Old Testament Roots of Regeneration

Pastor Martin introduces the doctrine of regeneration as the second threshold blessing alongside calling. He answers the question raised by effectual calling — how can a sinner dead in trespasses respond? — by turning to the grace of regeneration, 'an inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Spirit.' He surveys the word's usage (Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5) and the history of the term from baptismal perversion through the older Reformed use. Then he turns to the major Old Testament analogies Nicodemus should have known — Deuteronomy 30:6's circumcision of the heart, Ezekiel 11 and 36's giving of a new heart and spirit with cleansing, and the new covenant promises of Jeremiah 31-32 — drawing from each the fourfold emphasis of a sovereign, inward, gracious act that results in love to God, obedience, and mutual covenantal fellowship. He closes with a stinging warning against the cheapened 'born again' language of modern pop evangelicalism.