Regeneration

The new birth, the new life is the good news of the gospel. But like all classic Christian doctrines the idea of regeneration has lost its luster as the fruit of modern society has blossomed and grown beyond ripeness into deterioration and decay. For the most part, Christians today mistake the fruit or result of regeneration for the seed of new life.

God gives His people a new heart. It’s easy to see how Ezekiel contributes to our misunderstanding of idea as we read his words through the lens of modern medicine. We know about heart transplants because we invented them through a combination of modern science, medicine, and technology. Today we read Ezekiel through the lens of modern medicine, science, and technology. But that is not what Ezekiel was talking about. Ezekiel was not talking about a heart replacement.

Sure the recipient gets a “new” heart, but the heart that he gets is not actually new. It can best be described as a used heart. It used to belong to someone else, another sinner who was not a lot different from himself.

In our world today most everyone mistakes the idea of “recovery” for regeneration. But in spite of the great value and importance of drug and alcohol recovery programs, recovery is not regeneration. This error is widely accepted by Christians of every flavor today. In fact, much of the time, effort, and money that is needed for Christian evangelism is directed to recovery programs. This is not a bad thing! Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to the idea of recovery or recovery programs. And Christian recovery programs are the best.

However, it is to our shame and embarrassment as a society, such programs are in such great need today. All I am saying is that recovery is not regeneration. Recovery is simply the return to a previous state.

Christ was resurrected from death in this world to life in this world. It’s about life here and now, which is why Paul tied it together with God making us alive together with Christ. Just as Christ had been resurrected from death, Christians are resurrected from being dead in their trespasses and sins here on earth, to new life in Christ on earth. None of this pertains to heaven. It’s about earth. It’s about what we also call regeneration.

Heaven is surely part of the biblical story, and it is related to resurrection and various Christian doctrines. But the goal of the Bible is not to get believers into heaven, but to get heaven into believers.