[LHBC SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: SOTERIOLOGY] February 14, 2016

THE EVIDENCES OF REGENERATION The evidences are inseparable from regeneration. They register immediately in the conscious life and activity of the person. This biblical truth is diametrically opposed to those who claim that there are no necessary evidences of the new birth. These often classify these evidences as works erroneously raised to the level of co- conditions with faith (otherwise called “frontloading the Gospel”).19 The apostle John is the principal source for the evidences of regeneration in a believer’s life, evidences which are in fact signs of the necessary and inevitable perseverance of the saints. John’s confirming proofs, to be discussed more fully in a later chapter, can here be listed as follows: Believing that Jesus is the Christ: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1). “Believes” is pisteuo in the present active indicative, “is believing.” “Is born” is the verb gennao in the perfect passive indicative, “has been born.” Righteous living: “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29). “Who practices” righteousness is ho poion, a present active participle of poieo, “the one doing” righteousness. “Is born” is gennao in the perfect passive indicative, “has been born.” Cessation of habitual sinning: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). “Who is born” is gennao in the perfect passive participle, “who has been born.” “He cannot sin” is hamartano in the present active infinitive with ou dunatai, “he is not able to go on sinning.” (See also 1 John 5:18: “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.”) Overcoming faith: “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Love of Christian brothers: “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10; cf. also 3:14 and 4:7). Obedience to divine commands: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.… [W]hoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him” (1 John 2:3–5). And, Paul adds an additional evidence: The witness of the Spirit: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16). This testimony is mediated through the Scriptures and the other evidences of perseverance. The matter of assurance of salvation will be handled in a subsequent section.1

D. Genuine Regeneration Must Bring Results in Life In an earlier section we saw a beautiful example of the first result of regeneration in a person’s life, when Paul spoke the gospel message to Lydia and “the Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul”

19 See Zane Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege: A Study on Faith and Works (Dallas: Rendecion Viva, 1981). Joseph Dillow wants “initial” evidences but not continuing evidences (The Reign of the Servant Kings: A Study of Eternal Security and the Final Significance of Man, 2nd ed. [Hayesville, NC: Schoettle, 1993], pp. 227, 253). 1 Rolland McCune, A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things, vol. 3 (Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010), 59–60. Page | 1

[LHBC SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY: SOTERIOLOGY] February 14, 2016

(Acts 16:14; cf. John 6:44, 65; 1 Peter 1:3). Similarly, John says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1 NIV).10 But there are also other results of regeneration, many of which are specified in John’s first epistle. For example, John says, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9 NIV). Here John explains that a person who is born again has that spiritual “seed” (that life-generating and growing power) within him, and that this keeps the person living a life free of continual sin. This does not of course mean that the person will have a perfect life, but only that the pattern of life will not be one of continuing indulgence in sin. When people are asked to characterize a regenerated person’s life, the adjective that comes to mind should not be “sinner,” but rather something like “obedient to Christ” or “obedient to Scripture.” We should notice that John says this is true of everyone who is truly born again: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin.” Another way of looking at this is to say that “every one who does what is right has been born of him” (1 John 2:29). A genuine, Christlike love will be one specific result in life: “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7 NIV). Another effect of the new birth is overcoming the world: “And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God has overcome the world” (1 John 5:3–4 NIV). Here John explains that regeneration gives the ability to overcome the pressures and temptations of the world that would otherwise keep us from obeying God’s commandments and following his paths. John says that we will overcome these pressures and therefore it will not be “burdensome” to obey God’s commands but, he implies, it will rather be joyful. He goes on to explain that the process through which we gain victory over the world is continuing in faith: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4 NIV). Finally, John notes that another result of regeneration is protection from Satan himself: “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God [that is, Jesus] keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him” (1 John 5:18 NIV). Though there may be attacks from Satan, John reassures his readers that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NIV), and this greater power of the Holy Spirit within us keeps us safe from ultimate spiritual harm by the evil one. We should realize that John emphasizes these as necessary results in the lives of those who are born again. If there is genuine regeneration in a person’s life, he or she will believe that Jesus is the Christ, and will refrain from a life pattern of continual sin, and will love his brother, and will overcome the temptations of the world, and will be kept safe from ultimate harm by the evil one. These passages show that it is impossible for a person to be regenerated and not become truly converted.11 Other results of regeneration are listed by Paul where he speaks of the “fruit of the Spirit,” that is, the result in life that is produced by the power of the Holy Spirit working within every believer: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). If there is true regeneration then these elements of the fruit of the Spirit will be more and more evident in that person’s life. But by contrast, those who are unbelievers, including those who are pretending to be believers but are not, will clearly lack of these character traits in their lives. Jesus told his disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:15–20)

cf cf.—compare 10 The perfect participle translated here “is born” could more explicitly be translated “has been born and continues in the new life that resulted from that event.” 11 Since we indicated above that a person is first regenerated, and then subsequently comes to saving faith, there will be a brief time in which someone is regenerated and the results (faith, love, etc.) are not yet seen. But John is saying that the results will follow; they are inevitable once someone is born again. Page | 2

