to You:  The Christian's Duty in a Hostile World, Part 3 (1 Peter 4:10-11)

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 You might be interested to know that as central as the cross is in Christianity, it was not really the central focus of the early church. The early church saw much more in salvation than just the moment at which Christ atoned for sins, the moment in which He died on the cross. The early church saw salvation in much broader terms than that. The early church saw salvation as something that only began with the forgiveness of sins and led to a life transformed into obedience and consummated in the glory with Jesus Christ. It is interesting that even history sort of reflects this. In his book, Civilization, author Kenneth Clark shows that the cross as such was a very late symbol in Christian art and Christian culture. When we think about Christianity, we think immediately about the cross as the symbol of our faith. You might be interested to know that as far as that book, Civilization, determined the first appearance of the cross in Christian art or culture occurred in A.D. 430, all the way into the fifth century, on the doors of the church at Santa Sobina(?) and that that cross was a very small little cross inset into some piece of Christian art.

The early church did not focus on the cross. The early church focused on what great event? The resurrection. It focused its attention on the resurrection. And consequently its preoccupation was not with the point at which sin is forgiven, but the point at which new life begins. And the resurrection is that point. We, of course, died in Christ spiritually and in that death the penalty of sin was paid. But we also arose in Christ, says Paul, to walk in newness of life. To be saved then to the early church, and surely to us as well, was not just to have your sin forgiven. It was not just some transaction which dealt with your guilt. But rather to be saved was to be delivered from the power of darkness and to be translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. In other words, it was to enter in to an entirely new kind of life, to enter into a new sphere of existence. Salvation is not just atonement. Salvation is not just forgiveness. Salvation is regeneration. It is transformation. It is the imparting of a new kind of life, the life of God in the soul of man.

And because that is true, one who is saved not only has sin dealt with but has a new desire to live in that new sphere. That desire rises from a new nature, a holy seed. The New Testament talks a lot about the fact that there is planted in the believer the seed of new life, an incorruptible seed. And that seed is a very important concept because a seed is that which produces something. And the very fact that Scripture identifies the Christian as one in whom is planted an incorruptible seed of life indicates that there will be a fruit bearing, there will be a production out of that seed. That seed of new life that is incorruptible will flourish. And so, when a person is saved, it is not just a matter of dealing with sin, it turns them from the old life and the old ways to a new life and new ways that are the very consequential expression of that new life.

To put it simply, works, godly works, spiritual works, good works become the inevitable result of that transformation. James says they are inherent in the nature of saving faith. Where you have saving faith you have works because salvation is not just forgiveness, it is transformation, it is regeneration.

Martin Luther describes saving faith as a powerful life altering force. Listen the words of Martin Luther. "O this faith is a living busy active powerful thing. It is impossible that it should not be ceaselessly doing that which is good. It does not even ask whether good works should be done, but before the question can be asked it has done them. And it is constantly engaged in doing them. But he who does not do such works is a man without faith. He gropes and casts about him to find faith and good works, not knowing what either of them is and yet prattles and idly multiplies words about faith and good works."

Further he says, "Faith is a living well‑founded confidence in the grace of God, so perfectly certain that it would die a thousand times rather than surrender its conviction. Such confidence and personal knowledge of divine grace makes it possessor joyful, bold, full of warm affection toward God and all created things, all of which the Holy Spirit works in faith. Hence, such a man becomes without constraint willing and eager to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer all manner of ills in order to please and glorify God who has shown toward him such grace," end quote.

Many theologians have tried to make us believe that Luther didn't believe in such a faith, but he did as witnessed by his own words. His view of salvation was right. And ours must be as well. We must see salvation as a transformation of life, listen to it now, that makes meaningful and desirable all the commandments of the Word of God. That's why in the great commission it says, "Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." There is inherent in that new life the impulse to obey.

So, here we are. Forgiven...yes. Transformed...yes. With an impulse to obey and here we have that impulse to obey served by a series of commands in this text. These texts then come, like many others in the New Testament, to speak to the heart where obedience is the deepest desire. Peter then is instructing us on the principles of Christian living. We do not fight it. We desire it. We do not resist it. We long for it. We do not debate it. We obey it. That is the mark of transformation.