The Work of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration and Conversion

The Bible tells us that there must be a work of the Spirit of God in the heart for this to happen.  Thank God, this is exactly what does take place in the lives of God’s chosen ones.  It was predicted by the prophets, and we can take Ezekiel as an outstanding example.  The Lord speaking through him, said, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezek. 36:25-27).

It is this reality that our Lord was referring to when he was speaking to Nicodemus.  Though Nicodemus thought he was on good terms with God, our Lord makes it very clear to him that his great need was a new birth, a spiritual rebirth.  Here is the heart of their conversation: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit “(Jn. 3:3-8).  Our Lord tells Nicodemus that this new birth is a necessary work of the Spirit in the heart, without which no one can enter or see the kingdom of God.

This not only means that apart from this work of the Spirit, faith and repentance are impossible, but also that through the Spirit’s powerful work in the heart, faith and repentance are inevitable.  That doesn’t mean that sinners are under no obligation to believe and repent; they are.  But it does mean that they will not unless their wills are turned by a mighty and efficacious work of the Spirit of God in them.

That it is an efficacious work – that is, a work that actually accomplishes its intended end – is apparent from numerous places in Scripture.  You see it in the passage from Ezekiel.  Notice all the “I wills” in those verses.  God will do this!  It is not simply, “I hope to do this,” or “I want to do this, if man will let me,” but “I will do it!”  This is what is behind the words of our Lord, when he spoke to the crowds in John 6: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (Jn. 6:44-45). Now it is true that it is the Father, not the Spirit, who is the one explicitly mentioned there, but we know from other places that the Father sends the Spirit (cf. Jn. 14:26), and it is by the Spirit’s agency that we are taught of God.  As the apostle will explain to the Corinthians, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:4-5).  It is the work of the Spirit who grounds our faith in the power of God.

Some will respond by referring to those passages that make it clear that God’s Spirit can be resisted.  It is true that men resist the Holy Spirit in their sin (cf. Acts 7:51).  We are not denying that this happens, nor that it happens all the time. However, the whole counsel of God must compel us to embrace the encouraging truth that the Holy Spirit can and does overcome such opposition in God’s time and way.  Paul was one of those resisting the Spirit at the stoning of Stephen, but, as Paul himself puts it, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood” (Gal. 1:15-16).  When it pleased God!  “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Ps. 135:6).  I am thankful for those words.  It is like the “But God” of Eph. 2:4 which totally changes the perspective of deadness in sin to life in Christ.

This work of new birth is also called regeneration (Tit. 3:5).  The work of regeneration is uniquely the work of the Spirit.  But it is a work with a purpose, and we must never forget that the purpose of regeneration is conversion.  These two realities are put together in the Biblical category of the effectual call, and what God has put together we must never put asunder.

What is effectual calling?  It is the work of the Spirit sovereignly regenerating us first and then bringing us to faith through the gospel.  In other words, God’s effectual call includes both regeneration and conversion.  It is what Paul is referring to when he tells the Thessalonians, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13-14).  The call here is by the gospel to faith in Christ, but it is a call that is grounded in the eternal election of God’s people and the effectual work of the Spirit preparing their hearts to receive Christ by faith.  You see this illustrated in the conversion of Lydia: “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul” (Acts 16:14).  There it is: God opened her heart as Paul was preaching the gospel so “that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.”  There, you see, is the purpose of regeneration: that we might attend to the things spoken to us by the apostles in the Scriptures.  It is why John will write, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” (1 Jn. 5:1).  Those who are born again believe that Jesus is the Christ (cf. 5:4).

Praise God for the work of the Holy Spirit, who seals God’s New Covenant blessings to us: “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 8:10-12).  There could be no greater blessings.  It comes to us because of the sovereign election of the Father and the successful redemption of the Son, and it is mediated to us through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.  May it encourage us to know that the work of God in our hearts is truly the work of God in our hearts and therefore, we can be sure that we will be kept to the end (1 Pet. 1:5).  And may it encourage us as we pray for and speak the truth to our unbelieving friends and family, knowing that if and when it pleases God, He will call them by His name, they will hear His voice, and they will follow Him (Jn. 10:25-29).