“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly in Jesus Christ our Savior…”
-Titus 3:4-6
This week I perused briefly a book on my shelf at home that I read in 2015. It is from a wonderful series entitled: “On the Christian Life.” Each book examines a particular saint and addresses his/her approach to the Christian walk. The book I perused again was on the life of John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Movement.
What has struck me in Wesley’s walk with the Lord was his heavy emphasis on the importance of justification by faith and the regeneration that either precedes or follows that moment in time (depending on the theological views of the particular person). It struck me while reading last night that, in all likelihood, many believers have very little knowledge about these events that have taken place in their own lives.
Although I disagree with Wesley (yes, Jym Gregory disagreeing with the man who may have shaped the history of religious thought in Great Britain more than anyone in history – but there you have it) on when and how regeneration and justification actually occur in the believer, I think he may explain the differences between the two better than most. In Wesley’s sermon entitled “The New Birth” he rightly says: “If any doctrines within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two; the doctrine of justification and that of the new birth” (i.e. regeneration). He goes on to teach, again rightly in my mind, that justification and regeneration must be distinguished from one another for the very reason that they are held so closely together. Justification, he teaches, relates to the great work of God that he does for us, in forgiving our sins, while regeneration relates to “the great work which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature.”
The two ideas are conjoined. In other words, if you have been regenerated by God (if he has changed your nature and opened your eyes to the gospel by the work of the Holy Spirit), then you will be justified (declared not guilty by God) as well. One “restores to us the favor of God (justification), the other the image of God” (regeneration). Simply put, justification takes away our guilt and sin; regeneration mitigates against the power of sin in our lives. I teach and believe that biblically it works like this – God regenerates us, he gives us faith to believe, we repent of our sins, he declares us justified and without guilt, and then begins the process of sanctification in us. Wesley, on the other hand, taught that we act upon a grace God places in all people (prevenient grace) by our own faith, leading to repentance, then in response God regenerates us and justifies us in one great act of mercy. I think I’m right and Wesley is wrong, nevertheless, we both believe that salvation is a work of God’s grace in those he has called, and we both see that without God declaring us guiltless of sin due solely to Christ’s redeeming act on the cross, and his changing our natures through regeneration freely by grace, we are “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). This is, in a nutshell, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, the great rallying cry of the 16th century Reformation.
John Wesley was a good and godly man. I have gained much this week in the hour I spent looking through this book on his life again. He lived out his faith. He taught that if a person is truly born again, they will know it. They will have communion with God and will live out that faith. He was surely right (see Romans 8:16-17), although here again I take issue with Wesley’s concept of entire sanctification (that a believer may reach a point where their heart is not drawn toward sin anymore). That notwithstanding, he emphasized the most important things when it comes to salvation.
He sums up his thoughts in these words: Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart? Can you cry out, ‘My God and my all?’ Do you desire nothing but him? Are you happy in God? Is he your glory, your delight, your crown of rejoicing? Believest thou the Lamb of God hath taken away thy sins? Then doth his Spirit bear witness with thy spirit, ye have redemption through his blood, and thou art a child of God.
Wesley could say this because he believed it. So do I. Anyone who can say, genuinely, the things Wesley recites in the quote above is a person who has confessed their sin and found peace with God. I hope this is true for you today.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym