As we survey the biblical record, we discover one primary purpose of signs and wonders was to authenticate God’s messengers and to confirm the authority of God’s message. Therefore, it should not surprise us that after the Bible was complete with the death of the final apostle near the end of the first century AD, dense constellations of miraculous activity would become less common, if not unnecessary. [1]
If we define a miracle as an act God accomplishes that is naturally impossible, we will admit miracles still take place every day. We just have to know where to look. In Ephesians 2:1-5, the apostle Paul shows us by revealing facet of grace. In theology, we call it regeneration. Jesus referred to it as being “born again.”
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (ESV)
Biblical Anthropology
Before he gets to the “greater than we can imagine” news, Paul begins with the “worse than we expected” news. Sinners are not merely wounded. According to biblical anthropology, every human being is dead—not physically, but spiritually.
In our natural condition, we are spiritually blind and deaf, born with a moral predisposition to rebel against the law of God, coupled with the inability to respond to the preaching of the gospel. The disease of sin has rendered the human population, literally, the walking dead.
This is why Jesus would qualify his sermons with the statement, “Let him who has ears to hear, hear.” He knew, without the supernatural intervention of the Spirit to give the grace of spiritual hearing, none could respond to the gospel.
A Stunning Turn
After declaring humanity dead in sin, which is a truth boasting more evidence than needs to be brought forward here, Paul makes a stunning turn, where eternity swings open with one word of transition in verse 4, “But...”
While the bad news is worse than we could have imagined, the good news is better than we could have dreamed. Those who were objects of wrath, deserving judgment for rebellion, become objects of divine mercy.
Driven by fervent love, God intervenes to bring the spiritually dead to life with the miracle we call regeneration, which is nothing less than resurrection!
Does God still perform miracles? If you are a disciple of Jesus, your life is proof that he does. The only way someone becomes a true Christian is through the miracle of regenerating grace.
The Source of New Life
Regeneration is a unilateral, sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, whereby he gives us new eyes, new ears, and ultimately, a new heart.
New eyes enable us to see our need for and the Father’s provision of a sin-substitute to endure the judgment we deserve.
New ears make it possible to hear the voice of the Spirit speaking through the preaching of the gospel.
A new heart empowers a believing response to the love of God manifested in the cross of Jesus.
Everything becomes new. Not only our eyes, ears, and heart, but our minds, wills, and desires. Paul writes about the totality of this newness is 2 Corinthians 5:17-18a, saying, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” His next line reveals the source of a believer’s new life. With awe-filled solemnity, he confesses, “18 All this is from God...”
All of this is from God.
Regeneration is a gift—pure and simple. We play no part is the miracle of spiritual resurrection. You and I are passive recipients. That is the whole idea of “receiving Christ.”
Fact vs. Feeling
By the way, when we speak of new life, we primarily are talking about the fact not the feeling, as well as the unalterable status of new, not the unavoidable hardness of life circumstances.
Let me explain.
New life as a fact is just that. If you receive the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation with God in Christ, you are no longer under condemnation. You may feel condemned for ongoing struggles with the flesh. But the fact remains, the cross absorbs every sin.
As you live the new life of a forgiven, beloved child of God, the brokenness of the world will continue to inflict pain and suffering. It may tempt you to think God has abandoned you or is punishing you. Don’t believe the lie. In Romans 8, Paul foresees this emotional struggle and declares, without hesitation or qualification,
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can undo what Jesus has done. Not even our sin.
Two Implications
Theologically, regeneration teaches us that faith is the result of new life, not the cause of it. We say it like this: regeneration precedes faith.
Practically, regenerating grace is one of the most hopeful doctrines in the Bible, teaching no one is so spiritually or morally dead they can’t be resurrected to new life. Maybe that will spur some of us to pray for those we know and love whom we have assumed too far gone to come home.
Maybe that person is you? Do you see your need for a Savior? Is the Spirit awakening your desire to receive the gift of grace in Jesus, being forgiven of sin and reconciled to God? If so, you have experienced a miracle, and I want to celebrate with you by thanking God for making the impossible a reality in your life and mine.
Discussion Questions
How does the doctrine of regeneration undermine religious moralism?
Why do we say it is a miracle for anyone to be a true, regenerate Christian?
What does regeneration teach us about grace?
What are some practical implications of being the recipient of regenerating grace?
Notes
1 In the Bible, we see the miraculous concentrated around certain people at particular times, usually when a major redemptive event was taking place. For example, we see a cluster of miracles associated with the ministry of Moses in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New. While miraculous events are recorded beyond their ministries, miracles such as constellations seem to appear at particularly significant redemptive junctures in biblical history.