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Neither Jesus nor Paul nor John point to activity in the church or miracles as evidence of regeneration. They rather point to character traits in life. In fact, immediately after the verses quoted above Jesus warns that on the day of judgment many will say to him, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” But he will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers” (Matt. 7:22–23). Prophecy, exorcism, and many miracles and mighty works in Jesus’ name (to say nothing of other kinds of intensive church activity in the strength of the flesh over perhaps decades of a person’s life) do not provide convincing evidence that a person is truly born again. Apparently all these can be produced in the natural man or woman’s own strength, or even with the help of the evil one. But genuine love for God and his people, heartfelt obedience to his commands, and the Christlike character traits that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, demonstrated consistently over a period of time in a person’s life, simply cannot be produced by Satan or by the natural man or woman working in his or her own strength. These can only come about by the Spirit of God working within and giving us new life.2

The Fruits of Repentance When Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17), those who heard him understood the message. With their rich heritage in Old Testament and rabbinical teaching, his hearers would not have been confused about the meaning of repentance. They knew he was calling for far more than simply a change of mind or a new perspective on who he was. Repentance to them meant a complete surrender of their will and an inevitable change of behavior—a new way of life, not just a different opinion. They realized he was calling them to admit their sin and turn from it, to be converted, to turn around, to forsake their sin and selfishness and follow him instead. After all, the Jewish concept of repentance was well developed. The rabbis held that Isaiah 1:16–17 described nine activities related to repentance: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Note carefully the progression: beginning internally with a cleansing, repentance then manifests itself in attitudes and actions. The Old Testament was filled with rich truth about repentance. Ezekiel 33:18–19, for example, says, “When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die in it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them.” Second Chronicles 7:14 is a familiar prescription for repentance “[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Isaiah 55:6–7 gives the Old Testament invitation to salvation, and repentance is a key element: “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Jonah 3:10 says, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” Look carefully at that verse from Jonah. How did God evaluate the Ninevites’ repentance? By their deeds. It was not that he read their thoughts or heard their prayers, though an omniscient God certainly could have seen the reality of their repentance that way. But he looked for righteous works. John the Baptist also demanded to see good deeds as proof of repentance. He preached the message of repentance even before Jesus began his ministry (cf. Matt. 3:1–2). Scripture records that when the religious hypocrites came to John for baptism, “He said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance’ ” (Matt. 3:7–8).

2 Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 704–706. Page | 3

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What a greeting! It was a far cry from saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, here are our esteemed leaders.” We don’t know why they had come for baptism, but obviously their motives were wrong. Perhaps they were trying to gain favor with the people or be associated with John’s popularity. Whatever their reasons, they had not really repented, and John refused their overture. He condemned them instead as religious phonies. Why was John so harsh? Because these hypocrites were poisoning a whole nation with their fatal deception. Nothing about their behavior indicated that they had truly repented. There is a critical lesson here: If repentance is genuine, we can expect it to produce observable results. What are the fruits of repentance? That is the question the tax-gatherers asked John the Baptist (Luke 3:10). His answer to them was, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to” (v. 13). To some soldiers who asked the same question, his response was, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages” (v. 14). In other words, there must be a sincere change in one’s lifestyle. A person who has genuinely repented will stop doing evil and begin to live righteously. Along with a change of mind and attitude, true repentance will begin to produce a change in conduct. Radical change was also what the apostle Paul considered proof of repentance. Note how he described his ministry to King Agrippa: “I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring … to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:19– 20, emphasis added). That true believers will show their repentance with righteous behavior was obviously a crucial element of Paul’s message.21, 3 Where in the Bible is it taught that all believers will be spiritually fruitful? Does this mean there is no room for failure in the Christian life? Of course we all experience some degree of failure, but ultimate failure—returning permanently to unbelief and wanton sin—is not possible for true Christians. Romans 8:29–30 guarantees that every believer will be ultimately conformed to the image of Christ. The Spirit of God indwells each believer (Rom. 8:9). We have been made completely new (2 Cor. 5:17). And we are being transformed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). Each of those truths guarantees that we cannot experience ultimate failure. The inevitability of fruit-bearing is repeatedly emphasized in Scripture. The basic principle of creation, stated in Genesis 1:11, is that everything bears fruit of its own kind. Here are just a few verses that expressly underscore this truth: Proverbs 12:12—“The wicked desires the booty of evil men, but the root of the righteous yields fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7–8—“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.” Matthew 3:10—“Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 7:17–19—“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 12:33—“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”4

21 See appendix 1. 3 John F. MacArthur Jr., The Gospel according to Jesus: What Does Jesus Mean When He Says “Follow Me,” Electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Academic and Professional Books, Zondervan Pub. House, 2000). 4 Ibid., p. 276 Page | 4