Regeneration in the OT - Part 2
The works and ministries of the Spirit are often overlooked by those whose aim is to refute Reformed Soteriology. They assume and equate regeneration to be the indwelling of the Spirit, meaning a person is not regenerated or sealed without the Spirit’s indwelling.
In the Old Testament the Spirit came and went. His indwelling wasn’t permanent because Christ was not yet glorified (John 7:39). OT’s indwelling was only temporary and for a specific task. In the NT, and before Pentecost, the Spirit never indwell a single believer to my knowledge. On Pentecost and beyond, the Spirit comes and stays with believers permanently. OT’s indwelling was only on one person at a time. As seen in 1 Samuel 16:13-14: The Spirit was either on David or Saul but not both. And what we have in Numbers 11:25 is the exception and not the norm in OT’s era. What God is showing there is a foreshadowing of what He will do later in the New Covenant, pouring out the Spirit on all believers.
As Christians today, we don’t have to worry about God taking away His Holy Spirit, but we do have to worry about grieving Him. King David worried because he saw what happened to Saul, and that the indwelling wasn’t permanent. Having the Spirit in the OT wasn’t a sign of salvation because one could be saved without having the Spirit, but it is in the NT: Those with the Abiding Spirit belongs to Christ.
If you’re asking yourself: “If they’re saved apart from the indwelling of the Spirit, then that would mean they were regenerated somehow.” And you would be correct. It’s exactly what Christ says in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes…” The Wind there is the Spirit, and the Wind is sovereign, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” (Proverbs 21:1). Regeneration is the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, and it’s one of the works or ministries of the Spirit that He can perform or do without the need to indwell or seal.
I was once asked this great question:
At what point in the story of Abraham (Old Testament) would you consider Abraham “born again”?
My response was:
This is a good question and it can be tricky to answer because there are a lot of nuances. Short answer: We can’t say that Abraham was born again right after he believed God because that would go against what the Scripture teach. We also can’t say that because Abraham believed, we can say he was born again at a specific date or event. We learn from John 2:23-25 that that’s not the case. God can work through unbelievers and can lead an individual without causing them to be born again. In the case of Paul, God had His eyes on him long before he was born (Galatians 1:15-16). We also learn from John 11:49-52 that God has His children scattered abroad who are currently unregenerate.
When exactly will one of these children be born again? I can’t say exactly, “The wind blows where it wishes… So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We’ll talk about the Order of Salvation more in-depth in separate post(s). For now we’ll focus on the OT, and as you can see, Christ is pointing Nicodemus, and us, back to the Old Testament when He talks about “the flesh” in verse 6 (see Part 1). To better understand what Christ is teaching Nicodemus, we must be familiar with the Old Testament. For example:
John 3:5 > “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
of water and the Spirit. Why must a person be born again? He tells us in Verse 6, the flesh is the problem! You would have to go back to the Old Testament to fully grasp this. Where is Jesus pointing to in John 3:5? Ezekiel 36. But you say it’s about Judah or national Israel. We’ll get to that in a moment.
John 3:8 > “The wind blows where it wishes…”
Where in the OT? Ezekiel 37 (cf. Psalms 147:18).
John 3:10 > “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?”
Nicodemus lived and moved in the OT.
John 3:14-15 > “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Where in the OT? Numbers 21.
It is to the Old Testament we must turn to, not forward to water baptism or to someone like Cornelius. One can’t begin to understand Cornelius without first properly understanding how Noah got saved in the first place. Non-Calvinists read their biases and presuppositions into the Scripture when they insist that Cornelius disproves Reformed Soteriology.
To be continued…