REGENERATION-QUESTIONS OF AGENCY OR MEANS
REGENERATION-QUESTIONS OF AGENCY OR MEANS Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. {1 Peter 1:23-25}
Perhaps the most significant differences of interpretation in this lesson relate to the identity of the “Word of God.” Does the term refer to Jesus (as inJohn 1:1-51)? Does it refer to the gospel, the preached word? Does it refer to Scripture, the written word? Or could it refer to the word of God in some other way? Our answers to these questions will dictate our theological course in almost all other areas of our faith. Asked in another way, in regeneration does God work directly or through one or more intermediate agents?
John Gill wrestles with these questions rather directly. In the end he favors the position that God works directly in causing the new birth; that the “word of God”in this passage refers to Jesus, the Word of God. [i] The responsible Biblical teacher should avoid any thought or teaching that in any way diminishes the authority and power of both Scripture and the preached word. To depreciate either leads directly into antinomianism and a careless, thoughtless abandonment of Biblical authority and instruction. All too often those who advocate the direct work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration blend arrogant rejection of any power or effective function to Scripture and the gospel into their teaching. This unbiblical teaching will devote long, technical sermons from such passages asRomans 1:16, devoted to what the gospel cannot do. In this manner they wholly ignore what Paul taught inRomans 1:16, a statement of the gospel’s power, not a disclaimer against any power whatever in the gospel. Antinomian rejection of the gospel and of lives that are truly transformed by God’s power in the gospel inevitably follow this unsound teaching. If we readRomans 1:16as our text for a sermon, we must then preach a positive message regarding the gospel’s power, not deny the passage by teaching its mirror opposite.
Advocates of gospel agency often accuse believers in the Holy Spirit’s direct and immediate regeneration of holding to anti-evangelism. Frequently, the advocates of immediate regeneration gladly accommodate the accusation by a callous indifference toward Biblical evangelism.
Having offered my obvious concerns against antinomianism and the excesses that often accompany the view that the Holy Spirit works directly and immediately in regeneration, I also offer that I believe the Holy Spirit works precisely in this manner in accomplishing the new birth. My concerns deal with heartless doctrinal perspectives that refuse to follow the full Biblical model and the exciting balance that grows out of the whole Scriptural teaching in this area. We can, and should, hold to God’s absolute sovereignty in regeneration, including his working directly rather than through an intermediate agent. From that position, we must also practice enthusiastic and informed evangelism and personal discipleship that is tenderly sensitive to the teaching of Scripture in all areas of faith and conduct.
How does Scripture refer to God’s “word”?The whole first chapter of Genesis provides details regarding God’s creation of the universe. At each crucial point, Moses introduces the next step in creation with “And God said...” Later in Old Testament Scripture David records a poetic reference to creation with these words, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth”.{Psalms 33:6} Several generations later Isaiah {Isaiah 55:10-11} recorded a similar reference to God’s personal speech, his “Word.”“ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Consistently, these passages refer to God’s personal speech, his word, in terms of His will and the certain accomplishments that God intended by speaking His words. In the New Testament, writing almost certainly to Diaspora Jews (Jews dispersed throughout the Roman Empire, rather than Jews still living in their native land), John devotes the prologue of his gospel to Jesus, God’s living Word. The writer of the Hebrew epistle follows this same pattern, {Hebrews 1:1-2} “God...hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son...”
Peter {1 Peter 1:23-25} includes an Old Testament quote fromIsaiah 40:6thew:6 hew:6. Isaiah exposes the futility of man’s pursuits apart from God. Like a tender flower in the hot sunshine, man’s greatest glory will wither before the glory of God. If Peter had intended to teach that man in any way contributes, even indirectly, to regeneration, he chose a passage that confronts, rather than supports, the idea, not a reasonable strategy. I offer that Peter’s intent in verse 25 {1 Peter 1:25} is to establish the convincing truth that God’s personal voice, his Word, {John 5:25} accompanied by His sovereign power, accomplishes our regeneration. To interpret the Word of God in this verse as either Scripture or as the gospel implies more purity than facts will support. In2 Corinthians 2:17Paul specifically warns that the “word”of God, referring to the gospel, can be corrupted. “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” A brief study of Biblical manuscripts will readily reveal that many false Christians have equally corrupted the written word of Scripture. To qualify the Word of God by which we are born again as incorruptible, Peter directs us emphatically to the sovereign Word of God, not to Scripture or to the gospel.
Verse 24 {1 Peter 1:24} begins the citation fromIsaiah 40:1-31; the citation ends in the beginning of verse 25, {1 Peter 1:25} “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.” In the context ofIsaiah 40:1-31we discover that these words predicted the substance of John’s gospel, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Peter’s concluding commentary on this lesson, “And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you,” refers to the citation from Isaiah, not to the word of verse 23. {1 Peter 1:23} Grammatically and contextually, this interpretation weighs more heavily than any other alternatives. A pronoun requires an antecedent. Grammatically, the antecedent is ordinarily the nearest, not a more remote noun. [ii]
If we reconstruct the whole lesson Peter has set before us, it flows logically from1 Peter 1:22. Obedient believers in God take revealed truth seriously. They obey it and purify their lives through its influence. Rather than rationalize why they shouldn’t apply Scripture to their personal conduct, they gladly seek its wisdom for their lives. Not interested in personal glory, they honor the purifying impact of the gospel as a work of the Holy Spirit. Hardness of heart and other personal sins will promote cynical and critical attitudes toward other believers, the fault-finding spirit personified. Sensitive obedience to God will promote both brotherly love and self-sacrificing love toward other believers. The foundational cause of such noble Christian conduct is discovered in the new birth and God’s incorruptible seed, His life, created in us by the personal Word of God, God’s will and speech, directing the course of His saving grace. While flesh fades under the heat of day, and its glory wrinkles under the rays of God’s glory, the words of God, revealing His will and power, becomes the heartbeat of the gospel. Whether preached by John before Jesus’ public appearance, or by preachers since John, the word of the gospel must remain faithfully the same in all these essential areas of divine truth. This Word preached, bears witness to God’s personal speech of mercy and love for his people, most perfectly personified in the Incarnation, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in flesh, and for our sins. To Him be the glory!
[i] Body of Divinity, Gill’s systematic theology text. Throughout his commentaries, Gill favors the idea of regeneration through the agency of the gospel. In Body of Divinity, the chapter dealing with the method by which God effects regeneration, Gill begins with his typical view favoring gospel agency. Then he offers one of his typical “Or it could be...” comments, after which he develops the idea that Jesus Himself could be the Word of God in this passage. After developing this alternate thought, Gill seems to end the chapter favoring the idea of direct, or immediate, regeneration, Jesus, God’s Living Word, being the “word of God”in this passage.
[ii] Then, would it not be that the antecedent/noun relationship would require that "this" word which by the gospel is preached unto you would be making reference to the "word" of the Lord that endureth for ever right there in the same verse?1 Peter 1:25|