Regeneration in the OT - Part 1
I once read through the Bible in roughly 85 days following a 90 Days Reading Plan. Going from Genesis to Revelation at quick pace, something stood out as I went through Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Israel as a nation had a heart problem. They were physically circumcised, but the heart was not changed. Going through the OT you will notice these commands (giving just three examples here):
Circumcise the foreskin of your heart… (Deuteronomy 10:16)
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts (Jeremiah 4:4)
Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31)
These are commands, and God is commanding the impossible. When Christ told Nicodemus that he must be born again He was referring to the truth about the heart needing to be radically changed, as shown above. He wasn’t giving Nicodemus a new command but stating a fact, that we must be born again if we are to enter the kingdom of God. Baptism, going to church, or being part of xyz denomination can not change the heart. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Without a changed heart we will follow God in our own twisted ways that are not according to spirit and truth. Paul is a perfect example and embodiment of someone who is zealous and circumcised in the flesh but spiritually dead in the eyes of God. The New Birth (regeneration) is necessary because without it there would be no Saving-Faith.
OLD TESTAMENT: Get Yourself a New Heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 18:31)
NEW TESTAMENT: You must be born again (John 3:7). In other words, you need a new heart, a heart of flesh (vs stony heart)
The purpose of heart-circumcision is to love and delight in God and His law (cf. Deuteronomy 30:6). Human nature is the same under both the Old and New Testament. Everyone, without exception, is to have a heart-circumcision if they are to come to God in spirit and in truth, because “that which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Flesh is the problem (cf. John 3:6,19; Acts 7:51; Romans 8:7). Nicodemus lived and moved in the Old Testament, so everything Christ said to him can be found in the OT.
“Everything the apostles have taught and written they have derived from the Old Testament, for everything that would take place in the future in Christ and would be preached has been proclaimed in it… For this reason, they based all their preaching on the Old Testament, and there is no word in the New Testament for which one does not see behind it the Old Testament in which it was previously proclaimed.” —Martin Luther
To give a demonstration:
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
To anyone familiar with the Old Testament, especially the First Book of Moses, the keyword ‘flesh’ should bring Genesis 6 to mind, and God says this in Verse 11-13,
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth… God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them…’”
Why is flesh the problem (John 3:6)? It loves darkness (John 3:19) because it’s in darkness (Ephesians 5:8). It can’t come to the Sun of Righteousness because it’s blind and can’t see (Acts 26:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 4:18). Not only that but they hate the light (John 3:19), and God is that Light, in whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). On the other hand, man is flesh (Genesis 6:3) and full of darkness and loves it, born after Adam’s likeness and image (Genesis 5:3). Men didn’t get better after the flood, for God clearly states in Genesis 8 that, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” After God wiped out the earth to start all over with righteous Noah, you would think that people get better but apparently not (Jeremiah 4:14,9:3,16:12). For as long as men are born after Noah (who was born after Adam), nothing will change. Only when a person is born of the Spirit will there be true transformation! That’s the point Jesus is making in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Pharisees were descendants of righteous Abraham, but the devil was their father. It is for this reason that no one can come to the Son unless the Father first draws (John 6:44), and call them out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).
The problem for Non-Calvinists here is not that we need a new heart or that regeneration is required, but how the New Birth happens or is accomplished. On this, Jesus says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” This is immediately right after He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh…”
Marvel not that you must be born again. Or as the EXB puts it: “Don’t be ·surprised [amazed; astonished] when I tell you…” that you must be born again. Why is this? It’s common knowledge that people need to be circumcised and cleansed, or made new. It’s hard to miss this if you read through the Old Testament. What should amaze and astonish us all is how this new birth takes place or is accomplished! That’s the point Jesus is making, and the answer is in Verse 8, right after He said not to marvel, “The wind blows where it wishes… So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” This same truth is also taught in John 6 and Matthew 11! The New Birth is a work of God the Spirit (John 3:21). In other words, we have no control over the Wind. It (He) is completely and utterly sovereign. It chose one thief and bypassed the other. It revealed the Son to Peter but not Judas.
