"Old School" Regeneration

Recently a good friend posed two questions to me for discussion.  They are: “Were the OT saints regenerated in the Old Testament?” and “Is it Regeneration then Conversion or Conversion then Regeneration?”  Here is my attempt to answer those questions from scripture for (hopefully) your reading enjoyment.

The two questions are obviously linked by the parallel element of Regeneration.  But I believe the first question is the more difficult of the two to answer adequately.  So I will spend the bulk of my time dealing with it.  My answer to the second question will be much shorter because it will rely on the evidence already presented in my attempt to answer the first. 

There are two foundational elements which informed my thinking on this topic from the beginning.  They are what I believe to be the best definitions of Regeneration available.  The first is of divine origin while the second is man-made.

Titus 3:4-7 - ⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Regeneration: In theology, new birth by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and His law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and His law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart. (Noah Webster)

1. Did the Old Testament saints experience regeneration?  I believe that they did.  My argument is based on two key factors: the logic that flows from scripture and the example of King David.  I will deal with the logic first.  In the New Testament regeneration is concurrent with faith and repentance.  It signifies spiritual life being granted where previously there had been only death.  We can see this element of death and rebellion in Romans 3:10-18 - ¹⁰ as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
¹¹ There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
¹³ “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In addition to that passage, 1 Corinthians 2:14 reads thusly – “¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  Romans 8:6-8 further clarifies the condition of man – “⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

In contrast to the above passages which paint a picture of hopelessness we see the New Testament authors expounding the element of faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 reveals saving faith as both a gift from God rather than from ourselves as well as the primary vehicle through which salvation is given: “⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”   This passage along with many others on faith securely interlink both the regeneration spoken of in Titus 3:4-7 above and its metaphor of new birth spoken of in John 3:3 (“³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”)  with the element of faith as not the only, but certainly two of the essential components of salvation.

With faith established as a critical element of restoration with God we must examine whether any Old Testament saints demonstrated this kind of faith.  They certainly did.  In the later chapters of the book of Hebrews we see a stirring account of the giants of faith from the Old Testament.  This list is prefaced by the following statement in 10:38-11:2 – “³⁸ But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. ³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” 11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.² For by it the men of old gained approval.  This is clearly pointing to these people as having the faith which results in approval from God.  The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to say that Noah “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  There is no disputing the fact that these men and women were people of faith.  But the question remains, were they regenerated?  I believe they were regenerated, although lacking a precise theological term for the experience and a full explanation of the grace God was extending to them.  It is the only logical conclusion to be drawn from the fact that faith and regeneration are inextricably linked.  If a person has faith then they have experienced regeneration.  If they experience regeneration then they will show it through faith.

Further, it must be clarified that salvation has only ever come via grace.  Even under the Mosaic Law, escape from the wrath of God was never granted on the basis of the keeping of the Law.  The prophet Samuel makes this clear in 1 Samuel 15:22 when he admonishes Saul: “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  Rather than a means of obtaining salvation the Law served rather as an illustration of exactly what happens when man views God’s benchmarks as being obtainable by works.  2 Corinthians 3:5-6 illustrates this point: “⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,⁶ who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  A powerful example of this element of salvation apart from the Law is that of King David.  When confronted in 2 Samuel 12 by Nathan the prophet after his horrific sin with Bathsheba and Uriah David immediately responds with the following statement in verse 13: “I have sinned against the Lord.”  Nathan responds, with the full authority of the Lord, just as immediately: “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”  There was no sacrifice.  There was no observance of the “letter” of the Mosaic Law.  There was only David’s contrite and humble heart of faith in his God.  And when we consider that the wages earned by sin is death as explained in Romans 6:23 it seems clear that God was graciously absolving David of his guilt purely on the basis of his faith.  To add to the already overwhelming evidence we find David in Psalm 51 pouring his heart out to the Lord in a prayer of confession and repentance.  In verse 11 of this famous Psalm David penned the following words: “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  The Hebrew word used here is ruwach (roo’-akh) and is the same word using in Genesis 1 to describe the “Spirit of God” hovering above the waters that had just been created.  Admittedly, ruwach can be used to denote simply wind, breath, or mind; but in context we must assume that in both places it is referring specifically and uniquely to the Holy Spirit.  And calling once again upon the foundational passage in Titus 3 the conclusion is that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on King David in the act of regeneration, Old Testament style.

But how can this be?  Doesn’t salvation, and by extension regeneration, come only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Yes, it certainly does now as evidenced by the teaching of Peter in Acts 4:10-12: “¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. ¹¹ He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”  But we must remember that God historically has revealed Himself through a sequential process of ever increasing understanding which builds upon that which came before and adds to it without contradicting any of it.  The theological term for this is Progressive Revelation.  The best and most obvious example of this is Christ Himself.  God first foreshadows the Messiah in Genesis 3:15 when He pronounces judgment on Satan: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”  He then continues to preface His coming through the Law and the Prophets, from the Bronze snake that Moses “lifted up” in the wilderness to the suffering servant seen in Isaiah 53.  But the full revelation of God’s plan of ultimate redemption was not seen until the first advent of Jesus when He was incarnated in human flesh.  This is Progressive Revelation.  So with this in mind, we must understand that each generation of humanity was only held to the standard that had been revealed to them at that time.  Salvation has always been accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit through the medium of faith expressed as belief in the word of God.  Prior to the incarnation, the word of God was limited to that which was spoken verbally by the prophets and that which was written down.  This word was life giving even before the Messiah came, as in Psalm 19:8 – “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;  The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”  Then, according to the principle of Progressive Revelation, the word or logos of God was expanded to include the Word of God in the person of Jesus.  John 1:1-4 puts it this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”  Thus prior to the coming of Jesus faith and salvation, and by association regeneration, were all possible, based purely and solely upon faith in His word and extended to mankind by His grace.

2. Is it Regeneration then Conversion or Conversion then Regeneration?  The answer to this question lies in all of the passages used above to answer the first.  Conversion is understood as the expression of the twin gifts of faith and repentance whereby a person is made right in the sight of God.  But faith and repentance cannot be granted to a dead person because a dead person cannot respond to stimuli.  They must be made alive in order to react appropriately.  And Romans 3:10-18, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and Romans 8:6-8 make it abundantly clear that all men begin in a state of death.  This is where Regeneration comes into play.  Regeneration must occur prior to Conversion so that the soul which was formerly dead and hostile to God can respond out of the newness of life that is now being experienced for the first time.

To summarize, I believe the bible teaches that Saving Faith is a primary component of Conversion and is a gift given by God to enable a person to seek after, treasure, and ultimately exalt Him.  Such a gift of grace would be ineffective if given to a spiritually dead person because they lack any capacity to respond due to their lifeless spiritual condition.  Therefore, Saving Faith must always be preceded by Regeneration.  Because of this necessary sequence of events, I believe the Old Testament saints were indeed regenerated prior to receiving their saving faith in the word of God.  Although the bible does not explicitly state this, I believe it is logically implicit in the structure and nature of Salvation that is taught in the New Testament.