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VI. Regeneration and Effectual Calling
A. THE SCRIPTURAL TERMS FOR REGENERATION AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS.
1. THE TERMS THAT COME INTO CONSIDERATION.
The Greek word for “regeneration”
(palingenesia) is found only in Matt. 19:28 and Titus 3:5; and only in the last named passage
does it refer to the beginning of the new life in the individual Christian. The idea of this
beginning is more commonly expressed by the verb gennao (with anothen in John 3:3), or its
compositum anagennao. These words mean either to beget, to beget again, or to bear or give
birth, John 1:13; 3:3,4,5,6,7,8; I Pet. 1:23; I John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18. In one passage, namely,
Jas. 1:18, the word apokueo, to bear or bring forth, is employed. Furthermore, the thought of
the production of a new life is expressed by the word ktizo, to create, Eph. 2:10, and the
product of this creation is called a kaine ktisis (a new creature), II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15, or a
kainos anthropos (a new man), Eph. 4:24. Finally, the term suzoopoieo, to make alive with, to
quicken with, is also used in a couple of passages, Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13.
2. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE TERMS.
These terms carry with them several important
implications, to which attention should be directed. (a) Regeneration is a creative work of God,
and is therefore a work in which man is purely passive, and in which there is no place for
human co-operation. This is a very important point, since it stresses the fact that salvation is
wholly of God. (b) The creative work of God produces a new life, in virtue of which man, made
alive with Christ, shares the resurrection life, and can be called a new creature, “created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them,” Eph. 2:10.
(c) Two elements must be distinguished in regeneration, namely, generation or the begetting of
the new life, and bearing or bringing forth, by which the new life is brought forth out of its
hidden depths. Generation implants the principle of the new life in the soul, and the new birth
causes this principle to begin to assert itself in action. This distinction is of great importance for
a proper understanding of regeneration.
B. THE USE OF THE TERM “REGENERATION” IN THEOLOGY.
1. IN THE EARLY CHURCH AND IN ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY.
In the mind of the early
Church the term “regeneration” did not stand for a sharply defined concept. It was used to
denote a change closely connected with the washing away of sins, and no clear distinction was
made between regeneration and justification. As identified with baptismal grace, the former
was understood especially as a designation of the remission of sin, though the idea of a certain
moral renovation was not excluded. Even Augustine did not draw a sharp line here, but did
distinguish between regeneration and conversion. To him regeneration included, in addition to
the remission of sin, only an initial change of the heart, followed by conversion later on. He