If flesh is the problem, and it is, how was Noah saved? The same way Abraham and everyone else was saved. Before preceding, I suggest you fully grasp how Noah got saved here: Examining Genesis 6:8. I hope you’re beginning to see how beautifully everything is interconnected if we allow Scripture to interpret itself.
THE MYSTERIOUS SPIRIT
When I studied the doctrine of the Trinity as a new believer, the absence of the Spirit puzzled me greatly. It’s always the Father and the Son that are mostly mentioned. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus, but where is the Spirit? To confuse a babe in Christ even more, Revelation says there are Seven Spirits! It’s only when I looked into Soteriology and thought more about it that I began to see more of the Spirit. The Spirit does not seek to glorify nor bring attention and honor to Himself, but the Son, and we need to keep that in mind, just as the Son seeks to glorify the Father. Though the Spirit is mostly absence but those regenerated by Him will begin to see more of Him through eyes given by Him, and John 14:17 becomes a reality: “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
The Gospel is Trinitarian, and salvation is of the Triune God. If you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised the Son from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-13). There goes the Father and the Son. But where is the Spirit? It does not mention but He is there, for no one can say that Jesus is the Lord and believe it wholeheartedly except by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Remember what I said earlier? Heart-circumcision is needed to truly love God in spirit and in truth. Being able to “believe in your heart” that God raised the Son from the dead is a work of God the Spirit (cf. John 3:21, 6:28-29).
The Spirit was active in the Old Testament, bringing the spiritual dead to life. We first see the Spirit in Genesis, “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters…” for the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. This is a picture of the Spirit bringing forth life and order. We know this is a picture of regeneration because Paul points us all back to it in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Prior to conversion, we were like the earth, without form, and void of God’s Light, and “it is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63). Did God not say that “the earth also was corrupt…” (Genesis 6:11)? What darkness and corruption! He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly.
Later in Ezekiel 37:1-14 we see the appearance of the Spirit again, in a big way, “Son of man, can these bones live?… Surely I [God] will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live…” “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” That’s another picture of regeneration for both Christ (John 3:7-8) and Paul (Ephesians 2:4-5) point to it.
In the OT, there’s such a thing as “born according to the flesh” and “born according to the Spirit” (Galatians 4:28-31). “born according to the flesh” is set against “born according to the Spirit” and that’s the contrast. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael [natural birth], and Isaac [supernatural birth]). God’s choice of Isaac involved a supernatural intervention in the case of his conception. Likewise, us becoming God’s children is supernatural (the wind blows where it wishes…). “Now you, BROTHERS, LIKE ISAAC, are children of promise…”. We can’t engender spiritual life as Paul points out in Ephesians 2. The flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit who gives life.
“Regeneration” is specifically New Testament language. Yet it is hard to see how Abraham, David, and the rest of the people of God who were justified could have been so without also being regenerated. How were they able to receive God’s promises and walk in faith if they did not have a spiritual nature imparted to them by the Holy Spirit? Indeed, Paul hints at this. When recounting the struggle between the progeny of Hagar and those of Sarah, he says of the former that they were born of the “flesh” but of Isaac he says that he “was born according to the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29; cf. 4:23). As we move forward into the New Testament, this aspect of the Spirit’s work is given greater clarity. —David F Wells
Besides the work of regeneration, the Spirit was active in other ways. Jesus says in John 14 that the Spirit will come to be with the disciples. We see that in Haggai 2:5, “My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!” Peter says the Spirit of Christ was “in them” the prophets (1 Peter 1:10-11). “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit…” (Zechariah 4:6). We learn from Paul that the Spirit gives gifts to those in the Body of Christ, we see that in Exodus 31:1-5, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.”
The Spirit was very much active in the Old Testament. To be continued…